https://www.scmp.com/rss/501080/feed Todd G. Buchholz, a former White House director of economic policy under president George H.W. Bush and managing director of the Tiger hedge fund, is the author of New Ideas from Dead Economists and The Price of Prosperity, and co-author of the musical Glory Ride. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Todd G. Buchholz Todd G. Buchholz Ever since the Reagan boom of the 1980s, many elites outside the United States have been telling Americans that they have been hoodwinked – that cutting taxes and regulations is a reckless, unnecessary way to spur growth. Countries that provide generous childcare subsidies and wrap businesses in reams of red tape still enjoy equivalent incomes, the argument goes. So why put up with a rugged, muddy cowboy economy? Two reasons stand out. First, over the past 10 years, US income growth has left... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3325463/why-world-still-free-riding-america?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3325463/why-world-still-free-riding-america?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 14 Sep 2025 06:30:09 +0000 Globalisation is on its deathbed, which is reflected in the bipartisan disdain for free trade in the United States. Both former president Donald Trump and Vice-President Kamala Harris have seemed tariff-happy in the run-up to the presidential election. This backlash poses more danger to the rest of the world than it does to America. After the 2008 global financial crisis, the US economy staged a remarkable rebound starting in 2016. Following that year’s fractious election battle between Trump... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3285220/made-america-20-giving-china-run-its-money?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/world-opinion/article/3285220/made-america-20-giving-china-run-its-money?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 05 Nov 2024 06:30:09 +0000 The US today not only looks ill, but dead broke. To offset the pandemic-induced economic downturn, the US Federal Reserve and Congress have marshalled staggering sums of stimulus spending, out of fear that the economy would otherwise plunge to 1930s soup-kitchen levels. The 2020 federal budget deficit is projected to reach 18 per cent of GDP, and the US debt-to-GDP ratio hurdle over the 100 per cent mark. Assuming that America eventually defeats Covid-19, how will it avoid the approaching fiscal... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3098246/us-coronavirus-stimulus-end-its-americans-who-must-pay-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3098246/us-coronavirus-stimulus-end-its-americans-who-must-pay-it?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 21 Aug 2020 17:30:11 +0000 There is a dirty little secret in economics today: the United States has benefited – and continues to benefit – from the global slump. The US economy is humming along, even while protesters in the UK hurl milkshakes at Brexiteers, French President Emmanuel Macron confronts nihilist yellow-vested marchers and Chinese tech firms such as Huawei fear being frozen out of foreign markets. Last year, the US economy grew by 2.9 per cent, while the euro zone expanded by just 1.8 per cent, giving... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3013345/china-and-europe-are-slump-us-economy-profiting-their-pain-thanks?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3013345/china-and-europe-are-slump-us-economy-profiting-their-pain-thanks?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 06 Jun 2019 17:00:15 +0000