Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Economics

January 10, 2014

The J. Wellington Wimpy Budget Policy

In a comment last month on the proposed federal budget deal, Sen. Rand Paul quoted one of the foremost economic thinkers of the twentieth century. “There is a recurring theme in Washington budget negotiations. Continue Reading...
January 09, 2014

Whom Would Jesus Indebt?

Putting ourselves and our children further in debt, notes Timothy Dalrymple, is not the way to help the poor: One of the great difficulties of this issue, for Christians, is that the morality of spending and debt has been so thoroughly demagogued that it’s impossible to advocate cuts in government spending without being accused of hatred for the poor and needy. Continue Reading...
January 09, 2014

At-A-Glance: Public Vs. Private Sector Health Care

The Washington Examiner has published a chart that clearly lays out the difference between Obamacare versus private sector health care. Using Walmart as an example (despite the employer’s much-disparaged employee benefits), Elliot Smilowitz at the Examiner shows that the private sector is able to offer comparable health care at much less expense than Obamacare. Continue Reading...
January 08, 2014

Is the $17 Trillion Federal Debt Immoral?

Even when we agree on what Biblical principles should guide our political choices, evangelicals from the left and right rarely agree on policy solutions. But there is one area where there appears to be an increasingly significant level of agreement: the immorality of our national debt. Continue Reading...
January 08, 2014

Fatherlessness and the War on Poverty

In addition to reading Joe Carter’s striking by-the-numbers piece on the War on Poverty, and in keeping with Sam Gregg’s reflections on the deeper social and cultural forces at work, I heartily recommend taking in Josh Good’s excellent retrospective in AEI’s The American. Continue Reading...
January 07, 2014

The Digital Divide And The Uselessness Of Race

According to a report released this week by the Pew Research Center, the so-called “digital divide” between whites and blacks is slowly being closed by smart phones. Here are the key findings of the report: (1) African Americans trail whites by seven percentage points when it comes to overall internet use (87% of whites and 80% of blacks are internet users). Continue Reading...
January 03, 2014

Why are Working-Class Men Falling Behind?

Why are working-class men falling behind? Economic, familial, and lifestyle factors all play a role. One of the main reasons less-educated men are losing economic opportunities, explains anthropologist Michael Jindra, is that they are gaining more ways to indulge in entertainment and leisure: Dr. Continue Reading...