- FTC Finds Conspiracy in Three Tenors Case (Reuters): “The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Monday upheld charges that three subsidiaries of France’s Vivendi Universal conspired to fix the price of a 1998 recording by The Three Tenors, the agency said. The FTC’s five commissioners voted unanimously to back an earlier ruling that Vivendi’s PolyGram unit had improperly agreed with an AOL Time Warner Inc. subsidiary to halt discounting and advertising to boost sales of recordings based on the tenors’ concert in Paris during the 1998 soccer World Cup. Monday’s vote upholds a ruling last year by a U.S. administrative law judge, who also concluded that the companies had engaged in anti-competitive tactics. The FTC first filed the case in 2001. Agency officials accused Warner and PolyGram of forming a joint venture to distribute the 1998 performance of the three renowned singers and agreed not to discount or advertise certain catalog products for a limited time.”
- Wait-and-see economy keeps jobless on edge (CSM): “Here’s the script for the economy: The nation’s factories should be humming, business should be advertising for new workers, and backhoes should be digging the footings for new factories to spew out new products. But with only five months left in the year, it’s a matter of lights, camera, but very little action.”
- Bill Would Provide Canadian Drug Prices (WashTimes): “A group of Massachusetts lawmakers has proposed publicizing the prices of prescription drugs in Canada to help consumers find the best deals. Under proposed legislation, residents would be able to contact a state office to find out how and where they can save the most money on medications in Canada. ... The supporters are looking for help from the state’s U.S. senators because federal law bans the importation of drugs by anyone except pharmaceutical manufacturers. The Bush administration has supported keeping that ban in place, although Congress has shown a willingness to change federal laws governing drug imports from Canada.”
- Argentina Didn’t Fall on Its Own (WashPost): “The fantasyland that Argentina represented for foreign financiers came to a catastrophic end early last year, when the government defaulted on most of its $141 billion debt and devalued the nation’s currency. A wrenching recession left well over a fifth of the labor force jobless and threw millions into poverty. An extensive review of the conduct of financial market players in Argentina reveals Wall Street’s complicity in those events. Investment bankers, analysts and bond traders served their own interests when they pumped up euphoria about the country’s prospects, with disastrous results. “
- The time has come for us to get out of Iraq (Edward Luttwak, Telegraph), or why no one wants democracy in Iraq: “It is now three months since Bush declared that the war in Iraq was over. The occupation is costing almost $4 billion a week and lives continue to be lost to Iraqi attacks as troops seek to provide some security and stability. It was agreed that the US and Britain could not simply leave Iraq in chaos after destroying Saddam Hussein’s regime, but the standard rememedy - a rebuilt Iraqi military government was not even considered. Instead the allies defied almost all expert opinion in pursuing the highly ambitious goal of endowing Iraq with an elected democratic government. By now, however, it should be obvious that no significant population group in Iraq wants the democracy that the Bush administration is striving so hard to establish.” Thanks AntiWar.com.
Posted by Mises.org News
