A week ago I wrote here that the NASDAQ’s highs of Wednesday, May 2, marked the closing bookend of the NASDAQ’s fabulous bull run that carried it 35.6% from the bottom on April 4. So far I’ve been right. From May 2 through yesterday’s close,...
POLITICS
The basic and crucial political issue of our age is: capitalism versus socialism, or freedom versus statism. For decades, this issue has been silenced, suppressed, evaded, and hidden under the foggy, undefined rubber-terms of “conservatism” and “liberalism” which had lost their original meaning and could be stretched to mean all things to all men. – AYN RAND
“Don’t Ask, Do Tell” to Advance Missile Defense
President Bush’s speech on ballistic missile defense (BMD) is a reaction to “the Kyoto complex,” where he made a big (and the right) decision (getting out of the protocol) without consultation. Now on BMD, he’s all consultation and no big...
Missile Defense Critics Go Ballistic
Talk about quick. It would take more time for a missile to get here from North Korea than it took critics to fire off the same tired arguments against missile defense following President Bush’s recent speech at the National Defense University. What those...
A Golden Opportunity?
Once again we’re faced with a market that doesn’t want to go up, but doesn’t want to go down either. Since last Wednesday’s high on the NASDAQ — which I said was the closing bookend on the NASDAQ’s spring rally — the markets...
Bush’s Push for Missile Defense Must Defuse Incoming Rhetorical Bombs
Here in the US, opposition to national missile defense (NMD) falls into four categories. Critics complain about its potential cost, its alleged unworkability, its putative damage to international relations, and its supposed irrelevance to the real threats to the US....
Why Fiber To The Home (FTTH) Is Inevitable
For the past few years, telecom companies have been working diligently to provide us with pseudo-broadband internet connections over copper (DSL) and cable (cable modem). I use the term “pseudo-broadband” because the existing telecom infrastructure can...
Olympic 2008: Say No To Beijing
Normal human beings would blanch at the thought of staging an athletic event at the site of an infamous massacre. But China’s Communist rulers, who are bidding hard to host the Summer Olympics in 2008, are not normal human beings. So it comes as no surprise that...
What Goes Around Comes Around
Just like old times. Cisco beat by a penny. It was easy, too. All they had to do was lower expectations far below anything you would have dared to imagine in your worst nightmares a year ago. And according to CEO John Chambers, it’ll be a snap to grow revenues...
The Executor’s Song: Part 2, Getting Help
Author’s Note: This is the second in a series of personal finance columns on the subject of being the executor of an estate. These columns are based on my own personal experiences in this regard. Individuals should consult a professional advisor and take their...
Class Warfare Obscures the Tax Cut Debate
When the Berlin Wall collapsed, one would have expected the poisonous Marxist ideology of class warfare to disappear along with it. But this year’s tax debate has shown the politics-of-envy is alive and well. Demagogues are vilifying President Bush’s plan...
You Gotta Disbelieve
Just a quick note this morning, to try to illuminate the nature of the cusp at which the markets find themselves. On Thursday the markets made it clear they didn’t want to go higher. And on Friday they made it just as clear they didn’t want to go lower....
Eboys : The First Inside Account of Venture Capitalists at Work
When eBay, a small Internet auction company based in San Jose, California, sought venture capital, it had to pass an informal test administered by the venture guys before they would consider making an investment: Was there a reasonably good likelihood that the...
Much Hope for the Future of the Telecom Industry
I would like to begin today’s column tangentially, by admitting to the world that I did something incredibly stupid yesterdaythis past Tuesday Allow me to explain. There is a delightful yiddish phrase, kayn ein hora (pronounced “kinna herra” or...
Price Controls and the Electricity Crisis in California
It was only a passing news item when the financial information service Standard & Poor’s lowered the rating it gave to bonds issued by the state of California. But it has big implications and it also shows the big difference between economics and politics....
The Arsenic Wars
“Can I please have some more arsenic in my water, Mommy? More salmonella in my cheeseburger, please.” So begins a Democratic National Committee commercial attacking George W. Bush’s policy on arsenic levels in water. In the commercial, a cute little...
Market Commentary: An End Indeed
Sometimes market moves begin and end with perfectly matched catalysts — bookends, if you will. It’s strange, but a single piece of news can first ignite a rally, and then later virtually the same news can extinguish it. And that’s what just happened...
The “Patient Bill of Rights” is Political Window Dressing
As a health care provider, here is my proposal for a patient bill of rights: 1. The right to enter voluntary, contractual relationships with doctors — without paternalistic interference on the part of federal and state governments. For example: laws mandating...
Virginia State University Tyranny
If we had to single out one American institution that stands at the forefront of modern-day racial discrimination, deception and contempt for fundamental principles of liberty, it would be America’s universities. Under the euphemisms of affirmative action,...
Patient’s Bill of Rights Will Turn Patients into Prisoners
It may sound healthy, this debate we’re hearing in Washington over a “Patients’ Bill of Rights.” But it’s like listening to prisoners clamor for better food and more yard time. No matter what the outcome, they’re still prisoners....
Asian American Pity Party
Here are some of the racial epithets I’ve been called in my lifetime: Chink. Gook. Jap. Nigger. Slant eyes. Dog-eater. Those are just the printable ones. I’m an American of Filipino descent, but have been mistaken for everything from native Hawaiian to...
Libertarianism: In the Pursuit of No Government
Q: What about the Libertarians? They seek the same role for government as people such as yourself. You cannot complain that there is not a party that is fiscally conservative and socially liberal when the Libertarians are present. A: Yes I can. Because the...
Shooting Down Missile Critics
American know-how can surmount virtually any obstacle. Yet we’re to believe that missile defense is impossible? Baloney. To hear some critics tell it, America’s planned missile-defense system is based on the B-movie fantasies of former actor President...
Look Who’s Supporting School Choice Now!
No wonder the California Teachers Association was howling. Ray Haynes actually wanted them to practice what they preach. Haynes, a Republican state senator from California, recently introduced legislation in Sacramento that would have required public school teachers...
Great Job! You’re Fired
Companies are usually rewarded when they do a good job. They make more money. They gain more customers. They even win awards from their peers. But apparently that’s not the case when a company’s business is improving big-city education. In too many cities...
Dealing with the China-Taiwan Puzzle
As the guarantor of regional security in Asia, the United States should be paying closer attention to the military buildup and strident anti-Taiwan rhetoric of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Other nations may be able to dismiss these threats as just...
Pat Robertson Supports Forced Abortions in China, But Opposes Voluntary Abortions in America
In a CNN interview on April 16, 2001, [Pat] Robertson, the founder of the Christian Coalition and head of the Christian Broadcasting Network, was asked how he reconciles his support for close ties with China with Beijing’s ruthless one-child policy, which has...
Bull Fighting: Are We in a Bull or Bear Market?
I’ve made some good money in the strong recovery that began April 4, and you probably have, too. And all along I’ve been saying it’s nothing but a great big wonderful bear market rally. I must say, I’ve caught myself this week hoping the market...
Downey Supporters Only Half Right
Award-winning actor Robert Downey Jr. has been arrested again. Before Tuesday’s arrest on drug charges, he already faced the possibility of nearly five years in prison for charges stemming from his arrest last November in Palm Springs. Now state officials have...
Pauline Kanchanalak: Poster Girl for the Futility of the McCain-Feingold Bill
Remember Pauline Kanchanalak? Probably not. But if there were ever a poster girl for the futility of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform bill, Ms. Kanchanalak is it. Despite funneling nearly $700,000 in illegal foreign contributions to Democrats, Ms....
Alan Greenspan’s Solution to Market Volatility: The Gold Standard
I wrote yesterday that Alan Greenspan’s repeated rate cuts weren’t helping the economy, and that further cuts might not help either. We could find ourselves in the position of Japan, with rates at zero and an economy still spinning its wheels in a...
The Duty to Die
Our betters have been telling us how to live our lives for so long that it is only the next logical step for them to tell us when to die. We have grown so used to meekly accepting their edicts, even on what words we can and cannot use — “swamp” has...
Individual Tax Credits for Health Coverage
A number of legislative proposals on Capitol Hill would provide uninsured workers with a tax credit to help them purchase health insurance. The most recent was introduced on March 14 by Senators John Breaux (D-LA) and James Jeffords (R-VT). President Bush has proposed...
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