Blog
I believe the most important thing Americans must do is to secure their economic well-being in an increasingly challenging, complex world. What I have written about all these years is the process of creating wealth, not for any one individual, but for the United States as a whole. Ever since I was a young correspondent witnessing the emergence of China after the country opened in 1979, I’ve believed we have to get more serious about creating wealth. I retain faith in the resiliency of the U.S. economy and the enterprise of American people. If Americans have the right strategies, we can once again create widespread wealth. Come with me on this journey.
To The Editors of The Atlantic: Crafting The American Response to China
May 6, 2020
To the editors: I would like to commend H.R. McMaster for his excellent article, What China Wants. He blended together the various threads of what emerges as a global competition of systems and values. The emerging U.S.-Chinese competition goes beyond trade issues. It touches on control of Information Technology platforms and telecommunications systems. It touches […]
It Seemed Like The End of the World–Fifty Years Ago
May 1, 2020
Seen through the prism of today’s pandemic, the anti-war student demonstrations that erupted 50 years ago today do not seem as significant as they seemed at the time. But the fact that the National Guard killed four students at Kent State was stunning. How had we reached the point that students were being gunned down […]
The Wall Street Journal’s Ideological Agony
April 30, 2020
I’m enjoying watching the editorial page writers at the Wall Street Journal going through ideological agony as the state and federal governments take a central role in combatting the coronavirus. At least since the days of Ronald Reagan, the Journal’s editorial page has promoted the notion that government does not solve problems. It IS the […]
Why the North Korean Situation Is So Dangerous–What Would Trump Do?
April 27, 2020
My old pal, Bradley Martin, has this excellent article out today examining whether Kim Jong-un is critically ill. No one knows who his successor might be. From decades of covering this story, I agree that if there is a power struggle and the North is paralyzed, that creates the possibility of a dramatic multi-sided confrontation […]
China Intimidates Europe
April 25, 2020
The Chinese government is engaged in a global battle to shape the narrative about the coronavirus. If the story that dominates the headlines is “China Did It,” that is very dangerous to the legitimacy of the Communist Party, at home and abroad. But if the story that dominates is “China Is Saving The World,” then […]
Hosting a book night with Tiff Roberts discussing China and the virus
April 24, 2020
Here is installment No. 1 of a Zoom session I did with my old Business Week colleague Dexter “Tiff” Roberts discussing his book, “The Myth of Chinese Capitalism.” His core argument is that China’s economic boom has relied on labor provided by 600 to 700 million people in rural areas, who have migrated to where […]
