Broadly defined, the government intervenes economically by regulating the economic interactions among and between enterprises and individuals. It does this by taxing their activities (earning income, owning wealth, spending money, and so on) and by making rules governing those activities. However, the real contents and effects of government regulations depend on the interests that govern their design and implementation….
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Current Events
Election 2012 Demographics: No Division Here!
Regarding all this talk of the U.S. being divided, I heard on NPR this morning that Obama got the Latino vote, the African-American vote, the Asian vote, the female vote, the young people vote, the Catholic vote and the urban vote. The categories he was lacking? Older White Men of “certain incomes” and certain southern geographic areas….
CONFESSION: Mormonism Creeps Me Out a Little
I watched the above video recently, and I have to be honest, It creeps me out a little bit. OK, a lot. The religious rituals, the secrecy, the knocking, the passwords, the spacey outfits, totally bizarre to me. And this is coming from someone who is not unfamiliar to Amish and Mennonite culture! A couple…
Money-Theism: Joerg Rieger Explains How Economics is an Odd Sort of Religion
Part of the problem with the current economic crisis is that economics is based on an odd sort of faith, expressed tongue in cheek by the term “money-theism,” which has been popularized by comedian Stephen Colbert. There are a few big faith claims, like the ideas that economic deregulation always promotes growth, that tax cuts for powerful corporations…
The Task of Interpretation: Tony Jones Answers the Questions That Haunt Christianity
So what’s left to us is the task of interpretation. Or, to frame it as a question, Can I reject the Bible’s metaphysics without rejecting its message? That’s a bridge too far for many of your fellow atheists (although they have no problem accepting Plato’s wisdom while rejecting platonic metaphysics). But it’s not a bridge…
Unemployment & Welfare: “Why can’t they just go out and find a job?”
“But you must just answer a last question. Two equally old trees are growing in a large garden. One of the trees grows in a sunny spot and has plenty of good soil and water. The other tree grows in poor soil in a dark spot. Which of the trees do you think is bigger?…
To Sell Art for Profit is to Deny It’s Worth: Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones & Pirates
“Others, like the label Records on Ribs, have developed a model of supporting artists and raising their profile (because, isn’t that sort of what a record label should be passionate about?) that allows anyone to download new music for free, and then offers them the chance to donate what they think is appropriate for it….
The Bible and Homosexuality
Recently I was involved in a long written correspondence with a friend about the Bible and homosexuality, initiated by the poster above which I posted on facebook. My friend, who is passionate about God’s written word, was upset that I was using the Bible to back up my personal opinion on homosexuality. We ended up…
How the Chick-fil-A boycot is messing with American Capitalism
…this represents the great truth that democracy may not be be complicit with unethical forms of capitalism (if not capitalism itself). That is, if people are given the facts, and begin to care about how people are actually treated, and begin to care about equality of our citizens, business as usual cannot go on. There…
Why Don’t Academics Talk Like Normal People?!? | Art by Charlene Liu
The highest activity a human being can attain is learning for understanding, because to understand is to be free. ~Spinoza I can always see the question coming. After recommending to a friend that they read a technical, heavy duty philosophical or theological text, I’m asked “why don’t they just talk like normal people, using normal…