To fix the U.S. debt problem, Americans must retire later
Now it's time for America to recognize that solving its debt problem will require addressing another hard truth: Americans have a retirement problem — specifically, they retire too soon.
Despite reports that Moody's decision is related to the fiscal impact of the $3.7 trillion tax legislation the House is currently debating, that bill is just the proverbial rearranging of deck chairs on the Titanic. The biggest source of America's long-term debt problem, which is not even included in the 10-year budget projections, is unfunded entitlements, largely Social Security and Medicare.
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Japan Times
3 hours ago
- Japan Times
Trump targets the Smithsonian again, says it focuses too much on how bad slavery was
U.S. President Donald Trump suggested on Tuesday he will pressure the Smithsonian Institution — a premier museum, education and research complex for U.S. history and culture — to accept his demands, just like he did with colleges and universities by threatening to cut federal funding. In a social media post, Trump complained about what he called excessive focus on "how bad Slavery was." "I have instructed my attorneys to go through the Museums, and start the exact same process that has been done with Colleges and Universities where tremendous progress has been made," Trump said on Truth Social.
Japan Times
5 hours ago
- Japan Times
More Republican governors send National Guard to Washington, backing Trump
Hundreds of additional National Guard troops are headed to Washington, D.C., from half a dozen Republican-led states, bolstering U.S. President Donald Trump's extraordinary move to flood the Democratic-led city with soldiers and federal agents in what he claims is an effort to fight violent crime. The Republican governors of Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee agreed to deploy troops to Washington, days after the Republican governors of West Virginia, South Carolina, and Ohio also did so at the Trump administration's request. Trump has characterized Washington as overrun with violence and homelessness, a description local officials have rejected. Federal and city statistics show violent crime rates have dropped sharply since a spike in 2023, though the city's murder rate remains higher than most other big U.S. cities. The Justice Department has opened an investigation into whether the city manipulated its statistics to make crime rates appear lower, The Washington Post reported, citing unnamed sources. In a social media post on Monday, Trump wrote, "D.C. gave Fake Crime numbers in order to create a false illusion of safety," without providing evidence. He made similar assertions last week. Trump announced on Aug. 11 he had ordered 800 Guard troops to the city and temporarily taken over its police department, a remarkable exercise of presidential power over the U.S. capital. A man rides by on an e-scooter as members of the National Guard stand watch outside of Union Station under orders from the Trump administration on Tuesday. | AFP-JIJI The federal government also dispatched agents from numerous agencies, including the FBI, to patrol the city's streets. Following a legal challenge filed by the city's attorney general, the administration negotiated a deal with Mayor Muriel Bowser to keep Police Chief Pamela Smith in charge of the department's operations. Trump has threatened similar operations in other Democratic-controlled cities such as Chicago, though he would likely face more legal obstacles than he does in Washington, where the federal government still has broad oversight under U.S. law. Critics have accused Trump of manufacturing an emergency to seize greater control of Washington and target Democratic cities. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said he had approved the deployment of about 135 Guard soldiers to Washington, while Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves said he had ordered 200 soldiers to the capital. Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee has also deployed 160 Guard troops to the city, according to local media reports. "Crime is out of control there, and it's clear something must be done to combat it," Reeves said in a statement. Members of the National Guard at the Metro Center station in Washington, on Tuesday. Trump has threatened to deploy the Guard in other Democratic-controlled cities. | TIERNEY L. CROSS / THE NEW YORK TIMES In total, the six Republican states have announced deployments of more than 1,100 Guard troops to Washington. "The numbers on the ground in the District don't support a thousand people from other states coming to Washington," the mayor told reporters on Monday, adding that the question was "why the military would be deployed in an American city to police Americans." Guard soldiers, most of whom have civilian jobs and serve part-time, often respond to natural disasters and other emergencies. While the National Guard in Washington reports to the president, governors typically control the Guard in their own states. Trump tested that authority in June, when he ordered thousands of National Guard troops and active-duty Marines into Los Angeles as protests over his administration's immigration raids flared up. The deployment came despite opposition from California's Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom. A federal judge in San Francisco is weighing whether Trump's actions in Los Angeles were illegal, after California sued the administration. Federal law generally forbids the use of the military in law enforcement, but there are exceptions, including for National Guard troops that are under state command, such as California's. A person blows bubbles near members of the National Guard standing watch outside Union Station in Washington on Aug. 14. | KENT NISHIMURA / THE NEW YORK TIMES In 2020, during Trump's first administration, the White House requested Guard troops from numerous states to help restore order in Washington in the wake of racial justice protests. Then-Attorney General Bill Barr said the National Guard remained under state command and was used to protect federal buildings and personnel. Even so, Barr said their duties would include controlling crowds, temporarily detaining people, and conducting "cursory" searches, activities usually associated with police. Critics said the 2020 experience in Washington potentially opened the way for the president to use armed troops against civilians. A White House official said on Tuesday that Guard troops in Washington may carry arms but were not making arrests. Instead, the soldiers are protecting federal property and providing "a safe environment for law enforcement officers to make arrests." Some 465 arrests have been made in the 12 days since the Trump administration's operations began, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi wrote on social media platform X on Tuesday, an average of 39 arrests a day. The city's Metropolitan Police Department arrested an average of 61 adults and juveniles per day in 2024, according to city statistics. Dozens of homeless encampments have also been cleared from federal land, according to the White House.
Japan Times
5 hours ago
- Japan Times
Carl J. Green, mentor to a generation of ‘Japan hands,' dies at 85
Carl J. Green, a lawyer who opened the Ford Foundation's representative office in Tokyo and devoted a lifetime to U.S.-Japan relations, died on July 25 at his home in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. He was 85. Green enjoyed a long and prominent career in law, business and the nonprofit sector, with a focus on Japan. After graduating magna cum laude in East Asian studies from Harvard University, Green first traveled to Japan in 1961 on a Knox Traveling Fellowship. He later obtained a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School and accepted a position with the law firm of Baker & McKenzie. Following a tour in the U.S. Department of Transportation (which included a six-week stint in Vienna working on international traffic signage) and additional legal work in Washington, D.C., he moved to the Ford Foundation, setting up the U.S. philanthropy's representative office in Japan in 1975 and running the office for five years. He returned to Tokyo in 1987 as a lawyer for the U.S. firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy. Upon relocating to Washington in 1989, Green became the founding director of the Eastern Asian Legal Studies Center at Georgetown University Law School, before moving to Hitachi's Washington office, where he served as senior adviser from 1998 to 2016. At Hitachi, Green was a driving force behind the Council on Foreign Relations' International Affairs Fellowship in Japan, which sends midcareer American professionals in a variety of fields to Japan for three to 12 months of research and relationship-building. In Washington, Green served in a number of nonprofit roles, including as president of the Japan-America Society of Washington, D.C., from 1994 to 1996. In 2018, the Emperor of Japan awarded him the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette. As noted in a Japan-America Society tribute, Green 'was known for his gentle, modest demeanor and wonderful sense of humor (and) served as mentor to many of the current generation of American 'Japan hands.'' He is survived by his wife of nearly 50 years, Pamela Wattenberg Green, three sons and five grandchildren.
