Many pro-life Catholics and evangelicals cheered when the Supreme Court ruled that small business employers don’t have to pay for abortifacients in health insurance plans. But could support for conscience rights lead down a slippery slope? “Some slopes are indeed slippery, and we do well to approach them with caution,” says theologian and philosopher Richard J. Mouw, “Which is why I take it seriously when I find myself challenged by a slippery slope argument about something that I advocate.” My...

With its authorization charter expiring at the end of September, the U.S. Export-Import Bank e under increased scrutiny from rabble-rousers and thehum-drum alike.An otherwise obscure fixture in the grand scheme of federal-government corporatism, Ex-Im finances and insures (i.e. subsidizes) foreign purchases of U.S. goods for those who wouldn’t otherwise accept the risk. So far, we’ve seen a variety of good arguments made against the bank. It privileges panies over others. It doesn’t meaningfully improve national exports, despite many claims to...

For years, the munity has pressured Iran to throw out its alleged nuclear weapons development program and has imposed crippling economic sanctions as a tool pliance. Two week-long talks have just resumed with the Islamic Republic, yet little is expected e out of them. Sanctions have only continued to mount in recent years, blocking both individuals and firms from engaging in mercial interactions with Iran, further solidifying its ongoing economic disaster. If Iran elects to agree to a settlement on...

Since 2000, New York City residents have observed the shut-down of 91 Catholic schools. These closures are typically the result of parents’ inability to pay tuition costs. This presents not only a problem to the would-be students, but to the public-at-large. The civic benefits provided through a Catholic education amount to a public good. Graduation rates for Catholic schools top those of public institutions, propelling more students to college, creating munity leaders. A robust civil society such as this is...

Let me start by saying you can fill entire football stadiums with things I don’t know. I don’t anything about fly-fishing. I have never figured out how to score tennis. I cannot identify (although my dad tried his hardest to teach me) birds by their songs. I could go on, but you get the idea. With that said, I’m often called upon by my job to write about things I don’t know much about. I have to do a lot...

CNN reports on why drug cartels are employing Fortune 500 practices to grow their businesses. Unfortunately, this means dealing in human trafficking. ...

When President Obama signed Executive Order 13653 about a year ago, he relabeled the great debate that was known first as global warming and then climate change to “resiliency.” He set up an Interagency Council on Climate Preparedness and Resilience with three co-chairs and representatives from at least 30 listed departments, plus appointees. He also created the Task Force on Climate Preparedness and Resilience, which will be made up of more than 2 dozen representatives across the nation including Grand...

I have recently offered several warnings against self-chosen sacrifice and self-willed religion, noting that, as Christians, ours is a service not of our own design or choosing, and when we orient our lives accordingly, it’s far more powerful because of it. Over at Catholic Exchange, Benjamin Mann offers a plement to such warnings, digging a bit deeper into the question of discernment, which is central to all of this. (HT) Writing specifically of our current attitudes about vocation, Mann observes...

“Despite the mounting cost and swelling debt,” notesLaura Prejeanin this week’s Acton Commentary, “America’s demand for education, particularly higher education, has not decreased, defying typical market expectations.” This is what economists call inelastic demand, when people continue to buy a good or service regardless of an increase in prices. Though the post-recession job market is still difficult, growing student debt ought not to lead us to forget the dignity — and responsibility — of each individual student. When prices for...

In a piece today for the NYT Magazine, economics reporter Binyamin Appelbaum examines David Brat’s fusion of faith and free-market economics. Appelbaum finds that mixture problematic, to say the least, but it’s hard to sort out whether it is the religious faith or the free-market sympathies that Appelbaum finds more troubling. In the opening paragraph, Appelbaum asserts that before Brat’s rise to prominence “there was plenty of skepticism about whether he merited the label of academic economist.” Who these skeptics...