Leggett & Platt, an American innerspring manufacturer, has been busy lobbying the Department of Commerce.  The fruit of their labor: a tariff of anywhere from 164.75% to 234.51% on innersprings from China, their biggest competition.

This tariff means that you can expect to pay double for your next mattress.  Because innersprings are the most expensive part of traditional mattresses and the tariff has effectively removed affordable, low-priced mattresses from the market.

This is the result of a petition to the International Trade…

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Four former presidents of Latin American countries and the former president of Spain joined in an ardent plea for the U.S. to strengthen its ties with those countries that share the values of freedom, democracy, and economic progress. In their editorial today in the Wall Street Journal, José Maria Aznar (Spain), Vicente Fox (Mexico), Andrés Pastrana (Colombia), Julio Maria Sanguinetti (Uruguay), and Franciso Flores (El Salvador) also pointed out that “Free trade is one way to help prevent the resurgence of autocracy…

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As pundits bet that Sen. Hillary Clinton is a done deal for Secretary of State, today’s editorial in the Financial Times calls it a poor choice for a variety of reasons. In the piece extolling President-ele

ct Barack Obama’s picks for his economic team, the FT says that’s not the case for Hillary and hits her lack of experience, her ambitions, and her personality.

Economics aside, the biggest surprise among Mr Obama’s rumoured appointments is Hillary Clinton, whose selection as secretary of state is…

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