Free Market

Here's a full transcript of President Obama's second inaugural address, delivered on Jan. 21, 2013 . MORE COVERAGE: The Grid: Obama takes oath | A lighter crowd than four years ago | Obama starts term with eye on legacy PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens, each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our...

Margaret Thatcher had no small talk. At a private lunch which I can't quite date — her husband, Denis, was there, drinking whiskey out of a large tumbler, so it must have been well over a decade ago — I was seated across from her, and at one point I became the object of a tirade about the Russian president. "What are we going to do about Mr. Yeltsin?" she demanded, as if either she or I could do anything at all. She'd been out of power for several years at that point and was already forgetting thoughts in the middle of...

In an interview [ Outlook , Oct. 4] Peter Schiff ducked the issue on health care. He implied that if the health-care industry had a truly free market, as exists for Lasik eye surgery, then costs would fall across the board. He failed to address the fact that a prerequisite for a free market is the consumer's ability to say, "No, I won't buy that. " Lasik is unnecessary -- it is nothing more than cosmetic surgery -- and consumers are free to decline if the price or conditions warrant.

Thomas M. Hoenig is vice chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp . Imagine if the United States had an airline industry in which the biggest carriers that fly both domestically and internationally received a larger government fuel subsidy than those flying only domestic routes. Unfair? Yes — and that's exactly how the U.S. financial system works. The fuel of the largest firms in our financial services industry is subsidized, and the public bears the cost.

Regarding the Aug. 14 Metro article " More relief proposed for some Md. casinos ": Let's be honest. Maryland is not holding a special session on gaming. It is holding a business meeting between a gambling company (owned by Gov. Martin O'Malley and the Maryland General Assembly) and the company's franchisees (Cordish, Caesars, MGM, etc.). Note that the company is a monopoly, since only it can legally award franchises. However, "monopolies are odious, contrary to the spirit of a free government and the principles of commerce, and...

Regarding the Sept. 25 Metro article " Council weighs limo regulations ": The fact that the D.C. Taxicab Commission is once again taking aim at the popular car service Uber is another indication that the city government rivals any second-rate regime when it comes to protecting the status quo at a cost to residents. Uber invented a better mousetrap, and the D.C. government wants to punish it for doing so, defying free-market principles and denying residents free choice. Uber uses smartphone technology that...

President Obama insisted that he and his administration have pursued a "fundamentally business-friendly" agenda and are "fierce advocates" for the free market, rejecting corporate criticism of his policies. "The irony is that on the left we are perceived as being in the pockets of big business, and then on the business side we are perceived as being anti-business," Obama said in an interview this week with Bloomberg BusinessWeek. "You would be hard pressed to identify a piece of legislation that we have proposed out...

The worst financial crisis since the Great Depression is claiming another casualty: American-style capitalism. Since the 1930s, U.S. banks were the flagships of American economic might, and emulation by other nations of the fiercely free-market financial system in the United States was expected and encouraged. But the market turmoil that is draining the nation's wealth and has upended Wall Street now threatens to put the banks at the heart of the U.S. financial system at least partly in the hands of the government.

I dare you to celebrate the Fourth of July without a hamburger. What food better conveys the values of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness than an all-American beef patty, grilled in the sunny confines of a grassy back yard? A burger on the grill says: I have the day off to celebrate this great country, and I am going to relish it. Independence Day is a time to celebrate American values — those the founders laid out all those July 4ths ago and the ones we've come to embrace today.

Thomas M. Hoenig is vice chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp . Imagine if the United States had an airline industry in which the biggest carriers that fly both domestically and internationally received a larger government fuel subsidy than those flying only domestic routes. Unfair? Yes — and that's exactly how the U.S. financial system works. The fuel of the largest firms in our financial services industry is subsidized, and the public bears the cost.

Here's a full transcript of President Obama's second inaugural address, delivered on Jan. 21, 2013 . MORE COVERAGE: The Grid: Obama takes oath | A lighter crowd than four years ago | Obama starts term with eye on legacy PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Vice President Biden, Mr. Chief Justice, members of the United States Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens, each time we gather to inaugurate a president, we bear witness to the enduring strength of our...

With Italy heading into a pivotal election month, Pier Luigi Bersani, head of the center-left Democratic Party, is now the front-runner to be Italy's next prime minister. The following is an edited transcript of his interview on Thursday with Anthony Faiola of The Washington Post. Q. During the election campaign, there has been back and forth attacks between interim Prime Minister Mario Monti and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi. You have seemingly been watching their fight...

ROME — At the tender age of 12, Pier Luigi Bersani led his fellow altar boys in a strike against their parish priest to win back tips from Easter services. Today, the former communist turned friend of the free market is poised to face a far greater challenge: saving the world's eighth-largest economy. In a race worthy of surrealist director Federico Fellini, Italy is lurching toward elections next month with Bersani's center-left coalition running substantially ahead of those backed by his...

Adam LaRoche set reasonable expectations as he entered free agency this winter, certainly lower than what could have been justified. He had been the most productive first baseman in the National League in 2012: a 33-homer, 100-RBI force and the winner of both the Silver Slugger and Gold Glove, perhaps the most valuable player on the 98-win Washington Nationals . He sought a three-year contract without an outrageous annual price tag, and recent...

The D.C. City Council this month approved legislation that brings District-based companies one step closer to being able to become "benefit corporations," a corporate form that combines the profit-seeking motive of traditional companies with the do-good mission of nonprofits. Companies that adopt the form typically amend their corporate charter to take on legal responsibility for doing social good, including making decisions that are best for their employees,...

Regarding the Sept. 25 Metro article " Council weighs limo regulations ": The fact that the D.C. Taxicab Commission is once again taking aim at the popular car service Uber is another indication that the city government rivals any second-rate regime when it comes to protecting the status quo at a cost to residents. Uber invented a better mousetrap, and the D.C. government wants to punish it for doing so, defying free-market principles and denying residents free choice. Uber uses smartphone...

Harold Meyerson's Oct. 14 op-ed , "Who'll Rein In Wall St.?," on attempts to strengthen rules for derivatives trading, argued that "tougher regulations are not only good for the economy, they're good for the Democratic Party. " For those devoted to the concept of the "free market," a fundamental argument needs to be added. The theory of the free market, as taught in any Economics 101 course, includes underlying assumptions too frequently forgotten. Basic among them is the notion of "perfect information" for buyers and sellers.

The D.C. City Council this month approved legislation that brings District-based companies one step closer to being able to become "benefit corporations," a corporate form that combines the profit-seeking motive of traditional companies with the do-good mission of nonprofits. Companies that adopt the form typically amend their corporate charter to take on legal responsibility for doing social good, including making decisions that are best for their employees, supply chain and...

Regarding the Aug. 14 Metro article " More relief proposed for some Md. casinos ": Let's be honest. Maryland is not holding a special session on gaming. It is holding a business meeting between a gambling company (owned by Gov. Martin O'Malley and the Maryland General Assembly) and the company's franchisees (Cordish, Caesars, MGM, etc.). Note that the company is a monopoly, since only it can legally award franchises. However, "monopolies are odious, contrary to the spirit of a free government and the principles of commerce, and...

Arthur Brooks's July 15 Outlook commentary, " 5 Myths about free enterprise ," only hinted in Myth No. 4 at the most basic myth: The free enterprise system is free. It's not. We say that we have a free market, but in fact we have a regulated market economy. Our laws regulate and facilitate markets. But, still, even our attempt at facilitation means we choose one path over another, so we essentially regulate the marketplace even when we want to help it along. People can't buy or sell whatever they want, nor should they be able to. Societies...