Now I have outlined in a previous post the fact that incentives are inescapable. It is not whether finite creatures will have them, but which incentives they will have. They will respond to various incentives according to their nature, according to the moral condition of their heart and head. You cannot lure a hungry horse …
Seventy Two of Them
You get more of what you subsidize, and you get less of what you penalize. This is not just a good idea, it’s the law. Different worldviews do not differ over this law — they differ over what is valued and which we therefore want “more of,” and over what may be justly reckoned as …
This Era of Obummer
I have mentioned more than once that Christians need to get up to speed on certain economic principles in this era of Obummer. If we do not, then we will discover, as we have been discovering, that he can commit ten economic fallacies at trillion dollar levels while we are all standing around his first …
Fireproof
Last night Nancy and I watched Fireproof and I wanted to tell you what I thought of it. I figured I needed to give it a look because it is a big evangelical thing and some folks in my congregation had asked me about it. I did not have high expectations going into it for …
Taking Age for Grace
“Besides, I have observed, that old men have blessed themselves with this mistake; namely, taking the decays of nature for a gracious conquest over corruptions, and so have been apt to beguile themselves” (John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress).
Black Markets
He who names, wins. And one of the things that statists, tyrants and bullies like to do, when their regulations have shut virtually every productive thing down, is call the small remaining enclaves of free transactions “black markets.” Black markets, aye. And of course, there is a certain kind of Christian who, when Congress (in …
Real Wealth Hasn’t Gone Anywhere
In these, the golden years of congressional farce, we need periodically to be reminded of a few basic economic realities. Here is just one of them. I will try to offer up others from time to time, but I keep getting distracted by the glorious theatrics all arouund us. It is hard to keep my …
A Perennial Question
The Republican Party is now living in a moon crater, and lo, many are bumfuzzled about what to do. At the recent conservative hoodah thingy, where Rush whipped up the true-bluers, the winner of the presidential straw poll was Mitt Romney, of all people. Now many of the good folks there might have abstained, on …
Got a Ninctobinkus Broke In It
Michael Spencer has written a thoughtful article on the coming evangelical collapse that has gotten some good circulation, and you can take a gander here. Only two quick comments. First, he is absolutely right that the evangelical movement is in the process of collapsing, but only in the sense that the banks that are all …
The Smell of Gasoline
We know that when she cast her eyes upon him, Joseph fled from Potiphar’s wife (Gen. 39:12). We know also that Paul told Timothy to flee youthful lusts (2 Tim. 2:22). In a world crammed full of enticements to lust, adopting this basic strategy is something that a lot more men need to learn how …