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July 16, 2024
 

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Robert Samuelson
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 9, 2013
America can't afford the Amtrak train fantasy
The fact that a program as wasteful of taxpayers' money as Amtrak has so many defenders is more evidence why the U.S. budget debates are stuck.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 4, 2013
Italian election gives Europeans a reality check
For a while, Europe's political elites had convinced themselves the worst of the euro crisis had passed. Italy's latest election quashes this optimism.
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 20, 2013
Psychology is to blame for weak U.S. growth
U.S. job creation is weak because, since 2008-2009, Americans have gone from being an expansive, risk-taking society to a skittish, risk-averse one.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 5, 2013
Learning from Japan's struggle
Americans could learn from a new prime minister's efforts to revive the flagging economy of Japan, once viewed as the next economic superpower.
COMMENTARY
May 30, 2012
It's time U.S. dropped the college-for-all crusade
The college-for-all crusade has outlived its usefulness. Time to ditch it. Like the crusade to make all Americans homeowners, it's now doing more harm than good. It looms as the largest mistake in educational policy since World War II, even though higher education's expansion also ranks as one of America's...
COMMENTARY
May 3, 2012
Costs of being too responsive to the public will
The Washington of conventional wisdom and the real Washington are two entirely different places.
COMMENTARY
Apr 25, 2012
What happens to world's economy if Spain fails?
Just when you thought the world economy might be improving, along comes Spain. It's Europe's next economic domino, struggling to cope with big budget deficits, massive unemployment and an angry public. Will it fail — and, if so, with what consequences?
COMMENTARY
Apr 16, 2012
Look at Social Security for what it is: welfare
Would Franklin Roosevelt (the 32nd U.S. president) approve of Social Security? The question seems absurd. After all, Social Security is considered the New Deal's signature achievement. It distributes nearly $800 billion a year to 56 million retirees, survivors and disabled beneficiaries.
COMMENTARY
Apr 5, 2012
Is American energy 'independence' possible?
Call it President Richard Nixon's revenge.
COMMENTARY
Mar 22, 2012
Pinpointing the causes of the U.S. economic crisis
Four years after the onset of the financial crisis — in March 2008 Bear Stearns was rescued from failure — we still lack a clear understanding of the underlying causes. Hundreds of studies and books have given us an increasingly detailed picture of what happened without conclusively answering why....
COMMENTARY
Mar 14, 2012
Japan's cautionary tale for the U.S.
Since the financial crisis, a shadow has hovered over the U.S. economy: Japan. Could what happened there happen to us? The bursting of Japan's real estate and stock bubble in the early 1990s has had lasting consequences: a "lost decade" (actually, two) of meager growth and weak job markets. Though hardly...
COMMENTARY
Mar 12, 2012
Fear and consequences of defense budget cuts
It turns out that "budget sequestration," portrayed as an evenhanded way to spur bipartisan negotiations over budget deficits, is actually a dagger aimed at defense spending. The president and other top administration officials have said the automatic spending cuts required by sequestration are "bad...
COMMENTARY
Mar 5, 2012
Will American values outlast the social storm?
In 1924, the sociologist couple Robert and Helen Lynd arrived in a small Midwestern city they called Middletown (it was Muncie, Ind.) to study and survey the place.
COMMENTARY
Feb 22, 2012
Campaign finance reform fails to reach goals
The emergence of super PACs shows once again that "campaign finance reform" has failed abysmally. After nearly four decades, it has achieved none of its goals. It has not purged politics of big donations, nor cured public cynicism about the influence of the rich, nor made elected leaders more trusted....
COMMENTARY
Feb 15, 2012
Disability program reveals U.S. budget quagmire
Social Security's disability program is a political quagmire — and a metaphor for why federal spending and budget deficits are so difficult to control. The numbers are too big; the details, too complicated; and the choices, when faced, too wrenching. President Barack Obama's new budget, estimated at...
COMMENTARY
Feb 8, 2012
World economy's uncharted territory
"The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there." — L.P. Hartley, English novelist
COMMENTARY
Jan 27, 2012
Lesson of Great Recession is too hard to accept
The recent release of the 2006 transcripts of the Federal Reserve's main policymaking body stimulated a small media frenzy: "Little Alarm Shown at Fed at Dawn of Housing Bust," headlined The Wall Street Journal. The Washington Post agreed: "As financial crisis brewed, Fed appeared unconcerned." The New...
COMMENTARY
Jan 23, 2012
Typecast 'vulture capitalist' has work cut out
For Mitt Romney, it's the best of times and the worst of times. While his New Hampshire win brings him closer to the Republican nomination, his campaign narrative against President Barack Obama may be unraveling.
COMMENTARY
Jan 5, 2012
Why Obama will (won't) win re-election in 2012
Could 2012 turn conventional wisdom on its head? Here's the conventional wisdom: U.S. President Barack Obama's re-election is vulnerable to the weak economy and high joblessness. Here's what might happen: The economy gradually improves, and although unemployment stays high (exceeding 8 percent), what...
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2011
Debt undermines the classic answer to recession
"Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some defunct economist."
Who needs AI when you have Hatsune Miku?
Over the first six months of 2024, a handful of songs using Vocaloid singer Hatsune Miku’s voice have enjoyed widespread attention, underlining a global interest in the character and the technology she represents.
Bloodied Trump survives assassination attempt at political rally
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is surrounded and evacuated by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. Trump was rushed off stage at the rally after shots rang out.
Shooter came within inches of killing Trump, but left few clues as to why
An aerial view shows the stage where Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump had been standing during an assassination attempt the day before, and the roof of a nearby building where a gunman was shot dead by law enforcement, in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Sunday.
Yen’s woes seem too big for even a BOJ hike this month to solve
The Bank of Japan headquarters in Tokyo
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
How to beat Japan’s summer heat in ways better for the planet
Tenugui towels hang up to dry at a dyeing company in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture, on May 8. The durable and versatile tenugui, which many people have in their homes, can be used in many ways to cool one’s body.
After Trump shooting, U.S. presidential race might take a violent turn
United States Secret Service Counter Snipers stand guard on a rooftop during a campaign rally for U.S. President Donald Trump in Avoca, Pennsylvania, in 2020.
No AC this summer? No problem (for me).
Think air conditioning is a requirement for a Tokyo summer? Think again.
She’s paying ¥1 million to help behind the scenes at the Paris Olympics
Mai Tarumi, who previously volunteered at the postponed Tokyo Olympics in 2021, has a travel budget of ¥1 million for her trip to volunteer at the Paris Games.

Podcast

You can often see generations of families enjoying performances together at Fuji Rock Festival.
Japan’s summer music festivals are feeling the heat in more ways than one

Longform

Akiko Trush says her experience with the neurological disorder dystonia left her feeling like she wanted to chop her own hand off.
The neurological disorder that 'kills culture'
By Tomoko Otake

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