Propelled by an expansion in economic opportunity and the resounding cultural calls to “follow your passions,” today’s workers are more easily latching on to the notion of work as “calling,” or a pursuit of “deeper meaning.” Of course, in many ways, it’s a positive development. For Christians, in particular, we hold a view of work as service to neighbor and thus to God, one that proceeds from a more basic stewardship mandate. If this is where we locate “meaning” or...

e inequality has fallen in Canada, leading social scientists to concentrate on “wealth inequality.” A new report from Canada’s Fraser Institute finds that there’s a simple explanation why some segments of the population have accumulated more wealth than others. The answer to the age-old question is old age. Simply put, wealth es about because older people have had more time to save, invest, and acquire financial assets. The new report finds more evidence for the Life-Cycle Hypothesis. Young adults typically...

Yesterday the Trump administration released its tax-reform plan, which the White House is calling the “biggest individual and business tax cut in American history.” Here is what you should know about the plan: What are the goals of the tax reform plan: The stated goals are to: • Grow the economy and create millions of jobs • Simplify our burdensome tax code • Provide tax relief to American families—especially e families • Lower the business tax rate from one of...

Note: This is post #14 in a weekly series of explanatory posts on the officials and agencies included in the President’s Cabinet. See the series introductionhere. Cabinet position:Secretary of Agriculture Department:U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Current Secretary:Sonny Perdue Succession:The Agriculture Secretary is ninth in the presidential line of succession. Department Mission:“[To] provide leadership on food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, nutrition, and related issues based on public policy, the best available science, and effective management.” (Source) Department Budget:$151 billion for...

Longtime Acton Institute friend and supporter Kate O’Beirne passed away this past weekend. Below are Father Robert Sirico’s thoughts on this plished woman: I feel like I have always known Kate O’Beirne, so the passing of this woman of keen intellect, sharp wit and fearless rhetoric in confronting the nostrums of our day leaves me feeling very, very sad. It is painfully sad to think that the occasions of sharing National Review cruises or panel discussions with her or having...

Victor Claar speaks at Acton University On Saturday, Victor Claar, Professor of Economics at Henderson State University and Affiliate Scholar at the Acton Institute, joins host Julie Roys and Jenny Eaton Dyer of Hope Through Healing Hands on Moody Radio’sUp For Debateto discuss how Christians should respond to President Trump’s first budget proposal, especially as it relates to proposed cuts in US foreign aid. Dyer argues that Christians should be deeply concerned about the proposed cuts, while Claar argues that...

Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, has called for a second national referendum on independence from the UK. Fleeing Westminster is to her Scottish National Party (SNP) as leaving the EU was to UKIP: its passing passion and the party’s raison d’etre. However, should Scotland leave the UK, it could prove troublesome for a nation that is already struggling. Significant obstacles could leave its economy stagnant. Simply put, Scotland is in poor fiscal shape, and leaving the UK could remove...

“Irrespective of the political forces at play,” says Trey Dimsdale in this week’s Acton Commentary, “there is no arguing with the fact that such a large number of displaced immigrants presents a monumental humanitarian crisis in which survival es the initial, but not final, concern.” Prior to 2014, fewer than 300,000 refugees and migrants arrived in the European Union each year. Due to war and unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, that relatively slow trickle more than quadrupled...

Throughout history, societies have found peculiar ways to reinforce social hierarchies and class-based discrimination. mon way is to prohibit certain social classes from being able to purchase a good. These types of laws that regulate permitted consumption of particular goods and services are known as sumptuary laws. A prime example is the 16th-century French law that banned anyone but princes from wearing velvet. Modern America is mitted to the appearance of egalitarianism to make laws that directly ban poor people...

The President of the United States makes an annual salary of $400,000 a year for doing one of the toughest jobs in the world. While the pay may seem relatively pared to CEOs of major corporations, the real payoff for es once they exit the White House. President Obama, for example, has been out of office for exactly 99 days an has already earned at least $800,000—two years worth of a president’s salary—for giving one speech and one interview. Most...