We now have even more firm evidence that President Trump does not appear to fully understand the importance of trade policy in sustaining economic growth, building alliances, and supporting American security.  Nor does he seem to grasp the basic economics of trade, i. e., that a trade deficit is the converse, or mirror image, of […]

I realize that in this essay title I am mixing fiscal and monetary policy, which are two different policy areas, but should compliment each other, and often do not.  The real message that needs to be heard in both arenas is that we need a heightened focus on economic growth. In fiscal policy, taxes and […]

What’s not to like about the recent employment numbers–211,000 jobs added in April, unemployment at 4.4%, the lowest figure in ten years, and no significant decrease in workforce participation, which means that the job market may be tightening, possibly a precursor of wage increases, and business and consumer confidence are on the rise. But significant […]

As The Wall Street Journal has recently noted, the Republican and Democratic Party platforms don’t agree on much, but one very prominent agreement is that they both call for the reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, the law that separated commercial banking and investment banking, and was finally repealed by a law signed by […]

Of all the many political issues that might qualify, the minimum wage debate is probably the best example of the “governing by demagoguery” that is so pervasive in our discourse.  I remember a time 20 years ago when we were having the same debate on a national level and I was serving as Chairman of […]

Donald Trump’s demagoguery aside on an issue he really doesn’t understand, and seems not to care to, the anti-trade issue he has raised in this campaign has resonated with large numbers of people in his support base as well as many others, Democrats and Republicans alike, who are convinced that free trade has been a […]

The citizen takeover of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge last month led by the Bundy family of Nevada is intriguing on several levels.  The Bundys came to national attention a couple of years ago in their standoff with the Bureau of Land Management.  The siege they conducted in Oregon was wrong, but their grievance with […]

In a recent article in the Wall Street Journal, Times of London columnist and senior fellow of the Legatum Institute Tim Montgomerie reports on a survey of more than 1,000 adults in each of seven countries by a market research firm retained by the Legatum Institute to get responses to the proposition that “the next […]

The U. S. is now over six years in a recovery from “the great recession”, a recovery that has been the most anemic since World War II.  Labor force participation is the lowest in forty years, wage growth is slow to nonexistent, and the question of so-called income and wealth inequality is all the rage […]