Acton Institute Powerblog

Promoting free societies characterized by liberty & religious principles

Dr. Andrew Abela Receives 2009 Novak Award

Maltese-American marketing professor, Dr. Andrew Abela, is the winner of the Acton Institute’s 2009 Novak Award. Dr. Abela’s main research areas include consumerism, marketing ethics, Catholic Social Teaching, and internal marketing communication. Continue Reading...

New Deal for April Fools

Last month marked the 75th anniversary of the beginning of FDR’s “New Deal”. The Great Depression is the most famous event in U.S. macro-economic history. Most or all of my students know that it happened in the first half of the 20th century. Continue Reading...

PowerBlogging the State of the Union

I’ll be watching President Bush’s final State of the Union speech tonight and PowerBlog readers are invited to react and respond in the comments section below. I’ll be updating this post throughout the night (below the break) for those of you interested in the (running) commentary. Continue Reading...

Poverty Rate Drops First Time Since 2000

Fox News reports: The nation’s poverty rate dropped last year, the first significant decline since President Bush took office. The Census Bureau reported Tuesday that 36.5 million Americans, or 12.3 percent — were living in poverty last year. Continue Reading...

Anthony Bradley vs. John Edwards’ Poverty Tour

I wrote a few comments explaining why John Edwards’ recent poverty tour may serve as good rhetoric but, in the end, demonstrates very poor economic thinking. His ideas essentially represent the failed “war on poverty” initiatives that came out of LBJ’s “Great Society” foolishness. Continue Reading...

T-U-R-T-L-E power

This might just be the best argument for increasing the minimum wage that I’ve heard yet: It’s just not fair that Michelle needs to go deep in hock to “feed her Ninja Turtle obsession,” is it? Continue Reading...

Zandstra on the first 100 hours

Acton senior fellow Rev. Gerald Zandstra comments on the first 100 hours of the new legislative session in this Associated Baptist Press article by Robert Marus. Zandstra had previously examined one of the core planks in the House leadership agenda, raising the federal minimum wage, in a recent Acton Commentary, “Minimum Wage and Common Sense.” Continue Reading...