“You will sooner or later pay for your pack of lies,” read one threatening message last week to the author of The Trouble with Islam: A Wake-up Call for Honesty and Change. In that book, just released in Canada, Irshad Manji, 34, explores such usually...
POLITICS
Pentagon Jihadis
Islamists who despise America have penetrated U.S. prisons, law enforcement, and armed forces.
What is Poor?
The Census Bureau recently released its annual report on poverty in the United States. It was widely reported that the number of people officially defined as poor rose by 1.7 million, raising the poverty rate from 11.7 percent of the population to 12.1 percent. None...
Watch Out for the Pander Bears
I hate to say it, but it’s looking like my technician friend Fred Goodman was right when he issued a sell signal a couple of weeks ago. Yes, earnings are surging and the economy-wide recovery is accelerating, with the technology sector leading the way. But in...
Silly Letters: Myths and Realities on the Rise of Blacks Out of Poverty
Most of the letters and e-mails I receive are a pleasure to read and my only regret is that I cannot answer even one-tenth of them. However, there are certain e-mails and letters that repeat the same fallacies again and again. Let me try to answer one of those...
Is It Permissible?
We all can agree that having money to pay our mortgage or rent on time is very important. Since some people are spendthrifts and don’t manage their money well, what about a congressional mandate whereby mortgage or rent money is deducted from our paychecks each...
P.C. Religious Police vs. America’s Military
There’s something terribly wrong when an American soldier overseas can’t receive Scriptures in the mail, but a Muslim chaplain can preach freely among al Qaeda and Taliban enemy combatants at Guantanamo Bay. This is a story of two soldiers, one Christian,...
Higher Productivity Creates Opportunity
The slow pace of job creation is clearly the most serious political and economic problem in the country today. Although Democrats and the press continue to focus on Iraq, President Bush and congressional Republicans know that the sluggish economy is a far greater...
Random Thoughts for September 2003
Random thoughts on the passing scene: If you have a right to respect, that means other people don’t have a right to their own opinions. My computer operating system is so out of date that people don’t even write viruses for it any more. If the debate among...
The Mounting Threat of Homegrown Terrorism
As we combat Islamic terrorism abroad, we must recognize the deadly threat posed by a homegrown source–one that since 1997 has been responsible for over 600 attacks and has inflicted more than $100 million in property damage. The attacks have become bolder,...
School Performances
Many of the pronouncements coming from those who run our public schools range from fallacies to frauds. The new book “No Excuses” by Abigail and Stephan Thernstrom exposes a number of these self-serving lies. You may have heard how hard it is to find...
Elia Kazan Should Be Honored Because of His Testimony
Almost without exception, the obituaries of Elia Kazan–while praising his enormous talent as a director–are critical of his testimony against Hollywood communists. According to some, Kazan, a former member of the Communist Party, should never be forgiven...
Does Capitalism need Civilizing?
QUESTION: “Do you think socialism was able to ‘civilize’ or ‘tame’ capitalism by 1914? Or do you think that capitalism did not need to be ‘civilized’ or ‘tamed’.” ANSWER: First we must define our terms....
Improving the Quality of Education
My son learned fractions and decimals when he was in the first grade. He learned them from me as I drove him to school on the Los Angeles freeways, where he became curious about the signs that said things like “Wilshire Boulevard 2 1/4 miles.” At the...
In Defense of Supply-Side Economics
In a recent column, I defended supply-side economics from an attack by Princeton economist Paul Krugman in the New York Times Magazine. One of the rare civil criticisms I got came from my friends at TAPPED, the web log of the liberal American Prospect magazine. Their...
Howard Dean’s Proposal for Economic Regress
Last month, the WSJ had an opinion piece written by Howard Dean, the Democrat presidential contender. One paragraph exhibited the fundamental fallacy of bad economics: the belief that consumption, not production, is the key to wealth. “As president, my economic...
The Right to Deal
Suppose you want to deal with me but I don’t want to deal with you. Should I be forced to? You might ask, “What are you talking about?” Here’s a short list. Suppose you want to marry me, but I don’t want to marry you. Or, suppose you want...
No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning
Everyone knows that black students in general do not perform as well in school as white students, much less Asian American students. But few realize how painfully large the gap is. Even fewer know that there are particular black schools, even in low-income...
California’s Recall Election: Dangerous Democracy at Work
Most people realize that there is something deeply wrong in California’s current political fiasco. Critics of the recall are right, this election is wrong, but not for the reasons they have given. Far from being anti-democratic, the recall is democracy in...
The U.S. Must Stop Undermining Israel’s War on Terrorism
President Bush acknowledges that Yasser Arafat has “failed as a leader” and recognizes that his promises to fight terrorism are nothing but empty lies. So why does his administration oppose Arafat’s elimination? If Bin Laden or Saddam Hussein were...
Bring in the Legal Goons: First Tobacco, Now Fat
In Seattle, there is a popular restaurant called the 5 Spot. Its signature dish is a huge, calorie-laden dessert called The Bulge. Access to it, however, is restricted to those patrons willing to sign a waiver agreeing not to sue the restaurant for making them fat....
Budget Deficits Mean It’s Time to Cut Government Spending
The Congressional Budget Office’s latest budget projections should serve as a wake-up call to fiscal conservatives in Congress and the White House. Unless they restrain spending, they’ll see budget deficits jeopardize the tax-relief agenda and imperil much...
US Postal Service: A Government Protected Monopoly
If I tell you, “The check’s in the mail” you probably won’t look for it any time soon–if at all. But if I tell you I’ve sent the check via FedEx, you’ll probably plan a trip to the bank. We know we can count on private...
The Poverty of Nations: International Monetary Fund Socialism Run Amok
In most cases, though, the assistance hasn’t helped. Why? Largely because recipients have failed to address the main causes of their economic ruin — corruption, repressed economies, weak judicial systems and excessive state ownership of key enterprises.
Oslo Equals Mud: A Historic Failure for Peace
Ten years later, it is embarrassing to recall the elation and soaring expectations. President Bill Clinton lauded it as a “great occasion of history.” Secretary of State Warren Christopher ruminated on how “the impossible is within our reach.”...
The IRS Versus The Bill Of Rights
To get an idea of what it’s like to tangle with the IRS, imagine having to fight Mike Tyson — with both hands tied behind your back. The IRS is the most feared government agency, and with good reason. Americans who run afoul of this bureaucratic behemoth...
Trading Insults: The WTO’s Cancun Free For All
Don’t give a starving man a fish, give him a fishing rod. That used to be the mantra in foreign aid circles. The message that came out of the collapsed World Trade Organization negotiations in Cancun, Mexico, last week took the metaphor one step further;...
What Are We Fighting For?
Our lack of moral clarity is keeping us from winning the war.
The Voucher Debate
In Washington D.C. right now, there’s a huge debate going on about school vouchers. Here’s the debate boiled down to its bare — and honest — essentials. The opponents of school vouchers resent the fact that some kids will end up in superior...
The War On America Did Not Begin On Sept 11th
The War we are in didn’t begin on Sept. 11, 2001. It began 22 years earlier. On Nov. 4, 1979, Islamist radicals stormed the US embassy in Tehran and, with the support of the Ayatollah Khomeini, proceeded to hold 52 Americans hostage for the next 15 months. The...
Why and How to Remember September 11
There is good reason to remember the attacks of Black Tuesday, to give that day a solemn acknowledgment.
NYSE Chairman Should Have Kept His Money–and Been Proud of It
One year ago Jack Welch, who as CEO of General Electric created $400 billion in stockholder wealth, faced a storm of public protest over his retirement benefits, which were worth a modest $2.5 million a year. Welch caved in and renounced the benefits. Now Richard...
Subscribe for free.
Latest pro-Capitalism goodness sent weekly to your email box.
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.