Birthrates across the globe are going down even as life expectancy increases. The former trend is marked particularly in developed nations. There are lots of reasons for people to have kids or not have kids. Some of these reasons are economic. As I’ve argued previously, “One of mon concerns that drives prospective parents to put off having children is economic, specifically that they won’t have the financial resources to support a growing family. This is a worry that’s been around...

Seattle has now mandated an increase in minimum wage. The economic ramifications are being felt, especially throughout the restaurant industry. Several Seattle restaurants have done away with tipping, but are adding a mandatory service charge on a customer’s bill. Restaurants often operate on thin margins, so higher wages quickly impact profitability. As opposed to tips, a service charge es part of the restaurant’s overall revenue. The restaurateurs say the service ponent will be used exclusively for employee wages, benefits and...

There was some water cooler talk here in the office the other day as the video of the Baltimore mom went viral. That’s the mother who recognized her son as one of the rioters, and slapped him about the head with some degree of ferocity, then put him in the car and took him home. The mother has since been identified as Toya Graham, who happened upon her son, brick in hand, when she realized school had let out early...

When divorced from God’s plan, work is merely labor, a rudderless everyday job. Today May 1 is Labor Day in Italy and in virtually all of Europe. Alas, it is hardly festive. There is not much to celebrate here in terms of job growth and wealth creation. Economic figures across this Old and Aging Continent are like proverbial diamonds in the rough: there is much potential for glory, but with a lot of precision cutting and polishing still to do....

Recently, Rev. Robert Sirico spoke in Chicago. He was asked a question regarding e inequality. His answer was that he didn’t care how much money Bill Gates had, nor did it matter to him the difference between Gates’ e and say, Warren Buffet’s. Nor did he care about the difference between how much wealth Gates has and his own personal e. No, Sirico said, what he cared about were the poor: those people so disconnected from the global marketplace that...

This is a post about that time that President Obama quoted Luther (Martin, the reformer, not the anger translator). Okay, maybe the President didn’t quote the monk with a mallet, but suspend your disbelief for a few more paragraphs at least. Remember the kerfuffle when President Obama uttered those infamous words, “You didn’t build that”? It was, granted, a long time ago (3 years, in fact). But as I argued at the time, there was some truth in the basic...

Christians make up a tiny minority in the nation of Pakistan, where the state religion is Islam. In many places, Pakistani Christians are persecuted and enslaved. Nowhere is this more evident in the kilns and brick-making industry. According to Christians In Pakistan, entire families are ensnared in “debt bondage” in the kilns, with children as young as five working. The normal routine of a ‘pathera’ or family working at a brick kiln is rolling balls of clay, placing them in...

For decades The Episcopal Church (ECUSA) has faced declining membership (in 1966, the ECUSA had 3,647,297 members; by 2013, the membership was 1,866,758, a decline of 49 percent.) But even when people are leaving the pews someone still has to pay for those pews, as well as the other overhead costs e with running a large organization. Not surprising, the denomination has sought ways to bring in additional revenue. Currently, the ECUSA has two primary sources of e. According to...

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has issued its 2015 annual report on religious liberty around the world. In their report, the USCIRF documents religious freedom abuses and violations in 33 countries and makes county-specific policy mendations for U.S. policy. One country worthy of particular attentions is Afghanistan. For the past nine years USCIRF has designated Afghanistan as a country of particular concern, a country where the violations engaged in or tolerated by the governmentare serious and are...

François Michelin (1926-2015), former leader of the the world’s second-largest tire maker, died early today at the age of 88. Michelin was actively involved in the French pany, Group Michelin, until 2002, driving unprecedented growth for pany. His “passion for innovation” and “his promising attention to quality” no doubt caused the pany to thrive. Automotive News reported a statement from current Group Michelin CEO Jean-Dominique Senard: “On behalf of the Group’s employees, I would like to pay special tribute to...