As we approach the new year and incidentally, Old Christmas (January 6), I thought I would leave you with a few “gifts.”  These come from Federal, state and even local actions over the past year.  I don’t really wish these on anyone, but they are current reality. Release of five more Guantanamo detainees, whose threat […]

There is a great article on the subject of overcriminalization published in the Federalist Society’s Engage (vol. 15, 2, Dec. 16, 2014).  This is a topic which has been drawing greater attention in recent years, and even been mentioned by the likes of Justice Antonin Saclia as a growing problem.  At its simplest, it is […]

With the recent brouhaha about the IRS, the EPA (jurisdiction over all bodies of water, emission rules for power plants, etc.), the new Consumer Protection Safety Board (from the Dodd-Frank bill), the State Department’s follies, and other agencies, even at state and local levels, it seemed like a good time to raise once again the […]

D.A. Carson has a gem over on the Gospel Coalition, which is well worth a read. RATHER NAIVELY, SOME OF US THINK that if Jesus were alive today, our tolerant culture would not give him a really rough time, much less crucify him. We would simply marginalize him, treat him as if he were a […]

A few days ago I continued my regular pooh-poohing of the perils of deflation, which is coming up again because of the fall in the price of oil.  As I said in that post, deflation that is associated with productivity is generally a good thing, but if its a result of a collapse in the […]

Politico‘s James Hohman has a nice piece up this morning on Gov. John Kasich (R-OH) and his quest for a balanced budget amendment to the US Constitution. Kasich has formed a non-profit organization, Balanced Budget Forever, to promote the effort. Though the article is ostensibly about the legislative quest, the sub-theme is Kasich’s possible presidential bid […]

I don’t know how this slipped past the editors of the NYT.  We have at least a recognition that changing incentives are contributing to more people staying out of the workforce.  Of course, excellent economists such as U of Chicago’s Casey Mulligan have done outstanding empirical analysis to show that changing government policies are making […]

Today is my final for macroeconomics and hopefully my students will demonstrate some level of economic understanding.  However, I fear that perhaps the culture of economic ignorance which pervades our public understanding might make all my efforts for naught.  Unfortunately as they leave my class they will be surrounded for the rest of their lives […]

“Politicians should read science fiction, not westerns and detective stories.” –Arthur C. Clarke Science fiction is, almost without fail, either set in the future or an unknown universe. This allows the author, or filmmaker, to turn blank pages and screens into whatever he or she wishes. Without the baggage of now, science fiction often comments […]

Recent headlines have caused a storm of social conflict over the last month, and competing truth claims are raised to support various positions.  We have Michael Brown’s shooting in Ferguson, TV star Lena Dunham’s story of sexual assault during her college years in her book, the UVa rape story of a Greek frat house sexually […]