The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission determined March 22 that ExxonMobil Corporation must for the first time ever allow a vote to proceed on a proxy shareholder resolution submitted by members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. ExxonMobil had attempted to block the resolution with the SEC on the grounds it was vaguely written, pany’s current business practices already aligned with the ICCR resolution and current U.S. regulations. Because any plans for climate-change mitigation in the near future inherently...

What’s the biggest problem with payday loans? The obvious answer would seem to be “high interest rates.” But interest rates are often tied to credit risk, and so charging high interest rates is not always wrong. Another answer may be that the loans appear to be targeted toward minorities. But research shows that the industry appeals to those with financial problems regardless of race or ethnicity. No, the problem with payday loans —what makes them a debt trap — is...

Acton Research Director Samuel Gregg reviews a new book at the Library of Law and Liberty that demolishes the canard that religious figure were “somehow opposed holus bolus to Enlightenment ideas is one that has been steadily discredited over the last 50 years.” In his review of The Catholic Enlightenment: The Forgotten History of a Global Movement by by Ulrich L. Lehner, Gregg points out that the new book shows how “the Enlightenment argument for freedom was embraced by many...

“ISIS mitting genocide — the “crime of crimes” — against Christians and other religious groups in Syria, Iraq and Libya,” says a joint report by the Knights of Columbus and In Defense of Christians. “It is time for the United States to join the rest of the world by naming it and by taking action against it as required by law.” The Knights of Columbus became involved in supporting Christians and other religious minorities in this Middle East because of...

What are the Panama Papers? The Panama Papers refers to the 11 million leaked files from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonsecathat shows how some of the richest, most powerful people on the globe use tax havens to hide their wealth. According to the BBC, this is the biggest document leak in history — dwarfing the size of those released by the Wikileaks organization —and includes details on 214,000 entities, panies, trusts and foundations. The documents covered day-to-day business at...

The sixth season finale ofThe Walking Dead aired last night and sets up an anxious off-season of waiting and deliberation about what will happen next. I may have some more to say about the larger dynamics of the show as the survivors in this most recent season have really transitioned from concerns about mere survival to actually munity with longer-term plans. But for now I want to focus briefly on the path Carol has walked over the last few episodes...

Last week, Hillary Clinton became the first major presidential candidate to ever mend paying all disabled workers the minimum wage. While its seems like a reasonable proposal, I explained why the effect would be to put workers with severe disabilities, such as those with Down syndrome, out of work. Clinton isn’t the only one pushing such measures, though. As Anne Schieber of the Mackinac Center notes, government regulators at the Department of Labor are also considering mandating “integrated work settings,”...

A lack of reason may lead to violence and an inability to respond to crises, but that didn’t stop the West from abandoning it. In a new article for the Catholic World Report, Acton’s Samuel Gregg reflects on Pope Benedict XVI and his 2006 address near Regensburg, Germany. “Ten years later,” Gregg laments, the West is “still in denial.” On September 12, 2006 Benedict made global news with his lecture–his words enraged, gained support, and were analyzed countless times. The...

The Republican Party is fracturing on the topic of trade. Alas, in the same corners where free and open exchange was once embraced as a propeller for economic growth and dynamism, protectionism is starting to stick. In response, free traders are pushing the typical arguments about growth, innovation, and prosperity. Others, such as myself, are noting that the trend has less to do with economic illiteracy than it does with a protectionism of the heart — a self-seeking ethos that...

This past Friday, I blogged about the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent decision to allow a vaguely worded proxy resolution proceed to a vote. The resolution was submitted by, among others, members of the religious shareholder activist group the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. The ICCR resolution calls upon ExxonMobil Corporation to take action intended to mitigate climate change. ExxonMobil requested the SEC deny the ICCR resolution on the grounds it was based mainly on nonspecific greenhouse-gas reduction targets...