OPED Archives - Page 158 of 301

Income Inequality

By ACRU Staff|2023-03-10T08:04:39-05:00January 15th, 2014|

This column by ACRU Policy Board Member and Professor of Economics Dr. Walter E. Williams was published January 15, 2014 on Townhall.com.

Democrats plan to demagogue income inequality and the wealth gap for political gain in this year’s elections. Most of what’s said about income inequality is stupid or, at best, ill-informed. Much to their disgrace, economists focusing on measures of income inequality bring little light to the issue. Let’s look at it.

Income is a result of something. As such, results alone cannot establish whether there is fairness or justice. Take a simple example to make the point. Suppose Tom, […]

Why Economic Growth is Exponentially More Important Than Income Inequality

By ACRU Staff|2014-01-15T12:50:06-05:00January 15th, 2014|

This column by ACRU General Counsel Peter Ferrara was published January 14, 2014 on Forbes.com.

In 1900, we had no airplanes, no computers, no cellphones, no internet. We had only rudimentary versions of cars, trucks, telephones, even cameras.

But in the last century, 1900 to 2000, as Stephen Moore and Julian L. Simon report in their under appreciated work, It’s Getting Better All the Time: 100 Greatest Trends of the Last 100 Years, real per capita GDP in the U.S. grew by nearly 7 times, meaning the American standard of living grew by that much as well. The authors explain,

Supreme Court to Decide if Abortion Buffer Zones Violate Pro-Life Free Speech

By ACRU Staff|2020-04-23T21:52:39-04:00January 15th, 2014|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published January 14, 2014 on The Washington Times website.

Members of American Civil Liberties Union like to bill themselves as the ultimate protectors of the First Amendment, defending hard-core pornography as “free speech” and even the possession of child pornography. Go ahead, ask them. They only oppose the “production” of that demonic product.

Even the ACLU has its limits beyond the usual commonly cited exceptions of crying “fire” falsely in a crowded theater or making threats of violence.

The ACLU has long been comfortable with the ultimate violence committed inside the […]

Politics and Minimum Wage

By ACRU Staff|2014-01-09T18:54:21-05:00January 9th, 2014|

This column by ACRU Policy Board Member and Professor of Economics Dr. Walter E. Williams was published January 8, 2014 on Townhall.com.

There’s little debate among academic economists about the effect of minimum wages. University of California, Irvine economist David Neumark has examined more than 100 major academic studies on the minimum wage. He reports that 85 percent of the studies “find a negative employment effect on low-skilled workers.” A 1976 American Economic Association survey found that 90 percent of its members agreed that increasing the minimum wage raises unemployment among young and unskilled workers. A 1990 survey reported in the American Economic Review (1992) found […]

Barack Obama's Presidency is a Complete Failure by His Own, Self-Imposed Standards

By ACRU Staff|2014-01-07T11:55:00-05:00January 7th, 2014|

This column by ACRU General Counsel Peter Ferrara was published December 31, 2013 on Forbes.com.

At the end of 2013, after serving five years, Barack Obama is a complete failure as President, by his own standards, as reflected in his own words.

How many times has President Obama told us that he is “fighting for the middle class”? But real median family income has been in a continuous downward spiral since he became President, actually falling more since the recession ended in the summer of 2009 according to the National Bureau of Economic Research than during the recession. That has added […]

Dumb Politicians Won't Get Elected

By ACRU Staff|2014-01-07T11:44:43-05:00January 7th, 2014|

This column by ACRU Policy Board Member and Professor of Economics Dr. Walter E. Williams was published December 25, 2013 on Townhall.com.

Politicians can be progressives, liberals, conservatives, Democrats or Republicans, and right-wingers. They just can’t be dumb. The American people will never elect them to office. Let’s look at it.

For years, I used to blame politicians for our economic and social mess. That changed during the 1980s as a result of several lunches with Sen. Jesse Helms, R-N.C., which produced an epiphany of sorts.

At the time, I had written several columns highly critical of farm subsidies and […]

Obama's Slow Growth Policies Have Stacked the Deck Against American Workers

By ACRU Staff|2014-01-07T11:29:17-05:00January 7th, 2014|

This column by ACRU General Counsel Peter Ferrara was published December 26, 2013 on Forbes.com.

President Obama told us in his December 4 economic coming out speech on inequality, which the Huffington Post called the most important speech of his Presidency, “But we know that people’s frustrations run deeper than these most recent political battles. Their frustration is rooted in their own daily battles – to make ends meet, to pay for college, buy a home, save for retirement. It’s rooted in the nagging sense that no matter how hard they work, the deck is stacked against them. And it is rooted […]

Lies, Lies and More Presidential Lies

By ACRU Staff|2014-01-06T10:38:09-05:00January 6th, 2014|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published January 5, 2014 on The Washington Times website.

One bad thing about our media-mad age is that it’s difficult to keep up with all the lies we’re being told by our government. The good news is that falsehoods don’t have the legs they once had.

Remember when Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper was asked by Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, during a hearing on March 12, 2013, “Does the NSA collect any type of data at all on millions or hundreds of millions of Americans?” Mr. Clapper answered, “No […]

Militant Atheists' War on Christians and Christmas in 2013

By ACRU Staff|2013-12-24T00:02:37-05:00December 24th, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Legal Analyst Ken Klukowski was published December 22, 2013 on Breitbart.com.

This Christmas season is seeing those who deny the existence of God pressing forward with a militant secular agenda, one that is intolerant–often bitterly so–of Christians in America.

Set aside for a moment the blockbuster controversy regarding Phil Robertson and “Duck Dynasty,” which is driven by a visceral rejection of Biblical Christian views on sin and sexuality. The same hostility toward Christians who believe the Bible is the Word of God is on full display this Christmas season in other respects.

Pastor Alistair Begg–one of the most famous […]

A Miracle Not of Our Making

By ACRU Staff|2013-12-23T16:03:11-05:00December 23rd, 2013|

This column by ACRU Senior Fellow Robert Knight was published December 22, 2013 on The Washington Times website.

We went last week to Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Va., which is staging Christmas Town, a spectacular display of lights, rides and holiday themes. It’s all pretty amazing, with a 50-foot Christmas tree, a snow machine at the “North Pole,” nuts roasting on an open fire, and even live penguins.

Wherever you walk, you hear Christmas music in the language of the “country” you’re visiting. In merry old England, a four-person Victorian choir sings traditional carols in lilting harmonies. Germany’s Oktoberfest area is […]