Philosopher and theologian, Michael Novak recently delivered a speech at the Catholic University of America on the vocation of business and Forbes published the transcript. Novak argues that “capitalism is lifting the world out of poverty.” As many Asian and African economies shift from socialist to capitalist, they are seeing enormous economic growth, and small businesses are the force behind these economic gains: Even in developed nations, most jobs are found in small business. In Italy, over 80 percent of...

By now even many people who didn’t watch the Oscars have seen or heard Matthew McConaughey’s acceptance speech for Best Actor. The Texas actor thanked God for all the opportunities in his life, thanked God some more (cut to Academy members squirming in their seats), and then he told a story about when he was a teenager and was asked who his hero was. The answer he gave at the time: his hero was Matthew McConaughey in ten years. Then...

In 2005, religious shareholder activists of various stripes jumped aboard the bandwagon filing resolutions against Chevron for an environmental disaster it allegedly caused. Chevron asserted its innocence, but the activist shareholders put the squeeze on: Chevron’s Ecuador environmental disaster, considered by experts to be the worst oil-related ecological problem on the planet and currently the subject of a high-stakes law suit estimated to cost pany upwards of $6 billion, will be high on the agenda of pany’s 2006 annual shareholder...

The Supreme Courts is hearing a case that involves a First Amendment challenge to an Ohio law that makes it a crime to “disseminate a false statement concerning a candidate, either knowing the same to be false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false.” During the 2010 elections, the Susan B. Anthony List, a pro-life advocacy group, published ads in Ohio claiming that then-Rep. Steven Driehaus supported taxpayer-funded abortions (because he had voted for the Affordable Care Act)....

In an excerpt from the splendidPovertyCure series, Michael Fairbanks offers a helpful bit on why our attitudes petition matter for economic development: I can predict the future of a developing nation better than any IMF team of economists by asking one question: “Do you believe petition?” When I go to Venezuela and I say, “do you believe petition?,” they say petition means the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” They say petition is the unnecessary duplication of effort...

Steven W. Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, has written a book that is brutally truthful and brutally hard to read. It should be: it’s about the most brutal of government policies, China’s one-child policy. Written in the first person, Mosher writes as “Chi An,” a young woman he first met in 1980. While he has changed certain facts and names in order to protect the woman he gives voice to, the story of her life in China is...

Last year I wrote a series of blog posts about what Christians should know about Bitcoin. In response, one astute reader pointed out an odd juxtaposition: my conclusion seemed to imply that Christians should avoid Bitcoin “at all cost” and yet the Acton Institute accepts donations in Bitcoin. “I really want to know the rationale behind this,” he said. Well, the rationale is easy enough to explain: Not everyone at Acton agrees with me. Like other nerds who have an...

Justin Bieber is no different than many 20-year-olds in the US and Canada. He is naturally searching for identity, meaning, and purpose — and searching for munity with whom to pursue those things. This is a normal process of transitioning from the teenage years into adulthood. Bieber, like many 20-year-olds, has shown a lack of judgement at times that has landed him not only in the news but also in jail. Many of us remember our own antics in those...

As Egypt moves through the process of establishing a new, stable government after not just one but two revolutions, the security of the Coptic Orthodox munity in Egyptian society has at times been in doubt. Dr. Magdy El-Sanady, an Egyptian Coptic Christian, has worked for over 30 years in health planning, management munity development, and in non-governmental organization institutional strengthening in Egypt. Dr. El-Sanady holds postgraduate degrees in pediatrics and public health from Egypt and an M.B.A. and Ph.D. from...

The massive federal student loan program is creating a gargantuan higher education bubble and unsustainable levels of student loan debt, but at least all that borrowed money is going primarily to educate people, right? Apparently not. Yahoo Finance reports on yet another way that the nanny state is creating moral hazard and impoverishing the culture: A number of factors are behind the growth in student debt. The soft jobs recovery and the emphasis on education have driven people to attain...