Like many “flyover” cities, St. Louis’s decline is not mainly a story of deindustrialization, but of decisions in Washington that opened the door to predatory monopoly.
The Monopolized Economy
Redlining from Afar: How Consolidation Killed Off St. Louis’s Exemplary Minority Lender
Just after Thanksgiving in 1996, a group of 146 St. Louisans, mainly from the black business community, boarded a chartered TWA jetliner and flew to New York City. Their goal? To block the takeover of their hometown Boatmen’s Bank by shutting down the New York Stock Exchange. Led by the St. Louis lawyer Eric Vickers,… Read more »
Lettuce Pray
A consolidated food industry brings you salad and chicken nuggets cheaper—and spreads deadly food-borne pathogens farther.
Bloom and Bust
Regional inequality is out of control. Here’s how to reverse it.
The Whiskey Ain’t Workin’ Anymore
The monopolist behind your favorite “craft” bourbon.
After Obamacare
A frenzy of hospital mergers could leave the typical American family spending 50 percent of its income on health care within ten years—and blaming the Democrats. The solution requires banning price discrimination by monopolistic hospitals.
Big Beef
Independent ranchers and animal rights activists don’t agree about much, except that it’s time to stop using federal tax dollars to support the meat lobby.
Why Medicare Fixes Will Lead to More Hospital Mergers
Improving the U.S. health-care system requires encouraging low-value doctors and hospitals to practice as well as high-value ones do. The gap between the two is wide, but that only shows how much room we have for improvement. Costs vary wildly across regions, among hospitals within a region, and even among doctors within a given hospital…. Read more »
Estates of Mind
The answer to America’s techno-malaise is to force big corporations to compete more. And to open their patent vaults.
Last Call
Industry giants are threatening to swallow up America’s carefully regulated alcohol industry, and remake America in the image of booze-soaked Britain.
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