Category: Business Columnists

A Savage Cost of War

July 19, 2022
appeasement policyBusiness & MarketsBusiness Columnistscrisis in Ukraineeconomic policiesEuropeOpinionRussiaRussia-Ukraine WarViewpointsWorld
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Commentary The chattering classes seem to have limited to two the scope of socially acceptable options for discussion on the Ukraine/Russia war: 1) to continue the war of attrition, or 2) to escalate the conflict by attacking Russia in a strategic manner, preferably with NATO engaging directly with Russian forces. So, war or more war. Those of…

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Investing in China Is Becoming More Risky for US and Foreign Companies

July 19, 2022
American firmsBusiness & MarketsBusiness ColumnistsBusinesses in COVID-19ChinaChina Business & EconomyInvestmentUS-China relations
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News Analysis American and foreign investors in China are experiencing increased risks and lower returns. A candle burning at both ends, the cost of operating in China is increasing, as is the risk. At the same time, a general downturn in the Chinese economy is decreasing investment and preventing consumers from spending money. Harsh economic…

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Critical Race Theory: Academic Malfeasance and Fraudulence

July 19, 2022
Business & MarketsBusiness Columnistscritical race theoryeconomyinflationOpinionrecessionViewpoints
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Commentary Although academia is sometimes dubbed “the ivory tower,” it is anything but a quaint exception to or ancillary adjunct of the real world. Quite otherwise, academia is an ideological state apparatus. In fact, I maintain that it is the dominant ideological state apparatus. Or, to borrow a more recent formulation, academia is best understood as…

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Consumers, Workers, and Monopolies: Free Markets Serve All

July 19, 2022
Business & MarketsBusiness ColumnistseconomyFree MarketsinflationMarketsOpinionrecessionViewpoints
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Commentary  Consumers aren’t a mere slice of society; they aren’t some separable category from anyone else. Anyone who buys goods and services is a consumer. In a modern economy, a consumer can buy goods and services with help of a tool called money. Undoubtedly, money is a very important tool, and it is money that assures…

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Why Rental Properties are Still A Good Investment in a Recession

July 19, 2022
Business & MarketsBusiness ColumnistseconomyinflationInvestmentOpinionrecessionrentalViewpoints
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Commentary If you’ve been a real estate investor during the past decade, you likely reaped the benefits of price appreciation. Even if you had only a minimal understanding of how to invest in real estate, you could still watch your home value consistently increase while raising your tenants’ rents every year. In the past two…

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China and the EU Try Again

July 19, 2022
Business & MarketsBusiness ColumnistsChinaEUhuman rightsOpinionretaliatory sanctionsThinking About China
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Commentary China and the European Union (EU) are about to try once more to reach an agreement on trade or perhaps investments. The parties came close in late 2020 when they signed an ambitious investment agreement, but it failed to go forward. The two parties tried again this past April in talks that the EU’s…

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What If We Define Recession Away?

July 19, 2022
AnalysisBusiness & MarketsBusiness Columnistseconomic depressionNational Bureau of Economic ResearchNBEROpinionrecessionU.S. economyunemployment
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Commentary Another word has lost its traditional meaning. It’s the word recession, which is a postwar neologism in any case. The word depression—from the idea of depressed economic condition—became unsayable following the disaster in the 1930s. So the wordsmiths got busy and invented this new term based on the idea that the economy is merely…

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Peak Inflation Is Not the Issue

July 18, 2022
Business & MarketsBusiness ColumnistseconomyinflationMarketsOpinionrecessionViewpoints
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Commentary The reality of record-high inflation, combined with a hawkish monetary policy, is slowing the economy sharply and has led to the current U.S. recession: two back-to-back quarters of negative growth. The economic contraction should soon cause inflation to roll over along with bond yields; but that isn’t necessarily indicative of a new bull market….

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This Ain’t Your Daddy’s Inflation: Part 3

July 18, 2022
Business & MarketsBusiness ColumnistseconomyinflationInvestmentOpinionViewpoints
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Commentary  The Volcker recession of 1981–82 crushed inflation out of the economy, and presented economists with a new challenge: Rather than high and rising inflation, their new dilemma was low and falling inflation. This was a dilemma they were happy to have, and in fact, they took credit for it. They eventually labeled this period…

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How Long Will Monetary Policy Remain Restrictive?

July 18, 2022
Business & MarketsBusiness ColumnistseconomyFederal Reserveinflationmonetary policyOpinionViewpoints
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Commentary  In what may be the worst timing in its checkered history, the Federal Reserve has begun taking money out of the economy at the very time the economy is shrinking. The ill timing of the Fed’s latest move raises the main question investors would like answered—how long will Fed policy stay restrictive? Speculating about…

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