FedEx CEO Charts Investor-Friendly Path While Smith Family Looms

In February, Bret Baier, the dour host of Fox News’ Special Report, opened his show with clips of US President Joe Biden assuring the public that wages were rising and inflation was down. Then he introduced a guest to say that, actually, all wasn’t well with the US economy. “Over the last couple of years, we’ve simply been borrowing from our grandchildren and living beyond our means,” said Frederick Smith, founder of FedEx Corp., in his let’s-cut-out-the-nonsense Southern drawl.

Smith had struck many of the same gloomy chords a month earlier in a chat with Fox’s ...