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Robert Samuelson
For Robert Samuelson's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Aug 1, 2017
Why it's so difficult to die in peace
The rhetoric about 'end-of-life' care has changed more than the reality in the U.S.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 18, 2017
Why robots won't steal all our jobs
New technologies inspire new jobs, a study concludes.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 10, 2017
Trump's trade trap
The U.S. president's foreign policy is extraordinary: a voluntary surrender of power and influence.
COMMENTARY / World
Jul 3, 2017
The next recession may be postponed
The Phillips Curve, a tool that shows the relationship between inflation and unemployment, has shifted.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 5, 2017
The messy reality of global warming
U.S. President Donald Trump's actions on the Paris accord were grandstanding, meant to impress core supporters.
COMMENTARY / World
May 29, 2017
On the road to impeachment?
There are high hurdles in the way of impeaching a U.S. president, which is as it should be.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 22, 2017
America's dangerous internet delusion
The more we connect our devices and instruments to the internet, the more we create paths for others to use against us.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
May 15, 2017
No, robots won't steal all our jobs
The efficiencies of robots will create more purchasing power for other spending or new products that, in turn, create more jobs.
COMMENTARY / World
May 1, 2017
The bumpy road to adulthood is getting longer
If adulthood in America ever equated with marrying and settling down, it doesn't now.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 13, 2017
Why economists can't forecast worth a hoot
The gap between prediction and reality may be widening.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2017
American politics in the new age of disbelief
Millions of Americans no longer believe what they once believed. There is a loss of faith in old orthodoxies and the established 'experts' who championed them.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 27, 2017
Why Donald Trump loves to hate the media
Trump can't be a unifying figure when he's having so much fun being divider in chief.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 2, 2017
Trump's pointless, senseless war on Mexico
If Donald Trump starts a trade war, all the NAFTA countries will be losers, even if he — through his incendiary and distorted rhetoric — is a political winner.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 18, 2017
What Obama deserves credit for — and doesn't
Did the departing U.S. president create national dysfunction, or was he just its victim?
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 8, 2017
Trump's great economic guessing game
We're all playing a guessing game. During the campaign, Donald Trump made many promises. But whether friend or foe, we don't know what he will actually do. The result is a deluge of predictions from politicians, pundits, think tanks, lobbyists, economists and others. Here, for example, is the outlook of economists at Nomura Securities.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 20, 2016
Obama's top achievement: heading off a depression
U.S. President Barack Obama's greatest accomplishment was acting to make sure the Great Recession did not become something far worse.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 5, 2016
Trump's dangerous economic nationalism
If Donald Trump fulfills his economic nationalistic pledges, he will redefine America's global role in a fundamentally deceptive and destructive way.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 27, 2016
An explosion in U.S. employment dropouts
In the U.S., about 1 in 8 prime-age male workers are out of work and not looking for a job. In the mid-1960s, it was only 1 in 29.
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 21, 2016
U.S. post-election hype doesn't reflect reality
The grim diagnoses for the Democratic Party are overdone — and other truths gleaned from election statistics.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 7, 2016
The real embarrassment of U.S. election 2016
The nominees' inattention to the fateful issues of aging and immigration could have major repercussions.

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