“The undramatic truth is that NAFTA was never truly villain or hero. … NAFTA was always far from perfect and there is a need to update it — not surprising for an agreement negotiated a quarter century ago. But just as NAFTA did not cause inequality, killing NAFTA would do nothing to address it,” writes Frederick “Fritz” Mayer.
Read More in The HillCategory: Business
CEOs Under Fire to Dump Trump Over Response
Within 24 hours on Monday, the chief executives of Under Armour (UA), Intel and Merck (MRK) quit Trump’s manufacturing council in protest over his initial failure to condemn white supremacists. Corporate leaders who were once eager for a seat at the Trump table are increasingly deciding the costs outweigh the benefits.
“Unquestionably, CEOs would prefer to remain silent. But at what point do they feel the risks of silence outweighs the risk of taking a public stance?” asks Bill Boulding, dean of The Fuqua School of Business.
Read More on CNN
Bills in NC, Congress Target Companies That Boycott Israel
“The government has the power to control its own message, for example, by deciding which programs it wants to subsidize in the first place,” says law professor Joseph Blocher. “That’s what’s called government speech, and one might argue that HB 161 is just a matter of North Carolina choosing not to support certain viewpoints with which it disagrees.”
Read More in Indy Week
Congress And Big Self-Driving Car Companies
“I do think the chumminess is due to industry pressure,” says Missy Cummings, a former naval pilot who runs Duke’s Humans and Autonomy Laboratory. “Companies are pouring significant money into lobbying efforts for both sides, so I think you are seeing this influence in how quickly these bills are being pushed through.”
Read More in The Verge
Gov. Brown is Supporting a Giveaway to Polluters
“California currently has one of the most comprehensive climate change and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction programs in the world,” writes Mark Paul, a postdoctoral associate at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity. However, legislation supported by Gov. Jerry Brown “falls woefully short” if the goal is to safeguard both the Earth’s climate and the health of Californians, while promoting economic security of Californian families, he writes.
Read More in The Huffington Post
Senate Republicans Plan Even Harsher Cuts To Medicaid Than House GOP
The Senate is contemplating a change in Medicaid that would cut it even more than the $830-billion proposed by the House, according to a proposal leaked from an Obamacare repeal bill. Lowering the growth rate of Medicaid is “a massive cut of future growth,” says health insurance expert David Anderson, a researcher at the Margolis Center for Health Policy.
Read More in The Los Angeles Times
GOP’s American Health Care Act Will Cost Lives
“With Senate Republicans gearing up to pass a healthcare reform bill that will likely maintain the deep cuts to Medicaid, low-income households and minorities are most likely to lose insurance and their lives will be more endangered,” writes Mark Paul, an economist and a postdoctoral associate at the Samuel DuBois Cook Center on Social Equity.
Read More on Dollars and Sense
Trump’s Decision on Paris Climate Change Agreement
Energy expert Brian Murray joins a panel to discuss the president’s decision to pull the United States out of the agreement. Murray says the move means the world’s second-largest emitter of greenhouse gases is stepping away from the international process to address emissions over the next several decades, and that the responsibility will now fall on other nations. (starts at 8:25 mark)
Watch More on “Capital Tonight”
Reactions To Trump’s Climate Accord Decision
“The notion that this change in policy will somehow resurrect the coal mine sector is a little bit hard to fathom,” says Brian Murray, interim director of Duke’s Energy Initiative. “Coal mining is subject to market forces that reduced employment significantly over the last several decades.”
Watch More on ABC11
Five Reasons Why the US-Vietnam Relationship Matters
“The White House visit by Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc on May 31 will be the first by a leader of a Southeast Asian nation since Trump’s inauguration. It signals awareness of the tremendous opportunity to build on the foundations laid by Presidents Bush and Obama to establish a strong framework for cooperative development and peaceful engagement,” write political scientist Edmund Malesky and Renate Kwon, program manager of the Southeast Asia Research Group.
Read More on Medium
History of Business Fraud in America
Edward Balleisen, associate professor of history and public policy, talks about the history of business fraud in America as a guest on C-SPAN2’s “Book TV.” Balleisen’s recent book, “Fraud: An American History from Barnum to Madoff,” looks at the development of regulations to protect consumers and investors.
Watch More on C-SPAN2
Why Suckering Americans is a Booming Business
“We now have an administration in Washington that trashes regulation of all sorts and appoints vehement opponents of regulation to run federal agencies. It’s not hard to imagine that enforcement budgets for consumer and investor protection will once again take a big hit, and that federal regulators will adopt a more forgiving posture toward dodgy marketing tactics,” writes Edward Balleisen, associate professor of history and public policy.
Read More in Zocalo
