Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) unveiled a plan last week for universal child care. Despite her good intentions, her plan would petition, raise prices, and reduce options for parents in need. Warren begins by sharing her own experience as a working mother unable to find child care. Exasperated, she called her “Aunt Bee” and “between tears” told her, “I couldn’t make it work and had to quit my job.” Fortunately for Warren, her aunt came to the rescue...

Today, mon to hear many people declaring their desires or conveniences to be rights. Bernie Sanders’ Medicare for All plan, or even having one’s college tuition bills footed,for example, are routinely touted as “basic human rights.” As the stipulations of what exactly defines a right seem to grow increasingly pliable in public discourse, some are left wondering; is the present confusion over the definition of a right the product of philosophies that came out of the founding era? Philosophies of...

Note: This is post #112 in a weekly video series on basic economics. During the “Roaring Twenties” the economy was booming—growing at nearly three percent per year—while inflation stayed near zero percent. But in 1929 the stock market crashed ushered in the Great Depression. What happened to cause the rapid change? In this video by Marginal Revolution University, economist Alex Tabarrok examine the causes behind the Great Depression with the help of the aggregate demand-aggregate supply model. By the end...

When I first read Walden I was in the woods. In the Kitchel Lindquist Dunes Preserve to be precise which is also where I first read The Idiot and, amusingly, Dune. I spent a lot of time walking around alone in the woods in my childhood and adolescence so it was only natural that one day I would stumble upon the great classic of wandering around alone in the woods. When I returned from the woods the day I read...

After video footage surfaced of Senator Bernie Sanders extolling the Soviet Union’s cultural and youth programs, the former prime minister of Sweden threw cold water on the idea that socialism builds sound societies. The tweet by Carl Bildt is the latest intervention by Nordic nations to divert the United States from adopting Marxist policies. As the 77-year-old Vermont senator announced his presidential ambitions, a string of videos emerged showing Sanders supporting Castro’s Cuba, Ortega’s Nicaragua, and the existence of breadlines....

This past weekend in Forbes, Alejandro Chafuen, Acton’s Managing Director, International, offered some perspectives on the current situation in Venezuela. Basing his analysis on traditional principles of justice, he outlines some important points to keep in mind in any project of transitioning from socialism to a more just political and economic model. Liberation should ing soon for Venezuela. After liberation e celebration. Almost immediately e justice. Punishing the culprits will be difficult, but it will be easier than making restitution...

Ninety years ago Benito Mussolini, the founder of Italian fascism, stood at the pinnacle of power and prestige. In February 1929, he struck an unprecedented agreement with the Catholic Church on its role in the Italian society, the Lateran Treaty. Yet Mussolini, always remembered as bloodthirsty dictator associated with Hitler, diplomatically settled a dispute of more than 50 years between the Kingdom of Italy and Holy See that dated to the 19th century era of Italian unification. To the horror...

Business Insider reported last week that Google failed to disclose the existence of a microphone in their home security system, NestSecure. This came as a surprise to many Nest customers plained that they were not informed that the security system even had a microphone. Google apologized, saying it was an error. A Google spokesman told Business Insider: “The on-device microphone was never intended to be a secret and should have been listed in the tech specs. That was an error...

If you’re a young person in America, you’ve undoubtedly been bombarded by calls to“follow your passion,” “pursue your dreams,” or “do what you love and love what you do.” Such slogans have led many toward a renewed appreciation of the meaning that can be found in mundane economic activity—and in many ways, rightly so. But in and by themselves, do these sugary mantras truly represent the path to vocational clarity, economic abundance, personal fulfillment, and human flourishing? In an increasingly...

Is it morally permissible to have children? That question – which should have gone out with “What’s your sign?” or “Who shot J.R.?” in the 1980s – e roaring back in a United States in which the birthrate continually hits new lows. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez asked the question in a video she posted on social media this weekend. AOC fears that children will degrade the environment through increasing our collective carbon footprint, and that a world ravaged by climate change would...