Before the massive growth of our welfare state, private charity was the sole option for an individual or family facing insurmountable financial difficulties or other challenges. How do we know that? There is no history of Americans dying on the streets because they could not find food or basic medical assistance. Respecting the biblical commandment to honor thy father and mother, children took care of their elderly or infirm parents. Family members and the local church also helped those who had fallen on hard times. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries, charities started playing a major role. In … Continue reading →

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Justin’s note: An “Era of Peace” has begun. That’s the news coming out of the Korean Peninsula. Two weeks ago, North Korea’s Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un and South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in held a historic peace talk at the North Korea–South Korea border. It was the first such meeting in 11 years. And many people think it will bring an end to their longtime standoff. I recently called Doug Casey to figure out what this means for the region and the rest of the world… Justin: Doug, what do you make of all this? Doug: Well, it’s most unusual. Since the armistice in … Continue reading →

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As the developed world moves farther and farther away from coal-fired energy, one major economy is breaking the trend. Japan, in a move that few could have foreseen, has opened at least eight brand new coal-burning power plants in the last two years and has plans for at least 36 more in the next ten years. This ambitious return to coal far outstrips any other developed nation, and it’s only speeding up. Last month the Japanese government made major advancements to officially adopt a national energy plan that would see 26 percent of the country’s total electricity come from coal in 2030, … Continue reading →

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One of the few positive things in the ill-named USA FREEDOM Act, enacted in 2015 after the Snowden revelations on NSA domestic spying, is that it required the Director of National Intelligence to regularly report on its domestic surveillance activities. On Friday, the latest report was released on just how much our own government is spying on us. The news is not good at all if you value freedom over tyranny. According to the annual report, named the Statistical Transparency Report Regarding Use of National Security Authorities, the US government intercepted and stored information from more than a half-billion of … Continue reading →

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You may not be on social media yourself, but chances are your friends and family are. Some of us are on there for work purposes and some so we can keep in touch with loved ones who live far away. There are valid reasons we have accounts on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But things are getting ugly out there in Internetland and it begs the question of whether social media is destroying humanity. And even worse, is social media destroying humanity on purpose, because it was engineered to do so? You’d have to live under a rock big enough to … Continue reading →

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Watching the news, I have been wondering, “How on Earth did we get into this shape?” I found the answer to that question in this book. While Dilorenzo goes well out of his way to tar Alexander Hamilton with a bad reputation, Hamilton did much to deserve such treatment. Every last annoying thing the Federal Government has done today can be traced back to Hamilton or one of Hamilton’s ideas. Our sick banking system and its rotten currency are chief among these problems. All of them stemmed from Hamilton’s efforts to establish and maintain a national debt along with a … Continue reading →

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