New Economy, Old Delusion

The Free Market 18, no. 8 (August 2000)

 

The president of the United States was ecstatic. Never had economic prospects in this country looked better. Unemployment was at its lowest level in years, the rate of inflation was relatively low, and the economy had grown continuously for almost eight years. No doubt, said the experts, this country was in the midst of a New Economy.

Web-Page Privacy

The Free Market 18, no. 9 (September 2000)

 

For two years, the White House has been haranguing owners of large websites, telling them not to violate their visitors’ supposed right to privacy. Now, just on the face of it, this is absurd. The proper way to think about websites is as private property. When you go to a website, you are a visitor on someone else’s property; the owner has the right to record what interests you. If you don’t like it, you shouldn’t visit. It’s that simple. 

In Defense of Shorts

The Free Market 18, no. 9 (September 2000)

 

Dictatorships always immediately ban short selling,” wrote Fred Schwed, Jr., in his fun 1940 book on investing, “since it is axiomatic with them that no professional pessimists are going to be tolerated.” Indeed, the long-vilified bearish practice called short selling involves a sale of borrowed stock with the anticipation that its price will fall, allowing the bear to buy it back and pocket the difference. When a bear buys back stock he has sold short, he is said to cover his position. 

Hijacking the Internet?

The Free Market 18, no. 10 (October 2000)

 

On the Internet, a war between government-backed trademark holders and small web entrepreneurs is heating up. Thanks to the current managers of the Internet and a little-known agency of the United Nations, the trademark holders are winning. 

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