An out-of-state letter appeared in our local paper last week, concluding with: "Our public education system continues to require more of our tax money while producing declining academic results and increasing social problems. The only viable solution is to separate school and state and return to a tried and proven free market in education..." (emphasis mine)  You can read the entire letter here (scroll down) or
here or here or here.

AT&T, the once proud company of technology and innovation, how the mighty have fallen?

Capitalism thrives under competition, but as we all know, corporate America looks little like the market days of Adam Smith.  What happens to a corporate giant, born and nurtured in an environment of monopoly and then thrown to the wolves of competitive capitalism?  Unable to remake themselves into a lean, yet profitable, market-driven enterprise, they seek out covert ways to grab customers unaware, and then create
barriers to the free exercise of choice.  Corporations can be just as bureaucratic as government - the myth that competition will drive wasteful endeavors out of business is often just that, especially when there isn't sufficient competition and free entry into the market.