2016-06-09 14:48
We have routinely pointed to Jeremiah 29 as an introductory primer for life in exile, prodding us toward faithful cultural witness and away from the typical temptations of fortification… Read More
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Acton Institute Powerblog Blog
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The PowerBlog is managed by the Acton Institute, a non-profit think tank dedicated to promoting a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles.
2016-06-09 11:39
Following the recent Rome conference “Freedom with Justice: Rerum Novarum and the New Things of Our Time”, held in celebration of 125th anniversary of Leo XIII’s 1891… Read More
2016-06-09 06:14
What Farmers Know About The Humane Treatment Of Animals
Adriane Heins, The Federalist
A new book on animal rights embraces interspecies identity politics, but it lacks the perspective of pe… Read More
2016-06-08 17:25
Christians have routinely accepted a range of false dichotomies when it comes to so-called “full-time ministry,” confining such work to the vocation of pastor or evangelist or mi… Read More
2016-06-08 13:44
Can we live the good life in the world of finance and banking? Acton’s research director, Samuel Gregg, explores that question in his latest book For God and Profit: How Banking and Fi… Read More
2016-06-08 13:36
Samuel Gregg, Director of Research at the Acton Institute and author of For God And Profit: How Banking and Finance Can Serve the Common Good, joins host Drew Mariani on Relevant Radio&rsquo&hell…Read More
2016-06-08 12:00
Should you follow your passion, wherever it may take you? Should you do only what you love…or learn to love what you do?
Mike Rowe, star of “Dirty Jobs” and the Acton Inst… Read More
2016-06-08 04:01
Ending the Corporate-Welfare Circus
Brent Gardner, Wall Street Journal
State gifts to the likes of Boeing, Ford, Google and Apple are unnecessary and unfair. Better to cut the tax rate and… Read More
2016-06-07 20:55
There’s been a lot of discussion leading up to the planned Pan-Orthodox Council in Crete this month. As is typical of councils in the history of the Church, so far it’s a mess, a… Read More
2016-06-07 17:08
As persecution intensifies around the world, and as the incremental fight for religious liberty only begins here in America, Christians have an obligation to better understand the role of re… Read More
2016-06-07 14:24
We welcome guest writer Sam Webb to the PowerBlog with this review of If You Can Keep It: The Forgotten Promise of American Liberty by Eric Metaxas (Viking, 2016). Webb is an attorney i… Read More
2016-06-07 12:37
Note: Please forgive the self-promotion, but since my new book — the NIV Lifehacks Bible — is being released today, I thought I’d provide an excerpt from Genesis.
Sold… Read More
2016-06-07 04:59
Proposed Payday Lending Rule Would Leave Borrowers Vulnerable
Nick Bourke, Pew Charitable Trusts
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proposed the first federal rules on payda… Read More
2016-06-06 17:55
Have you ever watched HBO’s Last Week Tonight? It’s a show where British comedian John Oliver reads a teleprompter explaining to Americans what is wrong with our country. It&rsqu&hell…Read More
2016-06-06 17:55
Have you ever watched HBO’s Last Week Tonight? It’s a show where British comedian John Oliver reads a teleprompter explaining to Americans what is wrong with our country. It&rsqu&hell…Read More
2016-06-06 16:14
The Atlantic published an article by Dylan Walsh about the growing fight in many states for the right to legal counsel. This article focuses on the state of Louisiana, and looks specifically… Read More
2016-06-06 04:01
New evidence that even not-for-profit Obamacare plans are failing
Scott Gottlieb, AEI Ideas
The not-for-profit insurers that are planned to form the backbone of the Obamacare exchanges, incl… Read More
2016-06-03 16:15
What just happened?
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the U.S. government’s consumer protection agency, has proposed new regulations that would affect payday lendi… Read More
2016-06-03 15:22
Series Note: Jobs are one of the most important aspects of a morally functioning economy. They help us serve the needs of our neighbors and lead to human flourishing both for the individual… Read More
2016-06-03 04:01
On What Econ 101 Actually Is (And Says)
Josh Hendrickson, The Everyday Economist
There has been much recent discussion within the econo-blogosphere about the usefulness (or lack thereof) of… Read More
2016-06-02 17:45
All Christian ethics can be summed up in one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). And within that command is the provision, as the Apostle Paul said, &ldquo&hell…Read More
2016-06-02 04:01
The Generous Poor
David Lapp, Family Studies
Poor givers donate a higher fraction of their income to others than middle-class and rich ones.
Is this the dawn of bake-me-a-cake libertariani… Read More
2016-06-01 20:12
This past weekend a child fell into pit with a gorilla. To protect the child, the animal had to be killed, a tragic but necessary outcome. The reaction to the news, though, has been unbalanc… Read More
2016-06-01 16:50
Federalism may be out of fashion (at least when it comes to state’s rights), but the effect of individual state policies on the lives of individual citizens remains as relevant as ever… Read More
2016-06-01 04:01
An interview with a Haitian peanut butter entrepreneur
Mark R. Weber, Poverty Inc
There was a time in the not-so-distant past when a U.S. food aid shipment of 500 metric tons of peanuts to f… Read More
2016-05-31 19:37
Jefferson’s rhymes just don’t impress Hamilton.
Despite both being deeply dedicated to protecting Americans from tyranny, Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson disagreed on a… Read More
2016-05-31 14:34
Acton Institute Director of Research Samuel Gregg joined host Al Kresta on Ave Maria Radio’s Kresta in the Afternoon last Thursday to discuss the ongoing crisis of populism in Lat… Read More
2016-05-31 06:37
“Men Without Chests” is the curious title of the first chapter of C.S. Lewis’ Abolition of Man. In the book, Lewis explains that the “The Chest” is one of the … Read More
2016-05-31 04:01
Puerto Rico launches tax crackdown on churches
Kaitlyn Landgraf, Crux
Religious institutions in the United States enjoy broad exemptions from federal taxes, but in Puerto Rico this month, of… Read More
2016-05-30 13:00
Today Americans will observe Memorial Day, a federal holiday for remembering the people who died while serving in the country’s armed forces. Here are five facts you should know a… Read More
2016-05-30 04:01
Why Memorial Day is different from Veterans Day
Valerie Strauss, Washington Post
Memorial Day is often confused with Veterans Day. Why? According to the Department of Veterans Affairs: Man… Read More
2016-05-27 17:41
While it could be argued that youth is wasted on the young, it is indisputable that commencement addresses are wasted on young graduates. Sitting in a stuffy auditorium waiting to receive a… Read More
2016-05-27 15:04
People line up to buy basic products at a Dia Dia supermarket in Caracas. Reuters/Jorge Silva
Venezuela, though filled with exotic beaches and many natural resources, has the most miserable… Read More
2016-05-27 04:01
MacArthur’s Thought Police
Lane Davis and Milo Yiannopoulos, Capital Research Center
A foundation helps Twitter and other social media enforce left-wing ideology.
We Know What’… Read More
2016-05-26 19:50
The U.N’s World Health Organization (WHO) recently released it’s latest version of World Health Statistics, a definitive source of information on the health of the world’s… Read More
2016-05-26 15:54
Since its inception in the 1990s, the payday lending industry has grown at an astonishing pace. Currently, there are about 22,000 payday lending locations — more than two for every Sta… Read More
2016-05-26 14:42
It’s all over but the chanting, which seemingly will continue unabated until religious shareholder activists bring energy companies to heel. What the Interfaith Center on Corporate Res… Read More
2016-05-26 13:51
For a limited time (May 26-28), Ismael Hernandez’ new book, Not Tragically Colored: Freedom, Personhood, and the Renewal of Black America will be free to download.
Despite a seemingly… Read More
2016-05-26 04:01
Exclusive: Lawmakers Move to Make It Harder for IRS to Seize Money From Innocent People
Melissa Quinn, The Daily Signal
On the heels of the House Judiciary Committee’s legislation ref… Read More
2016-05-25 19:49
With the rise in popularity of social democracy (a highly regulated market economy), Samuel Gregg has some words of warning against the system. “[T]he briefest of surveys of European s… Read More
2016-05-25 18:13
Our most recent issue of the Journal of Markets & Morality, vol. 19, no. 1, has now been published online and print issues are in the mail.
In addition to our regular slate of articles e… Read More
2016-05-20 20:08
Bishop Dominique Rey speaking at Acton’s April 20 conference in Rome.
Yesterday in the French section of the Vatican’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, an exclusive interv… Read More
2016-05-20 14:33
What’s going on in Venezuela?
Because of high inflation and unemployment, Venezuela has the most miserable economy in the world. The country currently has an inflation rate of 180 perc… Read More
2016-05-20 11:35
Extreme global poverty is rapidly declining, but 84% of Americans don’t realize it
James Pethokoukis, AEI Ideas
Free trade and global investment aren’t just economic priorities… Read More
2016-05-19 14:27
Today at The Stream, I examine the dissonance between the goals of Vermont senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign and his recommended means:
[W]hile Sanders’ goals may see… Read More
2016-05-19 14:03
Following up on yesterday’s post “Samuel Gregg on David Bentley Hart and Murderous Markets,” Rev. Gregory Jensen, author of the Acton book The Cure for Consumerism, observe… Read More
2016-05-19 08:30
In announcing the Obama administration’s new overtime rule (for more on this news, see this explainer), Vice President Joe Biden says companies will “face a choice” to eith… Read More
2016-05-19 08:13
What just happened?
On May 18, the Obama administration announced the publication of a new Department of Labor rule updating and expanding overtime regulations.
Why did the overtime rule cha… Read More
2016-05-19 04:01
Researchers Just Solved One of the Biggest Problems for World Hunger
Ria Misra, io9
Biologists from Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have come up with a new agricultural technique which they sa… Read More
2016-05-18 19:37
The Venezuelan economy is buckling under the weight of its severe socialist policies, and even as its president admits to a nationwide economic emergency, the government continues to affirm… Read More
2016-05-18 18:01
Your writer lives beyond the outskirts of Midland, Michigan, a small Midwestern town that is buoyed fortuitously by a Fortune 50 company. It’s a nifty place: Population around 50,000… Read More
2016-05-18 14:00
In every stage of my formal schooling – from high school to college to graduate school – I took courses in economics. Yet with all that education I struggled to understand a seem… Read More
2016-05-18 04:01
Bribery Taints $2 Trillion of Transactions Globally, IMF Says
Ian Talley, Wall Street Journal
The broader cost of graft, fraud and other forms of official corruption is likely much higher… Read More
2016-05-17 19:52
Is the dominant economic system we have today, the market economy or capitalism, compatible with Christianity? Orthodox Christian theologian David Bentley Hart in a June 2016 First Thin… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
There is a lot of talk about “closing the gap” and overcoming “income inequality.” Some of it is pure socialism: Redistribute! Redistribute! Others look for ways to c… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
During the 20th century, the option for the poor or the preferential option for the poor was articulated as one of the basic principles of Catholic social teaching. For example, in Octogesim… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
Cultural progressives often talk about something called “hegemonic masculinity.” By this progressives and feminists mean the standards we use to determine what an ideal man is in… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
In a fascinating essay in Mosaic, Charles Murray examines the spirit of innovation in America. He asks,As against pivotal moments in the story of human accomplishment, does today’s Ame… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
What does it mean to be hungry in America? And how do we solve the issue of domestic hunger?
To answer those questions, Congress created the bipartisan National Commission on Hunger, a… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
Patriarch Sako on Christian Persecution: ‘Is This Not a Crime Against Humanity?’Pravmir
“In one night, 120,000 Christians left their homes just with their clothes and have… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
A new Pew Research Center analysis of survey data shows that younger generations tend to have more-positive views than their elders on a number of institutions that play a significant role i… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
If you ask most people why they support raising the minimum wage they’ll says it’s because it helps the poor. But as David Neumark, a scholar at the Federal Reserve Bank of San F… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
How Congress Can Increase the Transparency of Environmental Regulations
Katie Tubb, The Daily Signal
The House is expected to begin considering the Sunshine for Regulatory Decrees and Settl… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
The good news is that the pinging sound your car’s engine was making for the last month has finally stopped. The bad news is that the sound stopped because the engine stopped working… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
For this writer, kissing last year goodbye was less a buss on the cheek than it was a kick in Old Man 2015’s behind. The previous year was chock-full of banalities and trivialities reg… Read More
2006-06-07 11:16
What is the worst problem facing America? According to a recent Gallup poll, most Americans agree with former President Reagan, who said government is not a the solution, government is the p… Read More
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