Not fair! How many times did we hear, or say, that when we were children and someone thought they were not being treated fairly, whatever that meant to them? We are hearing it again, from grown-ups—well, I think they are grown-ups. We hear it from the Occupy Wall Street crowd (what is left of them), […]
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Pope Francis recently released his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium, which condemns “unfettered capitalism, “(as labeled by the press). Pope Francis seemingly condemns something that never has been, nor does anyone seriously call for: a laissez faire market devoid of morals or any constraining laws. Indeed, the rule of law and morality are necessary for healthy […]
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In their new book, published by Crossway in 2013, The Poverty of Nations: A Sustainable Solution, the authors Wayne Grudem and Barry Asmus tackle the issue of whether one can make a distinctively Christian defense of markets and economic growth. The book involves a unique combination of authors and perspectives. Grudem is a well-known and […]
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I have heard much talk in the last few months to the effect that market advocates, conservatives (in the American sense) or classical liberals (to use a broader sense) have failed to make their case. They have not “sold” their ideas well, to use a marketing analogy. Alberto-Benegas Lynch has addressed this issue in an […]
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Book Reviews and Such
07 Oct 2013
Last time I wrote about what I was reading, I said I would next read a new book entitled Anti-Capitalism by Simon Tormey. I changed my mind and have waded into the second of a projected four volume work (maybe six) by Deidre McCloskey. The first was Bourgeois Virtues and was the beginning of a detailed historical and […]
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Government Tyranny and Economic Life
27 Sep 2013
There was an interesting article here by Peter Gumbel http://blogs.reuters.com/great-debate/2013/09/25/with-unemployment-high-france-forces-stores-to-close-early/ earlier this week on what France is doing in the face of high unemployment. Before you read, remember this is France, since the nineteenth century, one of the most socialist (small “c”) nations in Europe, allowing for brief intervals of sanity. It appears that Parisian officlals–the only […]
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That’s likely to be the result in the U.N.’s upcoming Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) “fifth assessment report,” if this sneak preview reported in the WSJ is true. Indeed, the benefits of global warming could be greater than the harm: Therefore, the new report is effectively saying (based on the middle of the range […]
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Capitalist Virtues: An Oxymoron?
12 Sep 2013
I am in the middle of reading a couple of really interesting and controversial books on capitalism. One is Deidre McCloskey’s The Bourgeois Virtues: Ethics for An Age of Commerce. University of Chicago Press, 2006. This is a big book on big subject, a grand sweep type of book with high ambition. McCloskey is currently a […]
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I came across an interesting article in the Wall Street Journal yesterday. More on Fracking and the Poor reminds us that it is private initiative and activity that is the source of economic growth in the US economy. The concluding paragraph reads in part: “It’s a classic American story of innovation, human ingenuity, risk-taking and […]
Bert Wheeler
Jeff Haymond
Marc Clauson
Mark Caleb Smith
Tom Mach