Well, here is an interesting bit of supposedly bad news. An economics professor at the University of California-Davis has said he has “crunched the numbers” and found that “America has no higher rate of social mobility than medieval England, Or pre-industrial Sweden.” He added, “That’s the most difficult part of talking about social mobility is because […]
Archives
-
Is There No American Dream? It Depends.
28 Nov 2014
-
Happy True Thanksgiving
27 Nov 2014
Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers. I have “dutifully” participated in the culinary festivities and have also indulged in one of my favorite traditional pastimes—a nap after dinner—but I haven’t forgotten to do what the goal of this national holiday intended, to give thanks. But what does that mean? It might seem obvious. But in […]
-
While the Ferguson, Missouri riots take center stage in the news, other events are occurring too, and important ones. For one thing, Thanksgiving is nearly here and Christians everywhere in America should take time to give thanks to God for who He is and for the abundant grace He has granted to each of us […]
-
Rule by Numbers
22 Nov 2014
I am here at the Southern Economic Association in Atlanta, Ga, where it is very nice, pleasantly warm weather, and where numbers and statistics flow like water. The first session I attended was on measures of economic freedom, and interesting topic on its face. And the papers were interesting, but excruciatingly painful, looking at factor […]
-
The Real Crisis
22 Nov 2014
In light of President Obama’s speech on immigration and his new regulations, I came across an excellent article by Charles C. W. Cooke in the National Review. It can be found here: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/393248/congress-seems-happy-have-its-powers-usurped-charles-c-w-cooke (sorry I can’t do better with links). The real crisis is Congress’s happy relinquishment of its prerogative over time, and the quite predictable results. […]
-
Big Jets, Envy and Christian Responses
17 Nov 2014
It looks like the media are again raising the specter of inequality. The New York Times, whom no one would confuse with a conservative newspaper, in a November 15, 2014 article, now seems to be lamenting the fact that some “super rich” people are purchasing bigger private jets, “leaving behind” the mere wealthy. I didn’t […]
-
Heard It Through the Grapevine
13 Nov 2014
There was a great short article in Forbes Magazine November 10 by George Leef. It also brought back memories from my law school days when I wrote about a very similar topic. Leef’s article was about the Raisin Administrative Committee—yes you read it correctly a Federal agency named the Raisin Administrative Committee. If only it […]
-
What are Republicans Saying? Nothing Much Yet.
11 Nov 2014
Something was missing from the recent Republican campaign efforts. Though they did retake the Senate and several governor’s mansions, most were strangely silent on what might have been some winning issues. These included Obamacare, school reform and reforming bureaucracy and regulation. Obamacare did receive some attention, which is good, and all the new senators vowed […]
-
Coke vs. Pepsi V
09 Nov 2014
The debate between the economists reminds me of a long-past humorous saying about the dismal practitioners (only teasing there): “If you laid all the economists of the world end-to-end they would never reach a conclusion.” I guess they still haven’t regarding this question of whether the Republicans and Democrats are essentially different or the same. […]
-
Another Great One Dies
05 Nov 2014
Gordon Tullock died the other day. He was about 92. For those who didn’t know, Tullock was a founder of the Public Choice School of economic thought, famous for its use of microeconomic principles applied to problems of government, in particular government failure. Tullock was known as the “inventor” of the concept of rent-seeking, known […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach