Religion & Liberty Online Archives

Economics

October 07, 2013

A Failure to Save

This first appeared in my newsletter, Economic Prospect, in late 2008. Looking back after five years I still like it. The American failure to save is matched by our insistence on spending to have it all. Continue Reading...
October 01, 2013

The Spoils Society

“They see nothing wrong in the rule that to the victors belong the spoils of the enemy,” said William L. Marcy in 1832. Macy was explaining why victorious political parties claim they deserve government jobs, but today his claim could be applied to a broader swath of American society. Continue Reading...
September 30, 2013

Obamacare: The Economics Just Don’t Add Up

Tomorrow is the big day for Obamacare, despite the fact that even the Obama Administration admits it’s “glitchy.” The president is cheerleading the program, reminding us that he’s been right all along: Reforming health care will help the economy over the long-term,” by curing health-care costs and free individuals to start small companies, he said. Continue Reading...
September 27, 2013

Surplus = Happiness, Deficit = Misery

Joe Carter points to a Lifehacker article that sums up two basic equations that lead to the creation of wealth (with what I consider to be a clarifying correction applied in the first formula): Income spending = surplus Surplus x time = wealth Likewise, Wilhelm Röpke, in his A Humane Economy, points to two equations arising from classical literature that connect surplus with happiness and deficit to misery (the Micawber Principle). Continue Reading...
September 27, 2013

White House: We Don’t Negotiate With (GOP) Terrorists

In what presumably was a misguided attempt to have Aaron Sorkin pen their newest round of armor-piercing media talking points, the White House sent adviser Dan Pfeiffer to the set of CNN’s The Lead with Jake Tapper armed to the teeth with explosive political metaphors meant to describe the GOP’s position on debt-ceiling negotiations. Continue Reading...