S.T.B.

“This merger clearly fails the public interest test, and accordingly, I ask S.T.B. to uphold the law and deny it,” she wrote in a letter to the agency.

“We urge the S.T.B. to preserve its ability to review the impact of the proposal on competition and consumers before Canadian Pacific starts scrambling the eggs,” William J. Baer, assistant attorney general of the antitrust division of the Justice Department, said in a statement on Friday.

Diallo paused, then relented: “S.T.B.”

Given Mr. Bartlett’s personal experience in crafting Republican tax policy, his recollection of the history of “S.T.B.” philosophy — and its shortcomings — is fascinating.

For a more quantitative approach to how well “S.T.B.” has fared, take a look at by Christina Romer, the chairwoman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, and her husband, David Romer.