By Robert Samuelson   The most obscure part of President Trump’s economic agenda is deregulation. This is not because anyone is deliberately hiding it. The real reason is more mundane:…

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By Kathleen Parker    CAMDEN, S.C. — By now, the winners and losers of the first Democratic presidential debate(s) have been thoroughly hashed, roasted and served up overdone. Bottom line:…

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By Robert Samuelson   What struck me about the first debates among 20 candidates for the Democratic nomination for president was how much they resembled a gaggle of graduate students.…

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By Robert Samuelson   We are now passing a significant milestone. The current economic expansion has become the longest in U.S. history. Previously, the record was the decade from March…

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By Kathleen Parker   Several current trends among millennials do not bode well for Democrats. Indeed, they suggest a greater affinity for (many) Republican policies, notwithstanding a, perhaps, contiguous dislike…

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By Robert Samuelson   Harvard professor N. Gregory Mankiw is one of the most influential economists in the United States. But the 61-year-old’s authority does not stem from advancing an…

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By Kathleen Parker    The problem with a lifetime in public service is a lifetime in public service. Enter Joe Biden, whose list of former offices and distinctions exceeds my…

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By Robert Samuelson   Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for president, is a man from the 1930s. If you didn’t believe that before, you…

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By Kathleen Parker    My father died with a smile on his face. But, of course, he would. A few days earlier, as his wife, my sister and I gathered…

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By Robert Samuelson   If you want a peek at the future, try looking at Japan. It’s a sobering exercise. Here’s how economist Timothy Taylor, managing editor of the Journal…

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By Kathleen Parker    In Alabama, where a new law denies abortion to women even in cases of incest or rape, a rapist may still pursue custody rights of a…

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By Robert Samuelson   “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” John F. Kennedy’s…

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By Kathleen Parker   The abortion issue is more divisive than ever, thanks to extreme anti-abortion legislation recently passed in some states and, lately, to Democratic presidential candidates seemingly vying…

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By Robert Samuelson   President Trump’s latest foray into trade policy is notable for its economic recklessness (it could tip Mexico into a recession, followed perhaps by the United States),…

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By Kathleen Parker   If there was “great love all around” during President Trump’s state visit to the United Kingdom, as he tweeted Monday, the participants royal and decidedly otherwise…

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By Kathleen Parker   CAMDEN, S.C. — Eulogies, it has always seemed to me, are best delivered while the subject is living and can enjoy hearing the best version of…

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By Robert Samuelson   We may be on the cusp of an upheaval in global trade. Since World War II, the international trading system has operated on the premise of…

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By Kathleen Parker   As the 2020 election gears up, it seems apparent that Mike Pence’s days as vice president are numbered. Trump’s preference is obvious: Kim Jong Un. The…

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By Robert Samuelson   At last count, China held slightly more than $1 trillion in U.S. Treasury securities. One fear has been that, should China and the United States engage…

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By Robert Samuelson   After correcting for inflation, wage gains remain sluggish. In April, average weekly earnings for nonsupervisory workers were up 3% from a year earlier, to $785.55. Meanwhile,…

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By Kathleen Parker   Driving along Colorado’s scenic byways, one might be distracted these days by a series of billboards promoting safe abortions or, depending upon one’s route, alternatives to…

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By Robert Samuelson   The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has just released its latest statistics on U.S. births. Boring, you say. Not so. Historic birth patterns tell…

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By Kathleen Parker   When author Mark Childress penned “Crazy in Alabama,” he wasn’t just whistling Dixie. “I haven’t been quoted this much since Roy Moore,” Childress recently told me,…

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By Robert Samuelson   The Trump administration is going about its trade war with China all wrong. Its strategy and tactics are muddled. If Trump were a general watching the…

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By Kathleen Parker   Growing up in the 1950s and ’60s, there was no avoiding the adorable Doris Day. She was cute as a bug, wholesome, winsome and adored, at…

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By Kathleen Parker   Conventional wisdom in my inner circle of sorcerers and sources has been that the first female president will be a Republican. This is because America is…

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By Robert Samuelson   The most intriguing and indisputable thing we have learned about economists in recent decades is that they don’t know nearly as much as they thought they knew.…

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By Robert Samuelson   The popular appeal of a single-payer system to solve the nation’s health care problems is no secret. Everyone would have insurance, recognizing — as Sen. Bernie Sanders,…

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By Kathleen Parker   PAWLEYS ISLAND, S.C. — A new United Nations report projecting the extinction of one-eighth of all animal and plant species should rattle the cages of any…

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By Robert Samuelson   We live in an age obsessed with economic inequality. There is too much of it, most people seem to agree. After Donald Trump — his personality, behavior…

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By Robert Samuelson   There are times when it seems we’re worrying about things that aren’t worth worrying about. A good example these days is inflation. Amazingly, the complaint is that…

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By Robert Samuelson   An unsettling specter haunts the world economy: a future of ubiquitous robots that destroy millions of jobs. Sometimes this is called “artificial intelligence”; sometimes it isn’t. Either…

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By Kathleen Parker   In 2008, when Sarah Palin entered the stage to debate her fellow vice presidential candidate, Joe Biden, she asked him first thing: “Hey, can I call…

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By Robert Samuelson   Just for the record, we ought to note that trustees for Social Security and Medicare recently released their annual reports. The two programs alone constituted 45 percent…

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By Kathleen Parker   CAMDEN, S.C. — With the arrival of spring and the advance of summer, American life shifts toward the porch — at least for those lucky enough…

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By Robert Samuelson   It’s unclear whether one or both, or neither, of President Trump’s selections for the Federal Reserve Board — Stephen Moore and Herman Cain — will win Senate…

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By Kathleen Parker   Good Friday provided the language for a week that began with the terrible fire at Notre Dame Cathedral and ended with the long-awaited Mueller report: Jesus’…

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By Robert Samuelson   To: David Brooks Columnist, The New York Times Dear David, We have met a few times over the years while covering the same events. I’m a big…

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By Kathleen Parker    At least he recognized the urgency. As the world gasped in horror at the sight of Paris’ Notre Dame Cathedral burning in a cataclysmic moment, the…

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By Robert Samuelson   It is astonishing that, even though the global financial crisis occurred a decade ago, we do not yet have a clear and convincing explanation of its basic…

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By Kathleen Parker   They say that guests are like fish; after three days they become a bit whiffy. By this measure, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange smelled like an overladen…

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By Robert Samuelson   The Phillips Curve is dead; long live the Phillips Curve. One of today’s economic mysteries is: Why is inflation so low? The unemployment rate is a puny…

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By Kathleen Parker   In his most famous dialogue, “The Republic,” Plato, via Socrates, explored the idea that a just state would best function under the leadership of a perfectly…

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By Robert Samuelson   You can count on one familiar refrain in the 2020 presidential campaign: Fix the schools. Faith in education is one of the nation’s bedrock values. Better schools…

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By Robert Samuelson   If you think you understand what’s going on with the global economy, you’re probably not paying attention. On the one hand, the stock market is powering ahead.…

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By Kathleen Parker   CAMDEN, S.C. – At a recent brunch here preceding the Carolina Cup steeplechase race, the host gave me a gift of hometown recognition and, though we…

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By Kathleen Parker   It may be a truism-in-the-making that one’s political career is over when, as a candidate, you must first apologize for your sex and race, which can…

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By Robert Samuelson   The real reason that Stephen Moore does not belong on the Federal Reserve Board is not that he is unqualified for the job, though he is. Nor…

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