What do liberal New York Times' contributors do when the percentage of GDP consumed by ever-increasing government spending grows too large to ignore? They replace GDP with a new measurement, of course. One which includes such non-quantifiable values as “ecosystem services” and “regulation of our climate on
Capitalism is in crisis, claims Richard Posner on the pages of the Wall Street Journal today. This crisis happened, he says, because “a capitalist economy, while immensely dynamic and productive, is not inherently stable.” Furthermore, he suggests that “the banking crash might not have occurred
Over the last few days Washington has been denouncing AIG for paying out retention bonuses to employees in its financial-products division—the same division responsible for much of the company’s recent losses. Relegated to the background is the fact the bonuses are a lawful contractual obligation. While
In the aftermath of the substantial Democratic victory in last November’s election, Republicans nationwide are reported to be doing a great deal of “soul searching." Indeed they should. After all, times are not looking good for the Republican Party. Former President Bush left office with
Today's economy faces a long list of problems. We hear daily about high gas prices and inflation, of a battered stock market, of a growing number of people unable to afford their mortgages, even of banks failing and huge companies facing bankruptcy. What explains this
Originally published in 1957, Atlas Shrugged, one of the most controversial novels in American fiction, recently celebrated its 50th anniversary. Annual sales have been growing for years and may grow even faster when the film adaptation is released. Atlas Shrugged is routinely included on “favorite books”
The Wall Street Journal recently ran an excellent editorial examining the bad business and corruption that arises "when you combine private profit with government power." Created by an act of Congress in 1938, Fannie Mae is a government sponsored enterprise (GSE) that owns or guarantees
An article in the latest issue of the Undercurrent examines the cultural vilification of Big Pharma. The piece argues that pharmaceutical companies deserve their profits because they invest a tremendous amount of time and energy researching and developing their products. In this post, we look
It is widely acknowledged that capitalist countries are the most successful at creating wealth and raising their citizens' overall standard of living. People who live in such countries enjoy access to bigger homes, better-trained doctors, more advanced technology, and higher paying jobs. By contrast, those
The World Health Organization has announced that it will encourage the use of DDT to fight malaria, a mosquito-borne disease that kills a million people a year. This announcement is a positive development, but it is tragic that malaria was allowed to persist unchecked for