By Ralph Benko “Forget it, Jake. It’s Chinatown.” Donald Trump continues to dominate and fascinate. Why? Politics, like comic books, … More
Category: Columns
As Bernie Sanders Dismantles Hillary Clinton Let The GOP Discover Human Capitalism
By Ralph Benko While the Mass Media has been obsessing on the Donald Trump phenomenon, Bernie Sanders has been packing … More
The Turkish Enigma
By George Friedman In my “Net Assessment of the World,” I argued that four major segments of the European and … More
High Tech Guru George Gilder Demolishes A Critical Myth About The Gold Standard
By Ralph Benko What if the gold standard is not an antique but, rather, a “timeless classic” (as termed in … More
An Empire Strikes Back: Germany and the Greek Crisis
By George Friedman A desperate battle was fought last week. It pitted Germany and Greece against each other. Each country … More
Reagan Economist Larry Kudlow Reveals The Republicans’ Secret Agenda
by Ralph Benko The Revelation: “All we want,” said Kudlow, “is for everybody to get richer.” Therein hangs a tale. … More
Beyond the Greek Impasse
By George Friedman The Greek situation — having perhaps outlived the term “crisis,” now that it has taken so long … More
Jeb Bush And Rand Paul Throw The 2016 Presidential Race Into Overdrive
By Ralph Benko Last month the GOP suddenly awoke. As Michael Tomasky wrote in the March 19 issue of the … More
John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, And The Congress Ride Into A Box Canyon….
by Ralph Benko The New York Times considerately gives us an early look at the Box Canyon into which the … More
The Middle Eastern Balance of Power Matures
By George Friedman Last week, a coalition of predominantly Sunni Arab countries, primarily from the Arabian Peninsula and organized by … More
Where does Rio go next?
By Solange Monteiro Rio de Janeiro city celebrates its 450th birthday this month amid questions about what permanent gifts the … More
Rand Paul Draws Liberal Fire As The Left Discovers Its Inner Love Of The Fed
By Ralph Benko The New Republic, in its February 8th issue, carries an article by Danny Vinik entitled Rand Paul … More
Jeb Bush Makes A Grand Supply Side Entrance
By Ralph Benko The Republican Party has an embarrassment of riches in good prospective presidential contenders for next year’s race. … More
Germany Emerges
By George Friedman German Chancellor Angela Merkel, accompanied by French President Francois Hollande, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on … More
Exclusive Interview With Rand Paul, Human Capitalist
by Ralph Benko Rand Paul recently sat with me to share some of his views. The insights on his worldview … More
Guantanamo Bay’s Place in U.S. Strategy
By Sim Tack Last week, the Cuban government declared that for the United States and Cuba to normalize relations, the United … More
Brazil’s 2015 economic outlook: Rebalancing will not be easy
By Solange Monteiro Dramatic events in the second half of 2014 transformed the scenario at the turn of the year … More
The Biggest Money Player In Politics Is The Fed
By Ralph Benko Washington finally shows signs of coming to grips with the importance of money to politics. This is … More
The New Drivers of Europe’s Geopolitics
By George Friedman For the past two weeks, I have focused on the growing fragmentation of Europe. Two weeks ago, … More
The Unsung X-Factor That Could Upend The Next Presidential Election
By Ralph Benko One, and only one, candidate, Barack Obama, caught the X-factor and improbably got himself nominated and elected, … More
George Friedman’s Top Five Events in 2014
By George Friedman ‘Tis the season to make lists, and a list shall be made. We tend to see each … More
The Geopolitics of U.S.-Cuba Relations
By George Friedman Last week, U.S. President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro agreed to an exchange of prisoners being … More
The Fed War: Yellen Doctrine vs. Volcker Doctrine
by Ralph Benko The financial markets are on a hair trigger as to when, and how quickly, the Fed will … More
How the ‘Reserve’ Dollar Harms America
By Lewis E. Lehrman And John D. Mueller For more than three decades we have called attention in the Wall … More
Brazil Inflation: Nowhere to go but up?
By Thais Thimoteo If in 2013 producers and consumers split the cost of price increases evenly, in 2014 the cost … More
Viewing Russia from the inside
By George Friedman Last week I flew into Moscow, arriving at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 8. It gets dark in … More
The Gold Standard Did Not Cause The Great Depression, Part 2
by Ralph Benko As noted in my previous column, AEI’s James Pethokoukis and National Review‘s Ramesh Ponnuru — among many … More
What the Fall of the Wall Did Not Change
By George Friedman Twenty-five years ago, a crowd filled with an uneasy mixture of joy and rage tore down the Berlin … More
The Gold Standard Did Not Cause The Great Depression, Part 1
by Ralph Benko AEI’s James Pethokoukis and National Review’s Ramesh Ponnuru — among many others — appear to have fallen … More
Principle, Rigor and Execution Matter in U.S. Foreign Policy
By George Friedman U.S. President Barack Obama has come under intense criticism for his foreign policy, along with many other … More
Janet Yellen, Politicizing the Fed?
By Ralph Benko Janet Yellen gave a widely noted speech, Perspectives on Inequality and Opportunity from the Survey of Consumer Finances, at … More
The Similarities Between Germany and China
By George Friedman I returned last weekend from a monthlong trip to both East Asia and Europe. I discovered three … More
Germany Fights on Two Fronts to Preserve Eurozone
By Adriano Bosoni and Mark Fleming-Williams The European Court of Justice announced Sept. 22 that hearings in the case against … More
End the Fed’s War on Paychecks
By Ralph Benko The Democratic Party has made “income inequality” a signature issue for the 2014 (and, presumably, 2016) election … More
The Origins and Implications of the Scottish Referendum
By George Friedman The idea of Scottish independence has moved from the implausible to the very possible. Whether or not it … More
A Money Revolt is needed: Fix The Dollar With Gold
By Ralph Benko The Tax Revolt has run its course. A Money Revolt is needed. Steve Forbes, with Elizabeth Ames, … More
The Virtue of Subtlety: A U.S. Strategy Against the Islamic State
By George Friedman U.S. President Barack Obama said recently that he had no strategy as yet toward the Islamic State … More
Ukraine, Iraq and a Black Sea Strategy
By George Friedman The United States is, at the moment, off balance. It faces challenges in the Syria-Iraq theater as well … More
Who is Rand Paul?
by Ralph Benko For starters, Rand is short for Randal, not an allusion to Ayn Rand, after whom Sen. Paul … More
Terrorism as Theater
By Robert D. Kaplan The beheading of American journalist James Foley by the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq was much … More
