Joe Nocera

Silicon Valley has long been in the camp of the Democrats — a place where candidates could reliably raise lots of money, deliver keynotes at technology conferences and pick the brains of the tech elite over dinner. This year, however, the most powerful of those executives should probably be…

When I heard that President Donald Trump had been infected with the coronavirus, one of the first things I did was send a text to my sister-in-law. I wanted to know if the news had changed her mind about wearing masks. Like all my in-laws (though not my wife), she is a fierce supporter of the…

In the summer of 1982, when I was 29, I was given a front-row seat as Milton Friedman’s famous dictum began to be put into practice. I had recently joined the staff of Texas Monthly, where my first assignment was to profile a man I’d never heard of, T. Boone Pickens Jr., the founder and chief…

Is this really what it’s come to? Two companies, one American and one Chinese, make a deal. The deal is contingent on US government approval. It is difficult to see the US company’s justification for doing the deal — it sells boring-but-necessary software to businesses while the Chinese company…

Last week — which is to say, six months into a pandemic that has killed more than 185,000 Americans — the American Nurses Association released the results of a survey of its membership. The survey asked whether nurses were still experiencing shortages of personal protective equipment, or PPE. …

A refrain I’ve heard a lot these past six months is how great it’s been not to have to travel. People who were frequent fliers before the pandemic usually add that they now realize that, thanks to Zoom and its rivals, a lot of travel isn’t truly necessary anymore. Maybe some of it never was. Yes…

The Berkeley Center for Law and Business held its annual “fraud fest” a few weeks ago — virtually, of course — and there was a new item on the agenda. Along with the usual panels about whistle-blowers and short sellers, the organizers added a panel titled “Fraud and Covid-19.” “The pandemic is…

Three months after the first case of Covid-19 was diagnosed in the US, has the time come to start paying more attention to the critics? No, not the MAGA types foolishly protesting they have a constitutional right to endanger themselves and others by ignoring social-distancing rules. And not the…

This is one of those moments when it’s worth asking: What is an economy for? It doesn’t exist for the benefit of stock market participants, nor does it exist to fatten the coffers of corporations. Since at least the 1980s, the US has equated economic health with a rising market and ever…