Andy Kessler

WSJ: Comcast's Pyrric Victory

Two distantly related media deals were announced last week: Brian Roberts’s Comcast buying AT&T Broadband to become the number-one U.S. cable provider, and Vivendi-Universal hiring Barry Diller by folding in his USA Networks and investing $1.5 billion for him in Echostar. Which one was the better deal, the one focused on distribution or the one focused on content? Depends on how far into the future you’re looking.

The American Spectator: The Panama Canal and other Last Mile Diseases

In 1904, the United States took on the task of building the Panama Canal, after the French company that started the project gave up, having lost thousands of workers to malaria and yellow fever.