Thomas Friedman is worried about American democracy. He writes that by not giving President Obama everything we wants in a funding resolution, the House of Representatives is showing “contempt for the democratic process” and is thumbing its nose at our…
In 2009, Roderick Scott, a black man, was put on trial for killing a 17-year-old, unarmed white teenager named Christopher Cervini. Scott found Cervini and two other youths breaking into a car. Scott pulled out a gun and told the…
Just about every article I’ve read on the sequester says that the $85 billion in mandated cuts from discretionary spending in the federal government’s fiscal year 2013 budget will decrease GDP by about 0.6%. But is this true? As is…
Real median household income in the United States has fallen more than 8 percent since Barack Obama was first sworn in as president, and has even fallen during the course of the Obama “recovery.” That, of course, is the fault…
To the shock of many, U.S. GDP shrank in the fourth quarter of 2012 by 0.1%. Immediately, however, economists and commentators flooded the media with reassuring explanations. Super Storm Sandy reduced economic activity in the areas it ravaged; worries about…
Is the United States in inexorable economic decline, destined to be overshadowed by an emerging Chinese economic superpower? This seems to be a popular view among commentators of various political persuasions. I am happy to report, however, that America’s economic…
How Rome Fell: Death of a Superpower By Adrian Goldsworthy (Yale University Press, 560 pages, $32.50) Adrian Goldsworthy is a great name for a classicist, and, fortunately, Adrian Goldsworthy is a classicist of the first order. He earned his doctorate…
A few months ago Imprimis, the monthly publication put out by Hillsdale College, printed an edited version of an address given at Hillsdale by Mark Steyn. Steyn’s piece, entitled “Live Free or Die,” is remarkable, as is typical for his…
The Ascent of Money: A Financial History of the World By Niall Ferguson (The Penguin Press, 432 pages, $29.95) With the way the world has been turned upside down lately with financial calamity, Niall Ferguson and his publishers at the Penguin…
The level of government provided goodies is always the sign of a carrying, enlightened country, right? That’s the view of a lot of people around the world, including many, if not most, American Democrats. And it is certainly the view…