But that was exactly the point of this deal: a lot of publicity for the deal-makers, but not much substance to the deal. In fact, this “breakthrough” is mostly a PR boost for the three leaders involved: President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mohamed bin Zayed, crown prince of Abu Dhabi. Meanwhile, the costs will be borne by the one party not involved in the arrangement, the Palestinians.
A mandatory Pentagon training course newly sent to the entire force and aimed at preventing leaks refers to protesters and journalists as “adversaries” in a fictional scenario designed to teach Defense Department personnel how to better protect sensitive information.
Americans were no longer citizens but consumers, and monopolies, according to luminaries such as Milton Friedman and Robert Bork, could serve consumers well. Fear not corporate power, fear merely Big Government. And let the expert economists make decisions about markets, not the rabble. By 1998, this philosophy was so inculcated in our governing elites that Larry Summers linked American global primacy not to ideals of freedom, but to corporate and institutional dominance, noting that “whether it is AIG in insurance, McDonald’s in fast food, Walmart in retailing, Microsoft in software, Harvard University in education, CNN in television news—the leading enterprises are American.”
Government payments to farmers have surged to historic levels under President Donald Trump as the Agriculture Department floods the industry with cash to stem the financial losses from Trump’s tariff fights and the coronavirus pandemic. But as agriculture grows more reliant on unprecedented taxpayer support, farm policy experts and watchdog groups warn the subsidies are growing too big and too fast, with no strings attached and little oversight from Congress — and that Washington could have a difficult time shutting off the spigot.