At the Catholic Herald, Samuel Gregg, research director for the Acton Institute, reviews Oliver Roy’s new book, Is Europe Christian? Is Europe Christian? A professor at Florence’s European University Institute, Roy seeks to outline what is happening in Europe vis-à-vis religion and what this means for Europe’s self-understanding. The first thing to note is that Roy does not have an agenda. His book is not concerned with bolstering or damaging any particular cause, whether it is liberal religion, Catholicism, Islam...

About a third of Americans today believe socialism is a form of “social kindness” by the government. But true socialism isn’t the social safety net, but rather when the government controls most prices, businesses, property, and other aspects of economic life. As this video by PolicyEd explains, the historical record of socialism has been a wreckage of stagnating economies and human rights violations. The truth of a hundred years of hard experience is that people do not prosper in socialist...

It’s not unusual to hear modern-day America (and more broadly, the modern pared with the late stages of the Roman Republic, which crumbled and gave way to totalitarian rule by caesars. But is parison valid? On August 8, the Acton Institute ed Lawrence Reed, president of the Foundation for Economic Education, to talk about that topic as part of the 2019 Acton Lecture Series. We’re pleased to share the video of the event with you below. ...

Luc Plamondon’s Le Temps des cathédrales, the opening number of the 1998 musical Notre-Dame de Paris, ends on a somber note somewhat at odds with the rest of the song: But it is doomed, the age of the cathedrals. The horde of barbarians Is at the city gates. Let them enter, these pagans and these vandals. The end of this world Is foretold for the year two thousand Is foretold for the year two thousand. I won’t pretend to know...

If you live or work in a city you likely pass them on the streets and sidewalks every day. Holding a sign reading “Homeless, please help” or an old coffee cup to collect spare change, the itinerant panhandlers and chronic homeless look you in the eye and ask for your money. What do you do in such situations? What should you do? Jim Antle recounts some of the experiences he’s had with panhandlers and explains why he gives them money:...

Representative Joaquin Castro, D-TX, opened a controversy this week when he tweeted a list of Republican donors who live in his El Paso congressional district. Politics aside, its most important es in revealing one of the greatest spiritualcrises currently gripping the West: political idolatry. On Monday, Rep. Castro tweeted: Sad to see so many San Antonians as 2019 maximum donors to Donald Trump — the owner of ⁦@BillMillerBarBQ⁩, owner of the ⁦@HistoricPearl, realtor Phyllis Browning, etc⁩. Their contributions are fueling...

This is the second in a series of essays on Peter Drucker’s early works. In The End of Economic Man, Peter Drucker was impressed (not pleased, but impressed) with the ability of fascists munists to gain the support of millions of people by offering an alternative to economic status within a society. In both Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia, a person might not have status within their profession, but he or she could have great status and possibly some real...

If you suffer from acid reflux, your doctor may prescribe Nexium. But at $9 a pill, the price is enough to give you a worse case of heartburn. That’s the lowest price in the U.S. If you live in Canada, though, you can get the drug for less than a $1 a pill. This price disparity leads many politicians to think the solution is obvious: Americans should just buy drugs from Canada or other countries where they are cheaper. Its...

Although the British monarchy lost most of its formal power, it still exercises a number of functions in society: symbol of unity and continuity, devoted servant, and good example. Prince Harry put this last activity in peril when he said he would have no more than two children. When Prince Harry mentioned having children in an interview with Jane Goodall in the ing issue of Vogue magazine, she jokingly scolded His Royal Highness, “Not too many!” “Two, maximum!” he replied....

Deutsche Bank, once one of the giants of European finance, is in deep financial trouble. Matt Egan of CNN Business helpfully summarizes the difficulties, Germany’s biggest lender israpidly slashing jobs,it’slosing a ton of moneyand the stock is trading near all-time lows. Many of Deutsche Bank’s problems are self-inflicted. It’s been badly mismanaged. Deutsche Bank (DB) never fully cleaned up its crisis-era balance sheet. Restructuring efforts fell short. And itscountless legal black eyeshaven’t helped matters. But Deutsche Bank’s struggles have also...