By any reasonable measure, Marco Rubio struggled, mightily, during parts of the G.O.P. debate on Saturday night. Chris Christie savaged the Florida Senator for his inexperience and his reliance on canned talking points. Rubio responded, to a degree, with canned talking points, thereby demonstrating Christie’s basic critique that Rubio is an empty suit, similar to […]

OK, President Obama spoke at an Islamic mosque yesterday.  I say “so what.”  But hear me out.  I have no issue with him speaking to any religious group in his capacity as president of the United States.  Even what he said, at least as reported, was not particularly problematic. He said for example, that Islam […]

In the Iowa caucuses, Mr. Sanders lost to Mrs. Clinton on all the major issues except income inequality, as reported in the WSJ (gated): The pollsters asked caucus-goers to choose one of four issues that mattered most to them in voting for a candidate. Mrs. Clinton easily won on health care, terrorism, and even the economy […]

What an interesting post and discussion in the comment section on progressive taxation.  I hope Jeff Haymond doesn’t mind.  Let me just add a little on the philosophical and ethical side, since the theological/Biblical has been pretty well covered and the economic problems have also been addressed.  One word raised several times in the “Comment” […]

Yesterday the Heritage Foundation released the 2016 Index of Economic Freedom. This annual publication is produced by the Heritage Foundation in conjunction with the Wall Street Journal. In addition to the 2016 Index the foundation also published Economic Freedom in America, a supplement outlining trends in economic freedom in the United States. Figure 1 illustrates the overall composite […]

Iowa, a slice of the heartland, has spoken, but not in a single, predictable voice. Iowa’s exalted place as America’s first presidential nomination contest is more an accident of history than a badge of merit. But, every four years we gather, at the bottom of the mountain and await our tablets, carved upon by our […]

The Des Moines Register released its final poll on Saturday. For Republicans, Donald Trump still leads (28%) the horserace, with Ted Cruz close behind (23%). Marco Rubio has moved up to third (15%). The pollster, J. Ann Selzer has some caveats. She argues that while Trump leads, Cruz seems more consistently aligned with the electorate. […]

I have one question which I need answered, especially since I’m teaching my macro class about taxation this week and next.  Where is there Biblical justification for progressive taxation?  Specifically, I’d like to know why two people should be treated differently by the tax code if one makes $100k and the other makes $300k, from […]

#GOPDebate And away we go. Good for Fox not to buckle into Trump's silly demands. Sad a presidential candidate ducks a journalist. — Mark Caleb Smith (@markcalebsmith) January 29, 2016 Yes. The ding ding is back and intent. Ding Ding for Republican nomination. #GOPDebate — Mark Caleb Smith (@markcalebsmith) January 29, 2016 Clever use of […]

I must first apologize for the length of this post.  It is a bit involved, but because the subject is not so simple as we sometimes would like to believe.  As I consider the current state of government and of colleges and universities, and their dysfunction, I can’t help but do so in terms of […]