If you want to see what happens when a government fails its basic responsibilities of maintaining law and order, read this fine and saddening piece by Detroit Free Press columnist John Carlisle, “The last days of Detroit’s Chaldean Town.”In it you’ll encounterthe fraying of the town’s social architecture built around faith, family, work, and government. At a conference a few weeks ago I was involved in a discussion about the ‘worst’ jobs we had ever had. Mine was cleaning the...

No, it’s not a regular flood. It’s a flood of immigrants – some legal, some not. Europe is getting swamped; what’s the damage going to be? The American Interest reports that the Italian Coast Guard rescued almost 2,000 people over the weekend, bringing the number of immigrants to Italy this year alone to 90,000 (170,000 last year). The financial strain for Italy and other EU nations is ing more and more apparent. Manyof the migrants keep making their own wayto...

It’s a rare person who doesn’t like to travel. It’s exciting and fun to see new things, whether it’s a natural phenomenon or a man-made wonder. Some like to travel for the food: local specialties and exotic fare. Travel is good: it broadens our horizons, gives us new ways of seeing our world and often leads us to new friendships. But can travel be more than that? Can it do more good than simply what we gain from it? Yes,...

The religious shareholder activists over at As You Sow, Clean Yield Asset Management, and Trillium Asset Management are all abuzz over mitment made by General Mills to adhere to the White House Pollinator Health Task Force strategy on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides (hereafter referred to as neonics). AYS submitted a proxy shareholder resolution to the Minneapolis-based cereal giant this past spring, seeking: Shareholders request that, within six months of the 2015 annual meeting, the Board publish a report, at...

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. What they don’t often mention is that, like a parade route, both sides of that road are crowded with well-wishers cheering you on. In a country where we give children “participation trophies” for merely showing up and “doing their best,” it’s not surprising that we applaud business leaders simply for “trying to make a difference.” As long as their intentions are good, why should we criticism their efforts? I...

Aristotle has often been described as the philosopher mon sense. Similarly, Milton Friedman, who would have been 103 years old today, could be described as the economist mon sense. Friedman’s writings are often so clear and straightforward (unusual for modern economists) that when reading him you often find yourself wondering how anyone could disagree. Even the uber-liberal Paul Krugman, admits that Friedman was “One of the most important economic thinkers of all time…” In honor of his birthday, here are...

Many people believe that market economies create a dog-eat-dog environment full of human conflict and struggle. But as Prof. Aeon Skoble explains, petition in markets encourages people to cooperate with one another for mutual benefit. (Via: Cafe Hayek) ...

We’ve seen lots mentary on the lopsided outrage over the inhumane death of Cecil the Lion — how the incidenthas inspired far higher levels of fervor and indignation than the brutal systemic barbarism of the #PPSellsBabyParts controversy orthe tragically unjust murder of Samuel Dubose. At first, I was inclined to shrug offthis claim, thinking, “You can feel pointed grief about one while still feeling empathyabout the other.” Or, “the facts of the Cecil case are perhaps clearer to more people.”...

There are more slaves today than were seized from Africa in four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In fact, there are more slaves in the world today than at any other point in human history, with anestimated 21 million in bondageacross the globe. Modern-day slavery, also referred to as “trafficking in persons,” or “human trafficking,” describes the act of recruiting, harboring, transporting, providing, or obtaining a person pelled labor mercial sex acts through the use of force, fraud, or...

Your writer has been telling readers for some time now that so-called “religious” shareholder activism is more political than spiritual. I’ve also pointed out time and again that the priests, nuns, clergy, and religious affiliated with such shareholder groups as As You Sow are opposed to corporate donations to political activities only when it suits them. This last point was clarified recently by events in Arizona. First Affirmative Investments and Calvert Investments joined AYS in an attempt to force Arizona...