This blog is a supplement to my colleague Jeff Haymond’s very informative blog of July 26 entitled “Turning to the Left….” I wanted to add a further ethical dimension to the discussion of income inequality which Jeff was addressing with regard to recent comments by Thomas Ricks at Politico. Jeff’s comments are worth reproducing in […]
Archives
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Let’s Get Ethical
28 Jul 2014
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A Very Long Review of a Very Intellectually Deficient, but Very Big, Book by Thomas Piketty
09 Jun 2014
Before I begin this blog, I beg the reader’s indulgence for such a long book review. However I considered this book worthy of such a detailed examination, due to its popularity and influence, barely three months after its appearance. I do hope the length will be justified by the service it may provide. I promise […]
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Warning: Arcane Book Review of Work on the Nineteenth Century Economic Thought of Evangelicals
03 Jun 2014
I just finished a very interesting, but somewhat difficult, book on the economic thought of Evangelicals in Great Britain between around 1790 and 1880. Sounds really boring? Well, it was a little bit of slogging at times, but it was worth it. The author is Boyd Hilton, the title is The Age of Atonement: The […]
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When Will We Learn? What the VA Can Teach Us.
20 May 2014
In light of the most recent apparent scandal (which really isn’t a scandal as I will show) involving the Department of Veterans Affairs, we are once again reminded forcefully of the perils not only of the expansion of the scope of government but also of the organization of government services through bureaucratic means. I said […]
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For the Umpteenth Time: Income Equality
20 Apr 2014
On Good Friday I was watching a “debate” between the conservative Roman Catholic Raymond Arroyo and the Christian Left activist Jim Wallis on the subject of income inequality and the pronouncements of Pope Francis on economics and justice. The Fox News host Bill O’Reilly began with quotes from one very far left writer, Bill Scheer, […]
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America Saves – Less
25 Feb 2014
This is America Saves week. If there was one encouraging result from the “Great Recession” it was that personal savings increased. However it looks like that trend has reversed itself and we are returning to our accustomed low rates of saving. In a post in Real Time Economics on the Wall Street Journal’s site Jeffrey […]
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Minumum Wage / Living Wage
03 Feb 2014
In a post last Friday, January 31 “Bad Economics & Bad Theology: the Christian case for the minimum wage“, Professor Haymond pointed us to an article in The Week entitled: “The Christian case for raising the minimum wage” by Elizabeth Stocker. While Prof. Haymond promises commentary on Stocker’s article, I wanted to make a short […]
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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, […]
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Fairness and Equality: Part 2
16 Dec 2013
I feel the need to clarify my earlier post on “Fairness and Equality” due to the many and varied comments on it and some misunderstanding. At the outset, I will say that in a blog post it is impossible to address every aspect of a subject or every objection. So the reader must read the […]
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The Secret to Happiness….revealed within
16 Dec 2013
At least indirectly, through this excellent short video by Arthur Brooks. Arthur is one of our favorite social scientists here at Bereansatthegate.com; he is also President of the American Enterprise Institute. Arthur summarizes social science research on what drives happiness; well worth your review. Earned success…that’s the key. What enables this? A free enterprise economy: […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach