Historian: Welcome to Pandemonium

“Friday’s jobs report wasn’t that bad,” argues Niall Ferguson at The Free Press.

But “why would even a much worse jobs number in the U.S. cause the Japanese stock market to fall by 12.2 percent in a single day?” “As I see it, 2024 is proving to be a year of delusions, most of which have now been shattered.”

These included an AI bubble, expectations of a Trump victory (and extension of the Trump tax cuts) and lack of fear over US-China confrontation. “So here is my standard financial historian’s question: What is this like?” He fears it’s like 1997, a “complex crisis that extended from Asia to Russia to U.S. hedge funds — in which case there will be both financial contagion and real macroeconomic pain.”

Worse is “the added complication that central banks and governments have much less latitude” to act now “because of the massive expansion of central bank balance sheets and public debt since 2008.”

From the right: How Don Stops Kamalamania

Two weeks “Kamala Harris became the presumptive Democratic nominee,” and “the sudden switch” looks “be working,” reports the Washington Examiner’s Byron York. “In early July,” Trump “had a lead of slightly more than 3 points over Biden,” but now his “ lead over Harris is less than a point,” and “Harris has improved Biden’s position with some key voting groups.”

Trump needs to focus on a three-part message: “1) Things were good when I was president, 2) things went to hell when Kamala Harris took office, 3) elect me and I’ll make them good again. It’s a simple message, and we’ll see if it can withstand the wave of Kamalamania.”

Conservative: Trump Needs To Debate Harris

With Kamala Harris “giving Democrats new hope that they might yet win in November,” why isn’t “Trump eager to debate — and give her a taste of what he dished out to Biden?” asks The Wall Street Journal’s William McGurn. “Not only has Harris not been answering questions since she took Biden’s place atop the ticket,” but “the press isn’t demanding her to do so, either.”

It’s time for Americans “to see for themselves who Harris really is.” A debate gives Trump “what may be his best opportunity to force her to answer tough questions she’s so far avoided — in front of millions of voters.” So “if ever there were a time to let Trump be Trump, this is it,” with a debate.

Never Trumper: Walz = Kam’s First Mistake

“Can’t anybody here play this game?” asks Matt K. Lewis at the Hill of Kamala Harris’ decision to pass over Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, “probably the most important state for Harris electorally,” for Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, “a state that Harris should easily win.”

Plus: “Rather than counterbalancing the narrative that suggests Harris is a ‘San Francisco liberal,’ Walz’s selection reinforces that left-wing brand.” Worse: “Did Shapiro being Jewish sink his chances?” If so, “it is an indictment of the left.” And since Shapiro was “the clear choice, such speculation is impossible to ignore.”

Overall: “From the moment Joe Biden announced he was not seeking reelection until now, Kamala Harris had played perfect baseball. From where I sit in the peanut gallery, this vice presidential choice constitutes her first unforced error.”

Eye on NY: Pushing Parents To Flee Public Schools

“Setting high educational performance standards linked to content-rich curriculum and tying teacher preparation and professional development to those standards are the keys to boosting achievement levels for all public-school students,” argues the Empire Center’s Roberta Schaefer. “Unfortunately, New York’s education policymakers are moving in the opposite direction” by pushing proposals that “weaken measurable performance standards.”

Indeed, the state’s new high-school graduation standards minimize “objective criteria for measuring academic progress.”

“The changes now being considered by the Regents risk increasing the exodus of families” out of public schools in search of options focused on “fortifying academic learning.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board