As news of the Panama Papers scandal continues to break, Acton Institute Director of Research Samuel Gregg has been making the media rounds to help people understand what appears to have happened and why. Sam made two appearances on radio yesterday, first on Relevant Radio’sThe Drew Mariani Show, speaking with guest host Ed Morrissey of ; later in the afternoon he spoke with Al Kresta on Ave Maria Radio’sKresta in the Afternoon. The audio of both interviews is posted below....

The Republican Party is fracturing on the topic of trade. Alas, in the same corners where free and open exchange was once embraced as a propeller for economic growth and dynamism, protectionism is starting to stick. In response, free traders are pushing the typical arguments about growth, innovation, and prosperity. Others, such as myself, are noting that the trend has less to do with economic illiteracy than it does with a protectionism of the heart — a self-seeking ethos that...

This year will deliver major superhero ensemble films that provide alternative views of the limitations and proper exercise of power. Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice premiered this spring to uneven reviews, and Captain America: Civil War is due out later this summer. As Charlie Jane Anders has observed, these films offer a noteworthy message to our contemporary situation. “These films are all about a man with superpowers and colorful clothes, and the question of whether he (and his friends,...

This past Friday, I blogged about the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent decision to allow a vaguely worded proxy resolution proceed to a vote. The resolution was submitted by, among others, members of the religious shareholder activist group the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. The ICCR resolution calls upon ExxonMobil Corporation to take action intended to mitigate climate change. ExxonMobil requested the SEC deny the ICCR resolution on the grounds it was based mainly on nonspecific greenhouse-gas reduction targets...

What are the Panama Papers? The Panama Papers refers to the 11 million leaked files from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonsecathat shows how some of the richest, most powerful people on the globe use tax havens to hide their wealth. According to the BBC, this is the biggest document leak in history — dwarfing the size of those released by the Wikileaks organization —and includes details on 214,000 entities, panies, trusts and foundations. The documents covered day-to-day business at...

No one questions the sincerity of Pope Francis when es to his demonstrated concern for the poor and downtrodden of the world. Many, however, have questioned whether the solutions that he has suggested will actually alleviate the poverty that afflicts too many around the world, or whether those solutions will actually exacerbate the problems of the poor. Samuel Gregg, Acton’s Director of Research, addressed this topic in his March 30th Acton Lecture Series address in which he lays out some...

What’s the biggest problem with payday loans? The obvious answer would seem to be “high interest rates.” But interest rates are often tied to credit risk, and so charging high interest rates is not always wrong. Another answer may be that the loans appear to be targeted toward minorities. But research shows that the industry appeals to those with financial problems regardless of race or ethnicity. No, the problem with payday loans —what makes them a debt trap — is...

Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg reviews a new book at the Library of Law and Liberty that demolishes the canard that religious figure were “somehow opposed holus bolus to Enlightenment ideas is one that has been steadily discredited over the last 50 years.” In his review of The Catholic Enlightenment: The Forgotten History of a Global Movement by by Ulrich L. Lehner, Gregg points out that the new book shows how “the Enlightenment argument for freedom was embraced by many...

A lack of reason may lead to violence and an inability to respond to crises, but that didn’t stop the West from abandoning it. In a new article for the Catholic World Report, Acton’s Samuel Gregg reflects on Pope Benedict XVI and his 2006 address near Regensburg, Germany. “Ten years later,” Gregg laments, the West is “still in denial.” On September 12, 2006 Benedict made global news with his lecture–his words enraged, gained support, and were analyzed countless times. The...

Last week, Hillary Clinton became the first major presidential candidate to ever mend paying all disabled workers the minimum wage. While its seems like a reasonable proposal, I explained why the effect would be to put workers with severe disabilities, such as those with Down syndrome, out of work. Clinton isn’t the only one pushing such measures, though. As Anne Schieber of the Mackinac Center notes, government regulators at the Department of Labor are also considering mandating “integrated work settings,”...