Marc Vander Maas

Posts by Marc Vander Maas

January 13, 2006

Unintended consequences

There’s interesting news on the global warming front in today’s Financial Times: Everyone knows trees are “A Good Thing”. They take in the carbon dioxide that threatens our planet with global warming and turn it into fresh, clean oxygen for us all to breathe. Continue Reading...
January 11, 2006

All wet

Jeffrey Tucker at the Ludwig Von Mises Institute: You might say that water needs to be conserved. Yes, and so does every other scarce good. The peaceful way to do this is through the price system. Continue Reading...
January 09, 2006

A tale of two monopolies

Monopoly #1: I was somewhat shocked the other day when I heard a strong critique of the much-vaunted Canadian national health care system on NPR. I wasn’t dreaming – here’s the link to prove it. Continue Reading...
January 06, 2006

Revolutionary papacies

Acton President Rev. Robert A. Sirico appeared today at the January Series of Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan to introduce a lecture by theologian and author George Weigel. In his address, entitled “Revolutionary Papacies: John Paul II, Benedict XVI, and the Future of the Catholic Church,” Weigel touched on 10 areas in which Pope John Paul II made important contributions to Catholic teaching, ecumenism, and world politics, and also described some of the major challenges facing Pope Benedict XVI, especially relating to the cultural and demographic decline of Europe. Continue Reading...
December 31, 2005

Happy new year!

From all of us here at the PowerBlog, please accept our best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous 2006! Care to make any predictions for the new year? Feel free to leave them in the comments. Continue Reading...
December 29, 2005

Timber!

Today’s Wall Street Journal has yet another example of what happens when good intentions fail to connect with sound economics (or in this case, sound science). Thanks to the nation’s housing boom, business has been good for the West’s sawmills for the past three years. Continue Reading...
December 22, 2005

Wise generosity in the season of giving

Karen Woods, Director of Acton’s Center for Effective Compassion, reminds us to be wise as we engage in charity: Good intentions are not enough. The most significant giving season of the year is no time to relent in our vigilance to avoid the unintended consequences of hurricane recovery (or in any other social need area either). Continue Reading...
December 20, 2005

There’s no such thing as “free” health care

Remember: when you recieve a “free” service from the government, it’s not actually free. You’re paying for that service through your taxes. And when the government sets up a monopoly in an area like health care, it’s probably going to end up being more expensive and cheaper at the same time – more expensive because people are less likely to use a “free” service prudently, and cheaper because the overuse of the service will force officials to impose major restraints on the program in order to aviod complete financial disaster, thereby reducing the amount and quality of services available to consumers. Continue Reading...
December 13, 2005

New Mexico – gateway to the stars?

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic has taken another step forward with the announcement of an agreement with the State of New Mexico: Virgin Galactic, the British company created by entrepreneur Richard Branson to send tourists into space, and New Mexico announced an agreement Tuesday for the state to build a $225 million spaceport. Continue Reading...