Some of us know more about some things than others, and we often exploit that advantage. I know more about my driving habits than my auto insurance company. Borrowers know more about their repayment prospects than lenders. The seller of a car knows more about the...
POLITICS
Who’s Rich?
Congressman Patrick Kennedy, a Rhode Island Democrat, recently declared to fellow party members at a Washington night spot, "I don't need Bush's tax cut" and added that he had never worked a day in his life. A number of other rich people have at various times likewise...
Stocks Can Mean Cash
The stock market has been rising impressively, but practically all I hear these days are complaints about low interest rates. Readers lament that they can make only three-quarters of a point in a money-market fund such as Merrill Lynch Ready Assets, or just 1.3...
Numbers Can Be Deceiving
Let's dig deeper into the bull-versus-bear debate that has dominated my last few columns. I've taken the bullish position -- but I'm not rabid about it, and I've discussed the things that worry me, too. I've gotten tons of email from readers along the way -- mostly...
Principles for Peace in the Middle East
In our quest for peace with the Palestinians, three imperatives unite Israelis: Terror must end, our borders must be secure, and the Palestinians must abandon the goal of destroying Israel. That is why we insist that the terror organizations be dismantled, that we not...
WSJ Out of the Money on Microsoft’s Stock Options
The financial press is grave-dancing on Microsoft's decision to no longer award stock options to employees -- and instead to award shares of stock itself. A Wall Street Journal column by Jessie Eisenger crows "Microsoft, once the bullying monopolist, is trying to...
“A Shot at Peace”: Can the U.S. Enforce the “Road Map”
The goal, everyone needs firmly to keep in mind, is not the signing of more agreements but (short-term) the ending of terrorism and (long-term) the Palestinian acceptance of Israel as a sovereign Jewish state.
United Nation’s International Criminal Court is an Evil Institution
The international community cried crocodile tears when the United States withdrew its support of the UN's International Criminal Court (ICC). Supporters of the court laughed when the US expressed concern that our soldiers could be prosecuted for war crimes. Great...
“The Door of No Return” in Perspective
An Associated Press photo was flashed around the world last week showing President Bush standing in "The Door of No Return," the doorway of a slave warehouse on Goree Island, in Senegal, the place from which millions of able-bodied Africans, centuries ago, chained at...
Summer Reading, Part 2
In an era when so many uninformed people act as if they know it all, it is refreshing to get requests from people who want to educate themselves on particular subjects or just to get the basic education that they feel they missed when they were in school or college....
Day Care and Dead Toddlers
Every summer, the stories come. And the tiny bodies pile up. "Toddler trapped in hot van dies." "Kids die from heat in SUV." "Baby boy dies in hot van." Some of the tragedies involve outright parental neglect -- a father who recklessly leaves an infant in the driveway...
U.S. to Israel: Do As We Say
In an agreement brokered last month by U.S. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Palestinian terrorist groups agreed to a temporary cease-fire on condition that Israel ceases its practice of "targeted killings" (executing would-be terrorists before they have a...
The IRS 400
On June 26, readers of The New York Times saw this headline at the top of page one: "Very Richest's Share of Income Grew Even Bigger, Data Show." One would have thought that important news was being broken. But in fact, the reporter, Pulitzer Prize winner David Cay...
Summer Reading, Part 1
From time to time, parents write to ask how they can counter all the steady diet of slanted political correctness their children are getting in the schools and colleges. The summer vacation is probably as good a time as any to get them something to read to let them...
A Cry from Zimbabwe
Since the 1980s thousands of individuals have been displaced from their homes, beaten, tortured, raped or murdered.
“Saving” Bay Meadows
In typical California style, T-shirts have begun to appear with the slogan, "Save Bay Meadows." What are Bay Meadows? A lovely pristine natural vista? Not really. Bay Meadows is an old race track that has seen better days, both physically and financially, and is...
European Constitution vs.British Sovereignty
British Prime Minister Tony Blair has survived with a wrist slap the first parliamentary committee's report on the false claims he made about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. But other, more determined, inquiries are underway, and a new imbroglio is brewing over...
America’s Spy Software Scandal, Courtesy of the U.S. Department of Justice
Did Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden have access to a U.S. computer tracking program that enabled them to monitor our intelligence-gathering efforts and financial transactions? If so, who is responsible for allowing the program to fall into their hands? And who else...
Bush’s Regulatory Crackdown on Business Has Harmed the Economy
In a major speech on July 9, 2002, in the wake of the Enron and WorldCom scandals, President Bush announced a series of regulatory initiatives to "expose and root out corruption" in American business. Stressing that "the vast majority of businessmen and women are...
Media Ignorance
People in the major news media have come in for considerable and sometimes bitter criticism. They've been charged with anti-Americanism, leftism, bias and just plain lying, as in the cases of former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, The Associated Press'...
Raghuram G. Rajan: Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists
The International Monetary Fund made an important appointment last week, naming Raghuram G. Rajan of the University of Chicago as its new chief economist. In this position, he will oversee all of the IMF's economic research and have a great deal to say about its...
Blacks Remain Oppressed, But Not By White Americans
Black leaders have done in 40 years what white people could not do in 400; they’ve made us accept inferior status.
The Case for Bearishness
Even my old friends have turned against me! As the angry emails continue to pour in from bearish readers who are furious at me for my last couple of bullish columns, my old friend Fred Goodman -- the master technical analyst -- has issued a major sell signal. I don't...
Dealing with School Violence
Marc Epstein teaches history at Jamaica High School in Queens, N.Y. He wrote the summer 2003 issue of Education Next's feature story, titled "Security Detail." If an American, who passed away as late as 1960, were somehow resurrected, he'd probably think Epstein...
Subscribe for free.
Latest pro-Capitalism goodness sent weekly to your email box.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.