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Invisible Hands & Markets: Widespread Agreement
Abiola Lapite is somewhat nonplussed to find himself agreeing with John Quiggin:
Foreign Dispatches: Something on Which We Agree: I rarely agree with John Quiggin on political matters, so when such an instance does arise, it's worth commenting on. Today he makes an excellent case against the Australia-USA "Free Trade" Agreement, which turns out to be little more than an excuse for America to foist harsh intellectual property laws on the Australians.
I know that “Trade agreement said harmful to small faraway country” is the stereotype of a boring newspaper story, but this one is really important to Americans as well as Australians, and to anyone interested in health policy. If you ever hope to see affordable health care in the US, you’d better hope that (against all the odds) this agreement falls at the final hurdle.
• Abiola Lapite ; [via Brad DeLong's Semi-Daily Journal ]
• · Edward Hugh writes that morale in Germany appears to be low: A Fistful of Euros: Watch Your Piggy Bank!
• · · Bob Herbert looks at the real economy and says it's time to Admit We Have a Problem.
• · · · Brad DeLong: Why Oh Why Are We Ruled by These Fools? (Fiscal Policy Edition)
• · · · · The Corporation: The film which starts from the legal conceit of corporations as legal persons, and asks, what kind of people are they? [Federal Court records obtained by the Herald show that in one year, 1980, Rivkin was successful in having his taxable income reduced from $627,610 to a mere $6763 ]
• · · · · · The first synthetic diamonds made from the ashes of a man are to be set into jewellery so they can be worn by his family Question If I have diamonds made out of my ashes, who wants one? Diamonds are a widow's best friend ...