Source: EconLog
by Art Carden

“Sol Price did not set out to change retail. He stumbled into it by accident and alertness. He was an active member of his community in San Diego and served as a lawyer for several retailers and wholesalers, including those in jewelry and liquor, who sold to a Los Angeles store called Fedco. He accompanied his clients to Los Angeles to visit a Fedco store. Fedco was a store that sold to government employees at deep discounts. Price observed that many government employees commuted from San Diego to Los Angeles, and he believed a similar store could do well in San Diego. He and his partners presented their proposal to Fedco, which rejected it. Price, however, had a warehouse in San Diego he needed to do something with, and he thought, ‘Why not do in San Diego what Fedco doesn’t want to?'” (06/04/26)

https://www.econlib.org/econlog/commerce-and-warehouse-clubs

Source: The Daily Economy
by Barry Brownstein

“Liberty depends on individuals saying no to power, especially when authority demands moral compromise, as one American officer proved behind barbed wire in World War II.” (06/04/26)

https://thedailyeconomy.org/article/roddie-edmonds-and-the-power-of-saying-no/

Source: Foreign Policy In Focus
by Lena Simet & Anna Bacciarelli

“Most discussion of artificial intelligence and work is about the future: which jobs may disappear, which skills may lose value, which workers may be replaced. But for millions of gig workers, who work for online platforms such as Uber, this future is already here. Algorithms set their pay, assign their tasks, monitor their performance, and determine whether they can keep working at all. … This leaves many workers with unstable pay, dangerous conditions, and little recourse when something goes wrong. But this could be about to change. From June 1 to 12 in Geneva, governments will enter a final round of negotiations at the International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations agency dedicated to labor rights, over the first binding global standard for what is called platform work.” [editor’s note: The “problem” with gig workers is that they don’t answer to government bureaucrats, and lovers of government bureaucracy hate that – TLK] (06/04/26)

https://fpif.org/ai-runs-the-global-gig-economy-governments-must-respond/

Source: Common Sense
by Paul Jacob

“Gary, Indiana, initiated its action against a laundry list of gun makers, distributors and dealers in August 1999. The suit accused them of culpability for crimes committed with the weapons they had brought into the marketplace. At the time, making and marketing guns was legal; still is. So the suit was manifestly absurd from the outset. Perhaps cities contemplating litigation against baseball bat makers and steak knife vendors will accept the lesson.” (06/04/26)

https://thisiscommonsense.org/2026/06/04/gun-rights-survive-26-yr/

Source: CounterPunch
by Dean Baker

“[T]he big story that fans of free markets everywhere should be focused on is the money we pay for things like drugs and medical equipment. This year we’ll spend close to $750 billion on drugs and other pharmaceutical products. We’ll spend over $50 billion on various therapeutic devices used at home. Hospitals and other providers will spend over $130 billion on medical equipment. … Insofar as drugs or scans are expensive, it is almost certainly due to patent monopolies or related protections.” (06/04/26)

https://www.counterpunch.org/2026/06/04/a-free-market-approach-to-healthcare-lower-costs-and-better-outcomes/