Economics
Sanders Appeals to Conservatives
Bernie Sanders is a socialist. Yup, I said it. Apparently Karl Marx thought that Socialism leads to Communism (as is the USSR – Union of Soviet Socialist Republic) or Naziism, which was headed the the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. But the opposite seems to be true. Both Naziism and the Soviet Union have died, although certainly […]
Hobby Lobby Fights Obamacare
Back in 2008 when President Obama was elected, I asked my sister how she felt about it. She said she didn’t vote for him, but it wasn’t the end of the world as some predicted. She lives in Colorado, a “purple” state as she calls it. It is one of the few states that seems […]
Taxes, Spending, and Corn
I was late to church because I was finishing up on filing my taxes. This is the time of year when we get to look and see how much we’re sending to the government, and while many of us enjoy the tax refund, we neglect to see how much we’re sending to the government. Tea […]
Abortion and Crime
I originally posted this on Wheat and Tares in August 2011, but wanted to add it here since I just talked about a Freakonomics podcast on Baptism for the Dead. A friend of mine introduced me to the Freakonomics podcast that you can download from iTunes. Two Steve’s (Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt) put together […]
Insurance or Medical Savings Account?
It is open enrollment time for many companies. We get to choose what insurance benefits we want to participate in. For the first time, my wife’s employer is offering the option of a Medical Health Savings Account. Is this a good option for us, or for you? Well, I didn’t know much, and I don’t claim […]
Was Henry Ford a Socialist?
On January 5, 1914, Henry Ford announced that he was paying workers on his famously productive Model T assembly line in Highland Park, Michigan, $5 per eight-hour day. Â That was almost three times what the typical factory employee earned at the time. Â In light of this audacious move, some lauded Ford as a friend of […]
Squeezing the Middle Class
Last week, I discussed a bit about Marriner Eccles, prominently featured in Robert Riech’s new book Aftershock. While most people believe the problem with the Great Recession and Great Depression was the fault of Americans relying on too much debt, Reich believes the reason Americans went into dept is the symptom of a much larger […]
Economics of Polygamy, Divorce, and Happiness (Daynes part 4)
Ok, I’ve talked about this book quite a bit–I’ll probably take a break for a while after this post. (If you’re tired of the topic, perhaps you’d like to see what I wrote over at Mormon Matters: Utah Happiest State in Nation.) One of the stereotypes of polygamy has been that Mormon men were just […]