Letter from the Editor

In the media, it is widely accepted the U.S. economy is strong. But growth has been modest under Trump, about the same rate as in the Obama presidency. The promised 3 to 4 of Donal; Trump is not coming. Indicators like the unemployment rate, in truth, tell us far too little. Mike MccCormack and Amanda Novello tell us the American economy has serious underlying problems including weak productivity and investment, and unequal wage growth. The economy’s future is in question, the authors elaborate in this valuable piece. Genuine threats to democracy in rich and developing nations are unambiguously on the rise. Dictatorial tendencies seem everywhere. To many, this is a political issue of disaffected people complicated by immigration. But Oren M. Levin-Waldman believes the main threats to democracy are globalization and income inequality. He makes a strong and disturbing case. John Komlos argues that across-the-board tax cuts, such as the Reagan tax cuts of 1981 and 1986, generate inequality on a very large scale. The windfall of additional money to the superrich is an order of magnitude greater than that of the rest of the society even if in percentage terms it is smaller. It is increasingly clear that there is “no natural, spontaneous process to prevent destabilizing, inegalitarian forces from prevailing permanently” (Piketty 2014, 21). We demonstrated with a straightforward model of how an across-the-board tax cut generates large-scale inequality. The great continent of Africa is showing signs of true economic growth and prospects for improved incomes for tens of millions. But is it a dream? Our author says there is reason for optimism. Some observers see Africa as an enigma. But Thorvaldur Gylfason says there is nothing to suggest that Africa was not meant to provide a good life for its masses. In fact, today Africa is making relatively rapid economic progress. Here is how he sees its prospects. And economist Gerald Epstein has written an important book on Federal Reserve policy that our reviewer Edwin Dickens finds seminal. In The Political Economy of Central Banking: Contested Control and the Power of Finance, Epstein says the Fed is too much under the control of the banks.