By Robert Samuelson   I’ve written several columns this year on military spending, contending — against conventional wisdom — that we don’t spend more than the next eight countries combined, including China and Russia. That startling claim is often made, and if it’s untrue, we’ve been deluding ourselves for years. Rather than overspending on defense,…

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By Robert Samuelson   To have a recession or not — that is the question. It also encompassed last week’s most important political news, notwithstanding all the public attention understandably focused on the mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. There is growing evidence of a possible recession. If one materializes, President Trump could lose…

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By Kathleen Parker   One of the everlasting social forces in directing human behavior — shame — has become part of the 2020 presidential race. And one of the most shameful things in these times is to be thought or labeled a racist. As it should be, if true. Thus, some Democrats and others hoping…

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By Robert Samuelson   Donald Trump sold himself to the American public as an expert deal-maker. At the top of his list was a promised trade bargain with China that would boost U.S. exports and remedy some of the more egregious examples of discrimination against American firms. It isn’t working as planned. To the contrary:…

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By Kathleen Parker   The more we learn, the more Jeffrey Epstein resembles an evil comic book character for the developmentally arrested intellectual — the charming-but-lurid mastermind with a plot to take over the world by impregnating scores of women on a remote desert estate. Last Wednesday, The New York Times reported that the financier/convicted…

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By Robert Samuelson   Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has not been shy about saying what he’s trying to do: prolong the economy’s expansion so that it creates more jobs for those who, in the past, have often felt left out. The Fed increasingly sees itself as a social agency dedicated to job creation. That…

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By Kathleen Parker   The idea of a race war has long animated white supremacists, who seem to think that such a conflict would result in a white victory, whatever that would mean. Dylann Roof — the white man-boy who murdered nine black parishioners during Bible study at Mother Emanuel AME Church here four summers…

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By Robert Samuelson   It seems unavoidable. Like it or not, the U.S. welfare system is bound to play a big role in the 2020 election. The recent Democratic debate on health care is just a prelude to a broader discussion. The battle lines are clearly drawn. Democrats deplore rising inequality. They see a revitalized…

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By Kathleen Parker   The picture that spoke far more words than former special counsel Robert Mueller uttered during last week’s hearings was taken by renowned photographer David Hume Kennerly. The close-up of Mueller’s face was a portrait of rare depth, the sort one is more likely to find on a Leonardo da Vinci canvas…

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By Robert Samuelson   The military-industrial complex isn’t bankrupting us — though some on the left still cling nostalgically to the belief that it is. It’s fiction. We need to be clear about this. As I’ve written before, one of the great uncovered stories in Washington is the defense budget versus the welfare state. Defense…

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