If you believe that the price of gasoline is determined by

the 'Invisible Hand', you may also believe that God got

so tired after creating the world in six days that He had

 to take Saturday off as a day of rest.

Despite the fact that the corporation he

oversees has lost approximately $1 billion

over the past 15 months, Gerard Arpey,

Chairman and CEO of AMR, the parent

company of American Airlines, received

over $5 million in total compensation in

2010, which was 11% more than he

 received the year before.  See how

this works:  company makes money,

you get a raise; company loses

money, you get a raise.  That

old Invisible Hand is such a

clever prestidigitator!

"Mr. Greenspan, the other day you said,

'Today’s competitive markets ... are driven

 by an international version of Adam Smith’s

'invisible hand' that is unredeemably opaque'.

Our readers would like you to explain how

something invisible can also be opaque."

Invisible Hand Builds Eight-Feet-Tall Piles of

Chicken Manure in Iowa Hen Houses

On March 10, 2000, NASDAQ reached its all-time

peak of 5,049. Last Friday, NASDAQ closed at

1,378. The free market's Invisible Hand moves

in mysterious ways, its wonders to perform,

doesn't it?

Not to worry. That's not a pickpocket lifting your wallet.

That's the free market's Invisible Hand. "But it's not

invisible!" you exclaim. That's because the Invisible Hand

is not always quicker than the eye.

We're familiar with the market's Invisible Hand.

But that's just one hand. The market has two.

We've all heard of 'market discipline'. This is how it works.

Few people realize the same Invisible Hand that keeps raising

gasoline prices is what holds airplanes up in the sky.