The Open Market Blog

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 12/09/2008

I’ve had some fleeting contact with the management of the Republic Windows and Doors plant that striking workers have famously occupied. Working on an…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 12/07/2008

At a meeting I attended a top Ford Executive made an interesting point: Automakers, he said, wanted to avoid bankruptcy because the mere fact of…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 12/06/2008

Reports have it that Congress and the President have agreed to an auto industry bailout. Bad idea. But here’s one prediction: this $15 billion…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 11/05/2008

Michelle makes a good point below. There’s also a good case that an Obama administration will be good news for those who favor…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 11/04/2008

Voting this morning in my busy Fairfax County Precinct, I realized something: the old way of voting–on paper ballots–is better than every new…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 10/27/2008

An article from the Australian Herald-Sun newspaper points out that the release of new AC/DC albums has correlated with economic recessions in the United…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 09/30/2008

Borrowers who put less than 20 percent of a home’s value down for a mortgage almost always have to secure “private mortgage insurance” (PMI) to…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 09/15/2008

Unfortunately, Congress needs to renew the National Flood Insurance Program sometime in the next few weeks. Right now, the program provides the only flood coverage…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 09/02/2008

P. Diddy, one of my heroes, has announced that he wants to bring down gas prices so he can fly coast to coast on…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 07/15/2008

For all the talk of a “rescue plan” for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, I think that there’s a much better solution: let them…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 06/23/2008

Wired, reports that a credit card company has come under fire and FTC investigation for “behavioral scoring”: reducing credit limits for people who use…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 06/09/2008

My former employer, the United States Senate, will–at long last–turn over its dinning facilities to a private contractor. Anyone who has ever had to…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 06/04/2008

Via our friends at The Heartland Institute we find a selection of letters that a sixth grade class sent to Heartland decrying its…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 06/01/2008

Via fark.com, there’s a Daily Mail story about how more than 100 homeless people live permanently in London’s Heathrow airport. There’s no clear source…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 05/02/2008

By now, of course, everyone has heard the story of Elisabeth Fritzl and the seven siblings/children she gave birth to while her father Joseph…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 05/02/2008

Iain, I believe you that congestion pricing has not worked in reducing traffic during London’s rush hour. Here’s my question: how can Virginia’s just-started…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 04/28/2008

Doug, Although I sympathize with your point of view, I think that your post about HSAs misses the fact that the HSAs we have…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 04/15/2008

Doug, Obviously, stories like the one you related show that socialized medicine is a bad idea. In this context, it’s worth noting two things:…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/24/2008

Fark.com, the world’s best workplace time-waster, links to a story in the Sun about a British couple that will use a 5 million…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/21/2008

Fran, I think the Progressive Automotive X Prize is a great idea. It may work where the government has failed. Existing government programs…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/18/2008

Anthony Minghella, a film director adored by critics and liked by audiences, has died at 54. Minghella (link goes to his IMDb page),…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/17/2008

Re-watching Dirty Dancing — a movie far better than its reputation — last night inspired me to do some Internet research. I was pleased…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/17/2008

The Washington Post runs a very interesting story about things on their way out. The list includes “truly blind dates” (we now have Google),…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/17/2008

Today, of course America woke up to news that JP Morgan Chase has bought out Bear Stearns for $2 a share. (It was trading…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/13/2008

Today’s Washington Post runs a story about the services provided by high-priced call girls. According to the story, high class prostitutes provide “a pledge…

• By: Eli Lehrer
• 03/11/2008

When I said Elliot Spitzer shouldn’t resign as governor I was wrong. His use of public accounts, efforts to cover up his activities,…