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Unlike the sleazy headlines in some tabloid newspapers, the Detroit News often has sensational headlines on page one that reflect important, substantive stories. This certainly was the case on January 4, 2000 with the lead story blazing the headline “Report: Edison overbills $248M.” The “Report” refers to a study done by Moody’s Investors Service for…
The Y2K computer problem, in an increasingly computer- reliant world, will begin to reveal its dimensions, small or large, on January 1, 2000. While the various predictions have ranged all over the proverbial lot, from catastrophes to glitches here and there, the cost of fixing an entirely preventable situation in the United States alone will…
The information age, we have been told repeatedly, is the signal characteristic of the modern political economy. Technology will liberate and advance the voices and impact of all people as it decentralizes power, say numerous books and essays. Well, let’s examine those articles of faith in two areas — that of congressional information and federal…
Increasingly, the citizens of Toledo, Ohio, are making connections between their daily lives and corporate welfare payouts, thanks to the recent provocations of DaimlerChrysler, which is sitting on $20 billion in cash, and its buddy Toledo Mayor, Carty Finkbeiner, who is sitting on a financially crumbling city government. The residents are seeing the emergence of…
Every time the Microsoft antitrust case moves forward, one observes a new wave of “where is the harm?” opinion articles in daily newspapers, presenting Microsoft’s anticompetitive practices as harmful to competitors but not consumers. Judge Jackson’s 206 page findings of fact addressed the issue of consumer harm in ways that resonated with many computer…
The media called it “the battle of Seattle” last week. Certainly it was clear once again that the media often waits for street demonstrations before conveying the message of the demonstrators — in this case composed of labor, church groups, environmental and consumer organizations, family farm delegations, human rights advocates, students against overseas sweat-shops and…
An elderly woman is visited at home by a window salesman who talks her into buying 10 windows for $10,000. She signs a number of pieces of paper, including the sales contract, the financing agreement, and a form on which she consents to receive the contract and all notices relating to the sale over the…
The historic Microsoft monopoly trial took an odd twist on November 19th when federal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson secured the agreement of the Justice Department and Microsoft to accept mediation by 7th Circuit chief Judge Richard Posner. For most jurists, being a chief judge of a busy federal circuit court of appeals would be a…
Alan Greenspan, chairman of the Federal Reserve — an agency that serves purposes which officials in other western countries would call “central banking functions” — must keep saying to himself these days that “It doesn’t get any better than this.” Here he is, head of the most powerful federal regulatory agency in the government and…
The judge’s finding of facts in the Microsoft case are a devastating indictment of the company. The judge found Microsoft responsible for a litany of anticompetitive and illegal practices that have harmed consumers. The 207-page decision is a textbook on the use of monopoly power. The court found that Microsoft strong-armed personal computer makers and…