Free Markets
Posted at 11:52pm on Apr. 24, 2008 How To Help Solve The Problems Plaguing The Air Travel Industry
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
Behold. I note this because I happened to catch Lou Dobbs this afternoon railing about how airports and airlines now treat people "like cattle," that "we're not even Americans anymore" and that the solution to all of these problems was to re-regulate the airline industry and go back to good old 1978 in the process. I guess that Dobbs doesn't read blogs that might challenge his troglodyte views of the world in general and how economics works in particular.
Posted at 12:28am on Jan. 18, 2008 God Forbid That French Bookbuyers Should Actually Get A Good Deal
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
Details here. All the more reason to like and patronize Amazon, as far as I am concerned. And just imagine what the reaction would be here if a law were passed denying bookbuyers the ability to get free shipping discounts.
(Link via the Smithians.)
Posted at 12:48am on Nov. 30, 2007 Meanwhile, In Poland . . .
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
Friedmanesque policies are gaining momentum:
Posted in Capitalism | Foreign Affairs | Free Markets | Poland — Comments (0)/ Email this page » / Read More »
Posted at 3:38am on Nov. 18, 2007 The Almost Perfect President Of France
By Pejman Yousefzadeh
I will never cease arguing that Nicolas Sarkozy is an enormous improvement over Jacques Chirac and that his apparent admiration for the United States is most welcome.
Additionally, I will never cease arguing that when it comes to Nicolas Sarkozy, there is a lot of room for improvement:
President Nicolas Sarkozy of France yesterday said Europeans were suffering an "extremely deep identity crisis" linked to globalisation and excessive commercialisation and this meant Europe had to be more than a market and a set of rules.
In a speech to the European Parliament in Strasbourg, he said Europe had to be seen "as a protector, a life-enhancer, as a magnifier of strength, and as a shining cultural and political example".
Mr Sarkozy also repeated his support for the principle - still undefined - of "community preference" for EU businesses, saying the word "protection" should not be taboo in Europe.
He insisted he was talking about reciprocity in trade deals and independence in energy and food rather than protectionism per se. But Europe could not be the only part of the world to make competition a "religion", he said.
All of this protectionist winking and nodding sounds pretty bad. But wait! It gets worse!
Mr Sarkozy's speech won a lukewarm response from members of the European parliament. Some of the loudest applause came, ironically, from socialist deputies particularly for his attack on the "capitalism of speculators".
Graham Watson, leader of the liberal group MEPs, described Mr Sarkozy's speech as "Blair minus". Although equally impassioned as the former British prime minister's celebrated address to the parliament in 2005, it "was not very coherent on economic issues".
Alexander Stubb, a centre-right MEP from Finland, said: "As an economic liberal, I would hoped for a more vigorous defence of the free movement of goods, services, capital and labour."
As would we all. But more and more people are noticing that when it comes to the issue of free trade and free markets, Nicolas Sarkozy--improvement that he is--remains a huge disappointment.
Posted in Capitalism | Foreign Affairs | Free Markets | Free Trade | Nicolas Sarkozy — Comments (7)/ Email this page » / Read More »
