Here’s a list of articles that I have been reading lately:
Adoption Season for Evangelicals: A Biblical Mandate to Help Children, Especially Those in Foster Care
online.wsj.com
“Naomi Riley writes in The Wall Street Journal Houses of Worship column about growing numbers of evangelicals who are adopting children out of foster care in particular, and who see it as a Biblical mandate to give children their love and care.”
How Seniors Will Pay for ObamaCare
online.wsj.com
“John C. Goodman writes in The Wall Street Journal that seniors will bear the brunt of ObamaCare’s costs. in many areas, Medicare Advantage enrollees will lose about one-third of their health insurance benefits. The cuts will finance new subsidies for younger people.”
Memo to Hawking: There’s Still Room for God
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, the philosopher Roger Scruton writes that neither Kant nor Einstein thought physics explained everything.”
Why Business Bashing Has Flopped
online.wsj.com
“In the Wall Street Journal, Potomac Watch columnist Kimberley A. Strassel writes that former CEOs and Wall Street vets are holding up well against Democratic attacks.”
The Enraged vs. the Exhausted
online.wsj.com
“If you thought the 1994 election was historic, just wait till this year, writes Peggy Noonan.”
Getting Lehman Profoundly Wrong
www.american.com
“The bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers is widely misunderstood: We have inverted a morality tale about individual recklessness to become one about collective culpability through inaction.”
Still No Good News for ObamaCare
www.american.com
“ObamaCare addresses every healthcare problem, with every solution further centralizing power and decision making in Washington. The promises do not come cheap.”
Moderate Republicans and the Ratchet Effect
www.american.com
“While the Left claims to want bipartisanship and compromise, the incremental clicks of the ratchet only go in one direction: toward European-style social democracy.”
www.washingtonpost.com
“Fear-over-hope rides again, this time with Dems warning darkly about ‘the Republican Tea Party.’”
The Decivilizing Effects of Government
mises.org
“If there is anything that government is actually good at doing, it is destroying things. Strangely, love for this destruction has become a popular cause, revealed in the push for “sustainability” and the banning of technologies that improve our lives.”
Economics One: Senate Budget Committee Reopens Debate on Policy and the Crisis
johnbtaylorsblog.blogspot.com
Here is Stanford’s John Taylor’s assessment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009: “Rather than predictable, the policy has created uncertainty about the debt, growing federal spending, future tax rate increases, new regulations, and the exit from the unorthodox monetary policy. Rather than permanent, it has been temporary and thereby has not created a lasting economic recovery. And rather than pervasive, it has targeted certain sectors or groups such as automobiles, first time home buyers, large financial firms and not others. It is not surprising, therefore, that the policy response has left us with high unemployment and low growth. Given these facts, the best that one can say about
the policy response is that things could have been even worse, a claim that I disagree with and see no evidence to support.”
Life After the Home Buyer Tax Credit
economix.blogs.nytimes.com
“Aside from the rush to meet the deadline, the credit seems to have had very little impact on the housing market, an economist writes.”
Killing the Extremist Idea that Threatens America: Counter Fear with Freedom
www.thepublicdiscourse.com
“Wahhabi teachings have been present in American mosques for decades (they were exported here by our Saudi friends and allies). And yet, American Muslims have seemed relatively immune, certainly in comparison to their counterparts in Western Europe, who have been far more easily radicalized.”
The Empire strikes back
www.voxeu.org
“The role of financial institutions in the global crisis has led to a consensus that financial regulation must change. This column argues that the banking lobby, far from depleted, has struck back with a vengeance. It has managed to postpone the much needed regulation for a time when the need for it will be forgotten.”
Competition and stability in banking | vox – Research-based policy analysis and commentary from lead
www.voxeu.org
“With the recent wave of bank bailouts and mergers, competition in the sector has surely been affected. This column introduces a new Policy Insight arguing that a trade-off between regulation and competition in the banking sector, while complex, does exist. The optimal policy requires coordination between regulation and competition policy depending on the level of competition in the market.”
Did France cause the Great Depression? | vox – Research-based policy analysis and commentary from le
www.voxeu.org
“A large body of research has linked the gold standard to the severity of the Great Depression. This column argues that while economic historians have focused on the role of tightened US monetary policy, not enough attention has been given to the role of France, whose share of world gold reserves soared from 7% in 1926 to 27% in 1932. It suggests that France’s policies directly account for about half of the 30% deflation experienced in 1930 and 1931.”
That Sinking Feeling, Again
cfo.com
“The latest Duke/CFO survey shows CFOs’ optimism about the economy declining to recession levels.”
Corporate CEOs unhappy with Obama – MSN Money
moneycentral.msn.com
“Corporate leaders are slamming the president over taxes and the uncertain effects of his policies, and the executives’ siege mentality is holding back the economy.”
Obama, Warren and the Imperial Presidency
online.wsj.com
“In the Wall Street Journal, Yale Professor Bruce Ackerman writes that the Senate should vote on all senior appointments within 60 days. But the president should give it a chance to vote.”
Governments Hand Out Report Cards – The Numbers Guy
blogs.wsj.com
“Increasingly, government agencies are grading schools, vehicles and restaurants. Not everyone uses the same grading curve.”
Elizabeth III
online.wsj.com
“The Wall Street Journal writes that President Obama’s decision Friday to put Elizabeth Warren in charge of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau while avoiding Senate confirmation and, for that matter, any political supervision shows a lot of chutzpah.”
Rauf and Islam’s Encounter with America
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Fouad Ajami says a majority in the Arab world object to building the mosque near Ground Zero.”
GOP, Tea Party Unity Spells Defeat for Obama
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour writes that Republicans should be grateful tea partiers did not run as third-party candidates and split the antistatist vote.”
Republicans Gain Ground Among Independents
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Douglas E. Schoen and Heather Higgins report on a new poll of political independents. Independent voters are leaning Democratic but a majority still have an unfavorable view of the Republican Party.”
The GOP Will Not Back Down from the Fight Over Tax Cuts.
online.wsj.com
“In The Wall Street Journal, Republican House whip Eric Cantor says that roughly half of all small business income in America will face a higher rate if Democrats don’t continue all of the Bush tax cuts.”
Many Are the Errors
www.american.com
“Perhaps Paul Krugman believes that by labeling other economists as politically extreme, he can undercut their credibility. But his is badly weakened by the myriad errors he makes.”
Elizabeth III
online.wsj.com
“The Wall Street Journal writes that President Obama’s decision Friday to put Elizabeth Warren in charge of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau while avoiding Senate confirmation and, for that matter, any political supervision shows a lot of chutzpah.”