RealClearMarkets Articles

David Goone was ready to retire after guiding Intercontinental Exchange Inc. (ICE) through over twenty years of industry-defining growth, including the acquisition of (among others), the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).  Then, he got an intriguing offer -- to become the new chief executive officer at tZERO, pioneering the adoption of blockchain technology for capital markets and a solutions provider for the efficient trading of private assets.  The prospect before his eyes was the opportunity to build a blockchain-friendly regulated automated trading system (ATS) providing...

The U.S. House Appropriations Committee is doing the country a great service by cutting the Federal Trade Commission’s funding and placing guardrails around some of the FTC’s more suspect initiatives.  Appropriators have included in their FY 2025 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Bill (H.R. 8773) several provisions related to the FTC. In May, FTC Chairwoman Lina Khan asked appropriators for a 24.4% budget increase.  However, appropriators thought otherwise.  H.R. 8773 provides the agency $388.7 million, which lowers the FTC’s FY25 budget...

In the wake of an interim staff report released Tuesday on the relationship between pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) and American pharmaceuticals, it looks like the FTC is planning to sue three of the largest PBMs for the way they’ve negotiated drug prices.  While protecting consumers from unfair or deceptive trade practices certainly falls under the FTC’s purview, their lawsuit will be based on a flawed report. The FTC should do its research before rushing ahead to sue on shaky grounds.  PBMs contract with health plans to manage pharmacy benefits and create...

Policy experts need to cease shouting at Argentinean president Javier Milei to “dollarize.” He can do no such thing. Milei can only get government out of the way so that Argentineans are free to produce. That’s it. Please read on. Despite what we’ve been told for decades by prominent economists from the monetarist, Austrian, Keynesian, and supply side camps, governments, monetary authorities and central banks (pick your poison) can’t increase money in circulation, nor can they shrink it. Repeat the previous sentence over and over again. With money that’s...

A recent article in the Washington Post said the White House and congressional Democrats are working on a tax plan to raise more revenue from major corporations and the rich that could permanently pay for high impact social programs. Another article said that some congressional Republicans could support increasing the corporate tax rate to pay for extending tax cuts for individuals and small businesses. There is just one major problem with their plans—-raising the corporate tax rate would not raise more revenue to pay for anything. In fact, a higher corporate tax rate would end up...

The people are enduring triple digit heat in Karachi. A not insignificant number of them are dying in what is Pakistan’s largest city. That Pakistanis are suffering horrific summer temperatures soon to be followed by monsoons, would in a normal world be the story. Alas the world isn’t normal. Instead of reporting solely on heat of the 104 degree Fahrenheit variety, heat that is paired with high humidity, an account of Karachi’s difficulties in the New York Times included the expected insertion about how the heat exists as “a brutal reminder of the deadly toll of...

Glenn Loury’s scintillating autobiography, Late Admissions: Confessions of a Black Conservative, shares his epic life story with brutal honesty. Loury vividly describes his struggle to rise from the South Side of Chicago and difficult family circumstances to the lofty status of a tenured Harvard University economics professor. He unflinchingly shares the ugliness of his addiction to crack cocaine and infidelity that nearly cost him his life, his freedom, and his second marriage and relationships with his children. And he candidly discusses his motives that led him to abandon his...

One trick used by public figures to avoid giving straight answers to uncomfortable questions is the non-denial denial. A non-denial denial is a long response that may appear to the casual listener like a denial, but in fact avoids giving a yes or no answer. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chair Lina Khan provided several examples of the non-denial denial during her appearance before the Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government of the House Appropriations Committee. Khan appeared before the Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over funding the FTC, to justify the...

Enthusiasm for the vast number of problem-solving, transformative benefits that Artificial Intelligence (AI) can provide has driven the stock market significantly higher in 2024, attracted a bevy of venture capital and other investments, and helps explain why the White House is taking a much more positive look at AI. Vice President Kamala Harris, who leads the Administration’s AI policy, should seize on the promise that AI offers to so many Americans, especially those in tough spots. She can start by championing AI in the upcoming Vice-Presidential debate and beyond....

Acting under the authority of the 2022 Digital Markets Act (DMA), the European Union (EU) launched a lawsuit against Apple over the internal workings of Apple’s App Store, which it claims does not allow app developers enough freedom to steer customers toward offers outside of the App Store. Announced in the name of “competition”, this lawsuit — with a potential penalty of up to 10 percent of Apple’s global revenue — directly undermines basic free market principles. In an effort to “combat Big Tech”, amid populist demand to...

Inflationary pressures, labor market challenges, and various headwinds have forced small businesses to walk a tightrope over the past several years. Tight margins across industries mean many small businesses operate with lean discipline, and that means uncontrollable events that influence costs, production capacity or cash flow can spell hardship or possible closure for a struggling Main Street business. Add to this mix various harmful government policies being advanced or pursued at the federal level. Many of these could spell life or death for a small business or certain business models, as...

A narrative of the mainstream media these days seems to be that unions are having a resurgence. For instance, the UAW’s strike actions last year led to a contract that included significant pay raises, and the UAW also managed to unionize its first foreign-owned automotive plant earlier this year.  Unions have also recently succeeded in organizing a few Starbucks, a Chipotle, and a Trader Joe’s, and the Teamsters announced in April that it would push to establish union representation amongst Uber drivers. One industry which union...

“He’s a savant. That’s the only way I can say it.” That’s how Tee Martin, quarterbacks coach for the Baltimore Ravens, described Ravens’ quarterback Lamar Jackson in a Washington Post interview from earlier this year. Well, of course Jackson is a savant. Even on the high school level, the quarterback position is incredibly cerebral, and requires the individual to make all manner of split second reads while on the run, with frequently bigger opponents trying to hurt him. Imagine the immense, multiple-phone book (look it up...), split-second knowledge...

Progressives have been masterful at weaponizing antitrust law to push their agenda during Joe Biden’s presidency.  In response, some on the right want to use antitrust to limit corporate America’s influence in our political and cultural affairs by abandoning the consumer welfare standard that has anchored antitrust for five decades. This would be a massive mistake that will only play into the left’s hands.  Antitrust law – which gives the government the power to police various harms to competition – has been in force since the 1890s. In the...

Policy types are invariably looking into the past, and their tendency to do this is rooted in a wildly flawed conceit that they’re smarter than the markets. They're not. They too frequently miss that the people are the markets, and their combined wisdom is always well ahead of them. That’s why central planning fails, always and everywhere. The former Soviet Union, North Korea, and Cuba didn’t and don’t lack experts, but singular genius never measures up to the marketplace. Social Security reformers will soon have to own up to this truth. While they were seeking at...

The envious in our midst routinely spill a lot of ink and angst about “hidden wealth.” Their view is that global tax havens and other so-called “tax loopholes” make it possible for the rich to “hide” their wealth. Nothing could be further from the truth. Short of the rich literally stuffing their dollars, pounds, euros, yen, or Swiss francs in coffee cans, wealth created is exposed to the world in blindingly bright fashion. That is so simply because the wealth the rich hold onto is immediately transferred to those who need it. By definition. Seriously, stop...

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), under the leadership of Chair Lina Khan, is once again trying to stop American companies from merging in order to better compete with their larger rivals. The agency’s target is not big tech, but big handbag brands— specifically the proposed $8.51 billion merger of handbag manufacturers Tapestry (Coach, Kate Spade, and Stuart Weitzman) and Capri (Michael Kors, Versace, and Jimmy Choo.) This merger seems unobjectionable since it will not create a handbag monopoly. Rather, by merging, Tapestry and Capri will be better able to compete...

It is unclear whether California-based Masimo Corp.’s annual meeting next month will resolve any of the issues that have bedeviled its relationship with Politan Asset Management, one of its largest shareowners. The rancor between the two has become increasingly boisterous and now seems ready to burst into a full-blown proxy battle. No doubt, the repercussions of the looming battle will be felt literally beyond the boardroom walls in Irvine.  Proxy wars are rare, in part because no-one likes the enmity they inevitably engender. Aside from creating factions among normally cordial...

Americans aren’t getting enough sleep. A recent Gallup survey showed just a quarter of Americans  get the recommended eight hours of sleep per night, down significantly from 34% in 2013. Even more concerning: about 1 in 5 Americans sleep less than five hours per night. While this news won’t shock anyone who’s chasing their next cup of coffee, it’s an issue we need to take seriously. Sleep deprivation is linked to seven of the 15 leading causes of death in the United States. It also causes traffic and industrial...