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Note: This is post #88 in a weekly video series on basic economics. Borrowing and saving plays an essential role in our economy, and banks often serve as their primary link. But how exactly do banks operate? In this video by Marginal Revolution University, Alex Tabarrok explains how banks serve as financial intermediaries, how they turn savings into loans, and how they make loans as productive as possible. (If you find the pace of the videos too slow, I’d mend...

Unemployment as economic-spiritual indicator — July 2018 report

Series Note: Jobs are one of the most important aspects of a morally functioning economy. They help us serve the needs of our neighbors and lead to human flourishing both for the individual and munities. Conversely, not having a job can adversely affect spiritual and psychological well-being of individuals and families. Because unemployment is a spiritual problem, Christians in America need to understand and be aware of the monthly data on employment. Each month highlight the latest numbers we need...

Why farm subsidies hurt small farmers

Have you ever listened to a classical symphony and thought the music needed more distortion? Or have you ever read a newspaper and believed it would have been improved if it had more disinformation? Most of us don’t appreciate distortion in our music or disinformation in our news. Yet far too many do favor distortion and disinformation when es to pricing. Prices signal information in markets. A “market” is a summary term for a variety of voluntary exchange for modities...

Welfare states cultivate the sin of sloth

Alfred Tennyson wrote, “In the Spring a young man’s fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.” But each summer“in Mediterranean countries, the youth seemto be haunted by the same pressing question: ‘Will i get a proper job?'”writes Mihail Neamtu at Acton’sReligion & Liberty Transatlantic website. Neamtu, a public intellectual from Romania, writes in his penetrating essay: In Greece, unemployment stands at 42.9 percent; in Spain, unemployment is 35 percent; in Italy, it is more than 30 percent. Compared to the...

Socialism dehumanizes the poor…and socialists: Socialist leader

Socialism claims that its collectivist economic plans “put people first.” But even the philosophy behind socialism dehumanizes everyone involved – according to one of the foremost socialist leaders. Marxism is rooted in the concept of dialectical materialism, the pseudo-scientific assertion that the endless churning of class conflict between the rich (bourgeoisie) and the poor (proletariat) eventually produces a worker’s paradise. But to see “poverty as a force in a historic [dialectic], is not only the dehumanization of the poor, it...

Radio Free Acton: Luke Burgis tackles myths about entrepreneurship; Upstream on government funded art

On this episode of Radio Free Acton, Victoria Antram, summer intern at Acton, speaks with Luke Burgis, a businessman who was named a top 25 under 25 entrepreneur by Business Week, about the myths and misconceptions about entrepreneurship. Then, on the Upstream segment, Bruce Edward Walker talks to J. Bradley Studemeyer about government funded art in anticipation of the ing book, Art from the Swamp. Check out these additional resources on this week’s podcast topics: Learn more about Luke Burgis...

Welfare states cultivate the sin of sloth

“As thousands of African migrants land on the golden beaches of Spain, old Europe shows the signs of fatigue,” says MihailNeamtu in this week’s Acton Commentary. “In August, most of its politicians are on holiday. Every summer, for nearly six weeks, Brussels officials cannot be bothered to ponder the future of the European Union.” In the meantime, in Mediterranean countries, the youth seem to be haunted by the same pressing question: “Will I get a proper job?” In Greece, unemployment...

RELIGION & LIBERTY

After Protests Turn Violent, Kenyan Churches Stand with Gen Z

　　Among the many people William Ruto thanked after winning Kenyas 2022 presidential election were religious leaders, significant numbers of whom had enthusiastically campaigned for the career politician. 　　I am sure their prayers will not be in vain, Ruto said, considered by many to be the East African countrys first evangelical president. 　　Kenyan church leaders have more to pray about after...

Feb 20, 2026

Eclipsed by Grace and Mercy

　　For the enemy has pursued my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me sit in darkness like those long dead. Therefore my spirit faints within me; my heart within me is appalled. Psalm 143:3-4 　　A few years ago, I wrote a letter to 18-year-old me and I felt in my heart to share part...

Feb 20, 2026

A Loper Bright Future for Statutory Interpretation

　　The Supreme Court’s 1984 opinion in Chevron U.S.A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc. was not supposed to be revolutionary. Justice John Paul Stevens, the opinion’s author, initially thought the case to involve an application of “pretty-well settled law” to a “very careful study of the facts.” But over time, as portions of the Chevron opinion were analyzed apart...

Feb 20, 2026

A Prayer to Prepare Our Hearts to Celebrate Our Nations 4th of July

　　A Prayer to Prepare Our Hearts to Celebrate Our Nation’s 4th of July 　　By Lynette Kittle 　　“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” - John 8:36 　　America’s 4th of July holiday is all about celebrating freedom. Although many citizens may be viewing it as a reason for an extended holiday, family gatherings, and setting off...

Feb 20, 2026

Libertarianism Updated

　　As I describe in my new memoir, A Life for Liberty: The Making of an American Originalist, I have always been on the right. In 1964, at the age of 12, I debated on behalf of Barry Goldwater in front of my entire grade school student body. In my 12-year-old heart, I knew he was right. 　　But, in my junior...

Feb 20, 2026

250 Years of Jeffersonian Constitutionalism

　　Thomas Jefferson’s Summary View of the Rights of British America, composed sometime in the latter half of this month, 250 years ago, ought to be regarded as among the most fundamental primary sources informing our understanding of the spirit and history of the American constitutional tradition, but it is rarely considered in this way. Rather, it has served mainly as...

Feb 20, 2026

The Declaration’s Timely Teaching on Immigration

　　The liberalism of the Declaration of Independence – classical liberalism with Anglo-American features that complicate and enrich it – is a rare bird. It is also very much under attack today, from the left and the right. The ascendant left wants a new anti-liberal regime established on the basis of its view of History, race, gender, and “DemocracyTM,” while prominent...

Feb 20, 2026

Michael Oakeshott’s Life of Reflection

　　In 1863, John Henry Newman wrote: “From first to last, education … has been my line.” The same can be said about Michael Oakeshott, and about his foremost American protégé, Timothy Fuller. Fuller arrived at Colorado College as a young man in 1965, and since then he has taught political philosophy to generations of students. Many of those students, in...

Feb 20, 2026

A Tale of Two Commanders

　　Why do nations go to war? Why do young men fight and die over the causes that normally occupy the minds of aged statesmen? These are age-old questions, but I didn’t think about them in my youth. I served for two years in the Peace Corps (in Uzbekistan), but gave no thought at all to a military career. Now that...

Feb 20, 2026

From Judges to Justices: Keeping Executive Power in Check Is an Ancient Problem

　　In the Bible, ancient Israel wrestled with how to restrain corrupt rulers. A modern-day version of that political question went before the US Supreme Court, which ruled Monday on when a president can be prosecuted for criminal behavior. 　　The case revolved around former president Donald Trumps attempts to interfere with the 2020 election results. Ultimately, the Court decided that presidents...

Feb 20, 2026