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Democrats preside over stronger national economies

Are you worried that the economy grew by only 1.9% in the recent quarter? That’s a pretty weak performance. But it would seem downright dismal if you believed Donald Trump’s assertion during the 2016 campaign that 1.9% growth during one of Barack Obama’s quarters signaled an economy “in deep trouble.” Economists are now forecasting 1.8% gross domestic product growth in the fourth quarter. Things are most definitely slowing down. Clearly, Trump will not whip the economy into the 4% annual growth he bragged about during the campaign. Never mind 6%. And despite the economy’s ...

The importance of ‘no-men’ to any successful leader

Shortly after Jim Bakker’s release from prison in July 1994, I invited the disgraced TV evangelist to my home. There was an important question I wanted to ask him. Some background: Bakker and his “Praise the Lord” (PTL) associates sold $1,000 “lifetime memberships” to people who were promised annual three-night stays at his Heritage USA luxury hotel complex in Fort Mill, S.C. According to what prosecutors revealed at his trial on fraud charges, Bakker sold tens of thousands of these memberships for a hotel that had only 500 rooms planned and was never completed. It was ...

Rule levels playing field, sort of

Adam Hoffer and Jared Pincin Tribune News Service The NCAA recently announced it will allow college athletes to profit from their names, images and likenesses beginning January 2021. The landmark decision is long overdue. The question on everyone’s mind is, “What happens now?” The new era should be fairer — for athletes, for many universities and even for fans pining for better competition. While officials have not yet decided on the not-so-small details of how these payments will be constrained, enforced and monitored, college athletes could soon earn what they’re ...

Social media platforms and fate of truth

It may be too much. And also too little. Meaning last week’s announcement by Twitter that it is banning all political advertising over concerns that the medium gives politicians too much reach, too much power to deceive. News of the ban, which takes effect later this month, comes as that other social media giant — Facebook — struggles with fallout from its refusal to reject untrue political ads. Meaning not simply “spin,” but flat-out falsehoods. CEO Mark Zuckerberg, whose understanding of the First Amendment evidences all the depth of a “Schoolhouse Rock!” video, seems to ...

Holidays don’t start too early. You start late

It was just Halloween, the day of orange and black, ghosts and spiders, and a frightening warning that must not be ignored: You are way behind preparing for Christmas. Do not lament the glimmering first appearances of lights and trees in stores around July 4. Anyone worth their homemade caramels knows that putting on a good old-fashioned holiday celebration is a lot of labor. And it can’t be done in a panic at 10 p.m. on Christmas Eve or the first night of Hanukkah in Walgreens, though that sacred ritual has its place. No life hack will allow you to fully relish the season if you ...

Analytical software is relevant

Jo Boaler and Steven D. Levitt Los Angeles Times Thanks to the information revolution, a stunning 90% of the data created by humanity has been generated in just the past two years. Yet the math taught in U.S. schools hasn't materially changed since Sputnik was sent into orbit in the late 1950s. Our high school students are taught algebra, geometry, a second year of algebra and calculus (for the most advanced students) because Eisenhower-era policymakers believed this curriculum would produce the best rocket scientists to work on projects during the Cold War. It has been 50 years ...