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 and munities. Conversely, not having a job can adversely affect spiritual and psychological well-being of individuals and families. Because unemployment is a spiritual problem, Christians in America need to understand and be aware of the monthly data on employment. Each month highlight the latest numbers we need...

Last June, Washington, D.C. residents voted to pass Initiative 77, a ballot measure that raised the minimum wage for all restaurant workers, including those making tips. Driven by Restaurant Opportunities Centers United (ROCUnited), the policy was meant to ensure that “that no one has to experience the financial es with being forced to live off tips.” Yet many of the very workers who the law sought to rescue or protectdidn’t want it in the first place, and fought vociferously to...

In a recent article for The American Spectator, Rev. Ben Johnson, senior editor at the Acton Institute, addresses some of the problems that arise for the Church as a result of Amazon’s recent wage raises. According to Johnson, “Amazon recently announced that it is raising the wage of its lowest-paid U.S. workers to $15 an hour, and above the proposed ‘real living wage’ in the UK.” es in addition to Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos’ “plans to lobby Congress to raise...

Note: This is post #96 in a weekly video series on basic economics. The stock market is prone to certain anomalies. There’s the Monday Effect (where stocks fall more on Mondays), the January Effect (which says that stocks surge higher in that month), and the Momentum Effect (where past stock performance predicts future performance, at least a bit). Can’t a savvy investor take advantage of these anomalies to “beat” the market? Probably not. “Despite its flaws, the market is still...

With the Trump administration’s announcement of a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada, some free traders are breathing a sigh of relief, as others investigate and discern the more detailed pros and cons and technical implications across workers, products, and industries. “The tentative pact, which Congress must approve, spares auto makers from costly tariffs on cars imported from Canada and Mexico,” write Chester Dawson and Adrienne Roberts in the Wall Street Journal,” a major relief for an industry that...

It was a curious sight to see a Wall Street Journal op-ed call for social engineering to change the way families choose to raise newborn babies. It was more curious yet to see right-leaning Catholics endorse the notion “in the name of conservative family values.” This is especially true, as Europe shows the manifest failures and harmful effects of their chosen policy. Joanne Lipman opened the debate with her op-ed titled, “Want Equality? Make New Dads Stay Home.” She highlighted...

This article is written by Moris Polanco, originally published by Instituto Fe y Libertad and republished with permission. The elderly cardinal Zen Ze-kiun, bishop emeritus of Hong Kong, said in his blog on February 5, 2018, “The brothers and sisters of mainland China are not afraid of being reduced to poverty, of being put into prison, of shedding their blood. Their greatest suffering is to see themselves betrayed by ‘family.’” He’s right. For a moment let’s put ourselves in the...

The beloved singer known as “The French Sinatra” died on Monday at the age of 94. “Charles Aznavour deserves to be remembered, not just a legendary artist, but as a great fighter for historical truth and freedom,” and property rights, writes Marcin Rzegocki at the Acton Institute’s Religion & Liberty Transatlantic website. Marcin writes that Aznavour remembered Christians persecuted during the Armenian genocide, as well as modern victims of ISIS: All of Europe has been grief-stricken over the death of...

There is likely no public secular holiday more controversial than Columbus Day. Since the observance first began to be celebrated in the nineteenth century it has been opposed by a diverse rage of groups, from the Ku Klux Klan to the American Indian Movement to the National Council of Churches. The Italian navigator tends to provoke strong reactions throughout the Western Hemisphere, and every year we renew our debates about whether he was a bold and brave explorer or a...

This is the second in a series celebrating the work of Russell Kirk in honor of his 100th birthday this October. Read more from the serieshere. The Acton Institute was fortunate to have Russell Kirk serve in an advisory capacity from the founding of the institute up until the time of his death. Throughout his career, Kirk was a champion of virtues, whichhe defined as “the qualities of full humanity: strength, courage, capacity, worth, manliness, moral excellence,” particularly qualities of...