The era of big government never really ended

[Bloomberg]( Today’s Agenda - Did the era of big government end 20 years ago? [Yes, no and maybe](. - Trump’s State of the Union speech [didn’t give much reason for hope](. - Female executives are making [smart choices]( in [retail](. - The EU may [soon change its tune]( about [big mergers](. Is the Government Growing or Shrinking? Yes. In a State of the Union address 23 years (gack!) before President Donald Trump’s last night, Bill Clinton [declared]( “the era of big government is over.” It turns out the truth of that depends on what the meaning of the word “over” is. Certainly, in the first of [a series of government-spending charts]( put together by Justin Fox, you can see Clinton spoke at a time when spending was steadily retreating from a high mountain. But you can also see the valley didn’t go too deep or last too long: But by other measures, such as hiring and investment, the government has been shrinking steadily since the 1950s: But on the other other hand, government regulations have ballooned: In other words, as with most data, there’s ammunition here to back up any argument. You can see [all of Justin’s charts here](. Chewing on the State of the Union As mentioned, Trump delivered his own State of the Union speech last night. Your reaction likely depends on your political affiliation; a promised call for bipartisanship didn’t go very far. It nodded enough to comity to [make open-minded listeners almost optimistic](, Bloomberg’s editorial board writes. But now we have to see if Trump follows up, and the odds already [don’t look good](. Jonathan Bernstein is less charitable, calling the speech “[another wasted opportunity]( from a president who has wasted plenty of them.” Trump’s few calls for cooperation were drowned out by poor delivery, lies and combativeness, Jonathan writes. One shocker in the speech was Trump’s ad-libbed claim he wants to see “the largest numbers ever” of legal immigrants. This is jarring, notes Ramesh Ponnuru, because Trump has been trying to squeeze, not increase, legal immigration. It’s one reason he keeps blowing up border-wall deals. But [nobody should take anything Trump says seriously]( anyway, Ramesh writes; Trump certainly doesn’t, and neither do the people who work for him. Consistency and follow-through just aren’t his style. One concrete promise in the speech was that Trump would meet North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un in Vietnam at the end of this month. But [Trump’s eagerness to cozy up to North Korea](, even as that nation does little to earn trust, hurts America’s moral authority, writes Eli Lake. A Tale of Two Retail Operations Apple Inc. last night announced its head of retail, Angela Ahrendts, is leaving the company. The timing couldn’t be better, write Alex Webb and Andrea Felsted. Ahrendts [oversaw a boom in retail profitability for Apple]( — but her vision was maybe starting to fail her in China, where sales have been lumpy. This is a good time for Ahrendts to take a victory lap and for Apple to try something different in China.  Another woman in a high-profile retail job, though arguably even more challenging, is J.C. Penney Co.’s new CEO, Jill Soltau. She has wasted no time putting her stamp on the company, ditching an effort by her predecessor to catch some of the appliance sales that will scatter whenever Sears Holdings Corp. finally goes supernova. Sarah Halzack writes Soltau is [smart to focus her energies on apparel](, which makes up the bulk of J.C. Penney’s revenue and could use some freshening up. Giant Train Merger Derailed EU regulators shot down a potential blockbuster merger between Germany’s Siemens AG and French railway manufacturer Alstom SA. The companies tried to scare regulators about the rise of CRRC Corp., a ginormous Chinese train-gear maker. But the EU was right to say [Siemens-Alstom would have been a global behemoth]( far scarier than CRRC, which is mainly a domestic player, writes David Fickling. And anyway, Siemens and Alstom both helped CRRC’s rise by carelessly giving it key intellectual property. Stop doing that! But despite — or because of? — the Siemens-Alstom rejection, the [tide may soon turn against the EU’s antitrust]( sentiment, Lionel Laurent writes. European Commission elections and Brexit could be opportunities for Siemens and other big companies to bend policy making more to their liking. Telltale Charts America’s educational system is bad at [identifying and helping poor and minority students]( who could be high achievers in college and beyond, notes Noah Smith. This is not only unfair, but it also hurts America’s economic potential. Snap Inc.’s latest quarterly results were the picture of stability, but [stability won’t be enough](, warns Shira Ovide. Further Reading The Walt Disney Co. has adopted [a new identity as a streaming]( video provider. Details to follow. – Tara Lachapelle Activist Elliott Management Co. has [gotten almost everything it wanted at Arconic]( Inc. — except for a higher stock price. – Brooke Sutherland The EU and U.K. have agreed to [avoid blowing up the credit-derivatives market]( in the event of a no-deal Brexit, but that’s just the start of years of wrangling. – Lionel Laurent Trump’s World Bank nominee, David Malpass, does seem to have a sense for what the bank needs. But it’s [past time a non-American]( ran it. – Mihir Sharma ICYMI Lloyd Blankfein and Bernie Sanders are [Twitter-fighting](. Elizabeth Warren [called herself an “American Indian”]( on a form in 1996. Inside [Wisconsin’s disastrous Foxconn deal](. Kickers Clothes-stealing dorm-room ghost is actually [a dude camping in the closet](. (h/t Joel Brill) A newly discovered species of arthropod may have [survived the Ice Age underground](. (h/t Scott Kominers) Active-shooter drills in schools [may be doing more harm]( than good. The best movies that [lost best picture]( at every Oscars so far. Note: Please send Oscars and complaints to Mark Gongloff at mgongloff1@bloomberg.net. New to Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Sign up here]( and follow us on [Twitter]( and [Facebook](. [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]( [Twitter Share]( SEND TO A FRIEND [Share with a friend] You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. 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