Checks and Balance from The Economist

By The Economist

News & Politics

What's Checks and Balance from The Economist about?

The Economist's team of experts explore American politics in an extraordinary election year.
US editor John Prideaux and his colleagues from across the US and around the world go beyond the headlines and the horserace to delve deeper into the race for White House - and why it matters so much.

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Checks and Balance: Life ch...

09.17.2021

When the Supreme Court declined to block a Texas law prohibiting most abortions after six weeks, it gave the strongest signal yet that its conservative majority is prepared to deny women the right to an abortion. Nearly fifty years after ...

Checks and Balance from The Economist episodes:

09.17.2021 Checks and Balance: Life choices When the Supreme Court declined to block a Texas law prohibiting most abortions after six weeks, it gave the strongest signal yet that its conservative majority is prepared to deny women the right to an abortion. Nearly fifty years after ...
09.10.2021 Checks and Balance: Twenty years later America set out to reshape the world order after the attacks of September 11th. Today it is easy to conclude that its foreign policy has been abandoned on a runway at Kabul airport. Is the era of American interventionism over? ...
09.03.2021 Checks and Balance: The great awokening A loose set of once-radical ideas about identity, social justice and self-expression has leapt from university campuses to permeate politics and the press, spilling onto the streets and beginning to spread into schools. We investigate how this progressive revolution is ...
08.27.2021 Checks and Balance: Bay botch San Francisco avoided a heavy toll from covid-19, but may feel the virus’s impact longer than other places. The city’s economy is stuttering as tech workers stay home. Emigration, crime, and poorly-run schools need fixing, just as a series of ...
08.20.2021 Checks and Balance: The reckoning As the withdrawal from Afghanistan descends into chaos, we consider failures in intelligence, the international reaction to America’s disorderly exit and whether decades of American involvement leave any positive legacy for the Afghan people. The Economist's US editor John Prideaux ...
08.13.2021 Checks and Balance: The western paradox More Americans are moving to western states in search of beautiful landscapes, cheaper housing and lower taxes. Yet wildfires, soaring temperatures and water shortages are making the West less hospitable. It’s an old Western theme: man versus nature. Does nature ...
08.06.2021 Checks and Balance: Gimme shelter A federal moratorium on evictions during the pandemic has been extended after protests by left-wing members of Congress. As homelessness grows more visible, the pandemic has spawned rare momentum and funds to tackle the problem. Can it be fixed? Peter ...
07.30.2021 Checks and Balance: Vax wielding Since Joe Biden declared a “return to normal” on July 4th, the covid-19 Delta variant has knocked America’s pandemic recovery off course. Why are so many Americans still unvaccinated and can they be persuaded? We report from Arkansas, which is ...
07.23.2021 Checks and Balance: Cuba libre? The Biden administration has announced new sanctions against Cuba, as the communist regime cracks down on the biggest protests in decades. How might the president's pledge to support democracy around the world play out in Cuba? Miami political consultant Fernand ...
07.16.2021 Checks and Balance: Trading places What is President Biden's new China doctrine and will it work? The Economist's Beijing bureau chief looks back 20 years to the beginning of the era of engagement between the two superpowers. And, as their governments' relationship worsens, how do ...
07.09.2021 Checks and Balance: History test Twenty six Republican-led states have legislated to stop critical race theory being taught in schools. Local school board meetings have seen angry protests. What should Americans learn about their history? We speak to historian Gary Nash of UCLA, who helped ...
07.02.2021 Checks and Balance: Steal works Election administration used to be a sleepy corner of American bureaucracy. Now it’s the latest victim of extreme polarisation. A privately-funded audit of votes by Republicans in Arizona reveals how democratic norms continue to erode since Donald Trump left office. ...
06.25.2021 Checks and Balance: Recovery time As America reopens, new business creation is at record levels and there is upward pressure on wages for the first time in decades. How has the pandemic restructured the American economy? The Economist’s editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes joins the panel. ...
06.18.2021 Checks and Balance: Agenda bender In his first one hundred days Joe Biden looked ruthless, but his ambitious legislative agenda has since hit a wall. A series of crucial votes are expected in the coming month. Is gridlock inevitable? Sarah Binder of George Washington University ...
06.11.2021 Checks and Balance: After math On his first overseas trip as president, Joe Biden has promised to send 500m covid-19 jabs to countries that need them. America’s vaccine success is making up for its failure to control the virus last year. Is the pandemic over ...
06.04.2021 Checks and Balance: Merit where it’s due The belief that people should advance according to their abilities rather than family pedigree is one of history’s most revolutionary ideas. But the meritocratic ideal that has inspired Americans since Thomas Jefferson has lost its lustre. Social mobility has stalled ...
05.28.2021 Checks and Balance: Texas carry’em Texas legislators only meet every other year. Their most conservative session in a generation just relaxed gun laws and restricted abortion. Might Republican strength in Texas ease the hangover from the Trump presidency? Mark Jones of Rice University, Harris County ...
05.21.2021 Checks and Balance: One year on The idea that racism is resistant to laws meant to end it originated in academia a generation ago. It’s become more mainstream since the murder of George Floyd and the protests that followed. How helpful is this way of thinking ...
05.14.2021 Checks and Balance: Smart attack A ransomware attack shut down a vital fuel pipeline on the east coast. President Biden’s plans to upgrade the hi-tech energy infrastructure may make it yet more vulnerable to hackers. Is America properly protected from cyber attack? Michael Tran of ...
05.07.2021 Checks and Balance: Crime without punishment Big-city homicide rates have spiked during the pandemic. St Louis has America’s highest murder rate and nearly two thirds go unsolved. What happens when so many cases are left cold? Sharon Williams’ son Mikey was shot and killed. His case ...
04.30.2021 Checks and Balance: 100 days of aptitude A portrait of Franklin Roosevelt hangs in the Oval Office, where Joe Biden convenes historians to share how his hero began changing the country in his very first weeks as president. But the new president faces tough trade-offs to secure ...
04.23.2021 Checks and Balance: Vlad, bad and dangerous Vladimir Putin has responded to a new US administration with typical thuggery. Russia’s main opposition leader is in prison and its military is again threatening Ukraine. Can Joe Biden deal with Russia more effectively than past presidents? The Economist’s James ...
04.16.2021 Checks and Balance: CEOutrage American companies used to keep quiet about politics, relying on behind the scenes donations and lobbying. But they are increasingly speaking out on a range of issues— most recently on Georgia’s restrictive new voting laws. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, of the Yale ...
04.09.2021 Checks and Balance: Space race American house prices have risen more steeply during the pandemic than at any time in the last 15 years. Buyers are swapping big cities for suburbs and smaller, sunnier cities in the South and Mountain West. How might this reshuffle ...
04.02.2021 Checks and Balance: Chain reaction A container ship stuck in the Suez canal, tensions with China, and the vaccine race have combined to make America’s supply chains look vulnerable. President Biden has ordered a security review and his infrastructure plan includes measures to protect them. ...
03.26.2021 Checks and Balance: Size matters President Biden wants a big infrastructure bill to follow the stimulus cash he has handed out. It would add up to a $5 trillion overhaul of America. A splurge on this scale has long been taboo in mainstream politics. Is ...
03.19.2021 Checks and Balance: No vacancy “Don’t come over” is Joe Biden’s message to migrants. Rumours that it’s easier to enter the United States since he became president are fuelling a humanitarian crisis at the southern border. The president needs a firmer grip on the issue, ...
03.12.2021 Checks and Balance: Fixer upper President Biden’s vast economic rescue package has passed without scrutiny or input from Republicans. Meanwhile House Democrats’ plan to protect voting rights will founder so long as the Senate has the filibuster. What’s the best way to fix American democracy? ...
03.05.2021 Checks and Balance: Sequel opportunities Donald Trump has emerged from purdah at a meeting of conservative activists, hinting at another presidential run. Even in defeat the former President retains control of a party united in antipathy to liberal elites. Where does cleaving to culture leave ...
02.26.2021 Checks and Balance: Back problems “America is back” President Biden has told allies. Hard power, including a fearsome nuclear weapons arsenal, is the foundation of America’s global influence. But many Democrats would like to demilitarise foreign policy. Can Joe Biden live up to his own ...
02.19.2021 Checks and Balance: The switch Plans to overhaul American energy will soon come before Congress. There will never be a better chance for Joe Biden to show real ambition on climate. If the blackouts in Texas are any guide, it would not just be the ...
02.12.2021 Checks and Balance: Lacking class Nearly half America’s children are yet to return to the classroom a year after the pandemic began. President Biden says it’s a national emergency, but he has already diluted a pledge to reopen the majority of schools in his first ...
02.05.2021 Checks and Balance: Camera operators Congress is flexing its muscles. The new president needs to pass a bumper stimulus plan. The old one faces trial in the Senate. Stakes are high for both parties, as the leadership vies with fringe members ever more adept at ...
01.29.2021 Checks and Balance: Sleeves up Around 85% of Americans need to be vaccinated for the country to return to normal. Much rests on how quickly the Biden administration can get shots into the arms of those most at risk from covid-19. Racial equity is a ...
01.22.2021 Checks and Balance: Ctrl Alt Delete Joe Biden faces multiple crises after four years that often resembled a denial-of-service attack on American governance. How will the new administration reboot Washington? Washington residents reflect on an unusual inauguration, we look back to previous presidencies birthed in crises, ...
01.15.2021 Checks and Balance: On mute In the last week of his presidency Donald Trump is being purged from the political mainstream. Congress has impeached him again. He has been booted off social media. A major golf tournament has been pulled from one of his courses. ...
01.08.2021 Checks and Balance: American carnage President Trump stood on the Capitol steps at his inauguration and promised to stop “this American carnage.” Four years later a violent mob stormed the Capitol building in an attempt to overturn his election defeat. Will this jarring spectacle make ...
01.01.2021 Checks and Balance: Leaving today New York became the epicentre of the pandemic when it first hit America. More than 25,000 New Yorkers have died of covid-19. An estimated 300,000 have left the city as its health infrastructure stretched beyond capacity, schools closed, and crime ...
12.18.2020 Checks and Balance: The unfinished revolution After the defeat of the Confederacy and the end of slavery in 1865, the period known as Reconstruction was a chance to create a multiracial democracy and for America to live up to the promise made at its founding. It ...
12.11.2020 Checks and Balance: On my mind As 2020 draws to a close, the partisan feud is focused on Georgia. Joe Biden was the first Democrat in 28 years to win the state on the way to the White House. Run-off elections on January 5th will decide ...
12.04.2020 Checks and Balance: Using my religion A ruling lifting covid restrictions on places of worship suggests the Supreme Court will favour religious rights even as faithlessness is rising. The court’s realignment may be Donald Trump’s most enduring legacy. How is the balance between religion and politics ...
11.27.2020 Checks and Balance: Sedate expectations Policymaker, father figure and stand-in king - the Olympian job description sets an impossible standard for any new president. But expectations of Joe Biden are more modest than for most. Solid picks for the top spots in his administration only ...
11.20.2020 Checks and Balance: Not going gentle Donald Trump’s long-held aversion to admitting defeat leaves America with an unprecedented scenario: an incumbent president thwarting the transition to a new administration. How harmful is Donald Trump’s refusal to concede? In this episode we find out how a presidential ...
11.13.2020 Checks and Balance: Opening shot Joe Biden’s first move as president-elect was to unveil a pandemic advisory panel staffed by the public-health experts the incumbent likes to mock. News of an effective covid-19 vaccine came the day America passed 10m recorded cases. What difference will ...
11.06.2020 Checks and Balance: When I’m 46 Joe Biden is set to score a rare victory against an incumbent to become America’s 46th president. A Biden White House will set a new tone for the country. Yet the unexpected closeness of the vote - and the president’s ...
10.30.2020 Checks and Balance: Not so great President Trump’s effect on domestic policy in his first term has been modest and mostly reversible. The real impact of his blow-it-up style has been felt in the corrosion of an already poisonous political culture. How has his brand of ...
10.23.2020 Checks and Balance: What Don’s done “Promises made, promises kept” is one of President Trump’s campaign slogans. His main achievements on tax, deregulation, or appointing new judges would be hallmarks of any Republican administration. How has Donald Trump changed the country in ways no other president ...
10.16.2020 Checks and Balance: Joe’s job No candidate challenging a sitting president has had a poll lead bigger than Joe Biden’s this close to election day. His allure owes a lot to who he is not. The Democrats coalesced around the former Vice President only when ...
10.09.2020 Checks and Balance: Florida’s key A covid-19 outbreak in the White House threatens President Trump’s chances of reelection. Behind in national polls, his path to victory once again goes through the Electoral College. He must win Florida, his adopted home state and the biggest battleground ...
10.02.2020 Checks and Balance: Reality wreck The president’s tweet announcing his positive coronavirus test was his most shared ever - a shocking fact amid a mire of misinformation. This week’s angry TV debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden highlighted how even the truth has become ...

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