Recent Viewpoints

Kerby Anderson With estimates that the federal deficit will increase this year, we are once again hearing comments about making the “rich pay their fair share.” Even if we set aside the moral arguments, there is still the reality that attempts to “soak the rich” haven’t generated the tax revenues promised by progressive politicians. To illustrate this, look at one of the most boring graphs in economics. If you plot federal government revenue as a percentage of GDP, you get…

Kerby Anderson Trade sanctions are apparently the favorite foreign policy tool of the Biden administration. I don’t disagree with that. Better to impose sanctions than to fight a war with an evil regime. But we also need some common sense when it comes to sanctions and export bans. A trade sanction is supposed to be a deterrent, but the verdict is out about how effective these are against a totalitarian regime. Unfortunately, a determined enemy will find a way to…

Kerby Anderson The Biden administration announced that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is rolling out a controversial facial recognition program at 16 of the largest airports. I have heard concerns about the dangers and misuse of facial recognition, so I decided to do some research. As you probably know, China and Russia use facial recognition to track their citizens. Would the implementation of facial scans at airports eventually spread to every sector of society? That is what some critics fear…

Kerby Anderson Since there is so much information and misinformation about the debt limit debate, I thought it might be worthwhile to put a few facts on the table. The US hit the debt limit last month when the debt exceeded $31.4 trillion. If you go to the debt clock website (www.usdebtclock.org), you will see the debt is now $31.5 trillion. For now, the government can use a few accounting gimmicks to briefly postpone the need for an immediate increase…

Kerby Anderson After two months of debates about classified documents, it seemed reasonable on my radio program to do a deep dive into the subject. One guest argued that we have a real problem in this country with over-classification. He is correct. The best estimate I could find calculates that the US government creates approximately 50 million classified documents each year. Why so many classified documents? Another guest suggested that was due to fear of repercussions. One expert I cited…

Penna Dexter Move over Soccer Moms. There’s a rising voting bloc in American politics: the Single Woke Female. She’s young — these are Gen Z and Millennial voters — she’s often urban and she’s never been married.  She’s usually progressive, often discontented. Two professors, experts in demography, economics, and politics, write about her at Real Clear Investigations. Joel Kotkin, a sought-after authority on demographic trends, teaches at Chapman University in Orange, California and runs the Urban Reform Institute. Samuel Abrams is…

Kerby Anderson Why do young people have short attention spans? That is a question the editors of the Wall Street Journal asked college students to address. Here are some of the best answers. One student at the University of British Columbia observed that “we live in a civilization of instant pleasure. Anyone who has used TikTok knows this.” Therefore, students are being raised in a culture of instant pleasure and low attention spans. Another student at Harvard University said he…

Kerby Anderson Social justice warriors and their woke philosophy are taking over nearly every academic discipline, even biological science. A presentation by Williams College biology professor Luana Maroja illustrates what is happening on college campuses. She said, “As an evolutionary biologist, I am quite used to attempts to censor research and suppress knowledge.” She explained the threat used to be from the right, now “the threat comes mainly from the left.” She is rightly alarmed at what science professors are…

Kerby Anderson Churches are closing in significant numbers. Even the secular press is starting to notice this trend. They attribute much of the decline to the lack of relevance of Christianity to young people. Although that may be true, there are many reasons. According to a survey done by Lifeway Research, about 4,500 Protestant churches closed in 2019, while only 3,000 new churches opened. This is the first time the number of churches in the US has not grown since…

Kerby Anderson One factor that should be considered during the ongoing congressional debate about spending and raising the debt ceiling is the declining value of the dollar. Each year the dollar is losing value. Unfortunately, many Americans may think the problem with rising inflation and the decreasing value of the dollar is a recent phenomenon. Let’s start with the standard graph using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It shows the decline in the value of the dollar from…

Kerby Anderson Last year, when I was speaking at an open forum, I was asked a question about the ESG Index, which I answered. After the session, I had several people come up to me and express their surprise that I knew what these ESG rules were and had an answer for the questioner. I suspect those people know quite a bit more about ESG now. Stephen Moore, for example, warns: “Biden’s ESG Investment Rules Threaten Your Retirement Savings.” The…