The Contending Realities of Progressive Economics

We need to trim government programs today in order make way for bigger government tomorrow. That seems to be the message former treasury secretary and Obama economic advisor Larry Summers delivered today at the Washington Ideas Forum: “If we want to have the same kind of society we always had…you may see some upward drift in government,” he said. Continue Reading...

Dorothy Day and the US Bishops’ Conference 2012

I will not indulge in any sort of “what would Dorothy Day do” when it comes to thinking about the current US Catholic Bishops’ Conference taking place in Baltimore.  However, it is interesting to ponder this woman who exemplifies so much of 20th century Catholicism and the bishops’ agenda, especially as the bishops discuss cause for her canonization, while on the same day failing to pass a pastoral message on economics. Continue Reading...

2013 AU Registration Opens Thursday Nov. 15

Registration for 2013 Acton University, scheduled for June 18-21 at the DeVos Place Convention Center in Grand Rapids, Mich., will open Thursday November 15. Stay tuned to Acton’s homepage and the AU website for further news and announcements. Continue Reading...

At the Bleeding Edge of Marketplace Ministry

In the November issue of Christianity Today, Dr. Amy Sherman, senior fellow at the Sagamore Institute has published an article entitled “The Cutting Edge of Marketplace Ministries.” In this article Sherman describes “holistic ministry” being done by a variety of businesses. Continue Reading...

Envy Won’t Save the GOP—or America

After every electoral defeat—whether suffered by Republicans or Democrats—a period of hand-wringing and soul-searching inevitably develops in the days and weeks after the election. Journalists and politicians take to print to explain “What went wrong” and “Here’s what should be done differently.” Continue Reading...

Samuel Gregg: Are We All Europeans Now?

Writing on The Corner over at National Review Online, Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg points to the election and, refreshingly, tells us that, “I’m not one of those who, in recent days, have seemed inclined to indulge their inner curmudgeon, apparently convinced that it’s more or less game-over for America and we’re doomed to Euro-serfdom.” Continue Reading...

Going ‘Forward’ or ‘Backward’? Interview with Prof. Nicola Iannello about U.S. Elections

I recently talked to one of Italy’s leading classical liberal scholars, Prof. Nicola Iannello, regarding the outcome of this week’s U.S. presidential elections.   Prof. Iannello, a devotee of classical liberalism and Alexis de Tocqueville, is an Italian journalist, international lecturer with Istituto Bruno Leoni, and chair of the Einaudi Foundation’s Austrian School of Economics course for Roman university students. Continue Reading...

The Election’s Biggest Losers

Mitt Romney may have lost to Barack Obama but his was not the biggest loss of the election—at least not economically. Despite the millions the GOP spent to elect their candidate, the real economic losers of the 2012 election, as Joel Kotkin explains, are entrepreneurs: The real losers are small business owners, or what might be called the aspirational middle class. Continue Reading...