2015 Archives

December 23, 2015

Keeping Watch over Their Flock at Night

For this week’s Acton Commentary, we have a Christmas meditation by the Dutch statesman and theologian Abraham Kuyper. If we should ever be envious, shouldn’t we envy the shepherds out in Bethlehem’s fields? Continue Reading...

December 22, 2015

The Most Important (Good) News Story of 2015

From mass shootings to terrorist attacks, political incompetence to racial unrest, there has been no shortage of bad news stories in 2015. Death, destruction, and divisiveness tend to dominate the news cycle, leading us to despair over the direction our world is headed. Continue Reading...

December 21, 2015

Explainer: Christmas 2015 by the Numbers

As the most widely observed cultural holiday in the world, Christmas produces many things — joy, happiness, gratitude, reverence. And numbers. Lots of peculiar, often large, numbers. Here are a few to contemplate this season: $39.50 – Average amount U.S. Continue Reading...

December 21, 2015

This Christmas, Should You Give Cash or Cows?

During the Spanish Civil War, an American farmer named Dan West served as an aid worker on the front lines. His mission was to provide relief to weary soldiers, but all he was allotted to give them was a single cup of milk. Continue Reading...

December 21, 2015

Food prices: financial speculation is a red herring

The discussion is certainly on-going among the 220 opinion leaders who attended and spoke at Acton’s December 3 Rome conference In Dialogue with Laudato Si’: Can Free Markets Help Us Care for Our Common Home? Continue Reading...

December 18, 2015

Star Wars Discussion at Watchdog.org

Happy Star Wars day! The new Star Wars, Episode VII: The Force Awakens, opened across the US and worldwide today, and I can’t tell you anything about how well it’s doing. Continue Reading...

December 18, 2015

The Economics of Bedford Falls (Part III)

[Note: This is the final post in a series highlighting some of the financial aspects and broad economic lessons of Frank Capra’s holiday classic, It’s a Wonderful Life. You can find part one here and part two here.] Continue Reading...

December 17, 2015

Joy for the World: Restoring the Joy of God to Cultural Witness

Over the last century, Christianity has declined in social influence across much of the Western world, leading many to believe it has little place or purpose in public life. In response, Christian reactions have varied, with the more typical approaches being fortification (“hide!” Continue Reading...

December 17, 2015

Africans Raise Awareness (and Provide Radiators) to Aid Frozen Norwegians

“Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, first released in 1984 as part of Band Aid, is definitely, as Jordan Ballor says, “worst Christmas song ever.” Last year it was recorded again (for the fourth time in thirty years!) Continue Reading...

December 17, 2015

What Bernie Sanders (and High School Guidance Counselors) Get Wrong About College

I mostly blame high school guidance counselors for our current confusion about college. Don’t get me wrong, most counselors are fine, well-intentioned people. When I was a recruiter for the Marines in the mid-1990s I met dozens of them and appreciated the work they did. Continue Reading...