Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson Luke Gromen has published a series of graphs that illustrate “the debasement trade” since COVID. First, let me try to define the concept of a debasement trade. It is the recognition that debt in the U.S. and many other developed countries is at “such historically high levels that some investors no longer see bonds as a safe haven.” That is why investors are putting their funds in gold and bitcoin. The graphs by Luke Gromen illustrate that while…

Kerby Anderson The U.S. government has had another shutdown. As I write this, the shutdown is still going on, but I trust that it is over by the time this commentary airs on radio. That would be a good time to prevent this insanity from unfolding again. First, there is no consistency in the shutdown. Non-essential workers stay home, while essential workers stay on the job. But defining essential workers from non-essential workers makes no sense. Nearly all (93%) of…

Penna Dexter The New York Times recently published an opinion piece about America’s boy crisis. It’s by social scientist Richard Reeves and Harvard political scientist and author of Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam. Here’s their summary of the problem: “Since 2010, suicide rates among young men have risen by a third — they are now higher than they are among middle aged men. The share of college degrees going to men has fallen to 41 percent, lower than the women’s share…

Kerby Anderson Christians have always needed to know how to defend the Christian faith ever since Peter admonished us to “always be prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” That is even more true with so many people skeptical about God, Jesus, and the Bible. Douglas Groothuis and Andrew Shepardson are the co-authors of an introduction into classical apologetics with the title, The Knowledge of God in…

Kerby Anderson John Whitehead has been warning us about the growing surveillance state in America for decades. The increase in surveillance has taken place under both Republican and Democratic presidents. But he is seeing another element that concerns him even more. To illustrate it, he reminds us of the Steven Spielberg movie, Minority Report. This dystopian film is set in the future “where police agencies harvest intelligence from widespread surveillance, behavior prediction technologies, data mining, [and] precognitive technology.” The goal…

Kerby Anderson In his video, John Stossel asked people on the street, “If you could spend $30 billion trying to solve the world’s problems, how would you spend it?” As you might imagine, the most common answer was to “fight climate change.” Bjorn Lomborg (Copenhagen Consensus Center) has much better answers. In the past, we have talked about his several books on the environment and climate change. He says he was not surprised at the answers since we live in…

Kerby Anderson When you make an investment, it is important to know if there is any counterparty risk. Any business involves a cooperation of many entities and individuals. How likely is it that one of them may default on their financial obligations? Here’s a scary question: what if the counterparty is your bank or the government? That may be less likely here in the US, but is becoming a reality ever since the 2013 banking crisis in Cyprus created the…

Kerby Anderson The American Psychological Association released a health advisory on social media. In fact, the report offered ten recommendations that involve various forms of monitoring, training, and technical adaptations to blunt certain adverse effects of social media. James Spencer from the D.L. Moody Center was on my program recently to talk about the advisory and also to broaden the discussion about the place of technological advancements in our society. We talked about everything from social media to artificial intelligence….

Penna Dexter Psychoanalyst Erica Komisar is a therapist to families, and especially children, in private practice in New York City. Her periodic columns for The Wall Street Journal on childrearing are treasures. I first noticed the one on why moms should prioritize being home with their babies for their first three years. This practical wisdom almost goes without saying. Some of her points might shock or seem retro, if they weren’t timeless and backed up with stats and tons of…

Kerby Anderson New York Times columnist Bret Stephens laments, “Our Vanishing Culture of Argument.” He talks about being a student at the University of Chicago, which he says, “has a culture of argument.” He added that “nearly every undergraduate could not avoid reading the classics of Western thought.” He talks about Socrates, Locke, Hobbes, and the Federalists. And that might have been true of higher education, but it doesn’t seem like it today. As someone who often was able to…

Kerby Anderson Is it possible to close the Overton Window? One columnist, William Marshall, argues that President Trump is closing the Overton Window on many social policies. But first, let me explain what this means. Three years ago, I did a commentary on the Overton Window because I had someone in my Sunday School class ask what the term meant. Today, we hear people using the phrase all the time, but I suspect some don’t know its meaning and origin….