Year: 2009

July 29, 2009

Public Discourse: Rethinking Economics in the Post-Crisis World

The Public Discourse recently published my article, Rethinking Economics in the Post-Crisis World. Text follows: In the wake of the financial crisis, we need an economics with greater humility about its predictive power and an increased understanding of the complicated human beings who, when the discipline is rightly understood, lie at its center. Continue Reading...
July 28, 2009

The Healthcare Debate’s False Premise

Everybody realizes that the current healthcare system in the United States has problems. Unfortunately, much of the discussion about what to do rests on a false premise. The argument goes something like this: Our current free market system is not working: health care costs are astronomically high, and close to 50 million people aren’t insured. Continue Reading...
July 27, 2009

Those Seven Deadly Virtues

In the musical Camelot which first appeared on stage in 1960, Mordred — the antagonist, evil traitor and eventual deliverer of a mortal wound to King Arthur — appropriately lauds the antithesis of what good men are to pursue with his signature song titled “The Seven Deadly Virtues” the first line of which ends “those nasty little traps.” Continue Reading...
July 27, 2009

Biblical Reasons to Give

Dr. David Murray of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary investigates the concept of “biblical fundraising,” reasons to continue to give in the midst of difficult economic times, in the latest edition of his vcast, “puritanPod.” Continue Reading...
July 27, 2009

The Truth Will Set Us Free

God is rational, and the universe is governed by unchanging natural laws instituted by Him. The Bible tells us in the Book of Genesis that “God created the heavens and the earth.” Continue Reading...
July 23, 2009

Healthcare: Blue Pill or Red Pill?

Blue pill or red pill? No, it’s not the iconic scene from The Matrix, where Neo is given the choice of staying in his computerized dream world (blue pill) or leaving the Matrix and discovering reality (red pill). Continue Reading...
July 23, 2009

Parsing the President’s Promises

We’ve said a lot already and will probably say a lot more about health care reform—its importance justifies the attention—but here are a few brief responses to President Obama’s remarks last night (based on the prepared notes posted at the White House web site). Continue Reading...
July 22, 2009

Zero-Sum: The Most Dangerous Game

A recent Fox News piece on President Obama’s “science czar,” John Holdren, makes for spooky reading, dramatizing where well-intended intellectuals can end up when they take a zero-sum view of our planet’s resources. Continue Reading...