“Wanted: Ambitious, motivated executives for new tobacco-firm startup. Extensive experience in cigarette production, marketing needed. Send resume, salary requirements to Box SD (SureDeath) c/o this newspaper.” Given the multi-billion verdict rendered by a Florida jury this past week, it may…
Life expectency misunderstood
Few factors can have greater effect on an economy than demographic change. We have seen this in the United States, where the population more than doubled during my mother’s life, and in Brazil, where it has nearly quadrupled during my…
Solutions to “save” Social Security have to work in the real economy
In the ongoing public discussion of Social Security, some critics on the political right have taken to calling the program a “Ponzi scheme.” That, of course, refers to the brainchild of the con artist Charles Ponzi, who in 1919 invented…
What is “price gouging” and do we need pricing laws?
The term “price gouging” is suddenly in vogue among politicians and news announcers because of the recent run-up in gasoline prices in the Midwest. But what exactly constitutes “gouging?” Consider the following cases: Paying $12 for two thin slices of…