News October 14, 2019

News Stories

• Bernie Sanders explains what hinted at heart attack

  SPEAKER: Sanjay Gupta

  (CNN) – 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders sits down with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta to talk about his recovery and health after suffering from a heart attack.

• Pot Legalization Makes Vaping Deadly

  SPEAKER: Scott Gottlieb

  (Wall Street Journal) – Doctors have linked a tragic wave of lung injuries and deaths to the vaping of tainted marijuana concentrates. The episode reveals the dangers created by the federal government’s decadelong refusal to challenge state laws legalizing pot and promoting risky uses of its derivatives.

• CNBC’s full interview with former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina

  SPEAKER: Carly Fiorina

  (CNBC) – Full interview with Carly Fiorina, former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and chairman of Carly Fiorina Enterprises, and her take on U.S.-China trade tensions, Hong Kong protests, corporate governance and more.

• China’s three-body problem

  SPEAKER: Niall Ferguson

  (The Boston Globe) – Two weeks ago, I bet the Chinese economist Justin Yifu Lin 20,000 yuan that China’s economy — defined as gross domestic product in current US dollars—will never overtake that of the United States. Most informed people would expect me to lose that bet.

• Even I get overwhelmed by politics – here’s what I do when I need a break

  SPEAKER: Newt Gingrich

  (Fox News) – Most any person who keeps up with American politics today – and wants to keep his or her sanity – must, from time to time, step away from the news-social media idea storm and engage a diversion.

• Mike Pence Failed in His Most Important Duty

  SPEAKER: David Frum

  (The Atlantic) – The vice president is supposed to be prepared to step into the nation’s highest office if necessary.

• European Millennials Are Not Like Their American Counterparts

  SPEAKER: Niall Ferguson

  (The Atlantic) – Under-30s in Europe are more disposed than their parents are to view poverty as a result of an individual’s choice.

• We are in an age of Wisdom, but also an age of foolishness

  SPEAKER: Sanjay Gupta

  (CNN) – When [Dr. Gupta] released “Weed” in 2013, few people had ever heard of cannabidiol, or CBD. Now, two-thirds of Americans are familiar with the compound, and 1 in 7 have tried it. Most of the country, 93%, are in favor of medical marijuana and hemp-derived CBD itself, which has less than 0.3% THC, has been legalized in every state.

• Bill Clinton Had a Strategy. Trump is Doing the Opposite.

  SPEAKER: David Frum

  (The Atlantic ) – During the Lewinsky scandal, Clinton focused on doing his job. Trump isn’t even pretending.

• Could this be Trump’s Chernobyl?

  SPEAKER: Niall Ferguson

  (The Boston Globe) – The key point “Chernobyl” makes is that the chronic inefficiency, corruption and untruthfulness of Soviet life guaranteed that one day a catastrophe like the explosion of the Chernobyl reactor would happen — and that the first impulse of the country’s communist rulers would be to try to cover it up.

• A Realist’s Guide to Impeachment

  SPEAKER: David Frum

  (The Atlantic) – An impeachment of President Donald Trump is both deserved and dangerous. That it’s deserved is clear from each day’s news reports. The danger is getting lost in the rush of events.

• Taking Action in Hong Kong is in America’s Moral and Economic Interest

  SPEAKER: Newt Gingrich

  (Newsweek) – As the Hong Kong protests continue and the calls for freedom for the people of Hong Kong become more widespread, the United States now has an opportunity to take action.

• Greta Thunberg’s unforgettable message

  SPEAKER: Jen Psaki

  (CNN) – Greta Thunberg, a 16-year-old Swedish activist, just reminded us all what exactly is at stake with the crisis of climate change.

• Collaboration is Key to fix King County’s homelessness Crisis

  SPEAKER: Gary Locke

  (Seattle Times) – More than 11,000 people are experiencing homelessness in King County and Seattle. That is a big problem — but communities around the country have implemented effective policies and solutions, and so can we.

• We’ve Reached the Breaking Point

  SPEAKER: David Frum

  (The Atlantic) – The Ukraine scandal confirms that Trump knows he can act with impunity—and no one will stop him.

• Science Fiction Has Become Utopian Fact

  SPEAKER: Niall Ferguson

  (The Times) – So which dystopia are we living in? Orwell and Huxley were not the first to fear an age of mass surveillance.

• The Ascent of Digital Money

  SPEAKER: Niall Ferguson

  (The Boston Globe) – China’s online payment platforms are the real threat to US hegemony.

• Many Secrets, No Mysteries

  SPEAKER: David Frum

  (The Atlantic) – A whistleblower complaint raises the possibility that President Trump has betrayed the duties of his office.

• California rail project’s future in question

  SPEAKER: Scott Walker

  (Fox Business) – The high-speed rail in California is a disastrous project that, once again, made headlines. The Los Angeles Times broke the story that top California Democratic legislators agreed to divert billions in remaining bullet-train funds to the Los Angeles region and the San Francisco Bay Area rail systems.

• Michael Pillsbury predicts China trade deal will be ‘monumental’

  SPEAKER: Michael Pillsbury

  (Fox Business) – Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Michael Pillsbury explains how the Hong Kong protests could impact a trade deal between the U.S. and China. 

• Carly Fiorina on Trump: ‘I don’t think he has been a business leader, actually. I think he’s been a very fine entertainer and manager of his brand.’

  SPEAKER: Carly Fiorina

  (The Washington Post) – After Carly Fiorina, 65, ended her GOP presidential primary run in 2016, the former chief executive of Hewlett-Packard dedicated herself to leadership training. Despite a recent microburst of media speculation that she might launch a primary challenge to President Trump, she has “no plans” to run, according to a source close to her.

• Seven Questions That Need Answers Before Any Attack on Iran

  SPEAKER: David Frum

  (The Atlantic) – President Trump’s threats of retaliation for strikes on Saudi oil facilities seem premature.

• America is broken – but my daughter can tell you how to fix it

  SPEAKER: Newt Gingrich

  (Fox News) – As the 2020 election nears, we are going to hear more and more about all the divides in America. The national media are going to latch onto and amplify all the ways in which Americans disagree with one another.

• How the memories of Sept. 11 bolster resolve

  SPEAKER: Scott Walker

  (The Washington Times) – On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I was filling the kids’ bowls full of cereal before sending them off to school. Tonette called me from work and told me to turn on the television in the living room. I did.

• Bair Gives To Washington Scholars

  SPEAKER: Sheila Bair

  (The Elm) – This past summer, former Washington College President Sheila Bair donated $20,000 to the Washington Scholars program.

• Dr. Scott Gottlieb: Kids find cartridge-based vapes most accessible, appealing

  SPEAKER: Scott Gottlieb

  (CNBC) – Dr. Scott Gottlieb, a member on Pfizer’s board and former FDA commissioner, discusses the White House announcing a possible ban on e-cigarettes. 

• Newt Gingrich reacts to Trump’s explosive North Carolina rally

  SPEAKER: Newt Gingrich

  (Fox News) – Newt Gingrich reacts to President Trump’s rally in North Carolina, Trump’s 2020 chances.

• A Nobel Prize in Honor of Economic Growth

  SPEAKER: Paul Romer

  (Bloomberg) – This year’s Nobel Prize in Economics went to William Nordhaus and Paul Romer, both very deserving and indeed anticipated picks. Nordhaus is best known for his models of the cost of climate change, and Romer for his work on the dynamics of ideas and economic growth.

• Economist Romer’s Tech Industry Proposal: Taxation Over Regulation

  SPEAKER: Paul Romer

  (Bloomberg) – Paul Romer, NYU Stern Professor of Economics and recipient of the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, discusses his proposal to tax digital advertising revenue of technology companies in lieu of regulation.

• Nobel Laureate Romer on the Economics of Higher Wealth Taxes

  SPEAKER: Paul Romer

  (Bloomberg) – NYU Stern School Professor of Economics Paul Romer, recipient of the 2018 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, discusses the economic impact of proposals to increase taxes on the wealthy in the United States.

• Nobel Laureate Romer Sees Effects of Uncertainty Dampening Investment

  SPEAKER: Paul Romer

  (Bloomberg) – NYU Stern Professor of Economics and 2018 Nobel Laureate in Economics Paul Romer discusses the impact of uncertainty from trade, tariffs, and politics on markets and investing.

• TIME’S 25 MOST INFLUENTIAL AMERICANS

  SPEAKER: Paul Romer

  (TIME) – How do you weigh the economic benefit of the thoughts in Bill Gates’ head? The sand on a beach can be measured, but how do you calibrate the value of the idea that turned those silica grains into silicon microchips? Though they sound like questions from a Mensa parlor game, they’re actually from the work of economist Paul Romer, and his answers may just revolutionize the study of economics.

• Q&A: Paul Romer on ‘Mathiness’ and the State of Economics

  SPEAKER: Paul Romer

  (The Wall Street Journal) – A Democratic U.S. presidential candidate has pledged to grow the economy by spending hundreds of billions of dollars on college education and eliminating tax deductions for the wealthy. A Republican promises to bring the growth rate to 4% a year by cutting taxes and reducing government regulations. How do we know what might work?

• Arts Meets Science and Chemistry Wins the Day

  SPEAKER: Paul Romer

  (The New York Times) – Forgive Paul M. Romer for turning two of the greatest days of his life into a one-day event. He was just being economical.

• A Terrible Thing to Waste

  SPEAKER: Paul Romer

  (New York Times) – Just after Barack Obama’s election in November, Rahm Emanuel, his chief of staff, made this memorable statement to an interviewer: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”

• Who Wants to Buy Honduras?

  SPEAKER: Paul Romer

  (New York Times) – Shortly after the 2009 coup that overthrew Manuel Zelaya, Honduras’s newly elected president, Porfirio Lobo, asked his aides to think big, really big. How could Honduras, the original banana republic, reform a political and economic system that kept nearly two-thirds of its people in grim poverty?

• Recommendations for World Bank

  SPEAKER: Paul Romer

  (Financial Times) – As the World Bank’s board considers nominations for the institution’s next president (Donald Trump is expected to nominate David Malpass, the US Treasury department’s top official on international affairs), there are two critical ways he or she can make the bank more effective.

• A Tax That Could Fix Big Tech

  SPEAKER: Paul Romer

  (The New York Times) – Putting a levy on targeted ad revenue would give Facebook and Google a real incentive to change their dangerous business models.

• Boris vs. Jo — oh brother

  SPEAKER: Niall Ferguson

  (The Boston Globe) – To lose 21 members of Parliament may be regarded as a misfortune; to lose your own brother looks like carelessness.

• Speak Up, John Bolton

  SPEAKER: David Frum

  (The Atlantic) – Whatever else he has been through in his career, John Bolton is a patriot. He has been impelled by a strong vision of the national interest.

• Here’s how illegal vapes might be making people sick

  SPEAKER: Scott Gottlieb

  (CNBC) -Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former FDA commissioner and currently a member of Pfizer’s board, discusses the five deaths that have now been linked to vaping. 

• Former FDIC Chair on the Fed’s plans for a real-time payment system

  SPEAKER: Sheila Bair

  (Yahoo Finance) – Former FDIC Sheila Bair discusses the Federal Reserve’s plans to speed up money transfers with real-time payments.

• Throwing Money at Poor Communities Won’t Fix Them

  SPEAKER: Newt Gingrich

  (Newsweek) – When I reread Theodore White’s Making of the President 1972, the biggest surprise was not political, it was in policy.

• A Nobel-Winning Economist Goes to Burning Man

  SPEAKER: Paul Romer

  (The New York Times) – Amid the desert orgies, Paul Romer investigates a provocative question: Is this bacchanal a model of urban planning?

• Health Reform Progress Beyond Repeal and Replace

  SPEAKER: Brian Blase

  (The Galen Institute) – From the start of 2017 through the fall of that year, Congress labored to pass legislation to replace large parts of the Affordable Care Act.

• Trump can support Hong Kong freedom fighters with these actions

  SPEAKER: Newt Gingrich

  (Fox News) – The Chinese Communist Party faces a crisis of its own making in Hong Kong.

• Face The Nation: What Does Warren’s Rise In The Polls Mean For Her Campaign?

  SPEAKER: David Frum

  (CBS) – Jamal Simmons, David Frum, Michael Crowley and Laura Barron-Lopez discuss a new poll that shows Elizabeth Warren rising in aggregate early state contests.

• What if we lost electric power … for years?

  SPEAKER: Newt Gingrich

  (Fox News) – Imagine the power just went out. How would your life be immediately affected?

• US and China in the early stages of a second Cold War

  SPEAKER: Niall Ferguson

  (CNBC) – Niall Ferguson, senior fellow at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution, discusses world politics and the U.S.-China trade war.

• The Trade War’s Winners Don’t Include Us

  SPEAKER: Robert Zoellick

  (The Wall Street Journal) – Lost foreign markets, retaliation, higher prices, falling investment. Where’s the upside?