A major factor behind the soaring growth of risky wealth-management products in China is that investors typically think the government stands behind them. Lately, nervous regulators have been emphasizing that this isn’t so. But they’ll have to do a lot more to change expectations in a state-dominated economy.Wealth-management products are short-term, high-yielding investments that are issued by banks. The market for such products is now worth close to $4 trillion, or nearly 40 percent of China’s

Some European regulators have come up with a viable plan to alleviate the region’s chronic financial paralysis. If only European politicians, particularly in Germany, would listen.The European Union’s leaders have spent much of the past decade debating -- but never fully resolving -- what to do about the huge pile of bad loans that EU banks are sitting on, most recently estimated at more than 1 trillion euros ($1.06 trillion). Nobody knows how large the losses will ultimately be and this uncerta

Pay no attention to that unpresidential man tweeting behind the curtain, almost every day, often before sunrise. His pathological defensiveness, juvenile bullying, taunting, name-calling, distorting and outright lying are unworthy of your respect. Believe me.　Pay big-league attention to that suddenly presidential-sounding man you saw addressing a joint session of Congress Tuesday night. He seemed, for the first time after a month on the job, to be speaking like an adult who realizes he must actu

President Donald Trump has shown an exasperating ability to send mixed signals on important issues, few more exasperating or important than illegal immigration. The disconnect was on full display Tuesday.At a luncheon, the president told journalists that he supports reforms that would grant legal status to millions of immigrants here illegally who have not committed serious crimes, and perhaps provide a path to citizenship for Dreamers, those brought here as children.In his speech before Congres

Acting on the lurid demonization of immigrants as criminals that kicked off his campaign, President Donald Trump recently issued two anti-immigrant executive orders.　As a result, a Mexican citizen living in El Paso, Texas, was detained when she left a battered women’s shelter where she had sought a protective order against her abusive boyfriend.Daniel Ramirez Medina, 23, and Josue Romero, 19, who are in the United States under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, commonly called D

I write in response to the Feb. 26 article “Teacher letters become headache for all,” in which the author portrays a deceitful and deplorable college recommendation letter system replete with students composing and embellishing their own recommendation letters, letters that teachers have a professional and moral responsibility to write and sign.Over the years, I have written many recommendation letters for students whom have earned my word with diligence, respect, integrity and dedication. I hav

Donald Trump’s 2016 call to “Make America Great Again” suggested that the country’s economy is paling in comparison to prior times and can be reignited toward a renewed economic prosperity. In the same year, noted economist Robert Gordon published “The Rise and Fall of American Economic Growth.”　Gordon argues that the century from 1870 to 1970 was unique. Imagine the improvement in quality of life due to water and sewer systems, public transportation, electricity; provisions of privacy; and time

President Trump declared Tuesday night that “we must support the victims of crime,” which sounds like a sensible and humane notion. But Trump didn’t have all crime victims in mind, just a certain type.　As he explained in his address to Congress, he wants to form a new agency within the Department of Homeland Security called VOICE, for Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement, to provide “a voice to those who have been ignored by our media, and silenced by special interests.” That follows his rece

The start to President Donald Trump’s administration has been nothing if not contentious. Nowhere has the friction been more obvious than in his push to remake US immigration policy. Trump’s position is clear: He views new immigrants, particularly those from specific parts of the world, as a threat to US security and economics. Although this position may seem like common sense on the surface, it does not reflect the economic reality behind it.Many international news reports have already done a g

Last fall, as Native American protesters gathered at Standing Rock to stop the completion of the Dakota Access pipeline, several of my friends “checked in” at the protest on Facebook. They were nowhere near South Dakota. They had heard -- through urgent posts by other friends who were not present either -- that fake geo-tagging would protect protesters at the site from monitoring by law enforcement. NPR reported that more than a million people “checked in” at the protest camp, a digital version