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. In … Continue reading
Economics & Political Systems
V&V Q&A: On Booms, Busts, and America
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. In … Continue reading
Obama’s $1 Trillion Gamble
President-elect Obama is considering an economic stimulus package that will include increases in government spending and tax cuts of approximately one trillion dollars. Many fear a prolonged depression resulting from a sharp reduction in consumer spending. After saving very little … Continue reading
“Fed” Up? Money Lessons for the New Year
Could 2009 be the year the United States of America starts to go subprime? Just as subprime mortgages wrecked the economy in 2008, 2009 might be the year we begin to see problems associated with the debt that funds our … Continue reading
Lessons from the Oil Market
The longer I study economic phenomena, the more I learn two truths. The first truth is how little I know. This is very humbling. There is just too much information out there for any one human being to process. The … Continue reading
Dancing with Fred or Frankenstein: Free Markets, Socialism, and the Bailout
Washington’s $700 billion bailout plan is making a lot of people unhappy. The Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), as the implementation of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 has come to be known, seems to be morphing unpredictably. Originally, … Continue reading
The Big Three: Assigning Blame & an Alternative to a Bailout
I’ve already explained the problematical economics and ethics of a federal bailout for the Big Three (see “A Bailout for Detroit”). The demise of the pillar of metro Detroit’s economy saddens me—I’m from there; in fact, I was once a janitor … Continue reading
Hatred and Politics
Politics in America is a contact sport. Passions flare and the rhetoric can get heated and nasty. Political parties stoke these fires, playing on people’s fears as a key fund-raising tactic. Conservative authors have produced books with insulting titles like … Continue reading
We’re Broke
Global stock markets have been plummeting. Where the bottom is, nobody knows. There will be gut-wrenching zigs and hopeful zags along the way; they will be of larger magnitude and—in our digital age of instant response—will occur with greater rapidity … Continue reading
Spreading the Wealth: Obama, Joe, and the Democratic Socialists
By now, almost everybody knows “Joe the plumber.” Mentioned about 15 times in Wednesday’s presidential debate, Joe Wurzelbacher, a plumber from Toledo, questioned Barack Obama at an Ohio campaign stop earlier in the week. Joe wanted to know if Obama’s … Continue reading
Thoughts on “the Big Bailout”
The biggest bailout plan (so far) will continue to be revised in an attempt to win approval of a congressional majority. The goal of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 is to put the brakes on the unwinding of … Continue reading
Stop the Bailout!
When facing a major financial problem, it is not uncommon to face the temptation to do something foolish at best or something evil at worst. Our elected officials and un-elected monetary and financial authorities are on the brink of doing … Continue reading
Blaming the Free Market
It’s finger-pointing time, folks. Whose fault is the ongoing financial crack-up that has hurt, angered, and frightened so many people? There is plenty of blame to go around, and the American people deserve to know the culprits. Simple justice, though, … Continue reading
Economic Nonsense
It saddens me when I see a member of my profession go over to “the dark side,” that is, to politics. Politics replaces voluntary action with compulsion, private contract with coercion. Government intervention imposes distortions, inefficiencies, and extra costs on … Continue reading
A Tale of Two Narratives—and the Palin Paradigm
Reactions to Governor Palin’s selection as Senator McCain’s running mate ranged from laughter to incredulity and then from alarm to panic. Indeed, editorials on the danger she poses to Senator Obama’s once inevitable coronation in November now radiate furrowed brows … Continue reading
Another One Bites the Dust
September 15, 2008. Lehman Brothers, the giant Wall Street firm, declares bankruptcy. Merrill Lynch, the most famous stock brokerage company in the country, avoids the risk of eventually suffering a similar fate by being euthanized (i.e., bought and absorbed) by … Continue reading
A Bailout for Detroit
It was bound to happen. In this “Year of the bailout,” why shouldn’t Detroit get into the act? The financial community has maintained a death-watch over GM and Ford for months as they hemorrhage floods of red ink. Bankruptcy is … Continue reading
Thank You, Alexander Solzhenitsyn
News of the passing of Russian author Alexander Solzhenitsyn on August 3 brought me a flood of memories. Although I never met Mr. Solzhenitsyn, he had a profound effect on my life. He also had a great impact on the … Continue reading
Drill Now
High fuel prices have produced a tectonic shift in the United States’ political landscape. Recent polls indicate a strong surge of support for Uncle Sam lifting government restrictions against domestic drilling for oil. Blocking the development of domestic energy resources … Continue reading
Here We Go Again
Every year, Merriam-Webster, the dictionary company, holds a vote for “Word of the Year.” Don’t be surprised if 2008’s word is “bailout.” And if they start a “Phrase of the Year” category, how about “Too big to fail?” We heard … Continue reading