The Jewish feast of Sukkot lasts seven (or eight) days – in 2020, from sundown on Friday, October 2, to sundown on Friday, October 9. Here are the facts you need to know. When is Sukkot? Sukkot – also known as the Feast of Tabernacles, Feast of Booths, Feast of Ingathering, or simply “The Feast” – always begins on the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar (Tishrei). Thus, it begins five days after Yom Kippur, the...

The first presidential debate provided an accurate and disheartening summary of our current political climate – three men shouting over each other for 90 minutes. Opposite sides of the political spectrum cannot seem to agree on basic truths or mon ground. The majority of Trump and Biden voters say that they have few or no close friends who voted for the opposite party. A thriving society requires that we are able to debate important questions and find solutions together. What...

One of the first things that will strike readers of Pope Francis’s new social encyclical Fratelli Tutti is its sheer length. At about 43,000 words in English (including footnotes), that’s more than the Book of Genesis (32,046) and three times the size of the Gospel of John (15,635). Despite its length, there’s little in this text that we have not heard Francis say before in one form or another. But whether the subject is capital punishment or his theme of...

Recently, Nicholas Kristof’s published an op-ed about the Social Progress Index, a multi-year study of the quality of life in 163 countries. Kristof writes, “New data suggest that the United States is one of just a few countries worldwide that is slipping backward.” While at first reading this sounds like bad news, I think the data (and underlying science) is a bit plicated than they might appear. The SPI seeks to offer “a new way to define the success of...

The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed many victims, from the millions who have contracted the virus directly to many others who continue to endure its social and economic disruptions. The suffering has been particularly acute for the children who continue to be confined at home, whether struggling to adapt to remote-learning regimens or remaining mysteriously absent altogether. For e and minority families, in particular, the road is even more difficult. As Jonathan Chait recently put it, “The social damage will not...

The “new normal” of the COVID-19 pandemic has settled in and, with it, a new host of challenges. Businesses have adapted to the changing needs and desires of individuals in creative ways, sometimes radically changing their products, structures, and strategies. Through the dynamic process of creative destruction, firms that do not adapt to changing customer needs will close their doors panies with real solutions will arise. Businesses in a variety of spheres have demonstrated that they are able to solve...

Amid rapid globalization, Americans have faced new pressures when es to economic change, leading to abundant prosperity, as well as significant pain and disruption munities. In search of a villain, populists and progressives routinely blame the expansion of free trade and rise of global conglomerates, arguing that entrenched and moneyed interests are now allowed to run rampant from country to country with petition or accountability. In search of a solution, those same critics tend to relish in nostalgia, either reminiscing...

Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee spent days prodding Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett over the hypothetical possibility that the government may one day outlaw birth control. One exchange in particular encapsulated politicians’ inability to grasp the proper role of government, the law, and economic incentives. Judge Barrett followed the example set by Ruth Bader Ginsburg during her 1993 hearings, when she declined to state her position on any matter that could e before her on the bench. Barrett...

One would expect that the decades-long exodus of low- and e residents fleeing California would be cause for reflection and self-critical introspection on behalf of its effective one-party government. Skyrocketing costs of living and a cratering middle class – caused by years of anti-business regulation, powerful public sector labor union monopolies, and one of the highest tax burdens in the nation – should be ample reason for the Golden State’s progressive leadership to reassess its approach to governance. But don’t...

Who wins in the COVID-19 economy? In some cases, outright fraud allows businesses to prosper. In other cases, political connections enable businesses to collect revenue from the federal government. Crony capitalism is defined by the Mercatus Center as “an economic system in which the profitability of firms in a market economy depends on political connections.” Large-scale bailouts and interventions have increased cronyism during the pandemic. The more government funds that are available for individuals and businesses to capture, the larger...