Editors Note: This post’s headline has been edited since initial publication. Channeling his inner James Madison, former President, and current raconteur, Bill Clinton said yesterday that “Constant conflict is actually often good politics, because the more you can inflame your supporters the more likely they are to show up at Election Day,” Clinton is speaking […]

Once again the “Great Fact” was brought home to me in the morning sermon at my church. The Great Fact is not popular among non-Christians and not very popular among many calling themselves Christians.  Instead autonomy and self-interest tend to rule the day.  You could also say that many in the church as well as […]

The Book Of Revelation Is Hayekian is the title of on op/ed interview published on Forbes last week. I found the transcript of the interview between Gregory Alan Thornbury (interviewee) and Jerry Bowyer (interviewer) fascinating. The section of the interview I included in this post highlights Thornbury and Bowyer playing off of one another to […]

Pope Francis continued to make surprising statements recently by suggesting that God would grant forgiveness to atheists as long as they followed their consciences. “Sin,” he said, “even for those who have no faith, is when one goes against their conscience.” Pope Francis has not maintained his predecessor’s more conservative stance on issues of faith […]

Yesterday Barack Obama nominated Janet Yellen to become Chairwoman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. Borrowing from Stanly Kubrick’s classic film Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and with apologies to Slim Pickens, this is how I perceive Yellen’s nomination (and subsequent Senate confirmation) will impact […]

How happy are you with the federal government? The government is partially shutdown. If Congress and the President are not able to negotiate a settlement to raise the debt ceiling, greater fiscal problems are on the horizon. The Affordable Care Act is more and more showing its strangling effect on our economy. The Dodd-Frank Act […]

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 […]

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 […]

You say “Really?  Are you just an anti-Fed nut case?”  Well, I’m certainly anti-Fed, and my wife won’t confirm or deny #2.    But let me make my case.  As economist Russ Roberts likes to say, economists often tell “stories” that we think reflect reality.  These stories are backed by a particular theory and often have […]

Yesterday the health care exchanges were opened for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), with various reviews, but acknowledged “glitches” that left many unable to sign up.  MSNBC anchor tried and failed after 30+ minutes, including time on the phone that never got her into the system: Republicans naturally trumpeted this as another indicator that this […]