or Powell's or me• • •
"Mike and Jon, Jon and Mike—I've known them both for years, and, clearly, one of them is very funny. As for the other: truly one of the great hangers-on of our time."—Steve Bodow, head writer, The Daily Show
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"Who can really judge what's funny? If humor is a subjective medium, then can there be something that is really and truly hilarious? Me. This book."—Daniel Handler, author, Adverbs, and personal representative of Lemony Snicket
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"The good news: I thought Our Kampf was consistently hilarious. The bad news: I’m the guy who wrote Monkeybone."—Sam Hamm, screenwriter, Batman, Batman Returns, and Homecoming
October 16, 2004
It's Opposites Day At The New York Times!
Today in the New York Times, black is white, rain falls up, and Judith Miller is a hero of the First Amendment. Also, when the government intervenes massively in the marketplace by granting monopoly rights to companies via copyrights, that's the "free market" at work:
Because free-market pricing of drugs and other health care still seems to be so politically sacrosanct, the policy proposals [to lower prices] tend to tinker around the margins.
When the government gives permission to just one entity to manufacture something, and will prosecute anyone else who does, this is the exact opposite of a free market.
Likewise, it would be the opposite of a free market if the government granted one person in America monopsony rights to buy apples, and prosecuted anyone else who bought apples.
But that doesn't matter at the New York Times, where every day is opposites day.
P.S. Ever since I learned the word "monopsony" I have used it every chance I get.
P.P.S. The incredible thing is Judith Miller is sort of a hero of the First Amendment. How did THAT happen?
Posted at October 16, 2004 06:58 PM | TrackBackThank you thank you thank you! For too long "free market" has been hack writer code for "I don't understand the economics behind this."
I guess it's mitigated somewhat by the fact that the political use of the phrase is downright Orwellian, but still...
Posted by: John at October 17, 2004 04:37 PMJohn,
First of all, my compliments on your name. However, it would be an even better name if you removed the H.
I don't know if it's necessarily hack writer for not understanding the economics behind it. It may be more that "free market" is the term the hacks use to refer to anything huge corporations favor. The corporations want to be seen as embodying the "free market" because they've spent so much money burnishing the term with a propagandistic glow... even though essentially nothing they do has anything to do with free markets.
Posted by: Jonathan Schwarz at October 18, 2004 08:57 AMYou're definitely right - I was a bit harsh, and elitist. In fact in my years past I probably would have lazily thrown the term around in a similar manner. Endless propagandistic usage tends to dull anyone to the true meaning of a word.
Somehow even four years of economics study didn't hip me to the pervasiveness of the "opposites day" usage of the phrase. But nowadays (forgive me if this reference is in poor taste) when I hear the words "free market," that's when I reach for my remote control.
And yes, Jon is probably a superior spelling, if only because you have probably never had your name misspelled as "Jhon." Then again, that looks kind of cool...
Posted by: John at October 18, 2004 10:07 AMThanks for the tip - I am familiar with many of the internets but this one is new to me, and it looks like it is indeed right up my alley.
Posted by: John at October 18, 2004 12:46 PM
