Government ought to be able to help the economy - assuming that politicians want the economy to grow and assuming that the government is able to do what the politicians promise.

We don't disparage the motives of politicians, they have the same motives we do. We don't distrust the motives of bureaucrats, we trust them all too well.

Why can't we Americans buy cheap cars? The cheapest car in the US costs about $20,000, about 8 times the cost of Tata's offering.

What are we to make of the news that career State Department staffers are refusing to go to Iraq?

Why such a difference between the handling of the California fires, vs Katrina in New Orleans?

These bridges have needed fixing for 25 years and they're still operating?

In recent years, the dream of home ownership has gotten farther and farther out of reach, as house prices have escalated. According to a recent study, the primary cause is excessive zoning laws - that is, government over-regulation.

"It is the duty of every officer of His Majesty's Navy, to discharge powder and shot in the general direction of the enemy."

Brazil serves as an object lesson in how government incompetence - not greed, not really bribery even, certainly not totalitarianism, just simple incompetence - can make life difficult on an otherwise free and vibrant economy.