WASHINGTON — Donald Trump’s pledge to make our country great again captures the longing of some of his supporters for a time when our country was less diverse — and when a less open global market created the circumstances for a large, well-paid working class. Trump doesn’t talk about it, but incomes also rose because […]
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FBI director Comey lets Hillary off the hook
FBI Director James Comey has given Hillary Clinton something better than a get out of jail free card. He’s protected her from indictment by recommending to the Department of Justice that she not be prosecuted for her and her staff’s “extremely careless” handling of emails on private servers that included documents classified as “top secret,” […]
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Einstein, political leadership in Maine and the nation
With both major political parties set to anoint the finalists in this year’s Presidential odyssey there still remains substantial disaffection with the choices. It is, of course, not the first time that a nation appears challenged to settle upon what it considers to be ideal leader. Recall, for example, that upon the death of Israel’s […]
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Path of the future includes openess to trade, technology
WASHINGTON — If Tony Blair is remembered in history only for his support of the Iraq War, that will be a tragedy. The former British prime minister was one of his generation’s most important political leaders, bringing the left out of the wilderness and reshaping it for the post-Cold War world. He remains remarkably prescient […]
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FBI had the goods, didn’t follow through
WASHINGTON — Why did he do it? FBI director James Comey spent 14 minutes laying out an unassailable case for prosecuting Hillary Clinton for the mishandling of classified material. Then at literally the last minute, he recommended against prosecution. This is baffling. Under the statute (18 U.S.C. section 793(f)), it’s a felony to mishandle classified […]
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What is the ‘typical’ addict like?
I recently spoke to someone about addiction, to which his immediate response was, “Oh, you don’t want to know what I think about that stuff. I think we should just kill all the drug addicts.” An interesting sentiment that’s not too far from where public opinion has nested for decades — and why might that […]
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Maine Woods National Monument would benefit state, Katahdin region
Traveling around Maine, I work with people who are concerned about how to bring jobs and economic prosperity to the rural villages of western Maine and the Katahdin region to the north. For 38 years, I owned and operated, with my wife, Peggy, the Sunday River Inn and Cross Country Ski Center in Newry. Now […]
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Automation helps push U.S. manufacturing
Reports of NASA’s Juno spacecraft’s entering the orbit around Jupiter lit a sparkler in this American heart — on the Fourth of July, no less. It showed that Americans still have what it takes. To keep spirits orbiting, let’s note another recent American feat that few could have imagined a couple of years ago. The […]
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Candidates wrong about globalization
WASHINGTON — Can we get globalization right? It has emerged as an all-purpose scapegoat for our economic woes — lost jobs, depressed wages, large trade deficits, greater income inequality, anxieties about the future. The reality is otherwise: Although globalization is genuine, it’s been distorted and its ills exaggerated. I have written about this before, but […]
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Protectionism won’t make U.S. great
Donald Trump is an optimist. He believes there is nothing wrong with America that autarky can’t fix. Trump’s trade speech was a high-octane assault on the American free-trade regime that has been a matter of a bipartisan consensus for decades and a bulwark of the post-World War II international order — not to mention an […]