Christianomics: A blog on economics, politics, and law

There is a growing lament among centrists and moderates that everything has become political (1). In Luke 11:17 Jesus says, “Every Kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and a divided household falls.” And boy is America divided. From sports, to beans. Ice cream to pillows, politics (and the strife that it brings) seems to have invaded every aspect of our lives.(2) But how did we get here? The latest kerfuffle of the MLB All Star game is an excellent example. Following the drama of the 2020 election, the Republican-controlled legislature in Georgia passed a bill that changed election laws. The stated intent of the bill was to secure the integrity of their elections. Democrat politicians claimed this was a racist attempt to disenfranchise minorities. All of this is pretty typical for American politics. The MLB entered the picture when the Players Association threatened to move the All-Star game out of Georgia. After that it was game over. President Biden announced his support fo...

  "No amendment is absolute" - President Joe Biden Therefore I present what should be the newly revised amendments to the Constitution. AMENDMENT I Congress shall be allowed to pass laws establishing a religion, prohibiting the free exercise thereof; and abridging the freedom of speech, and the press; and the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and can limit the petition of the Government for a redress of grievances. AMENDMENT II The right of the people to keep and bear Arms, may be infringed. AMENDMENT IV The right of the people are not always secure against unreasonable searches and seizures AMENDMENT VI The accused shall sometimes enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial AMENDMENT VII A fact tried by a jury, may be re-examined in any Court of the United States AMENDMENT VIII Excessive bail may be required, also excessive fines imposed, and cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. AMENDMENT XIII Slavery and involuntary servitude, may exist within the United State...

The minimum wage is in the news again thanks to the Biden administration’s stimulus bill (1). While I’ve already written about the history of the minimum wage and its effects on the poor, I wanted to address the root source of the minimum wage fallacy: Karl Marx’ Labor Theory of Value. To put it simply, the theory says that someone should be compensated based on how hard they work. If you have an easy job and aren’t required to work very hard then you should be paid little. If you have a more difficult job and have to work hard at it, then you should be paid more (2). While this sounds good on its face, this assumption is very dangerous and can lead a country down the path of minimum wage laws, price controls, and government controls of production (socialism). --------------------------------- Meet Dr. Hank, an average (Level 5 out of 10), everyday brain surgeon. He has a good work ethic (8 out of 10) and a positive attitude (7 out of 10). As an average, everyday brain surgeon, Dr. Han...

https://thefederalist.com/2021/03/07/evangelicals-for-biden-feel-used-and-betrayed-by-biden-fulfilling-his-radical-abortion-promises/   I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand I want to shout “I told you so”. But on the other hand I recognize it takes a dose of humility and appreciation of sunk cost to admit you are wrong. And that’s far more important. Welcome Biden voters. There is still much to do.

There has been a new (to me) pro-choice argument in the year of 2020. It goes something like this. If we ban abortions, we’ll be back to the 1970s when dozens of women died from illegal back-alley abortions.(1) Therefore, voting for Biden-Harris is actually the pro-life vote because pro-choice administrations support welfare policies that lead to fewer abortions. Cute story, but it is not true. Abortions have steadily decreased under every president since H.W. Bush. This is due to a growing mobilization of the pro-life crowd to engage the culture. During the Clinton administration there is a huge drop, but it turns out that is because California decided to stop counting abortions.(2) Next in the data there is a reversal during W. Bush, which looks interesting until you realized that bump takes place during the housing crash, so again no real surprises there. So this idea is dumb and dead on its face. But what if we ignore these facts and pretend the story was true? Would it be better t...