In The News

The Economist: Iran Braces for Economic War with America

May 24, 2018
Donald Trump’s May 8th pullout from the Iran nuclear deal – which had promised sanctions relief in exchange for reduction, conversion and inspections of its nuclear facilities – has disappointed and angered Iranian business leaders. Trump’s strategy shifted from containment to a full-on economic offensive. According to the Economist, the administration “has told firms worldwide that they have...

Bloomberg: US Sanction Power Reaching Its Limit?

Ben Holland May 23, 2018
The United States withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and plans unilateral sanctions. Ben Holland of Bloomberg News identifies a pattern: the Trump administration’s increasing reliance on sanctions and disdain for diplomacy. Other major economies, especially the European Union, China and India may be weary of US demands that increase their costs. “...

Forbes: Globalization vs Nationalism Forces Investor Rethink

Kenneth Rapoza May 17, 2018
Investors worldwide are assessing the forces of globalization including trade and immigration versus nationalism, protectionism and populism. Inequality, declining worldwide, is rising in the United States, and “investors that benefit from globalization are leaving the middle and working class in the dust,” notes Kenneth Rapoza for Forbes. Those left behind clamor for limits on international...

Project Syndicate: Debt Shackles Return

Michael Heise May 16, 2018
Accelerating global growth is based on rising public and public debt. Economist Michael Heise counts such debt among the most serious challenges for the global economy. The Bank for International Settlements reports that total private and public debt of households, government agencies, corporations and other entities not in the financial sector – or non-financial debt – amounts to more than 240...

The Diplomat: Plans for South China Sea Nuclear Power Plants

Viet Phuong Nguyen May 11, 2018
Environmentalists express concerns about a floating nuclear power plant, the Akademik Lomonosov, dispatched by Russia in late April to the Arctic. China also plans as many as 20 floating nuclear reactors in the South China Sea: “In 2016, two major Chinese state-owned nuclear suppliers, the China National Nuclear Corp. (CNNC) and China General Nuclear Power Group (CGN), announced a plan to...

South China Morning Post: China’s Textile Industry Faces Tough Times

Sidney Leng May 3, 2018
The textile industry does not stay in one location for long. Instead, clothing and textile manufacturers move around the world, following automation and low wages from India, England, New England and the US South and more recently to China. Now the textile and clothing industry may be starting to abandon China. “China’s textile and apparel makers are going through a painful industrial...

New York Times: The Villain Behind a New Gilded Age

Eric Posner and Glen Weyl May 2, 2018
Consolidated power among corporations, more so than the forces of globalization or technology, has reinforced inequality, fueled populism and reduced support for democracy. “In the past two decades, growth rates in the United States have fallen to half of what they were in the middle of the 20th century,” note authors Eric Posner and Glen Weyl for the New York Times. “The share of income accruing...