Canada’s Trudeau Pushes Keynesian Stimulus
Ottawa — Fiscal stimulus may be what the doctor ordered for the world economy, but Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will have a tough time persuading his peers to swallow the medicine. Canada’s new Liberal government is expected to post a shortfall of about $22.5 billion in its debut budget, representing one of biggest expansionary swings in fiscal policy in the nation’s history. It’s the sort of activism increasingly touted within...
Consumer Confidential: Airlines Don’t Do Much to Protect Their Customers’ Personal Information
If someone says “sharing economy,” you probably think Uber or Airbnb. You should think instead about your privacy. Do something online and your personal information will be shared with other businesses itching to spam you with marketing pitches. It’s a practice common to almost all industries. The problem lies in how all this data sharing is disclosed to consumers — and how difficult companies often make it to limit who can access...
Paid Parental Leave Work for Blue-Collar
In the rash of American companies to roll out generous parental leave policies over the past few weeks — Netflix! Goldman Sachs! Adobe! Microsoft! — Thursday’s announcement that McLean, Virginia-based Hilton Hotels would be giving new mothers 10 paid weeks off and fathers two weeks off got little press. Just another company seeking to jump on the PR bandwagon, one might conclude, perhaps laudable but not especially noteworthy....
Ben Bernanke: Interest Rate Critics Wrong
Washington — Federal Reserve chairs are experts at being boring. They use words like “moderate,” “uncertain,” or “stability” like we use the words “um,” “and,” or “but.” It’s, as former Fed Chair Alan Greenspan put it, a “language of purposeful obfuscation” that drones on so long you forget what was just asked, let alone whether this answered it, just as long as it’s mercifully over. But now that he’s free of the strictures of office,...
Yellen Touts Slow, Steady Approach
Washington — Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Friday that any increase in rock-bottom interest rates to “more normal” levels would be gradual and that rates would remain low “for some time” while the economy continues to recover. But she also said the effects of central bank policy can take a while to kick in, and she cautioned that the Fed should not wait too long before taking its first step in six years toward traditional...
