2015: Five economic stories to watch
January 4, 2015
By Robert J. Samuelson The start of a new year is a good time to take stock. For those of us in the news business, this suggests stepping back and asking…
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Repairing the middle class in 2015
January 4, 2015
By Robert J. Samuelson What is curious about the present understandable preoccupation with the middle class is the assumption — both explicit and implicit — that the system is “rigged” (to…
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The best stats of 2014
December 29, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson This is the time when we make lists. The best movies of 2014. The best books. The funniest cartoons. The greatest photos. The most amazing sports…
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Inglorious hackers
December 29, 2014By Kathleen Parker If I were a cartoonist, a phrase cartoonists are loath to hear, I’d sketch a chubby imp donned in a diaper, sporting a chia mohawk…
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Innovation in South Carolina. Are we at base camp yet?
December 22, 2014
By Alan Cooper (Based on my radio interview with Mike Switzer, December 22, 2014 ) Productivity and innovation drive prosperity. Five years ago, the Medical University of South Carolina…
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Sony’s ominous lesson
December 22, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson ”In light of the decision by the majority of our exhibitors not to show the film ‘The Interview,’ we have decided not to move forward…
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Talk about a wildfire
December 22, 2014By Kathleen Parker First there’s the spark, then the conflagration, followed by the litigation and then, surely, the movie. Call it “Moonlight Fire,” and prepare to suspend disbelief. The…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: headlines, op-ed
Health spending — under control?
December 15, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson Has the monster of exploding health costs finally been slain? After five years of slow spending growth, it’s tempting to think so. This would be…
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A statistical feast!
December 15, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson The Stat Abstract is dead. Long live the Stat Abstract. As regular readers of this column know, I’ve been a fanatical booster of the Statistical…
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The happiness curve
December 15, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson We all want to be happy, don’t we? Well, if you’re dissatisfied, frustrated or downright miserable, cheer up. There’s apparently a cure for you. Even…
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Can conservative women be feminists?
December 15, 2014By Kathleen Parker . It is probably too soon to declare a feminist reformation, but a few signs here and there give one hope. Hold it, sirs, don’t stop reading…
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Key facts about the great oil crash of 2014
December 7, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson The great oil bust of 2014 is something to behold. Since mid-June, crude prices have dropped roughly 40 percent, from $115 a barrel for the…
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Robert Samuelson: The key to stronger economic recoveries?
December 7, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson “The nation of which [Warren G.] Harding became president was not happy, and forces were underway which seemed likely, unless arrested, to bring more…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: headlines, op-ed
The media circus around Ferguson
December 7, 2014By Kathleen Parker As the curtain closes on the latest episode of “Ferguson,” the media series, it is fair to wonder whether events might not have spiraled out of…
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Our giant welfare state
November 30, 2014
By Robert Samuelson We Americans pride ourselves on not having a “welfare state.” We’re not like Europeans. We’re more individualistic and self-reliant, and although we may have a “social…
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Climate realities in light of the U.S.-China agreement
November 30, 2014
By Robert Samuelson The United States-China agreement on climate change is a huge political triumph, possibly “historic,” as its supporters say. Whether it much alters the world’s climate is a more…
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From Bill Cosby to Ferguson, a reminder of our rule of law
November 30, 2014By Kathleen Parker By now, most Americans probably have formed an opinion about what comedian Bill Cosby did or didn’t do sexually to or with at least 16…
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Teresa Coles to Chair CreateAthon National Board of Directors
November 24, 2014
24-Hour Pro Bono Marathon Transitions Into Nonprofit Organization COLUMBIA, SC – CreateAthon, one of the marketing industry’s leading pro bono programs, announces that the organization’s founder, Teresa Coles of Riggs…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: marketing-and-communications, on-the-move, op-ed
The twilight of democratic capitalism?
November 19, 2014
By Robert Samuelson It must be obvious by now that we are experiencing something greater than the routine frustrations of the business cycle and the normal political discontents of…
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Pope calls for family resurrection
November 19, 2014By Kathleen Parker News that Pope Francis will visit the United States next year for the triennial World Meeting of Families brings elation to Catholics, excitement to pope-watchers — and perhaps a little…
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Stock bubble? Don’t blame the Fed’s bond-buying program.
November 16, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson Without QE, will the stock market tank? Count me a skeptic. QE refers to “quantitative easing,” the Federal Reserve’s multitrillion-dollar program of bond buying that…
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Obama’s spiteful legacy
November 16, 2014By Kathleen Parker Post-election analysis falls somewhere between amusing and clueless. In the amusing camp are Democratic strategists who intone that more Democrats would have won if only more people…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, op-ed
The Fed’s bond buying enigma
November 10, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson The Federal Reserve has ended its roughly $3.7 trillion program of bond buying, leaving in its wake a host of hard questions. Did it strengthen the economic recovery?…
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Is employers’ prejudice against pay cuts causing wage stagnation?
November 10, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson I recently wrote about sluggish and stagnant wages, which are said to weaken the economy’s recovery. I argued that workers’ fear of losing their jobs is an important…
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Lena Dunham’s bare, naked truth
November 10, 2014By Kathleen Parker Lena Dunham, the creator of the sensational HBO series “Girls” — and now the object of overwrought child abuse accusations by boys on the right — seems the…
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How will Europe’s economy escape the doldrums?
November 5, 2014By Robert J. Samuelson Can Mario Draghi save Europe? Draghi heads the European Central Bank, the continental equivalent of the Federal Reserve. The fact that the question is being asked…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: headlines, op-ed
How will Europe’s economy escape the doldrums?
November 5, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson Can Mario Draghi save Europe? Draghi heads the European Central Bank, the continental equivalent of the Federal Reserve. The fact that the question is being asked…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: headlines, op-ed
A Vote for Education is Critical in South Carolina
November 2, 2014
By Kara Kerwin In a state where just 31 percent of eighth graders are proficient in math and 29 percent are proficient in reading according to national assessments, education…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: headlines, op-ed
A Vote for Education is Critical in South Carolina
November 2, 2014
By Kara Kerwin In a state where just 31 percent of eighth graders are proficient in math and 29 percent are proficient in reading according to national assessments, education…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: headlines, op-ed
What’s behind wage stagnation?
October 29, 2014By Robert J. Samuelson If you believe in the law of supply and demand — and I do — there’s not much mystery to the stagnation of wages even though…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
America’s political pendulum swings to the right
October 29, 2014By Kathleen Parker To paraphrase Roger Miller — and, indeed, to reveal my vast store of musical trivia — America swings like a pendulum do. If projections, human nature and historical…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
America’s political pendulum swings to the right
October 29, 2014By Kathleen Parker To paraphrase Roger Miller — and, indeed, to reveal my vast store of musical trivia — America swings like a pendulum do. If projections, human nature and historical…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
What’s behind wage stagnation?
October 29, 2014By Robert J. Samuelson If you believe in the law of supply and demand — and I do — there’s not much mystery to the stagnation of wages even though…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
The family deficit
October 27, 2014By Robert J. Samuelson We Americans believe in progress, and yet progress is often a double-edged sword. The benefits and adventures of change often vie with the shortcomings and…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: headlines, op-ed
The family deficit
October 27, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson We Americans believe in progress, and yet progress is often a double-edged sword. The benefits and adventures of change often vie with the shortcomings and…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: headlines, op-ed
The millionaire’s club expands
October 27, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson The millionaire’s club isn’t what it used to be. Time was that “being a millionaire” was a mark of unimaginable success. You’d joined the financial elite.…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: headlines, op-ed
The millionaire’s club expands
October 27, 2014By Robert J. Samuelson The millionaire’s club isn’t what it used to be. Time was that “being a millionaire” was a mark of unimaginable success. You’d joined the financial elite.…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: headlines, op-ed
Stock market turmoil and the global debt trap
October 22, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson Six years after the onset of the financial crisis, the world still has too much debt. The total in 2013, according to the McKinsey Global Institute,…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: on-the-move, op-ed
Stock market turmoil and the global debt trap
October 22, 2014By Robert J. Samuelson Six years after the onset of the financial crisis, the world still has too much debt. The total in 2013, according to the McKinsey Global Institute,…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: headlines, op-ed
Bears and wolves find a voice in the wilderness
October 22, 2014By Kathleen Parker If politicians preying upon your attentions this season fail to inspire, you might seek common cause with the beasts — the four-legged variety rather than those…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Bears and wolves find a voice in the wilderness
October 22, 2014By Kathleen Parker If politicians preying upon your attentions this season fail to inspire, you might seek common cause with the beasts — the four-legged variety rather than those…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: headlines, op-ed
A little Ebola panic might be helpful
October 20, 2014By Kathleen Parker Now, now, let’s not panic.Yes, we have a second health-care worker infected with Ebola after treating the Liberian man who apparently concealed his exposure to this often-fatal disease,…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
A little Ebola panic might be helpful
October 20, 2014By Kathleen Parker Now, now, let’s not panic.Yes, we have a second health-care worker infected with Ebola after treating the Liberian man who apparently concealed his exposure to this often-fatal disease,…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Women join the top 1 percent
October 15, 2014By Robert J. Samuelson Everyone knows that economic inequality has increased dramatically since the 1970s, and this has created a new cottage industry: dissecting “the top 1 percent.” We…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Women join the top 1 percent
October 15, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson Everyone knows that economic inequality has increased dramatically since the 1970s, and this has created a new cottage industry: dissecting “the top 1 percent.” We…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Alison Grimes and the unanswered question on Obama
October 15, 2014By Kathleen Parker So unpopular is President Obama these days that the (D) following Democratic candidates’ names might stand for Denial. And, so desperate are political pundits for any…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Alison Grimes and the unanswered question on Obama
October 15, 2014By Kathleen Parker So unpopular is President Obama these days that the (D) following Democratic candidates’ names might stand for Denial. And, so desperate are political pundits for any…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Why the world economy sputters
October 13, 2014By Robert J. Samuelson It’s become a dreary ritual: Every six months, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts the global economy — and cuts its previous forecast. Despite an…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Why the world economy sputters
October 13, 2014
By Robert J. Samuelson It’s become a dreary ritual: Every six months, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts the global economy — and cuts its previous forecast. Despite an…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
Humanity is actually making progress, believe it or not
October 13, 2014By Robert J. Samuelson Progress has lately gotten a bad rap, because there seems to be so little of it. Violence wracks the Middle East; economies are sputtering; Ebola…
Read MorePosted in: lowcountrybizsc, midlandsbiz, upstatebizsc Category: op-ed
