There are two articles in today’s Wall Street Journal that you should see. On the righthand column of B1, Telecom Mergers Limit Choices of Customers talks about how the pending SBC/AT&T and MCI/Qwest mergers are going to limit consumer choices, raise costs and decrease innovation in spite of the fact that consumers are inundated by a tsunami of communication choices and technologies. An explanation for this lack of vision is in the lefthand column in Science Journal, People Believe a ‘Fact’ That Fits Their Views Even if It’s Clearly False. This article talks about how people believe what they want to believe, facts be damned, if it violates their mental model of how the world works. You will see the same thing in people’s reactions to growth numbers and social security reform. More on this later.
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BEA Indicators
- U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, August 2024 October 8, 2024
- Personal Consumption Expenditures by State, 2023 October 3, 2024
- Gross Domestic Product by State and Personal Income by State, 2nd Quarter 2024 September 27, 2024
- Personal Income and Outlays, August 2024 September 27, 2024
- Gross Domestic Product (Third Estimate), Corporate Profits (Revised Estimate), and GDP by Industry, Second Quarter 2024 and Annual Update September 26, 2024
- U.S. International Investment Position, 2nd Quarter 2024 September 25, 2024
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By John Rutledge
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Recent Posts
BEA Indicators
- U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services, August 2024
- Personal Consumption Expenditures by State, 2023
- Gross Domestic Product by State and Personal Income by State, 2nd Quarter 2024
- Personal Income and Outlays, August 2024
- Gross Domestic Product (Third Estimate), Corporate Profits (Revised Estimate), and GDP by Industry, Second Quarter 2024 and Annual Update