Seventy-eight-year-old Jim Bunning has nine children and 40 grandchildren. Last week, Daily Kos, a progressive blog, made the Hall of Fame pitcher and U.S. senator a poster boy for the “The Party of Mean” because he asked Congress to pay … Continue reading
Economics & Political Systems
The Governing Elite vs. the Rest of Us
The truly revolutionary American idea of government as the servant of the people may be fading away. Many of today’s so-called “civil servants” are a protected, privileged class. While Middle America struggles through a difficult recession, a lot of government … Continue reading
The Student Loan Problem
You may have seen the recent story about the 41-year-old doctor who graduated from medical school in 2003 with student-loan indebtedness of $250,000 that has since swelled to more than $555,000. She is now scheduled to pay $990 per month … Continue reading
CPAC and Glenn Beck
This year’s Conservative Political Action Conference was unique. The Tea Party movement burst forth in August 2009 and the tension that this leaderless juggernaut generates among establishment conservatives was palpable at the nation’s largest annual gathering of grassroots conservatives and … Continue reading
V&V Q&A: Outrageous Public Debt
Editor’s Note: The “V&V Q&A” is an e-publication from The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College. In this latest Q&A, Dr. Paul Kengor, executive director of the Center, interviews Dr. Guido Hülsmann, chairman of the economics department … Continue reading
“Econoclasts:” A Book Review
“Econoclasts: The Rebels Who Sparked the Supply-Side Revolution and Restored American Prosperity” By Brian Domitrovic | ISI Books (August 2009) | 368 pp. Brian Domitrovic, assistant professor of history at Sam Houston State University, has written an important book.Econoclasts is … Continue reading
The Relevance of Scott Brown
Republicans have greeted Scott Brown’s victory in Massachusetts with the sort of relief expressed by Winston Churchill when he learned that Pearl Harbor had prompted America to finally enter the war; for the first time in years, he “slept the … Continue reading
A Moment of Illumination
We’ve all had those sudden epiphanies where the proverbial light bulb clicks on and understanding comes into clear focus. I had one of those moments over the Christmas holiday season. In this case, the light bulb experience was literal as … Continue reading
Pennsylvania’s Green Eco-Slumber
As a poster child for liberal energy policies throughout the country, Pennsylvania’s Governor Ed Rendell has issued the edict to grow the state’s energy resources greener. Huge sums of taxpayer-supplied subsidy and stimulus have been funneled into the greening of … Continue reading
Obama’s Anti-jobs Policy
High and/or rising unemployment is always a political liability for a president, and so Barack Obama has taken the offensive in trying to persuade the American people that his team can get Americans back to work. In November, Obama took … Continue reading
Climategate, Copenhagen and Cap & Trade
2009 ended with a flurry of important events on the climate-change front. In November, the Climategate scandal broke. An anonymous whistle-blower released over 1,000 e-mails from key scientists (both British and American) in the alarmist climate-change camp. The e-mails revealed … Continue reading
Where is Your Treasure?
The sticker on the front page of Saturday’s Sarasota Herald-Tribune screamed “BERNIE MADOFF AUCTION, SUNDAY DECEMBER 27, THE RITZ-CARLTON, SARASOTA, FL.” The fine print clarified that it wasn’t the convicted Ponzi scheme operator’s property that was being sold off, but that of … Continue reading
Combating Recessions: The Search for the Right Macroeconomic Policy
What should governments do to combat recessions’ In the United States, before the Great Depression of the 1930s, the answer was “very little.” Of course, the federal government was much smaller then compared to the size of the private sector, … Continue reading
Jawboning the Bankers
When presidents want to persuade an opponent they often resort to verbal intimidation or “jawboning.” President Obama recently jawboned American bankers hoping they would start lending money to small and medium-sized businesses. He may slay his own political reputation if … Continue reading
Jefferson’s Warnings About Money and Banks
In 1962, President John F. Kennedy hosted a dinner for 49 Nobel laureates. The occasion provided the opportunity for JFK to display his keen wit in the memorable quote, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent, of … Continue reading
Government Intervention and High Prices
What kind of prices do you prefer to pay when you go shopping—high or low? Unless you’re trying to show off for someone by spending a bundle, I’d bet that you prefer low prices. I’ve never met anybody who decided … Continue reading
Our Moral Hazard
During confirmation hearings last Thursday, members of the U.S. Senate grilled Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. Although senators criticized Bernanke for his policy decisions, they missed an opportunity to shine light on the ethics of the Federal Reserve’s core function—money … Continue reading
Finally, an Honest Con Game
“This is not funny, this is serious stuff!” intones a flock of furrow-browed politicos about that well-dressed couple who conned their way into a White House shindig. Yes and no, in that order, because some of us think this incident … Continue reading
Psyching Out the Stock Market
It is usually the stock market that psyches us out, not the other way around. There’s something about stocks that turns us upside down. For example, normally when something goes on sale, we tend to buy more of it; yet, … Continue reading
V&V Q&A: Dr. Charles Hull Wolfe, a 20th Century Life
Editor’s Note: The “V&V Q&A” is an e-publication from The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College. Each issue will present an interview with an intriguing thinker or opinion-maker that we hope will prove illuminating to readers everywhere. This … Continue reading