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Ecuador’s closed door policy
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa, a leftist U.S.-trained economist, recently imposed hundreds of restrictions and outright bans on imported goods in an effort to restrict the outflow of dollars from the national economy. But this desperate move will not work. Alarmed by slumping demand for oil -- his country’s largest export -- Correa’s protectionist measures are leading Ecuador back to the same failed policies of the past that have condemned so many Latin American countries to mediocrity and poverty.Bad news for Latin America
With Europe and America struggling to address the ongoing global economic crisis, the forces of economic nationalism are on the march.Those who immediately stand to lose the most from this wave of protectionism, however, are not Europeans and Americans, but Latin American nations.The abracadabra stimulus plan
The $787 billion economic stimulus President Obama signed into law this week misses the mark: It is targeted, demand-driven consumer spending is the engine that grows economies, not frivolous government spending for future “needs.”Race alarmists hijack Black History Month
Black History Month is like Christmas for race alarmists. It is the perfect time to unwrap the results of racial disparity studies to imply some sort of institutional racism.Choosing a prosperous future
School reform and school choice are not peripheral to economic recovery and future prosperity. They are essential.Hollywood's radical Che chic
I recently caught director Steven Soderbergh’s new four-hour epic on the life of Che Guevara at an art film theater in suburban Detroit. This woefully ill-conceived film, titled simply “Che,” will be released as two separate movies. The first will document Guevara’s role in the Cuban Revolution of 1959, and the second will recreate events leading up to his execution in Bolivia in 1967.The moral bankruptcy behind the bailouts
Do we take responsibility for the mess that we have created, or do we shirk our duty and pass the bill down the line?A Christian prescription for health-care reform
Social justice principles provide a foundation for a virtuous and economically sound improvement in medical resource allocationAre common sense studies necessary?
These studies demonstrate, as ancient wisdom has taught us, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."Obama and the moral imagination
In a brief stop in Wilmington on Jan. 17, on his triumphal train ride into Washington for the inaugural, President Barack Obama told a story. Actually, he told a number of stories, from the personal history of Vice President Joseph Biden and his triumph over hardship, to the brief stories about a truck driver, a machinist, a nurse's aide and a teacher he'd met on the campaign trail.The end of capitalism?
Who would have imagined 20 years ago -- when the Berlin Wall fell and we celebrated the death of socialism -- that capitalism would begin 2009 under heavy fire. The Cardinal of Westminster, Cormack Murphy O’Connor, reportedly went so far as to say that, as 1989 marked the end communism, 2008 was the year when “capitalism had died.”Cosmos and taxis
Those who say that they can fix this, that, or the other thing, in the market are blowing smoke. Even if they can influence things, this influence might not be for the better, because of the Law of Unintended Consequences.