Submitted by CARPE DIEM
Yes, the Sirius-XM merger would create a “monopoly” in satellite radio, but a merged Sirius-XM will still face fierce competition. AM and FM radio, podcasts, mp3 players, and cell phone programming all compete against satellite radio for listeners. In the future, mobile Internet radio with programmable stations could easily threaten satellite radio, […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
From David Theroux at the Independent Institute:

Is there now a light ahead in Cuba after decades of repressive communist rule? With his brother Fidel now on the sidelines, Cuban President Raúl Castro has recently lifted a nine-year-old ban on private taxis, “potentially legalizing thousands of unauthorized cabbies who cruise its cities in […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
How did the government help create the current financial mess? Let me count the ways.

In addition to federal laws that pressure lenders to lend to people they would not otherwise lend to, and in places where they would otherwise not invest, state and local governments have in various parts of the country […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM
We hear a lot of comparisons of today’s economic conditions to the inflationary 1970s (see shaded area above) and even the Great Depression and the 1930s (see shaded area). The chart above shows the annual Misery Index from 1930 to 2008, calculated as the sum of a) the CPI inflation rate and […]

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Submitted by CARPE DIEM

From an interesting paper “International Monetary Fund Programs and Tuberculosis Outcomes in Post-Communist Countries”:
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is a major source of capital for resource-deprived countries, but it is unclear whether its economic reform programs have positive or negative effects on health and health infrastructures in recipient countries. There are indications, […]

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