Like and Trust

Non-violent crooks are caught because they often have to cover up their deeds by spinning ever-more elaborate lies. Performance must be maintained on an upward trajectory. The story is the same whether the topic is school testing, news reporting, or investment returns.

Individuals or organizations who never come back to the pack are vanishingly rare. There are only a few possible explanations for long-term advantage: resources unavailable to anyone else (the Bulls had Michael Jordan, the Saudis have oceans of oil), barriers to competition [patents, government licenses and other prop-ups (or is it props-up?)], and cheating.

Speaking of coming back to the pack, Rupert Murdoch's takeover of the Wall Street Journal resulted in a tripling of my individual subscriber rate. I had held a multi-year subscription and had gotten used to paying an annual price, with professional discounts, of around $100. After receiving the renewal offer of $325 at the end of last year, I declined. Although I am philosophically closer to the WSJ than the Times or the Chronicle, I didn't think twice about rejecting this extravagant price hike. It's a free country, and, unless we're talking about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, I don't have to buy anything.

After months of don't-you-miss-us and don't-you-need-us notices, a promotional offer of $144 for one year came in the mail.

I sent in a check the next day. Why the old-fashioned medium of payment? I don't want the Journal to renew my subscription automatically by charging my credit card at a much higher rate. "Like" and "trust" are not the same thing.