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May 21, 2009

Hate the Sin, Tax the Sinner?

Update (5/21): The New York Daily News reports that “state lawmakers are trying to give the fat tax new life.” Senate Democrats want to impose a penny excise tax on non-diet sodas to help fund a plan to provide property tax relief to homeowners. Continue Reading...
May 20, 2009

Acton Commentary: The Virtuous Path to African Development

Economists and policy experts are forever coming up with new solutions for the seemingly intractable problem of African poverty. But Anthony Bradley points out that any reform program “must require certain moral values to truly flourish; in virtue’s absence the same system can serve to create new moral dilemmas.” Continue Reading...
May 18, 2009

Dolan on Catholic bishops

First Things revisits Archbishop Timothy Dolan’s reflections on the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and its role in American religious and political life, past, present, and future. It was originally published in 2005, but deserves renewed scrutiny because Dolan was recently installed as the leader the Archdiocese of New York, widely perceived as the preeminent American see. Continue Reading...
May 15, 2009

Interview: Adriana Gini, neuroradiologist and bioethicist

Is moral enhancement of the entrepreneur possible? That’s the question Michael Severance, operations manager for Istituto Acton (the Acton Institute’s Rome office) recently posed to Dr. Adriana Gini, a neuroradiologist at San Camillo-Forlanini Medical Centre in Rome and an expert bioethicist at the Pontifical Athenaeum Regina Apostolorum. Continue Reading...
May 15, 2009

Review: Money, Greed, and God

The belief that the essence of capitalism is greed is perhaps the biggest myth Jay W. Richards tackles in his new book, Money, Greed, and God: Why Capitalism is the Solution and not the Problem. Continue Reading...
May 13, 2009

New report: Verdict on the Crash

Much of the blame for the current financial crisis has been aimed at Wall Street and the bankers who, the story goes, created toxic debt instruments and then lined their own pockets with the proceeds. Continue Reading...
May 13, 2009

Acton Commentary: End Times for Christian America?

Once again, sociologists and journalists are predicting the demise of Christianity as a major influence in the public life of America. Hunter Baker pokes holes in that theory, and observes that these persistent predictions are coming from “those anxious for it to occur.” Continue Reading...