I agree with President Obama that we need more labor unions. However, I disagree with his approach. Full disclosure: I have been a dues-payer to both the United Auto Workers and the National Education Association unions. My sympathies are heavily … Continue reading
The explosion that sank British Petroleum’s Deepwater Horizon oil-drilling vessel/platform in the Gulf of Mexico in April was an unmitigated disaster. The accident killed 11 workers and has caused massive environmental damage, the full extent of which may not become … Continue reading
Recently, The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College has tackled the issue of “social justice,” with articles by Gary Smith, J. D. Wyneken, Mark Hendrickson, and Shawn Ritenour. I strongly encourage readers to forward these articles to … Continue reading
The sovereign debt crisis—centered on Greece for the moment, but bound to spread to other heavily indebted national governments—has taken an ominous turn. The European Central Bank (ECB), the Federal Reserve, and the International Monetary Fund unveiled a trillion-dollar bailout … Continue reading
Economic error knows no partisan bounds. Republican Herbert Hoover and Democrat Franklin Roosevelt both adopted foolish, harmful policies during the Great Depression. Republican George W. Bush’s stimulus plan made no sense, and neither did Democrat Barack Obama’s.
On August 25, 1914, in a spate of disorder, shots rang out from the Belgian town of Louvain, instigating its German occupiers to launch a frenzy of looting and destruction. Crazed soldiers butchered civilians, ransacked buildings, and finally burned the … Continue reading
The intertwined worlds of government and finance are swirling with drama not seen since the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008. The epicenter of the current crisis is Greece. The Aegean nation’s sovereign debt has been downgraded to “junk” status … Continue reading
I knew the time would come. America’s public schools and ideologically monolithic universities have spawned a generation woefully uninformed in the most elementary facts about free markets, socialism, and communism. Personally, after teaching this material for years, I’m getting an … Continue reading
Trying to keep up with all the changes in U.S. Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) financial reform bill has been a daunting task. Two weeks ago, it was described in the press as “the 1100-page bill.” Last week, it became “the … Continue reading
Imagine that you are governor of the state of Pennsylvania, and private enterprisers discover a new, clean source of fuel within the state’s borders, a source which would help reduce the costs of energy, provide jobs for companies and workers, yield additional tax revenues … Continue reading
Financial markets function to discount the future. Usually, by the time you read about something in the newspaper, financial market pricing has already “discounted” that event weeks, months, or perhaps even years before it hits the front page and becomes … Continue reading
As soon as healthcare reform passed through Congress, talk about how to pay for it began immediately. Fox News commentator Charles Krauthammer said that he thought President Obama would propose a VAT (value-added tax) after the fall elections. The pretense … Continue reading
Recently, progressives have made noise about introducing a value-added tax (VAT) in the United States. The VAT is an indirect tax—that is, Americans wouldn’t pay the tax directly to government, but would pay it to businesses as part of the … Continue reading
Editor’s note: A longer version of this article first appeared at The American Spectator at the original time of publication. This spring 2010 marks some sordid anniversaries: 65 years since the discovery of the Nazi concentration camps that facilitated the … Continue reading
The most frustrating thing I’ve dealt with in professional life was eight years of outrageous, baseless charges against President George W. Bush on matters of faith. Even when Bush was simply asked about his faith, and responded with utterly benign … Continue reading
Editor’s Note: The “V&V Q&A” is an e-publication from The Center for Vision & Values at Grove City College. This latest edition of “V&V Q&A” is an intriguing look at the biblical basis for the free-market economy, dispelling the popular notion among … Continue reading
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
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
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
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
