On Wednesday, December 19, 2012 Robert Heron Bork died at age 85.  I did not mourn. Bork first became infamous in 1973 for his role in the “Saturday night massacre” when as Solicitor General, the number three position in the Justice Department, he carried out, under President Nixon’s orders, the firing of Watergate Special Prosecutor […]

Michael Swanwick explains how a monopoly can destroy itself: Nowadays, times are much easier but a lot scammier. Last week I had to buy a new palmbook/laptop. Which, I discovered on my first and only day of possession, was preloaded with Windows 7 Starter, a not-fully-functional OS. When I tried to change the image on […]

The Battle of Late January has ended, as Amazon yields, gracelessly: We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan’s terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over […]

Ken Houghton distracts us from the important things with an examination of monopoly power, asymmetric information, and perpetuating a bad business deal. By the time Gary Bettman got to Phoenix, his lawyer was lying to the court: “There are three things that it takes to be an owner of an NHL franchise. One, you’ve got […]