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 ›
Knowing that I am an economist, friends and acquaintances frequently ask me, “What is going to happen with the economy?” If I say with great assurance, “Inflation will rise 0.3 percent, unemployment will fall 0.6 percent, and economic growth will increase by 3.2 percent,” they will walk away happy, believing they know something others do not. Or, I can be Read More ›
Why is the stock market still depressed? In one word, Washington. The Washington political class has engaged in a steady stream of actions and proposals over the last few months that would depress any economy and investor. To explain this, I shall begin with a digression. Last month, the president decided to honor the great Nobel Prize-winning economist, Milton Friedman. Read More ›
During the past few weeks, some members of Congress have called corporate executives unpatriotic for moving the legal home of their companies to low-tax foreign countries. The implication is that the business people and their tax lawyers are scoundrels, and countries with low tax rates are evil tax havens. But do the charges hold up? If Webster’s dictionary correctly defines Read More ›
Most people know totalitarian regimes tend to abuse their own citizens. What is not well known is that in most such regimes people have court trials before they are fined, imprisoned, or worse. Such governments like to pretend they are acting under the rule of law, and that the people convicted are guilty of some crime. Typically, totalitarian governments issue Read More ›
When Bill Clinton assumed office nine years ago, I predicted he would enjoy one of the greatest economic booms in the history of the world. Impelled by the spread of the Internet, the onset of fiber optics, and a tenfold increase in venture capital — unleashed by the lower tax rates and deregulation of the Reagan administration — the Clinton Read More ›