Shultz's article collection

In his first year as U.S. president, Donald Trump represented a clear break in style and substance from his predecessor, Barack Obama – and from many of the chief executives who came before them. The businessman-turned-politician upended Washington with unrestrained rhetoric and an “America First” agenda that included renegotiating international trade pacts, withdrawing from a worldwide climate change agreement and curtailing immigration into the United States. At home and abroad, the public reacted strongly to the White House’s new occupant and his policies. Confidence in the U.S. president plummeted in many countries, particularly in Western Europe, while opinions of America itself also declined sharply. In the U.S., already-wide partisan gaps on fundamental political values grew even wider. A fraught relationship between Trump and the press drew frequent attention, with large majorities seeing it as unhealthy and an impediment to Americans’ ability to access important political news...

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed by Congress today and about to be signed into law by President Donald Trump in the next day or so, is a major coup for U.S. corporations, but a mixed bag of give-and-take for individual taxpayers, with benefits sharply skewed to the wealthy. The top corporate tax rate, which affects publicly-traded companies, will drop from 35%—one of the highest top rates levied by developed nations—to 21% in 2018. The move is roundly applauded as a necessary step to keep U.S. multinational businesses competitive with foreign companies. But to pay for the corporate tax cut, the final bill reneges on many of its original objectives that would have benefited individual wage earners. President Trump promised tax reform that would simplify the tax code, focus tax relief on working families, and close loopholes for wealthy taxpayers and businesses. But the bill, cobbled together frenetically in closed-door cram sessions by Republicans eager to get a major legislative v...