If WorldCom goes bankrupt, will we have enough telephone companies? Do we have the right number of supermarkets, fast food restaurants and hotels? Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else knows, but the private enterprise market system sorts it out and gives us approximately what we need, where we need it. For each type of business, there is an optimum Read More ›
WorldCom, one-time poster-boy telecom firm for the New Economy, lies in ruins. Its 19-year saga mirrors that of the once-vibrant long-distance industry. Its imminent demise, while hastened by scandal, was inevitable. The seedlings of WorldCom were planted on January 8, 1982 when Charles Brown, last chairman of legendary Ma Bell, capitulated to antitrust chief William Baxter. Facing imminent defeat in Read More ›
The latest numbers show U.S. economic growth at 1.7 percent in 2001, about the same as during former President Clinton’s first three years in office and half the rate during the tech boom of the late 1990s. That sure beats recession, but today’s pace is well under the growth rate needed to fully fund Social Security, Medicare and other obligations Read More ›