Policy analysts often refer to multifaceted problems, that are resistant to traditional solutions, as “wicked.” Unwed, teenage pregnancy has grown into one of those. Historically, teenage pregnancy was limited through lack of access and shame. The automobile, the pill, and shifting sexual mores have redefined the phenomenon. Now, we no longer shame unwed, teen moms, […]

On March 12, the House Budget Committee released its Fiscal Year 2014 Budget Resolution “The Path to Prosperity: A Responsible Balanced Budget”. A key provision in the proposal is the “Safety Net Strengthened” (p. 25). Using reform of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) as a model when “Bipartisan efforts in the late 1990s […]

That’s the headline of this report from ABC News.  Today, the U.S. National Debt is $16.7T, whereas our 2012 GDP was $15.6T, or our debt/GDP ratio is 107%.  Economists Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff  have shown that when debt levels are greater than 90% of GDP (for advanced economies), economic growth slows. EDIT Jun ’13:  […]

Janet Yellen, the current Vice-Chair of the Federal Reserve is rumored to be next in line to replace “Helicopter” Ben Bernanke.  This is troubling because, as a committed Keynesian, she is a big fan of inflation as a way to lesson the pain of unemployment.  Indeed, she is–as many others are–convinced that inflation causes small […]

Steve Horwitz has a great counter to the income inequality debate, see here: HT to Don Boudreaux over at Cafe Hayek. For Christian thinkers, is there a biblical justification for concern over income inequality per se?  I’m not talking about the poor here; simply does the Bible have anything to say in a negative sense […]

The “Randpage,” as Drudge has named it, continues. Rand Paul has decided to use one of the Senate’s most distinguished techniques, the filibuster, to state his opposition to John Brennan’s nomination, and eventual confirmation, as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Paul’s opposition stems primarily from Brennan’s willingness to allow drone strikes of American citizens, even […]

For those of you who want to read the second and third installment of the “Fossil-Fuel Divestment” article of March 4, 2013, go to the National Review Online for today, March 6 and you will find both yesterday’s and today’s final parts.  Enjoy reading and take careful note.  This is a “wedge issue” which really goes […]

The following longer piece is designed to bring light rather than heat to the on-going debates regarding free market institutions versus government. We hear quite a bit about the battles between conservatives (the American equivalent of classical liberals) and liberals (the American equivalent of Modern Liberals or Social Democrats).  This is especially true regarding their […]

Fossil-Fuel Divestment If the reader wants to know what one particular anti-capitalist and anti-growth movement looks like, see this article.  It is actually in three parts at the National Review Online.  This is the first part from March 4, 2013.  Radical environmental groups may be small but they are well-funded and appealing to the Millenials. […]

Arthur Brooks produced yet another masterpiece in today’s WSJ, The key is here: Conservatives are fighting a losing battle of moral arithmetic. They hand an argument with virtually 100% public support—care for the vulnerable—to progressives, and focus instead on materialistic concerns and minority moral viewpoints. The irony is maddening. America’s poor people have been saddled […]