Business

Dollar Stores are a Beautiful Thing

Carlson is entitled to his view of dollar stores as being ugly, but for individuals and families who appreciate the offerings, services, and availability of a discount retailer in their neighborhood, it is surely a beautiful thing.

To Braid or Not to Braid

Benta Diaw immigrated to the United States from Senegal. She decided to open a business braiding hair as she was taught by her grandmother in Africa. However, the state of Washington declared her business illegal. Was Diaw misleading her clients and using dangerous...

Magical Thinking Won’t Stop the Layoffs

Magical Thinking Won’t Stop the Layoffs

Associated Press and FoxNews.com reports: Medical supply giant Stryker is the latest company to announce job cuts in anticipation of coming costs associated with Obamacare, even though the man who inherited a fortune from the company's founder is a fan. The company...

Teamwork and the Virtue of Independence

Teamwork and the Virtue of Independence

If we are to believe people like President Obama who famously said: “You didn’t build that”, individual accomplishment is insignificant; only as a group we can build something. While collaboration, trade, and learning are great benefits of living in a society and we...

Altruism is Not a Guide for Living—or for Business

Altruism is Not a Guide for Living—or for Business

Most of us pursue self-interest every day: we eat nutritious food,  engage in productive work (to have a purpose and to make a living), look after our health, enjoy recreation and entertainment, spend time with friends and loved ones, and go to the mall to buy things...

What Drives Innovation, the Engine of Economic Growth?

What Drives Innovation, the Engine of Economic Growth?

Many economists today are arguing that the unprecedented era of innovation—the last 250 years or so since the industrial revolution—is going to be over soon, ending economic growth. Why should we care about economic growth? Because our well-being depends on it—the...

Mud Pies from the Labor Department

Mud Pies from the Labor Department

The funny thing about the Labor Department’s monthly unemployment report is that the number-crunching bureaucrats act like they’re delivering high carat diamonds when the real worth of what they’re reporting is closer to the value of a mud pie. First, a college...

Is Buying for Others the Secret to Consistent Happiness?

Is Buying for Others the Secret to Consistent Happiness?

Freedom (our own and that of others) to choose values, including the level of wealth to which we aspire and what we want to do with it, is the first requirement of happiness. Any proposals for limiting our freedom—by imposing limits on income or a duty to share it with others—should be rejected as anti-human and anti-happiness.

Can a Business Be “Happy”?

Can a Business Be “Happy”?

A friend once gave me a T-shirt with “Happiness Is Positive Cash Flow” printed in the front. While I agree that positive cash flow is one of the necessary conditions of happiness in a civilized society, it is not in itself sufficient. What is happiness? It is a...

Business and “Price Fixing”

Business and “Price Fixing”

“As soon as two businessmen get together, they start discussing how to fix prices” This is what I heard a leftist public radio talk show host say on Sunday morning. My ears naturally perked up upon hearing something that ludicrous. He said he was quoting some...

Business Ethics: Who Should Get Bonuses?

Business Ethics: Who Should Get Bonuses?

This story was shared by an MBA student who was trying to assess a personal business experience.  A small technology start-up has started to see some financial success after two years of hard work. The three main shareholders, the CEO and two vice presidents, had made...

How About a Union for Business Owners?

How About a Union for Business Owners?

Most people look at “business” as something separate from everything else in life, and at best, a necessary evil. Something you have to do. Or a way to make money—in a practical, but never creative, artistic or (perish the thought) moral way. In today’s political...

A Lesson from Yahoo’s Ex-CEO Scott Thompson

A Lesson from Yahoo’s Ex-CEO Scott Thompson

Scott Thompson, CEO of Yahoo Inc. just since January, resigned this week when it was found out that his resume falsely stated that he holds a degree in computer science.  What motivates people to “embellish” their resume? Presumably it is the desire to impress...

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