Human Rights Challenges Aussie Businesses

Create an Australian Human Rights Commission and you can expect trouble in business. This time, the AHRC aimed its efforts at one of the largest Australian retailers, Myer.

The goal of the AHRC is to get this Australian business to … Read More

New Polling Data, Obama Losing on the Issues

When Obama Isn’t Running, Obama Loses

When Barack Obama is not actually running for office, Barack Obama does not do well with American voters. Or, at least his ideas and policies on economic matters generally don’t. That could matter looking at … Read More

Ma, There’s a Storm a Comin’

I laughed at the talking heads’ reaction to the sell off in the bond market over the last few weeks; there was much wailing and gnashing of teeth over a fifty basis point rise in the ten year.  Yes, it … Read More

ObamaCare Forcing Businesses to Close Up Shop, Hitting the Economy

This four-year economic recovery has been one of the worst on record, with real GDP growth averaging a mere 2.1 percent. Keep in mind that during a recovery, the U.S. economy should be expanding at better than 4 percent on … Read More

Unions Eats Their Own in California Standoff

It’s the Unions vs. the poor in the Golden State as the longtime friends become sudden foes in a bruising battle that became heightened recently. Commuters in San Francisco will find BART closed as unions demand more money for employees, … Read More

Denial (of Freedom) Is Just a River in Egypt

Two years ago the Arab Spring sprung in Egypt. Quasi-western young people tweeted and ed themselves into a revolution. Crowds gathered in Tahrir Square wearing tee-shirts with logos of hip Western companies like Google printed on them and carrying English … Read More

Thefts Have Consequences: Cyprus Banks See Fallout After Levy

ZeroHedge caught my eye with this post reporting that there are economic consequences to legalized bank robbery.

“Another month, another update on the inefficiency of Cypriot capital controls, where following the latest release by the central bank on … Read More

America Losing Its Entrepreneurial Edge? Increasing Dependency, Punishing Risk Taking

A key competitive advantage of the U.S. in the global economy is entrepreneurship. Since the birth of this nation, our entrepreneurial spirit has been deep in our cultural and economic DNA.

But are we losing that entrepreneurial edge? Unfortunately, reasons … Read More

Chaos in Australian Politics Leaves Australians with Wishful Thinking

On Wednesday, June 26 2013, Australian politics came to a head. Specifically involving the Labor Party, which is a minority in the Australian Federal Parliament, yet carries the Prime Ministership with the aid of independent members of the house.

But … Read More

Blood in the Streets

I was never any good at timing the market and picking intra-day winners.  However, I have developed a keen sense of when an asset class is really out of whack pricewise.  The NASDAQ closing in on 5000 comes to … Read More

Accelerated and Selective Learning

It is not difficult to further illustrate that restructuring post-secondary education would not affect the quality of learning. Consider this: in many years over the last few decades, accounting is among undergrads’ top choices at business schools. Do students specializing … Read More

How Our Education System Fell into Decline

Sixty-three percent of employers said that recent college graduates don’t have the skills they need to succeed, the Association of American Colleges and Universities found in 2010. A separate survey showed that 25 percent of employers say that entry-level writing … Read More

Accelerated Learning Would Add Trillions of Dollars in Wealth

If students could complete their education a year faster, the many benefits would include increased personal wealth, decreased government spending, and more sustainable entitlement programs.

Political discussion today is dominated by a pessimistic tone about government deficits, taxes, and our aging population. But, … Read More

China’s Future of Neurotic Prosperity

If there is validity in the parallels drawn in my previous articles, China should prosper, though  we do not know how long it would take. Recall Shakespeare’s Shylock. Below its dramatic surface, that play is about trust versus contracts. Members … Read More

How China’s Small Businesses Can Expand and Exchange Outside of Law

In my previous article, we saw one of the consequences of human population regulation, drawing parallel between present-day China and 18th century Austria. European Jews faced and adapted to another consequence: A wide range of other regulations and expecting less … Read More

Why China’s “Little Emperors” Face Neuroticism

Ten years ago, I wrote about the possible consequences of China’s one child policy (published in Asia Times Online, Financial Times, and Singapore Times). All of it seems to have held the test of times – and recent evidence strengthens … Read More

Wealth Creation: Taking China’s Story of Success to Africa

Thirty years ago, a greater percentage of China’s population lived below the poverty line than in most other countries, according to the World Bank.

Drastic economic reforms were undertaken.  From 1981 to 2005, the proportion of China’s population living in poverty … Read More

Toxic Charity: Lessons from Bob Lupton

I recently had the opportunity to hear Bob Lupton, author of Toxic Charity: How Churches and Charities Hurt Those They Help (And How to Reverse It), speak at the co-lab conference in Chicago.

I was especially struck by his take on the … Read More

Five Rising Social Entrepreneurs

One of the best parts of my job is I often get to interact with next-generation leaders who—motivated by their faith—are passionate about tackling some of the world’s greatest challenges.

Here are just five social entrepreneurs who inspire me and … Read More

What Does HOPE Look Like in the U.S.?

The last few months, I’ve had a number of conversations with friends who wonder how the principles that drive HOPE could be applied domestically. It’s a good question, and although HOPE has decided to remain focused internationally, I strongly believe … Read More

What Christianity Today Missed

It’s not news: Getting a job is probably the most basic way to get out of poverty.

That’s why I’m amazed by the fact that in Christianity Today’s list of top 10 poverty alleviation strategies, only one directly involves job creation (microfinance).

… Read More

Five Ways the Poor Describe Poverty

How do you define poverty?

This question was posed to a group of women in rural Rwanda who live on less than $2 a day.

Their first five answers were …

1. Poverty is an empty heart
2. Not knowing your … Read More

When the “Vital Few” Go Mobile?

As we saw in my previous columns, the recent financial crises rhymes strongly with the one John Law and the Japanese government managed to engineer. Though in different ways, they were all “land-based”, drawing on the misperception that there is … Read More

Why Governments Want Your Immobility

As we saw in my previous article about the perils of a banking system which is based on land values but which is not constrained by a monetary gold standard, many things perceived “real” can melt into thin air in … Read More