Commentary The rapid rise and near dominance of the ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) agenda in corporate board rooms and executive suites is one of the more remarkable business transformations of the 21st century. ESG requires that directors and managers look beyond their traditional and singular focus on shareholder value creation, usually but not always…
Will ‘Revenge Spending’ Save China’s Economy?
February 14, 2023
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Business & MarketsBusiness ColumnistsChina’s economyconsumerOpinionrevenge spendingThinking About China
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Commentary Much economic news coming out of China references “revenge spending.” It is a strange use of language. Nowhere in its use does anyone indicate who is getting revenge or on whom. It seems to have emerged from the expectation that heavy consumer spending now that the economy has reopened—spending with a “vengeance”—will overcome other…
2023: Year of the Drone or Year of the Tank?
Commentary The Russian invasion of Ukraine has exploded many myths, perhaps none more than the myth that, over the past decade or so, Russia has successfully transformed and modernized its armed force. Just before the war, many Western analysts (who really should’ve known better) were touting the Russian military as a well-equipped conventional force, built…
Afghanistan Knocked Me Down–Faith Picked Me Up
Commentary On April 25, 2012, I experienced a rare, but significant tactical defeat in Afghanistan. Since then, my career and outlook stem from the events of that day. I was the Battle Company commander in the 1-508 Parachute Infantry Regiment, leading my Soldiers through a seven-month deployment in a highly contested area of Kandahar Province…
Valentine’s Day Memories, Thoughts, and Counsels
Commentary There’s so much “heavy” stuff—China, Russia, the economy, the cynical politics of climate change, etc.—to think about these days, but let’s never lose sight of the sunnier side of life. And what could be sunnier than love? So I’m going to share some stories appropriate for Valentine’s Day. One shining reminder of the beauty…
You Call This Easing Inflation?
February 14, 2023
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AnalysisBusiness & MarketsBusiness Columnistsconsumer price indexCPIFederal ReserveGreat ResetinflationOpinionrecessionU.S. economy
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Commentary Here’s a thing I like to do on the day of Labor Department data releases. I read the actual release and look at the data and trend lines, then look at the details and see what’s driving the trend. I make a general judgment and write an imaginary headline. Then I check in the…
It’s a Bird, It’s a Plane, It’s a Harmless Chinese Spy Ship!
Commentary When did journalists stop asking hard questions and become nothing more than a tool for the U.S. government to spread the “official” story? Oh wait, I remember. It’s when Donald Trump was booted out of office and Democrats took the helm. In every major story, you can ask yourself how journalists would handle it…
Brian Giesbrecht: If Canada is Broken, Why Not Fix It?
Commentary Any suggestion that we should consider reopening Canada’s Constitution to solve our increasingly serious problems usually evokes snorts of derision and eye-rolling. The last attempts—Mulroney’s failed Meech Lake Accord in 1990, and Charlottetown in 1992—left the nation with constitutional fatigue. Those failures also left politicians understandably gun-shy of ever opening up that Pandora’s box…
What If Federal Workers Never Showed Up for Work and No One Missed Them?
Commentary This is one of the greatest federal government scandals of all time. Many hundreds of thousands of federal employees have been getting a full-time paycheck from Uncle Sam (meaning from all of us) without showing up for work for three years now. They don’t call it Club Fed for nothing. To be fair, just…
The French Pension War
Commentary When a million people protest on the streets of Paris and most major French cities, you know there is a serious problem in French society. The protests, which had been going on for four days, culminated on Feb. 11 in Paris, where reportedly half a million people participated. The vitriol directed at the president…
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