Rev. Sirico will be on Fox News’ “Your World with Neil Cavuto” at 4:20 EST to discuss the school shooting in Newport, Connecticut.

According to AEI author Mark Perry, there is another education-related “bubble” to worry about: the textbook bubble. He writes that this textbook bubble “continues to inflate at rates that make the U.S. housing bubble seem relatively inconsequential by comparison.” He continues, “The cost of college textbooks has been rising at almost twice the rate of general CPI inflation for at least the last thirty years.” Given that many students use loan money to purchase books as well as pay for classes, we might think of this as one of the many sources pumping air into the student debt bubble. But what choice do students (or professors, for that matter) have than to surrender to the textbook “cartel,” as Perry characterizes it? This bubble popping, while a bad thing for the textbook bubble-boys committed to the old, cartel-style model, could be a small relief and contribute to slowing the growth rate of the student debt bubble. Read more on Textbook Bubble-Boys…

In this week’s Acton Commentary, “Spiritual Competition and the Zero-Sum Game,” I examine a standard complaint against the market economy: that it engenders what Walter Rauschenbusch called “the law of tooth and nail,” a competitive ethos that ends only when the opponent is defeated. In the piece, I trace some of the vociferousness of such claims to the idea of economic reality as a fixed or static pie:

Read more on Acton Commentary: Spiritual Competition and the Zero-Sum Game…

Conference: “Free Markets with Solidarity and Sustainability: Facing the Challenge”

Ethical human agency is only possible with freedom. Freely turning to the good, which the Creator has given us, is the highest sign of human dignity. The proper exercise of freedom requires “specific conditions of an economic, social, juridic, political and cultural order”. (Compendium of the Social Doctrine of the Church, n. 137) The free market is one of these institutions. The free market is the most efficient instrument to guarantee the distribution of goods and services in society. Beyond efficiency, however, markets need sound ethical and cultural foundations. Only free markets can be ethical markets, and only ethical markets can function in freedom. One of these primary and universally recognized ethical principles is charity.

Call for Papers: “The State of the Consecrated Life in Contemporary Canada”

Read more on ResearchLinks – 07.13.12…

Most Rev. Joseph F. Naumann, D.D., Archbishop of Kansas City, Kansas

On Catholic World Report, Carl E. Olson interviews Rev. Joseph F. Naumann, the Archbishop of Kansas City, Kansas, about the HHS mandate, the Ryan budget, and what the Supreme Court ruling means for the religious freedom fight.

Read more on ‘We didn’t pick the time, nor did we pick the fight’…

Acton President Rev. Robert A. Sirico continues to promote Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy on radio and television across the country. Yesterday, Father Robert spent a full broadcast hour with Al Kresta on Ave Maria Radio’s Kresta in the Afternoon:

Read more on Updated: Sirico Promotes ‘Defending the Free Market’ on Cavuto, Kresta, Hewitt…

If you haven’t ordered your copy of Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy, what are you waiting for? For those who still need some convincing, Rev. Robert Sirico continues to make the media rounds, and we continue to bring you the highlights.

Read more on Defending the Free Market: More Media Coverage…