When reflecting on our economic action, we tend to be overly focused on one side of the exchange: our own benefit, our own profit, our own “piece of the pie.” Our consumer-centered culture happily affirms such an emphasis, routinely promoting a zero-sum vision of the economy and self-centered attitudes about vocation, daily work, and economic exchange. Continue Reading...
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April 21, 2021
Explainer: the ‘global minimum tax’
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said she plans to impose a global minimum tax on U.S. corporations, which she will coordinate with global leaders to stop “a destructive, global race to the bottom.” Continue Reading...
April 21, 2021
The free market vs. the ‘Really Really Free Market’
Recently in Grand Rapids an old idea served as a catalyst for a new community event, the “Really Really Free Market.” This “market” was open to guests where they are free to give and take a range of goods provided by community members and organizations free of charge:
Organizer MC Camp said the community-building event feels too good to be true to many, but represents local generosity. Continue Reading...
April 20, 2021
Derek Chauvin guilty, but riots will hurt Minneapolis for generations
In Minneapolis, members of the clergy and Congress alike spent the weeks before Derek Chauvin’s conviction on all charges pouring gasoline on the fire of rioters’ rage. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., Continue Reading...
April 16, 2021
School shutdowns hurt struggling students, girls the worst: Study
In-person school closures due to COVID-19 lockdowns widened the gap between the rich and poor, a new study conducted by Oxford University has found. While young people of all demographic groups fell behind during the period of remote learning, those from the least educated homes were the hardest hit. Continue Reading...
April 16, 2021
Rugged entrepreneurs: How the ‘frontier experience’ shapes economic cultures
In our efforts to spur economic growth and retain American dynamism, we tend to be overly consumed by surface-level tweaks to our economic systems. Yet economists continue to discover that the distinguishing features of flourishing societies are more readily found at the levels of culture. Continue Reading...
April 10, 2021
Jimmy Lai ‘guilty,’ faces 5 years in prison for democratic assembly
In the latest twist in China’s suppression of Hong Kong’s rights, pro-democracy dissident Jimmy Lai has been convicted of taking part in an unauthorized, prayerful assembly and entered a guilty plea to taking part in a second such event. Continue Reading...
April 09, 2021
Lessons from a kibbutz on the problems of ‘bottom-up socialism’
When making the case against socialism, many of its critics focus first on the “practical” problems: the lack of incentives and market prices, the fatal conceits of central planners, the totalitarian temptations of ruling elites, etc. Continue Reading...
April 07, 2021
Sen. Raphael Warnock on Easter: Socialism is ‘more transcendent’ than Jesus’ resurrection
The most insightful critics of Marxism said that socialism’s greatest failure comes not from economics but anthropology and theology. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., put that reality on display on Easter Sunday, when he tweeted that collective social action “is more transcendent than the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Continue Reading...
March 31, 2021
Study reveals exactly how teachers unions lock children out of schools
Last Friday, Vice President Kamala Harris raised the plight of harried parents dealing with the life dislocation of children being locked out of in-person education in the public schools – and erupted in gales of inappropriate laughter. Continue Reading...