‘It’s the economy, stupid,” was the motto of Bill Clinton’s winning 1992 US presidential campaign, signalling an awareness that even military success against Saddam Hussein would not protect George H W Bush from the wrath of voters squeezed by rising unemployment.
Today's Democratic presidential hopeful, Hillary Clinton, won't be able to capitalise on the economy in the way her husband did 24 years ago, not only because of her insider status, but because she has campaigned all along as the candidate of continuity with the Obama administration status quo.
A different story
In response to Republican candidate Donald Trump's "Make America great again" rhetoric, Mrs Clinton declares: "America never stopped being great." But Mr Trump would be nothing more than a sideshow barker if his rhetoric didn't resonate with white working-class voters whose living standards have steadily declined over decades.
That's not the story being told by the political establishment of which Mrs Clinton remains an integral part. Mr Obama dismisses negative judgments on his economic performance, telling The New York Times that given the scale of the 2008 crisis, "we probably managed this better than any large economy on Earth in modern history". But it remains the slowest recovery since the Second World War, and most of its benefits have gone to a tiny elite.
As economics Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz recently explained: “In the first three years of the recovery, 91 per cent of all gains went to the top 1 per cent. So the bottom 99 per cent saw nothing. Many were actually becoming worse off.”
So it was, too, with the government’s infusion of cash into capital markets. Because most Americans had little stake in the stock market, Mr Stiglitz called it another “gift to the 1 per cent”.
Mr Obama’s jobless recovery is not particularly surprising, given the framework in which he has managed the economy – like George W Bush and Bill Clinton before him – is based on neoliberal free-market orthodoxy, which renders taboo the traditional Keynesian remedy for stagnation – that is, expanding government spending to boost aggregate demand while addressing social needs.
As president, Mr Clinton embraced Ronald Reagan’s goals of shrinking government, dismantling the welfare state and deregulating financial markets and international trade. This created a bipartisan consensus that has created an economy that works predominantly for a wealthy minority.
Much of the growth Mr Obama touts has occurred in the financial sector, which no longer fuels job creation. As Time analyst Rana Foroohar has argued, the "financialisation" of the US economy means that today, only about 15 per cent of money invested by capital markets comprises traditional business investments that drive job growth. Most of the rest is speculative investment, creating asset bubbles and deepening inequality.
Making money
Many of the biggest US corporations today make more money from moving money around than they do from the products and services they sell.
Financialisation, she says, is the reason that $4 trillion (Dh14.7tn) in monetary stimulus under Mr Obama has fuelled little job growth.
The success of Mr Trump has begun to sound alarm bells within the political establishment – precisely because the economic orthodoxy on which it has relied for a generation offers no remedies to a stagnation that threatens political stability.
Markets alone won’t fix the inequality and resultant stagnation threatening much of the global economy, and cutting interest rates has proven ineffective. And with interest rates already near zero, it’s not a viable response to a new recession that may be looming.
State spending
Democrat candidate Bernie Sanders’s policy proposals focused on taxing billionaires to fund state spending on infrastructure, education and health, were pooh-poohed as the stuff of fantasy. When economic historian Gerald Friedman ran Mr Sanders’s proposals through orthodox models and concluded they’d create 5 per cent GDP growth, he too was vociferously denounced by economists associated with the Clinton campaign and Obama administration. Their message is that today’s anaemic growth is as good as things could be.
“If nothing much can be done, if things are as good as they can be,” wrote Friedman in response, “it is irresponsible even to suggest to the general public that we try to do something about our economic ills. The role of economists and other policy elites … is to explain to the general public why they should be reconciled with stagnant incomes, and to rebuke those, like myself, who say otherwise before we raise false hopes that can only be disappointed.”
In a bizarre admission of her campaign’s lack of new policies, Mrs Clinton told a crowd in Kentucky that she would put her husband “in charge of revitalising the economy, because, you know, he knows how to do it”.
That message drew groans even from supporters, not least because so much of what Mr Clinton “knew how to do” in the 1990s has set the stage for the dire economy of today. Even some Clinton-friendly economists such as former Treasury secretary Larry Summers are warning that without some substantial policy rethinking, the economy isn’t going to revitalise. The political consequences of long-term stagnation are becoming frighteningly clear across the industrialised world.
Tony Karon teaches at the New School in New York
More from this author:
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■ Will Sanders and his supporters back Clinton?
■ Sanders puts the Palestinians on America's agenda
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T20 World Cup Qualifier A, Muscat
Friday, February 18: 10am - Oman v Nepal, Canada v Philippines; 2pm - Ireland v UAE, Germany v Bahrain
Saturday, February 19: 10am - Oman v Canada, Nepal v Philippines; 2pm - UAE v Germany, Ireland v Bahrain
Monday, February 21: 10am - Ireland v Germany, UAE v Bahrain; 2pm - Nepal v Canada, Oman v Philippines
Tuesday, February 22: 2pm – semi-finals
Thursday, February 24: 2pm – final
UAE squad: Ahmed Raza (captain), Muhammad Waseem, Chirag Suri, Vriitya Aravind, Rohan Mustafa, Kashif Daud, Zahoor Khan, Alishan Sharafu, Raja Akifullah, Karthik Meiyappan, Junaid Siddique, Basil Hameed, Zafar Farid, Mohammed Boota, Mohammed Usman, Rahul Bhatia
All matches to be streamed live on icc.tv
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
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Moon Music
Artist: Coldplay
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Number of tracks: 10
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
Emergency phone numbers in the UAE
Estijaba – 8001717 – number to call to request coronavirus testing
Ministry of Health and Prevention – 80011111
Dubai Health Authority – 800342 – The number to book a free video or voice consultation with a doctor or connect to a local health centre
Emirates airline – 600555555
Etihad Airways – 600555666
Ambulance – 998
Knowledge and Human Development Authority – 8005432 ext. 4 for Covid-19 queries
10 tips for entry-level job seekers
- Have an up-to-date, professional LinkedIn profile. If you don’t have a LinkedIn account, set one up today. Avoid poor-quality profile pictures with distracting backgrounds. Include a professional summary and begin to grow your network.
- Keep track of the job trends in your sector through the news. Apply for job alerts at your dream organisations and the types of jobs you want – LinkedIn uses AI to share similar relevant jobs based on your selections.
- Double check that you’ve highlighted relevant skills on your resume and LinkedIn profile.
- For most entry-level jobs, your resume will first be filtered by an applicant tracking system for keywords. Look closely at the description of the job you are applying for and mirror the language as much as possible (while being honest and accurate about your skills and experience).
- Keep your CV professional and in a simple format – make sure you tailor your cover letter and application to the company and role.
- Go online and look for details on job specifications for your target position. Make a list of skills required and set yourself some learning goals to tick off all the necessary skills one by one.
- Don’t be afraid to reach outside your immediate friends and family to other acquaintances and let them know you are looking for new opportunities.
- Make sure you’ve set your LinkedIn profile to signal that you are “open to opportunities”. Also be sure to use LinkedIn to search for people who are still actively hiring by searching for those that have the headline “I’m hiring” or “We’re hiring” in their profile.
- Prepare for online interviews using mock interview tools. Even before landing interviews, it can be useful to start practising.
- Be professional and patient. Always be professional with whoever you are interacting with throughout your search process, this will be remembered. You need to be patient, dedicated and not give up on your search. Candidates need to make sure they are following up appropriately for roles they have applied.
Arda Atalay, head of Mena private sector at LinkedIn Talent Solutions, Rudy Bier, managing partner of Kinetic Business Solutions and Ben Kinerman Daltrey, co-founder of KinFitz
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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RESULT
Al Hilal 4 Persepolis 0
Khribin (31', 54', 89'), Al Shahrani 40'
Red card: Otayf (Al Hilal, 49')
Yemen's Bahais and the charges they often face
The Baha'i faith was made known in Yemen in the 19th century, first introduced by an Iranian man named Ali Muhammad Al Shirazi, considered the Herald of the Baha'i faith in 1844.
The Baha'i faith has had a growing number of followers in recent years despite persecution in Yemen and Iran.
Today, some 2,000 Baha'is reside in Yemen, according to Insaf.
"The 24 defendants represented by the House of Justice, which has intelligence outfits from the uS and the UK working to carry out an espionage scheme in Yemen under the guise of religion.. aimed to impant and found the Bahai sect on Yemeni soil by bringing foreign Bahais from abroad and homing them in Yemen," the charge sheet said.
Baha'Ullah, the founder of the Bahai faith, was exiled by the Ottoman Empire in 1868 from Iran to what is now Israel. Now, the Bahai faith's highest governing body, known as the Universal House of Justice, is based in the Israeli city of Haifa, which the Bahais turn towards during prayer.
The Houthis cite this as collective "evidence" of Bahai "links" to Israel - which the Houthis consider their enemy.
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