045 Is Money the Root of All Evil?
Was Pink Floyd right that MONEY is a crime?
Were they agreeing with Scripture?Is the problem really money?
Is capitalism by nature greedy and socialism benevolent?
044 What is Classical Liberalism?
Is classical liberalism something Christians should oppose?
Does prosperity always lead us away from God?
Is it more righteous to be in poverty?
043 Render to Caesar
What was the context of Jesus statement, “Render unto Caesar” and why was it important to understanding what he was saying?
Was he telling us that all taxes that a government requires are legitimate under God’s Law?
Why was the inscription pointed out?
042 Different This Time
Can you list a single example of a time and place where socialism has worked?
Can socialism be enacted apart from force?
Does voting it into place mean there will not be force required?
Apart from people having a moral grounding that would cause them to choose the better option, would we expect a 51% vote protect the rights of everyone?
041 What Happened to Venezuela?
What is the history behind what has happened in Venezuela?
Real freedom for a culture involves three basic freedoms, like the legs of a three-legged stool. What are those three freedoms?
040 Market Process vs Government Directives
Will market prices or government directives do a better job of driving the market in productive directions?
Would large scale windmill farms and solar panel farms be built if they didn’t get subsidies from taxpayers?
039 Market Prices and Entrepreneurship
What is the best indicator of when we need to conserve:
A government panel of experts?
A university study?
When protestors get too obnoxious?
When prices rise too high?
038 The Dynamic Economy
Why is it important that the economy is always allowed to freely change?
What drives people to discover new ways of doing things?
Should the government try to direct this change?
037 Pursuit of Power
What do the Kavanaugh hearings tell us about consolidation of power in D.C.?
Where did the idea come from that the Constitution is a “living” document?
Are ever-changing rules really rules at all?
036 The Presumption of Production
Do you resent having to pay producers for the things you want?
How much would producers produce if they could not sell it for a profit?
Is there any politico-economic system that can do away with every human ill?
Historically, has socialism or free enterprise produced more prosperity?
035 Romanticism
When we talk about the living conditions in workers slums that developed during the industrial revolution, do we consider what life was like for those people before they moved to the cities for these jobs?
Why did they move to the cities?
In what ways are our conceptions of history romanticized to the point of being unrealistic?
034 Economic Justice and Mercy
What is economic justice?
Is it more just when everyone receives the same income?
Or is it more just when pay level is related to amount of skill and effort?
What is charity?
Can we be forced to be charitable by government?
033 Incentives Matter
Why do incentives matter?
How much would be produced if individuals could not profit from their efforts?
What incentives motivate you to produce goods or services for others?
032 False Allegations of Abundance
Do we have an over-abundance of “stuff”?
Don’t massive car dealership inventories and loaded grocery store shelves prove we have overcome the problem of scarcity?
How did experi ence during the Covid-19 quarantine influence your thoughts on scarcity?
031 Means of Production (or Factors of Production)
What do economists mean by the means of production?
What are the three means?
Any time something is produced, it requires at least some of each of the three.
030 Private Property
Is it possible to “abolish all property rights”?
Have you ever thought about the fact that your labor is your property?
What happens to communal bicycles on a college campus?
029 Moral and Legal Positivism
It seems that the moral fabric of our culture is undergoing some major reconstruction as many voices today declare we should all accept behavior that has for centuries been deemed as immoral.
Should whatever is the currently accepted morality be the basis for our laws?
What is positivism?
Who popularized this view of what laws we should adopt?
Is cost/benefit analysis the best way to determine what should be law?
Is there a better way?
Kings of This World: Givers or Takers?
In the first chapter of Genesis we are instructed that all people are created in the image of God and have been given a mission to have dominion over the animals and subdue the earth (subdue is a translation of the Hebrew kabash, which means here to make the earth useful for human beings benefit and enjoyment). We know, of course, that
028 The Purpose of Government
Do we need government?
What does it mean to be free agents?
What does the Apostle Paul say is the purpose of government?
How does politics affect government?
027 Income Redistribution 3: The Hog Story
How does government redistribution destroy freedom?