As the new Republican congress gets set to tackle the Obama agenda, its pertinent to ask if we’re winning or losing on spending.  After all, this is supposedly the reason for the rise of the tea party–out of control spending on the part of the Obama administration.  This past fall the U.S. government reported the […]

Brigid Schulte, at The Washington Post, has written an interesting piece on Isabel Sawhill, a scholar at Brookings, and the future of marriage. Sawhill has historically promoted and defended marriage based on its economic benefits for both parents and children.  For example, children in single-parent families are four times more likely to live in poverty than […]

This review is late. After all, Interstellar debuted seemingly eons ago and most of those who are going to see it in theaters have already done so. If you are on the fence about the possibility, let me implore you. Get thee to a theater. Interstellar demands a large screen, high quality sound, and popcorn drizzled […]

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 […]