Liberty
Trump obesity drug deal will boost Big Pharma
Christopher Jacobs writes for the Federalist about the downside of a new Trump administration deal. Should the rooster get credit for the sun rising in the morning? Hardly. Yet in…
Price fixing
Regulation
Alert NC: the FTC takes a dim view of appraisal boards fixing prices
The FTC's action against the Louisiana Real Estate Appraisers Board for using its powers to fix prices should be a wake-up call to North Carolina policymakers.
Budget, Taxation & Economy
Barron’s editorial page editor decries a pharmaceutical monopoly
Thomas Donlan of Barron’s focuses his latest editorial commentary on government policies that limit free-market forces in pharmaceuticals. For more than 50 years, federal and state lawmakers have been fighting…
Budget, Taxation & Economy
Bottleneckers use licensing laws to limit competition, boost prices
There’s a new term for business owners who use government licensing laws to protect themselves from competition and to maintain high prices. The term is “bottleneckers.” Dick Carpenter of the…
Liberty
Ignoring the real value of work
Kevin Williamson‘s latest contribution to the print edition of National Review reminds us of one of the key errors associated with efforts to increase the government-mandated minimum wage. You can…
Law & Public Safety
Barron’s editorial page editor bemoans government meddling in prices
Thomas Donlan‘s latest editorial commentary for Barron’s focuses on a current legal controversy involving online prices. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote last week found Apple guilty of colluding with five…
Liberty
Prevailing wage laws: one blunder NC has not made
In the new issue of Cato Journal, I have an article on so-called prevailing wage laws. The feds have the Davis-Bacon Act and 31 states have enacted similar laws. They…
Liberty
FDR’s New Deal was against price competition
One of the most remarkable aspects of the New Deal was its hostility to price competition. The “Brain Trust” advisers who helped to craft it were all believers in government…
Liberty
Squeaky clean Obama
It’s going to get harder for Obama’s spin team to keep up the image of the squeaky clean pol who’s opposed to all those nasty special interests when he yucks…
Liberty
Re: Treasurer takes on big oil
I guess Moore favors both maximum and minimum wage laws. Isn’t it great to have a state treasurer and possibly a governor who knows exactly what any given employee, from…
Liberty
We don’t want to sell it, either
The Rocket Express in Cleveland County is refusing to sell gas at a loss; their supplier charges $2.90 per gallon, and their competitor is selling at $2.83. One of the…
Liberty
Paging Roy Cooper
Walter Williams has a question for our crusading Attorney General: Since allegations of oil company price-gouging have become topical, let’s look at real price manipulation. Suppose a dairyman wants to…