(Bloomberg View) -- Forecast: Cloudy With a Chance of Deficit Spending
Tax cuts paired with high spending aren’t actually tax cuts — they’re levies imposed on poor saps in the future. That’s too bad, Megan McArdle says, because Donald Trump and congressional Republicans agree on one policy, and somebody’s going to pay for it.
OPEC Oil Deal Sells Fake News for Real Money
Sure, OPEC and Russia agreed to a “grand bargain” to cut oil production this week, but will they follow through? Leonid Bershidsky says that in a way, it doesn’t even matter: Saudi Arabia and Russia have mastered the art of regulating prices with words, and oil traders don’t care as long as they have a story to trade on.
Boosting Wages Is Hard to Do
Donald Trump says he wants workers to make more money, and Noah Smith thinks he could make it happen. How? By controlling health-care costs, investing in cities, strengthening labor, and ... well, keeping a lot of policies from the Obama administration.
Trump’s Commercial Empire Isn’t Too Big to Sell
His global business is too vast, sprawling and complicated to hand off to a third party, some of the president-elect’s supporters claim — but looking at the numbers, Timothy L. O’Brien finds the Trump Organization is little more than a family-owned boutique business.
Recounts Aren’t Useless. They’re Scientific!
Science relies on replication. Shouldn’t the same apply to vote-counting? Faye Flam argues the push for recounts will only strengthen the electoral system.
Ritholtz’s Reads
- We are all populists now (Yardeni)
- Incredibly difficult interview questions asked by top hedge funds (eFinancial)
- How baby boomers became the most selfish generation (Business Insider)
(Read Barry Ritholtz’s full daily news roundup.)
Bloomberg Gadfly
- Nestle’s Willy Wonka moment
- OPEC wants a party. Just not this party.
- China’s luxury car tax eclipsed by the race for status
This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
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