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Posts published in “Politics”

Midterm Elections 2018: A Tale of Two Chambers

On November 6, an estimated 113 million Americans took to the polls to vote in the highly anticipated 2018 midterm elections. This marked the first time in history that over 100 million votes were cast in a midterm election, with the 49 percent voter participation exceeding the 36.4 percent reported in 2014 and the 41 percent in 2010.

Despite the spike in this year’s participation and strong voter enthusiasm, these rates are consistently softer than the 55 to 62 percent generally observed for presidential or general elections, although those figures are not too impressive in themselves. Though voting is a civic duty and an essential component of a functioning democracy, we often find that registered voters simply do not show up every time or even half the time.…

Political Survey at Stern Reveals an Actively Engaged, Diverse Campus

With the recent November midterm elections, campus has been abuzz with get-out-the-vote campaigns and political energy. NYU President Hamilton’s September email urged students to vote and raise turnout above 2016’s 47.8 percent. At Stern, each block of first-year students worked to drive voter engagement through the Motivote competition. And, of course, pundits in the always-active media speculated themselves into a fervor in the run-up to Election Day.

Blast in a couple of beers and a long day of presentations and it’s hard not to stumble into a political discussion.

When chatting among friends and classmates, it is easy to assume everyone at NYU is on the same political page.…

China Expands its Strategic Portfolio, Raising Concerns of Debt Trap Diplomacy

In the 2018 National Defense Strategy report, the US denounced China for leveraging “predatory economics,” referring to their use of debt trap diplomacy. Through its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), China has oftentimes been a live-saving, generous lender, particularly to developing economies. However, it has become clear that by leveraging accumulated debt on these poorly drafted, expensive projects, China has been acquiring strategic assets and gaining political influence over debt-incurring nations. Specifically, China has been applying economic concessions or political agreements with countries in return for debt forgiveness. As a result, China’s presence along key maritime corridors have expanded drastically through its financial takeover of strategic ports around the world.…

Spotlight on Maria Espinosa for National Hispanic Heritage Month

In a timely overlap with National Hispanic Heritage Month (celebrated from September 15th to October 15th), the international community welcomed the first female President of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to be from Latin America and the Caribbean. Maria Fernanda Espinosa became the fourth woman to ever be President of the UNGA and is hosting the Heads of State for the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly.

The President of the UNGA is voted by the representatives on an annual basis and holds a respectable, highly-regarded position in the international body. The General Assembly consists of representatives from all Member States, each of which has one vote.…

In a tit-for-tat trade war, no one wins

The Dow marked its fifth-largest point decline in history on March 22, plummeting 724 points or 2.9 percent in response to growing concerns among investors about a global trade war. In early March, the Trump Administration used national security reasons to announce tariffs of 25 percent and 10 percent on steel and aluminum respectively, hurting trade relations with the United States’ closest allies including Japan, South Korea, and the European Union, as well as Canada and Mexico.

Adding fuel to the impending trade war, Trump then announced proposed tariffs of $50 billion on Chinese imports in retaliation to an unfair trade balance with China and China’s theft of U.S.…

The Odds of Impeachment

The Odds of Impeachment

Frank Polley, MBA Class of 2018

“DONALD TRUMP IMPEACHED – MIKE PENCE SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES”

It’s a headline that many people want to wake up and see sprawled across the WSJ front page any day now. It’s also a headline that, based off the increasingly breathless and apocalyptic media coverage of the Trump administration, seems increasingly imminent to some. Wanting or even expecting something to happen, however, is a different enterprise than predicting exactly how likely it is to occur.

A quick Google search of “Donald Trump impeach” yields such results as “Will Donald Trump Get Impeached?…

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