Two powerful competitors frequently end up locked in a stable, mutually beneficial dance of tit-for-tat—they collude, in short, to carve up a captive market.
It's always nice to see an article that explains some basic concepts of industrial organization (IO). And though this one is set in the context of our political duopoly, its political implications are actually far broader.
The very idea that a stable duopoly (or oligopoly, for that matter), operates to the detriment of consumers is revolutionary. It underlines the fundamental problem with labeling particular political stances as "pro business." And if you play it out a bit, it explains why the politicians who truly deserve to be labeled as shills for big business are those--like Henry Waxman or Barney Frank--who emphasize expansive, complicated regulations.
"Why should they just be the lucky ones…to form the constitution?" said Shadi Al Ghazali Harb, a senior member in the Revolutionary Youth Coalition, which took shape during the nearly three-week uprising this year.
It's rare that one line summarized so much so effectively, but the above quote from Shadi Al Ghazali Harb is remarkable.
As he sees it, Islamist forces were "lucky" enough to be well organized at the time that Mubarak fell, and will thus have an outsized influence on the transitional institutions that will shape Egypt's future.
In that, he seems to echo the general feelings of our state department and many other Western Polyannas. The "Arab Spring" could go either way; it's just a question of who gets "lucky."
The Supreme Court issued its ruling in Microsoft v. i4i today, affirming the Federal Circuit's continued use of the "Clear and Convincing" standard of evidence to invalidate patents.
What does this mean? If you're not part of the small fraternity comfortable in the nuances of patent litigation, it all sounds quite technical. And for good reason. It is quite technical.
So the folks behind San Francisco’s proposed circumcision ban also circulate propaganda repeating some of history’s most famous visual anti-Semitic stereotypes. Big deal. The only surprising bit of news here is that it is news. The proposed circumcision ban represents anti-Semitism in its most basic, primal, and historical form. It deserves condemnation from across the political spectrum, and repudiation by all decent people of good will.
Lurking beneath the surface of the economic jousting is the fact that the divide within OPEC to some degree mirrors political divisions in the region over the so-called Arab Spring democracy movements.
Readers of The Informationist will recognize this story as a critical data point in a theme that I have been developing for the past few months: The proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran that threatens to destabilize the global economy. Here's how:
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