The law of supply and demand is a fundamental economic truth. One of its tenets is that when the demand for a value exceeds its supply, prices will rise. Conversely, when the supply of a value exceeds the demand, prices will fall. The willingness of producers to manufacture a value for a particular price constitutes…
In 2019 during her campaign to become the Democrat nominee for President, Sen. Elizabeth Warren promised to use the antitrust laws to reverse “illegal and anti-competitive tech mergers.” As examples, she cited Amazon’s merger with Whole Foods, Facebook’s merger with Instagram, and Google’s merger with DoubleClick. “To restore the balance of power in our democracy,”…
For months, conservatives have been increasing their calls to use the antitrust laws against Big Tech. These calls are filled with contradictions, such as the claim that Facebook, Twitter, and other tech companies are endangering free speech by blocking conservative content. Another contradiction is expressed by Will Chamberlain, publisher of Human Events. Chamberlain writes that…
I recently stumbled across an article by a doctor who declared: I am a capitalist and physician who believes competition within a market can drive up quality and drive down cost. That’s why I believe single-payer Medicare for All is an improved market solution and the best road forward for American health care. The essence…
On January 3, Tucker Carlson delivered a diatribe ostensibly attacking the ruling class in Washington. But his real message was much more subtle, and much more sinister. It was, first and foremost, an attack on the free market. Like many other pundits, Carlson looks at the myriad problems plaguing America and blames the pursuit of…
With the 2019 legislative session just a few months away, the proposed bullet train between Dallas and Houston is once again gaining increased attention. In both 2015 and 2017, both opponents and supporters of the project descended on Austin to argue their positions. To many, the bullet train represents a conflict of values. For example,…
How Informed are Voters? A recent survey found that American voters are generally misinformed on a wide range of political issues. The report stated, “On average, voters gave the correct answer 40% of the time, gave an incorrect answer 53% of the time, and said they were unsure 7% of the time. A majority of…
For some time, 13-year-old Jaequan Faulkner has operated a hotdog stand in front of his house in Minneapolis. Recently, someone called the authorities to complain that he was operating without a permit. Rather than cite the teenager for violating city regulations, officials decided to help the entrepreneur through the process. Indeed, health inspectors donated the…
Last week, Chronicle business columnist Chris Tomlinson wrote about the contradictions in the newspaper business. Interestingly, what he calls contradictions are really an admission of his own confusion about how a free market operates. For example, he writes The industry itself was founded on a contradiction. Historically, publishers focused on selling paper more than news….
The Trump Administration recently unveiled a proposal that will require utilities to buy power from plants scheduled to be retired. The purported goal of this mandate is to allow coal-fired plants to remain in operation. This comes just a decade after then-candidate Obama vowed to bankrupt coal-fired plants. Through a combination of environmental regulations on…
This article was published in the October 1987 issue of The Freeman. $ $ $ Since the Challenger Shuttle disaster effectively grounded America’s space program in January 1986, President Reagan has increasingly called for private businesses to enter the space industry. Space Services Inc., which made a successful test launch in 1982, plans to begin…