The document announces a shift in focus from terrorists to βstate actorsβ that βare challenging international norms.β It is important to understand what these words mean. Governments that challenge international norms are sovereign countries that pursue policies independently of Washingtonβs policies. These βrevisionist statesβ are threats, not because they plan to attack the US, which the Pentagon admits neither Russia nor China intend, but because they are independent. In other words, the norm is dependence on Washington.Good work by PCR.
After accelerating in the late 1990s, productivity growth has slowed markedly in the past decade. The slump is a bit of a mystery given the rapid pace of technological progress, which should generally allow companies to produce more per hour of work.Incentives do matter, and guess who's stealing all the productivity gains? It's not the owners, it's inflation (just 2% a year can eat all productivity gains), which means the central bank (which means the government and their cronies).
Is it possible that after seeing generation of productivity gains creamed off by owners, American workers have finally figured out thereβs nothing in it for them, so why do it?