Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByandIn the span of six trading days, Eastman Kodak Co.’s volatile stock made millions for some and destroyed the savings of others. Kodak’s stock price first rose Monday, July 27, and then surged from $2 to as high as $60 over the following two sessions on an intraday basis thanks to the preliminary disclosure of a possible $765 million government loan to make drug ingredients at its U.S. factories. The stock then fell precipitously....To Read the Full StorySponsored Offers…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByandIn the span of six trading days, Eastman Kodak Co.’s volatile stock made millions for some and destroyed the savings of others. Kodak’s stock price first rose Monday, July 27, and then surged from $2 to as high as $60 over the following two sessions on an intraday basis thanks to the preliminary disclosure of a possible $765 million government loan to make drug ingredients at its U.S. factories. The stock then fell precipitously....To Read the Full StorySponsored OffersWW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByProgressive politicians love to wish that America’s economy could be more like Sweden’s. After Wednesday’s economic-data release there, we share the dream, albeit for different reasons. The Nordic country suffered an 8.6% decline in GDP from April to June, which sounds bad until you remember the eurozone economy contracted 12.1% in the same span with some European countries doing much worse. The U.S. economy shrank nearly 10%, or 33% on an annual basis....To Read the Full StorySponsored Offers…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByProgressive politicians love to wish that America’s economy could be more like Sweden’s. After Wednesday’s economic-data release there, we share the dream, albeit for different reasons. The Nordic country suffered an 8.6% decline in GDP from April to June, which sounds bad until you remember the eurozone economy contracted 12.1% in the same span with some European countries doing much worse. The U.S. economy shrank nearly 10%, or 33% on an annual basis....To Read the Full StorySponsored OffersWW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByNew York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the National Rifle Association, alleging that insiders violated the state’s nonprofit laws by illegally diverting tens of millions of dollars from the group through excessive expenses and contracts that benefited relatives or close associates. The extraordinary move against the nation’s largest gun-rights group comes after an 18-month investigation by Ms. James. As a nonprofit registered in New York since its founding in 1871, the NRA is regulated...To Read the Full...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByNew York Attorney General Letitia James has filed a lawsuit seeking to dissolve the National Rifle Association, alleging that insiders violated the state’s nonprofit laws by illegally diverting tens of millions of dollars from the group through excessive expenses and contracts that benefited relatives or close associates. The extraordinary move against the nation’s largest gun-rights group comes after an 18-month investigation by Ms. James. As a nonprofit registered in New York since its founding in 1871, the NRA is regulated...To Read the Full...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to Searchhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-good-tactics-bad-strategy-11596664417ByYou have to give Team Biden credit for their tactical instincts. They haven’t rested while Joe Biden polls ahead nationally and in battleground states. Instead, when surveys showed a close race in Texas, which Donald Trump carried by 9 points in 2016, the Biden campaign announced July 14 it would compete in the Lone Star State with television ads. The press took the bait and the Biden campaign savored the resulting coverage.Pliant reporters allowed the Biden campaign to get away with...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to Searchhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/bidens-good-tactics-bad-strategy-11596664417ByYou have to give Team Biden credit for their tactical instincts. They haven’t rested while Joe Biden polls ahead nationally and in battleground states. Instead, when surveys showed a close race in Texas, which Donald Trump carried by 9 points in 2016, the Biden campaign announced July 14 it would compete in the Lone Star State with television ads. The press took the bait and the Biden campaign savored the resulting coverage.Pliant reporters allowed the Biden campaign to get away with...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to Searchhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/antitrust-cant-bust-a-monopoly-of-ideas-11596643591ByThe House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee grilled the CEOs ofAlphabet,andlast week about alleged anticompetitive practices and market abuses. Chairman David Cicilline concluded by declaring that “we need to ensure the antitrust laws first written more than a century ago work in the digital age.” The American public is right to question the growing power of large corporations, but Congress misses the point by viewing this problem solely through the lens of...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to Searchhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/antitrust-cant-bust-a-monopoly-of-ideas-11596643591ByThe House Judiciary Committee’s Antitrust Subcommittee grilled the CEOs ofAlphabet,andlast week about alleged anticompetitive practices and market abuses. Chairman David Cicilline concluded by declaring that “we need to ensure the antitrust laws first written more than a century ago work in the digital age.” The American public is right to question the growing power of large corporations, but Congress misses the point by viewing this problem solely through the lens of...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to Searchhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/calpers-investment-chief-ben-meng-to-step-down-from-largest-u-s-pension-11596688494ByandCalifornia Public Employees’ Retirement System Investment Chief Ben Meng has resigned after about a year and a half in the position at the nation’s largest pension fund, according to the fund.It marks an abrupt exit for the investment chief, who set out to implement a reform agenda at the giant pension. Mr. Meng on a high-profile hometown property project, fired underperforming stock pickers and pushed staffers to take a . The resignation was...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to Searchhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/calpers-investment-chief-ben-meng-to-step-down-from-largest-u-s-pension-11596688494ByandCalifornia Public Employees’ Retirement System Investment Chief Ben Meng has resigned after about a year and a half in the position at the nation’s largest pension fund, according to the fund.It marks an abrupt exit for the investment chief, who set out to implement a reform agenda at the giant pension. Mr. Meng on a high-profile hometown property project, fired underperforming stock pickers and pushed staffers to take a . The resignation was...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByandThe crucial moment in the worst hack in Twitter Inc.’s history sounded like something millions of Americans would find unremarkable. It was a call from the IT department. Or at least, it seemed to be. In fact, the call was from a Florida teenager who convinced a Twitter employee that he was a co-worker, according to prosecutors, who revealed their case last week. The persuasion was a key leap forward during months of reconnaissance that ultimately granted the 17-year-old access to a host of Twitter accounts, including Barack...To Read the Full...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByandThe crucial moment in the worst hack in Twitter Inc.’s history sounded like something millions of Americans would find unremarkable. It was a call from the IT department. Or at least, it seemed to be. In fact, the call was from a Florida teenager who convinced a Twitter employee that he was a co-worker, according to prosecutors, who revealed their case last week. The persuasion was a key leap forward during months of reconnaissance that ultimately granted the 17-year-old access to a host of Twitter accounts, including Barack...To Read the Full...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByFutures-exchange operator CME Group Inc. has agreed to pay a fine of up to $4 million to settle a long-running lawsuit with its regulator over accusations that former exchange employees leaked confidential trading information. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission brought the case in 2013 against a CME unit, the New York Mercantile Exchange, and two former employees of the unit, known as Nymex. The CFTC accused the former employees of disclosing private information on client activities to a commodities broker in return...To Read the Full StorySponsored...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByFutures-exchange operator CME Group Inc. has agreed to pay a fine of up to $4 million to settle a long-running lawsuit with its regulator over accusations that former exchange employees leaked confidential trading information. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission brought the case in 2013 against a CME unit, the New York Mercantile Exchange, and two former employees of the unit, known as Nymex. The CFTC accused the former employees of disclosing private information on client activities to a commodities broker in return...To Read the Full StorySponsored...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByThe German press is running heavy with last Wednesday’s Pentagon press conference, in which Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirmed the U.S. will withdraw 11,900 troops from Germany. Markus Söder, minister president of the state of Bavaria, called the decision “inexplicable,” while Angela Merkel’s trans-Atlantic coordinator, Peter Beyer, said it “makes no sense geopolitically for the United States.” For its part, Germany’s anti-American Left Party welcomed the decision. Its Bundestag leader proclaimed on prime-time television: “I can’t get enough of this...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByThe German press is running heavy with last Wednesday’s Pentagon press conference, in which Defense Secretary Mark Esper confirmed the U.S. will withdraw 11,900 troops from Germany. Markus Söder, minister president of the state of Bavaria, called the decision “inexplicable,” while Angela Merkel’s trans-Atlantic coordinator, Peter Beyer, said it “makes no sense geopolitically for the United States.” For its part, Germany’s anti-American Left Party welcomed the decision. Its Bundestag leader proclaimed on prime-time television: “I can’t get enough of this...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByandEvery day since sports returned has been an ongoing experiment with a once-preposterous premise: How do players change when their offices are empty? The answer around the world is becoming clear. The world’s best athletes get better. NBA players are making a higher percentage of their free throws and hitting corner 3-pointers at rates the...To Read the Full StorySponsored Offers…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByandEvery day since sports returned has been an ongoing experiment with a once-preposterous premise: How do players change when their offices are empty? The answer around the world is becoming clear. The world’s best athletes get better. NBA players are making a higher percentage of their free throws and hitting corner 3-pointers at rates the...To Read the Full StorySponsored OffersWW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByI was a Senate page boy for a couple of summers in the early Eisenhower years. Joe McCarthy was in full cry. I would ride in the Senate elevator with him sometimes or sit near him in the toy monorail subway car that runs between the Capitol and the Senate Office Building. He had black smudges under his eyes and a hearty Elks Club way with the tourists he encountered in the halls of the Capitol. He wore rumpled dark-blue suits and gravy-catcher ties, and from time to time he would emit a mirthless chuckle (heh heh heh). If you got close, he gave off a...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByI was a Senate page boy for a couple of summers in the early Eisenhower years. Joe McCarthy was in full cry. I would ride in the Senate elevator with him sometimes or sit near him in the toy monorail subway car that runs between the Capitol and the Senate Office Building. He had black smudges under his eyes and a hearty Elks Club way with the tourists he encountered in the halls of the Capitol. He wore rumpled dark-blue suits and gravy-catcher ties, and from time to time he would emit a mirthless chuckle (heh heh heh). If you got close, he gave off a...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByMost Americans understand intuitively that if people make more money by not working, fewer people will work. Then there are politicians and economists who want to pass out more money while claiming that disincentives to work are irrelevant. The latest attempt to defy common sense is a study by Yale economists that purportedly finds the $600 federal enhancement to jobless benefits hasn’t affected the incentive to work. But the study offers limited evidence for this conclusion, which is contradicted by other data and real-world...To Read the Full...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByMost Americans understand intuitively that if people make more money by not working, fewer people will work. Then there are politicians and economists who want to pass out more money while claiming that disincentives to work are irrelevant. The latest attempt to defy common sense is a study by Yale economists that purportedly finds the $600 federal enhancement to jobless benefits hasn’t affected the incentive to work. But the study offers limited evidence for this conclusion, which is contradicted by other data and real-world...To Read the Full...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByThe most intolerable irony of the past few miserable months has been listening to our self-appointed moral leaders lecture us on the nation’s irredeemable sinfulness from the comfort of their own secure, well-upholstered positions, while we endure daily the urban nightmare of a world created by their political allies. As our cultural, media and corporate chiefs deliver their social and political wisdom from their redoubts in New York’s Hamptons, Palm Beach, Fla., and the greener pastures of the San Francisco Bay Area, America’s...To Read the Full...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByThe most intolerable irony of the past few miserable months has been listening to our self-appointed moral leaders lecture us on the nation’s irredeemable sinfulness from the comfort of their own secure, well-upholstered positions, while we endure daily the urban nightmare of a world created by their political allies. As our cultural, media and corporate chiefs deliver their social and political wisdom from their redoubts in New York’s Hamptons, Palm Beach, Fla., and the greener pastures of the San Francisco Bay Area, America’s...To Read the Full...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByin Hong Kong andin WashingtonWhen the coronavirus brought the world economy to a halt in March, it fell to the U.S. Federal Reserve to keep the wheels of finance turning for businesses across America. And when funds stopped flowing to many banks and companies outside America’s borders—from Japanese lenders making bets on U.S. corporate debt to Singapore traders needing U.S. dollars to pay for imports—the U.S. central bank stepped in again. The...To Read the Full StorySponsored Offers…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByin Hong Kong andin WashingtonWhen the coronavirus brought the world economy to a halt in March, it fell to the U.S. Federal Reserve to keep the wheels of finance turning for businesses across America. And when funds stopped flowing to many banks and companies outside America’s borders—from Japanese lenders making bets on U.S. corporate debt to Singapore traders needing U.S. dollars to pay for imports—the U.S. central bank stepped in again. The...To Read the Full StorySponsored OffersWW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByIn the race for a Covid-19 vaccine, the University of Oxford stands out. The 900-year-old school’s Jenner Institute is competing against a number of large, publicly traded pharmaceutical companies whose investors could gain handsomely from an effective jab. Even at Oxford, though, layers of private investors are poised behind the scenes to profit if the vaccine works. They include the university itself, two of the scientists at the center of the program’s research and a little-known investment firm started last year by a former...To Read the Full...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByIn the race for a Covid-19 vaccine, the University of Oxford stands out. The 900-year-old school’s Jenner Institute is competing against a number of large, publicly traded pharmaceutical companies whose investors could gain handsomely from an effective jab. Even at Oxford, though, layers of private investors are poised behind the scenes to profit if the vaccine works. They include the university itself, two of the scientists at the center of the program’s research and a little-known investment firm started last year by a former...To Read the Full...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByandPresident Trump met wide derision last month when he issued an executive order excluding illegal aliens from the census numbers used for apportioning House seats. “Persons means persons,” Thomas Wolf of the Brennan Center for Justice told a reporter. “Everyone must be counted.” But counting is different from allocating political power, and Mr. Trump has the better constitutional argument. Section 2 of the 14th Amendment provides: “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers,...To Read the Full...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByandPresident Trump met wide derision last month when he issued an executive order excluding illegal aliens from the census numbers used for apportioning House seats. “Persons means persons,” Thomas Wolf of the Brennan Center for Justice told a reporter. “Everyone must be counted.” But counting is different from allocating political power, and Mr. Trump has the better constitutional argument. Section 2 of the 14th Amendment provides: “Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers,...To Read the Full...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByFuel maker Marathon Petroleum Corp. said it has agreed to sell its gas stations to the owners of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain for $21 billion in the largest U.S. energy-related deal of the year. The all-cash agreement with 7-Eleven Inc. comes less than a year after Marathon agreed to spin off its convenience-store chain, known as Speedway, under pressure from activist investors including Elliott Management Corp. Findlay,...To Read the Full StorySponsored Offers…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByFuel maker Marathon Petroleum Corp. said it has agreed to sell its gas stations to the owners of the 7-Eleven convenience store chain for $21 billion in the largest U.S. energy-related deal of the year. The all-cash agreement with 7-Eleven Inc. comes less than a year after Marathon agreed to spin off its convenience-store chain, known as Speedway, under pressure from activist investors including Elliott Management Corp. Findlay,...To Read the Full StorySponsored OffersWW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByHostility to all things Donald Trump has corrupted more than one American institution in the last four years, and now the nation’s second highest court seems to have succumbed. On Thursday the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to hear an en banc appeal of a writ of mandamus granted by one of the court’s panels to Michael Flynn. Mr. Flynn, the former national security adviser, has already suffered from unfair prosecution by the FBI and Justice Department. He’s also been abused by federal Judge Emmet Sullivan, who has refused...To Read the Full...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByHostility to all things Donald Trump has corrupted more than one American institution in the last four years, and now the nation’s second highest court seems to have succumbed. On Thursday the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed to hear an en banc appeal of a writ of mandamus granted by one of the court’s panels to Michael Flynn. Mr. Flynn, the former national security adviser, has already suffered from unfair prosecution by the FBI and Justice Department. He’s also been abused by federal Judge Emmet Sullivan, who has refused...To Read the Full...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchBy,andMicrosoft Corp. is in advanced talks to acquire the U.S. operations of the Chinese-owned video app TikTok, according to people with knowledge of the discussions, in a deal that would be a concession to White House pressure and make the software giant a major player in social media. A sale to Microsoft, likely for billions of dollars, would be a win for both TikTok and its parent company, Bytedance Ltd., where executives had feared that the U.S. government would force device makers to take TikTok out of their app stores, according...To Read the Full...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchBy,andMicrosoft Corp. is in advanced talks to acquire the U.S. operations of the Chinese-owned video app TikTok, according to people with knowledge of the discussions, in a deal that would be a concession to White House pressure and make the software giant a major player in social media. A sale to Microsoft, likely for billions of dollars, would be a win for both TikTok and its parent company, Bytedance Ltd., where executives had feared that the U.S. government would force device makers to take TikTok out of their app stores, according...To Read the Full...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByJoe Biden is a heavy favorite to be the next President, yet the media have barely paid attention to what he will do if he wins. We’ll try to fill that knowledge gap in the coming weeks, and a good place to start is his proposal for tax increases of more than $3 trillion over a decade. Let’s examine the unfine print: • Individual incomes: Raise the top marginal rate to 39.6%, from 37%. Repeal the $10,000 cap on the deduction for state-and-local taxes, giving a bigger break to places like San Francisco and New York. But limit...To Read the Full...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByJoe Biden is a heavy favorite to be the next President, yet the media have barely paid attention to what he will do if he wins. We’ll try to fill that knowledge gap in the coming weeks, and a good place to start is his proposal for tax increases of more than $3 trillion over a decade. Let’s examine the unfine print: • Individual incomes: Raise the top marginal rate to 39.6%, from 37%. Repeal the $10,000 cap on the deduction for state-and-local taxes, giving a bigger break to places like San Francisco and New York. But limit...To Read the Full...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByTuesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing featuring Attorney General William Barr was farce masquerading as oversight. Mr. Barr sat stoically as Democrats spat insults, hurled accusations, and asked long, loaded questions. When the attorney general tried answering, they screamed “I reclaim my time!” to cut him off. Bile, anger and disdain were evident in almost every one of their interrogatories. Chairman Jerrold Nadler led a show trial. The attorney general wasn’t the only Justice Department official heard from recently....To Read the Full...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchByTuesday’s House Judiciary Committee hearing featuring Attorney General William Barr was farce masquerading as oversight. Mr. Barr sat stoically as Democrats spat insults, hurled accusations, and asked long, loaded questions. When the attorney general tried answering, they screamed “I reclaim my time!” to cut him off. Bile, anger and disdain were evident in almost every one of their interrogatories. Chairman Jerrold Nadler led a show trial. The attorney general wasn’t the only Justice Department official heard from recently....To Read the Full...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchBySenate Republicans experienced their “D’oh!” moment this week, and better late than never. If even Homer Simpson can experience moments of clarity, maybe the GOP can yet do a virus economy—and itself—some good. As Congress spent another tortuous week nonnegotiating a fifth virus-relief bill, it finally dawned on Republicans that they are being played for fools. Democrats don’t want a bill; they want to win an election. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—who may go down as one of Washington’s greatest cynics—knew exactly what she was...To Read the Full...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchBySenate Republicans experienced their “D’oh!” moment this week, and better late than never. If even Homer Simpson can experience moments of clarity, maybe the GOP can yet do a virus economy—and itself—some good. As Congress spent another tortuous week nonnegotiating a fifth virus-relief bill, it finally dawned on Republicans that they are being played for fools. Democrats don’t want a bill; they want to win an election. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi—who may go down as one of Washington’s greatest cynics—knew exactly what she was...To Read the Full...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchBy“Take away this pudding! It has no theme,” Winston Churchill is said to have exclaimed when confronted with an undistinguished dessert. The Middle East today resembles one of those puddings, but Uncle Sam may not send it back. A themeless pudding is better than a poisoned one. It is hard to overstate how much the Middle East has changed in the past five years. The great themes and grand narratives that shaped the region in the 20th century have largely disappeared. This wasn’t a Fukuyaman “end of history,” in which one ideology...To Read the Full...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to SearchBy“Take away this pudding! It has no theme,” Winston Churchill is said to have exclaimed when confronted with an undistinguished dessert. The Middle East today resembles one of those puddings, but Uncle Sam may not send it back. A themeless pudding is better than a poisoned one. It is hard to overstate how much the Middle East has changed in the past five years. The great themes and grand narratives that shaped the region in the 20th century have largely disappeared. This wasn’t a Fukuyaman “end of history,” in which one ideology...To Read the Full...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to Searchhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/the-virus-may-strike-teachers-unions-11596040702ByIf you have school-age children, you may be wondering if they’ll ever get an education. On Tuesday the American Federation of Teachers, the second-largest education union, threatened “safety strikes” if reopening plans aren’t to its liking. Some state and local governments are insisting that public K-12 schooling this fall be conducted online three to five days a week and imposing stringent conditions on those students who actually make it to the classroom.Yet there are three...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to Searchhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/the-virus-may-strike-teachers-unions-11596040702ByIf you have school-age children, you may be wondering if they’ll ever get an education. On Tuesday the American Federation of Teachers, the second-largest education union, threatened “safety strikes” if reopening plans aren’t to its liking. Some state and local governments are insisting that public K-12 schooling this fall be conducted online three to five days a week and imposing stringent conditions on those students who actually make it to the classroom.Yet there are three...WW…

Skip to Main ContentSkip to Searchhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/amc-universal-agree-to-trim-theatrical-window-before-movies-go-online-11595968517ByMovies will play in theaters for much less time before moving to home video under a new agreement between theater chainand Universal Pictures, upending the way Hollywood has done business for decades.Under the deal, the “theatrical window” will shorten to 17 days, from the current 75, at least when it comes to movies made by’s Universal that play at AMC theaters, the world’s biggest movie-theater chain. That means that instead of waiting 2½ months...…Skip to Main ContentSkip to Searchhttps://www.wsj.com/articles/amc-universal-agree-to-trim-theatrical-window-before-movies-go-online-11595968517ByMovies will play in theaters for much less time before moving to home video under a new agreement between theater chainand Universal Pictures, upending the way Hollywood has done business for decades.Under the deal, the “theatrical window” will shorten to 17 days, from the current 75, at least when it comes to movies made by’s Universal that play at AMC theaters, the world’s biggest movie-theater chain. That means that instead of waiting 2½ months...WW…