When es to the morality of wealth and economics, bad arguments are so pervasive that no one needs to teach people how to make them. Yet sometimes it’s useful to examine logical errors in order to avoid making them in the future. One example occurred in today’s issue of The Observer, the student-run newspaper of the University of Notre Dame. The author, Mary Szromba, clearly felt passionate about her argument that “you cannot call yourself a Christian if you are...

In this week’s Acton Commentary I discuss the raging controversy between the National Basketball Association, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, and China. Morey’s since deleted tweet expressing solidarity for the protest movement in Hong Kong led to criticism from the the Chinese regime, Chinese firms which sponsor the NBA, and NBA team owners. This led the NBA to distance itself from Morey and his views: The NBA is now reaping the whirlwind of its failure to heed this warning...

Joseph Sunde recently posted a substantive introduction to and elaboration of a paper I co-authored with Victor Claar, “Creativity, innovation, and the historicity of entrepreneurship,” in the Journal of Entrepreneurship & Public Policy. The idea for this paper arose out of reflection on a previous article I wrote with Victor, “The Soul of the Entrepeneur: A Christian Anthropology of Creativity, Innovation, and Liberty,” in the Journal of Ethics & Entrepreneurship. In that earlier piece, we discussed the “creativity” and “innovation,”...

Human dignity, the defining value of the West, grows out of the Judeo-Christian belief that the human race was created in the image of God. However, a British court has officially pronounced this truth, revealed in the opening chapter of the Bible, patible with human dignity.” The case involved Dr. David Mackereth, who worked as a disability assessor for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). During an early evaluation meeting, a manager asked the 56-year-old Christian whether he would...

It’s no secret that most of Latin America has struggled for a long time with the idea, habits, and practices of rule of law. When one consults rankings such as the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom (which measures for rule of law), it’s a depressing picture, despite notable exceptions like Chile. There are many reasons for this. Among others, they include a deep long-standing distrust of formal institutions which pervades many Latin American societies as well as the fact...

In 2017, a poll from NPR and Ipsos found that one in every three people in the U.S. has been affected by the opioid crisis in one way or another. One third of Americans know someone who has overdosed or know someone who is battling addiction — and the crisis hasn’t slowed down. On this episode, AnneMarie Schieber, award winning television news anchor and reporter based in Grand Rapids, MI, dives into the issue and explores how the private sector...

John Henry Newman (1801-1890) was canonized as a Roman Catholic saint on Sunday. The former leader of the Anglican Church’s Oxford Movement – who became a cardinal in 1879, 34 years after his conversion – became one of the most influential Christian writers of his day. Prince Charles attended the canonization at the Vatican, saying, “Whatever our own beliefs, and no matter what our own tradition may be, we can only be grateful to Newman for the gifts, rooted in...

In assessing the health of our economy, many have been quick to proclaim the worst, whether pointing to flatlining wages or a supposedly static quality of life. Economic progress has halted, they say; thus, something must be terribly amiss with modern-day capitalism. “If you were born in 1973, the median wage went from $17 to $19 an hour in your lifetime,” wrote Sen. Bernie Sanders in a recent tweet. “…The top 1%’s annual e tripled: $480K to $1.45 million. That’s...

Today at Spectator USA I write about Joe Biden’s forgotten status as a fount of youthful genius in “Joe Biden: victim of the cult of youth.” Biden won his first Senate election at the 29, the same age as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and spent the next two decades being extolled for his age and sophistication – before spending the last decade ridiculed for his age and mediocrity. Biden’s fate is a cautionary tale about a culture that exalts youth and passion...

In July of this year, Robert Doar officially took the reins as President of the American Enterprise Institute, succeeding friend of Acton Arthur C. Brooks in that role. Yesterday, we were pleased to e Doar to deliver an address on poverty in America as part of the 2019 Acton Lecture Series. Doar reviewed the history of welfare reform during and after the Clinton Administration, discussed what works and what doesn’t when trying to help those in poverty to rise toward...