Picking up on themes we’ve touched on here, here, and here, last week NYT columnist David Brooks weighed in on the culture of debt in the United States. “The social norms and institutions that encouraged frugality and spending what you earn have been undermined,” he writes. “The institutions that encourage debt and living for the moment have been strengthened.” Brooks has his own proposed solutions for this cultural shift. Elsewhere Richard Posner and Gary Becker debate whether there has been...

Shankar Vedantam on the problems of “social” governmental intervention, including increased moral hazard (HT: Arts and Letters Daily): While it seems mon sense to pump money into an economy that is pulling the bedcovers over its head, the problem with most social interventions is that they target not robots and machines but human beings — who regularly respond to interventions in contrarian, paradoxical and unpredictable ways. Too true. So much for homo economicus. I might also add that the unpredictability,...

We’re wrapping up the final day of classes here at Acton University 2008. Check out some of the initial reactions to Day 3 proceedings below. Fr. Z at WDTPRS,“Acton University: Day 3.”Tex at Mere Orthodoxy,“Uneasy Bedfellows?: Natural Law and Protestant Theology.” To be updated as more final day posts and overall reflections roll in. ...

The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) hosted 183 governments at a three day summit in Rome, from June 3-5. World leaders tried to find possible solutions in order to tackle the recent food crisis which has already caused hunger and civil unrest in several developing countries. Jacques Diouf Director General of FAO asked for $30 billion a year in extra financing to the United Nations needed to address world hunger threatening 862 million people. Despite international efforts and estimates,...

The problem is not unique to Canada, nor entirely absent from the US, but our neighbors to the north seem to be doing their best at the moment to lead the so-called free world in denying what Americans call the First Amendment rights (speech, religion, etc.). In fact, the Canadian government’s quashing of the expression of opinion—executed through its “human mission”—is downright frightening. It is trite to describe this kind of thing as Orwellian, but that’s what it is. In...

Update – Tuesday, 5:00 PM: The full menu of lecture recordings is now available. We’ll likely post some video of the evening speakers as well sometime this week. Enjoy! — It’s hard to believe, but AU 2008 e to a close. From a staff perspective, it’s a strange feeling after a week of nonstop running (and in my case, sweating) to realize that, by golly, I don’t have any lectures to record tomorrow! A hearty thanks goes out to all...

Acton University 2008 is in full gear as we proceed with the second full day of classes. Our staff is working hard at capturing audio from the conference, which you can keep abreast of here. And our attendees are continuing their excellent work in mitments to attend each session and bring critically thoughtful engagement with the topics. Highlights of the blogging from Day 2 include: Hunter Baker, blogging at the American Spectator blog and Southern Appeal,“The Next Big Center-Right Think...

Here’s some insight into J. K. Rowling’s perspective on tyranny, in the words of Albus Dumbledore, speaking of the arch-villain of the series: Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many vicitms, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back! Voldemort is no different! Always he was on the lookout...

The WSJ reports, to the relief of the White House and Capitol Hill, no doubt: “U.S. retail sales increased in May, rising double the rate expected in a sign consumers were using stimulus payments and that the economy might not be as weak as feared.” Whether or not this is really evidence of the “success” of the government stimulus package, you can be sure that it will be proclaimed as such from on high over the next days and weeks....

We had a very active week on the blogosphere during this year’s Acton University. The daily round-ups are linked below, as well as updated links to summary and reflective posts written after the pletion. Many of our bloggers have been inspired to produce a series of reactions in the days and weeks following this year’s events. Troy Camplin at Interdisciplinary World,“Acton U. — A Brief Summary (and Table of Future Contents).” Troy concludes, “Even if the sessions weren’t as great...