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 […]

One of the joys of teaching economics is pointing out the foolishness of poor economic choices.  It is precisely by showing the linkage between cause and effect  and demonstrating unintended consequences that helps students understand “the economic way of thinking.”  As a monetary economist, there is perhaps no better visual aid than passing around an […]

Several years ago, before he fled the great North for the sunny climes of South Beach, Nike ran an advertising campaign that featured simple, black and white clips of LeBron James doing LeBron James sorts of things. The tagline was inspired heresy, “We are All Witnesses.” Hewn by God to play the best game ever […]

Over on Cafe Hayek, Don Boudreaux has yet another gem on the minimum wage.  I love his economic work so much that I am almost despondent that I’ll never be as logically articulate as he is.  But I’ll keep trying.  In that article I offer an extended quote for the day: One of the greatest […]

One of the benefits of being …ahem..over 50 years old is perspective.  Not necessarily wisdom, but one would like to think that perspective leads to additional wisdom as well.  As Hayek noted decades ago in The Sensory Order, much of what our brain processes works to align what we see in light of previous activities–mental […]

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). […]

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 […]

Thanks to everyone who read my recent post on anthropogenic climate change (or global warming).  Owing to the excellent feedback, I think it best to write another article rather than respond individually to each reader’s reply (yes — your comments were that good!).  A preponderant theme of this discussion was the problem of evil (suffering […]

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 […]

“Let God be true though every man [and scientist] were a liar” (Romans 3:4) In the course of my teaching here at Cedarville University, students will occasionally ask me to address the issue of global warming.  Of chief concern to them, it seems, is what a Christian’s response ought to be.  Admittedly not one to […]