A few businesses have the power to raise prices without sacrificing much in quantity sold. Others have no price-setting power at all. And many in-betweens might have the administrative ability and legal right to raise prices, but doing so frequently…
Mergers good, mergers bad; it depends
Buyouts and mergers that have the potential to reduce competition continue apace in many sectors and at different levels. American Airlines is hoping to merge with US Airways, further reducing the number of choices for fliers. And the Canadian Pacific…
When a cartoon can be a problem
Seemingly intractable fiscal problems indicate that national institutions are failing us, be it government or media. It is a truism that whenever a nation has apparently unsolvable economic problems, these are only visible evidence of underlying political problems. This has…
This history is no guide for source of today’s budget problems
Be wary when anyone tries to read too much into a single historical incident. That was the case in Washington Post columnist Robert Samuelson’s March 3 assertion that the 1964 “Kennedy tax cut” caused a litany of economic woes culminating…