Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Yesterday, I talked about inflation and increasing prices. Economists can debate whether inflation is on the horizon, but all of us can see that many prices are rising. And those percentage increases are greater than the Consumer Price Index (CPI). Common sense and the ways we count our cents demonstrate that the CPI is not an adequate measure of inflation. Ten years ago, I wrote a commentary about the ways in which the government statistic varies from our…

Kerby Anderson Is inflation on the horizon? The chairman of the Federal Reserve (Jerome Powell) doesn’t think so. He concluded that, “Inflation is not a problem for this time as near as I can figure. Right now, M2 does not really have important implications.” What he is talking about is the M2 money supply, which measures cash, checks, money market, mutual funds, etc. If you type the words “M2 Money Stock” on a computer, you will see two things. First,…

Kerby Anderson I doubt that the CEOs of major corporations travel in the same circles as I travel. If they did, they would hear the phrase “get woke, go broke.” It appears that a majority of Americans have had enough from the woke corporate culture. But even if they don’t pay attention to what many of their consumers are saying to each other and on social media, you would think they would pay some attention to prominent political figures. Senator…

Penna Dexter There’s a proposal on the table to dramatically expand the government role in daycare.  President Biden says he wants to spend $225 billion on childcare on top of the programs that already exist. Do we really want America to be a society where the state assumes the care of young children? The spending is massive. Giving government this role in family life is unwise.  In a Wall Street Journal op-ed, investor and author J.D. Vance and Wheatley Institution…

Kerby Anderson Philip Yancey begins with an admission: “I am going through a personal crisis.” He explains that he used to love reading. In fact, he understands that “books help define who I am.” But that is his past, not his present. He has discovered that the Internet and social media have trained his brain “to read a paragraph or two, and then start looking around.” When he is reading an article online, pretty soon he is looking at the…

Kerby Anderson It was a grand experiment. Declare a “War on Poverty” and years later celebrate a victory. Unfortunately, poverty won the war. The percentage of people in poverty today is just slightly lower than the percentage in the 1960s when the war to end poverty began. People living in poverty now are doing better than decades ago, but we certainly have not eliminated poverty. Peter Cove has a bold vision. The title of his book is, “Poor No More:…

Kerby Anderson A study by the Manhattan Institute explains why it is so hard for middle-class families to make ends meet. The author, Oren Cass, distilled his research down in a Twitter post. “In 1984, the typical male worker could cover a family of four’s major expenditures (housing, health care, transportation, education) on 30 weeks salary. By 2018 it took 53 weeks. Which is a problem, there being only 52 weeks in a year.” Christopher Ingraham wrote about this in…

Kerby Anderson Whether you are a Christian or not, you are benefiting from the positive impact of Christianity on your life. That is the premise of the book by Dr. Rodney Stark, America’s Blessings: How Religion Benefits Everyone, Including Atheists. His book is a perfect response to atheistic professors who criticize America and the Christian foundation of this country. This book is a natural one for the professor to write since he has talked about the positive contribution of Christianity…

Kerby Anderson Often when I talk about the “deaths of despair” affecting so many young people, I am asked, “why are so many unhappy?” There are a number of reasons, but first let’s discuss how serious this problem has become. In the US, the suicide rate quadrupled for young men (ages 15-24) and doubled for young women from 1946 to 2006. Another study found that “suicidal thinking, severe depression, and rate of self-injury among US college students more than doubled…

Penna Dexter Education officials in the state of Virginia are taking a serious look at changing the way mathematics is taught. According to the Virginia Mercury, standardized test scores show that “Black, Hispanic, and low-income students have lower pass rates than White and Asian students.” There’s a proposed initiative to lower the standards so struggling students can succeed. Opponents of the changes argue that the state should take steps to improve instruction for everyone. Virginia’s consideration of this initiative is…

Kerby Anderson This last year has been a challenge for our society. But now we can add to those challenges the political challenges that have come against our nation in the last few months. Victor Davis Hanson wonders, “How Much Ruin Do We Have Left?” The president and Congress are challenging the constitutional order and centuries of custom and tradition. Hanson reminds us that: “A nation’s institutions are its bedrock. Yet, the Electoral College and the Constitution’s emphasis on individual…