In Wednesday’s Politico, Thomas Ricks writes about how he is turning left politically mid-life, outlining a growing disillusionment with American military, government and economic results. Much of his criticisms I don’t fault, such as his specific criticisms of how and why we fought in Iraq (a subject I won’t delve into here). But he also […]
Archives
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Moving to the Left–Why it is essential to Love God with all our Minds, as well as our Hearts
26 Jul 2014
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Higher and Higher
21 Jul 2014
Well, I am deep into summer and I, like a few others—maybe many others—have noticed that things aren’t what they used to be, just a few short years back in the “evil” Bush administration. In case you are curious I’m talking about the prices of goods and services. There is a nice article about it […]
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Musings for this Day
25 Jun 2014
The economy shrank by 2.9% so far this year, it was announced today. Recession, what recession? We were told by the economists that it was over long ago. So go on with whatever you were doing (or if you were unemployed, with what you aren’t doing) and don’t worry.
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Don’t Forget History
08 May 2014
Amity Shlaes has written a fine piece in National Review Online on one particular aspect of the Great Depression having to do with minimum wages (NRO, May 7, 2014). As she points out, recent research has changed the way we evaluate that event in economic history. In case you don’t remember, the dominant narrative had been that […]
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Allan Meltzer is perhaps the greatest living monetary economist; his A History of the Federal Reserve, is the definitive standard on the Fed. He was a contemporary of Milton Friedman, and a noted monetarist scholar in his own right. Discussing the Fed today, he ventures slightly off course: Broadly speaking, the Obama administration has pursued […]
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The “Point One” Percent
01 May 2014
We are all collectively the “point one percent” now. That is, we live in an economy that measured ,1% (you read that right) growth in GDP in the first quarter of 2014. Are we in for a “double dip” recession–have we really emerged from the previous one, despite fine economic definitions (and let’s be clear, […]
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The Affordable Care Act and Labor Supply
05 Feb 2014
On Tuesday the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released it’s report – “Budget and Economic Outlook: 2014 to 2024” . The report is causing quite a stir because of the CBO’s estimates of the affect of the Affordable Care Act on the United States economy. President Obama has previously used CBO estimates to provide support for the […]
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The Minimum Wage and Poverty
31 Jan 2014
In Tuesday’s State of the Union address President Obama made some bold statements about the relationship of the minimum wage and the reduction of poverty (emphasis added). But Americans overwhelmingly agree that no one who works full-time should ever have to raise a family in poverty. … And as a chief executive, I intend to […]
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SOTU: A Dwindling Presidency
29 Jan 2014
President Obama was at center stage of the American political drama last night, giving us his own conception of the state of our union. And, as we might have predicted, in his mind it is “strong.” Maybe this is the equivalent of the medieval tactic of beating swords upon shields to signify strength and to intimidate […]
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Keynesians Love Winter
27 Jan 2014
This winter, with it’s below average temperatures and above normal precipitation, has been great for “economic stimulus” if the Keynesian economic theory that almost everyone in the United States believes is correct. At least that’s been true in my household. Beginning in mid December, we’ve had a series of minor automobile mishaps that have created, […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach