The biggest news out of the 2014 North American International Auto Show in Detroit was Ford’s announcement that it will be reinventing its F-150 pickup—the number-one-selling vehicle in the United States in 2013—with an all-aluminum body to replace its traditional steel body.
We have heard several prominent business leaders — such as Home Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus and Subway founder Fred Deluca — state that they could not have started their amazingly successful businesses if they had to do it in today’s regulatory environment. This is alarming, and it is important to get a concrete sense of how regulations are killing the potential Home Depots and Subways of tomorrow.
Like General Motors, Bethlehem Steel was an iconic American corporation. It was the second largest steel producer in the United States. It helped build the Golden Gate Bridge, over 1,000 ships during World War II, and much of the New York City skyline.
By forcing refiners to use more ethanol than they think is safe for the majority of intended uses, the government is forcing refiners to choose between creating a product that they fear will harm consumers and facing the legal consequences of not following the mandate.
I do not think a business leader should ever ask the federal government to raise the minimum wage. An executive like Jelinek is completely free to pay all of his employees above the current minimum wage — and he does. Jelinek argues that this is good for his business. It might be. Regardless, shouldn’t this be something that every business leader is free to decide for himself?
By asking why low-wage workers are not making more money, Senator Warren is insinuating that these dramatic productivity gains were largely caused by the workers themselves. But what about the small minority of innovators who invented new technologies and processes that vastly improved worker productivity?
By offering a cornucopia of affordable goods in stores nationwide, Walmart has possibly done more to raise standard of living than any other company in the 20th and 21st centuries.
One of the great things about living in a free country is that you have the freedom of association—meaning the freedom to choose who to do business with. For example, if your business is using a contractor who is rude and unreliable, you are free to end your relationship with him and to instead pursue business with someone else. But this freedom is restricted by the Wagner Act.
In a previous post, I described how General Motors entered some self-defeating relationships with the United Auto Workers. To understand this complex relationship, it is useful to know how it began.
Who gets access to Google’s advertising space should be entirely up to Google. The fact that Google has created such prime advertising real estate by offering a peerless search engine does not mean that competitors are entitled to advertise on it.
