One of the foundational principles of free market economics is the principle of personal responsibility. Individuals are responsible for their own actions.

In a court battle that has apparently been working itself out for 17 years, the Quebec High Court this week affirmed that a law establishing a simple majority as key in triggering secession talks with the Canadian government — known as Bill 99 — is sound:

Warning: What you are about to read is not about Russia, the 2016 election, or the latest person to depart from the White House in a storm of tweets. It’s the Beltway story hiding in plain sight with trillions of dollars in play and an economy to commandeer.

A Time article made Drudge this morning with the headline “The FBI Is in Crisis. It’s Worse Than You Think.”

On April 16, 2018 I participated in a debate with George Selgin, hosted by Gene Epstein’s Soho Forum. I was arguing in the affirmative for the resolution: “Fractional reserve banking poses a threat to the stability of market economies.” The full video is available here (and note that some of my remarks allude to the opening comedy from Dave Smith before the debate).

The FOMC announced that they will leave interest rates unchanged today, as was expected.

What was noteworthy about the Fed’s announcement was a changes made to language about inflation. 

A New York Times article praising Karl Marx for being “right” has been spreading on social media. This is an interesting article, and not for the reason the author intended.

The author notes that

“The key factor in Marx’s intellectual legacy in our present-day society is not “philosophy” but “critique,” or what he described in 1843 as “the ruthless criticism of all that exists.”

Within certain segments of the Christian community, primarily the Christian Reformed tradition imported from the Netherlands, there is considerable support for the creation of Christian labor unions as an alternative to the secular unions of today. Outside of the Christian Reformed circles, there is almost no discussion of this program within churches. One or two denominations, most notably the Seventh Day Adventists, discourage members from belonging to labor unions. On the whole, the trade union issue is not discussed by churches in any official capacity.