price

Do Airlines Charge Too Much?

There's a very noticeable difference between flying first class and flying economy, and it seems unfair. But what people don't realize is that the people flying first class are the reason why economy tickets are so much cheaper, and that the mere existence of economy tickets is proof of how much progress we've made in economics and class equality: once upon a time in 1979, an average domestic round-trip flight cost $617, adjusting for inflation. That cost is down to $366 today – a 40% drop. How did that happen?This week on Words and Numbers, Antony Davies and James R.

There Is Nothing Wrong with Falling Prices

According to "TheUpshot" column in the New York Times, there's a problem with cheap goods that needs fixing: "There is a worldwide glut that includes oil wells, steel plants, and eager would-be workers, and it will take more than a United States presidential election and a few months of solid global growth to fix it." The problem is that this presumes the true existence of what is really a mirage: an economy-wide glut.

Did a Utah Hospital Charge a Couple $40 to Hold Their Newborn?

If you’ve ever stayed in the hospital, you know you get overcharged for some ridiculous stuff. But one woman in Utah was allegedly charged nearly $40 to hold her own newborn.
Maybe you’ve seen a photo of the bill circulating on social media. Well, there’s more to it than what you’re probably seeing on Facebook. Here’s the story.

Big Pharma ‘Repatenting’ Raises Prices of Top Drugs By More than 6 Times

What happens when mega pharmaceutical companies get their new grip around one of the oldest asthma medications that many rely on for daily use? Based on historical data, it appears that one of the first action items is to exponentially increase the price of the same medication without any actual advancements of any kind. It’s a process that is involved with ‘repatenting.’

Israel, Hawking and the Pressing Question of Boycott

By Ramzy Baroud | Palestine Chronicle | May 16 2013

It is an event ‘of cosmic proportions’, said one Palestinian academic, a befitting description regarding Stephen Hawking’s decision to boycott an Israeli academic conference slated for next June. It was also a decisive moral call which was communicated on May 8 by Cambridge University, where Hawking is a professor.

The Surveillance State: Is This the Price of Living in a ‘Free, Safe’ Society?

“If you’re not a terrorist, if you’re not a threat, prove it. This is the price you pay to live in free society right now. It’s just the way it is.”—Sergeant Ed Mullins of the New York Police Department   Immediately following the devastating 9/11 attacks, which destroyed the illusion of invulnerability which had defined [...]