Andrew MCarthy has an interesting post in the National Review Online, in which he says opponents of the TPA (Trade Promotion Authority), which gives the president the authority to ask for an “up-or-down” vote on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the real legislation, are off base for their opposition. His argument is technically true. What is […]
Archives
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TPP. TPA. I’m Confused–and Still Skeptical
12 Jun 2015
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The Trans-Pacific Trade Agreement
05 Jun 2015
This short blog is just a follow-up to my colleague Jeff Haymond’s blog on the trade agreement before Congress now. Dr. Haymond defended the agreement on the correct grounds that it enhanced free trade and that free trade is good for everyone, at least in the longer run (and given some short-run and inevitable disruptions). […]
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It looks as if the blow-up at Northwestern University has made the liberals very uneasy. A professor there, Laura Kipnis, who admits she herself is liberal and feminist, published an essay in the Chronicle of Higher Education. From an article on the situation by Rod Dreher, in The American Conservative, on June 2, we read […]
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Well, in the last two days much has come to light about what the government has been doing, supposedly in the cause of protecting us from terrorism. Some we already knew, for example the fact that agencies were collecting and storing bulk phone data. But we did not know the FBI has been using over […]
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Ephesians 6 and Capitalism
02 Jun 2015
Today we heard a sermon on Ephesians 6: 5-9, the text about how Christian slaves and masters should act toward each other and the proper attitudes they should have. The sermon (and my wife) prompted me to write here on the application of that text to relations in a capitalist-market society. First, the direct and […]
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Big Sports and Big Money: At Your Expense
28 May 2015
Sports fans and Stadium Projects Sports fans, listen up. I am a very big fan of many sports, including that all-time draw, cross country and track (OK, maybe not). But here is something I cannot abide, because it is simply unfair and inefficient to boot. I am talking about the rash of new or proposed […]
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More Power and Corruption: Inseparable Twins
27 May 2015
Another potential scandal has erupted (it was already boiling beneath the surface) in the soccer world. At first glance you would think this has nothing to do with politics. And you would be wrong. It appears that for many years now—no surprise—the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association, the world governing body for soccer—has been […]
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There is another new book out on the alleged problem of inequality. This one is by Anthony Atkinson, a British scholar who wrote Inequality: What Can Be Done? The book was just released so I haven’t had the chance to read it yet, but Richard Epstein, a legal and economic scholar with New York University […]
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States Limit Local Regulation: Finally
19 May 2015
An interesting development has arisen on the issue of regulation. It seems that some state legislatures have moved to limit how much local governments will be allowed to regulate businesses and people. This is quite a development. In the past usually the states were only too happy not only to regulate directly themselves but to […]
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It began when the current Pope, Francis, succeeded Benedict XVI and proceeded to issue an encyclical dealing with economics. Many at the time defended him and argued that he could be interpreted in such a way as not to be overly critical of markets and capitalism. But Francis seems to have continued down an interesting […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach