America

Authored by Jim Quinn via The Burning Platform blog,

Donald J. Trump has taken credit for making America’s economy great again. He’s been crowing about all the jobs being created, the soaring consumer confidence and record highs in the stock market. It’s all because the Donald has inspired Americans about our glorious future.

But, a funny thing has been happening in the real world. The economy has gone into the shitter and GDP will be lucky to reach 1% in the first quarter of his presidency.

Authored by Graham Allison via The Strategic Culture Foundation,

Can Beijing and Washington escape the Thucydides Trap?

US has “longstanding tradition” of aggression under invented pretexts – Russian Ministry of Defense

http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/04/us-has-longstanding-tradition-of.html

US a Greater Threat to Peace than North Korea

These concerns were echoed by a senior Russian lawmaker who, as AP reports, says the US is a greater threat to global peace than North Korea.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_KOREAS_TENSION_THE_LATEST?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2017-04-14-00-38-08

A Government of Morons

Paul Craig Roberts

Much has been written about the role of the creative economy as a key indicator of economic health. As Visual Capitalist's Nick Routley writes, the “rise of the creative class” and “creative clusters” are concepts that inform the larger conversation on cities as the economic drivers of regions. As a result, everyone from academics to governments are increasingly looking for ways to measure the scope and size of the creative economy.