John Médaille

loan

“Dexia” is not a word familiar to most Americans, and if told that it is a French bank in need of a fresh bailout, the knowledge would likely elicit no more than a yawn. Interest might increase, however, if they…

bartering

I start my meditation with a true story that will serve as a parable. On his 21st birthday, the nature writer Francis Thompson was presented by his father with a bill for all the expenses of his upbringing including the…

My latest book was cited as an “authority” before the Supreme Court in Florida v. HHS, the “Obamacare” case. You can read the brief here, if you are bored. This should add to the work of some poor clerk.…

For all the Porchers in the New York City area, Christopher Ferrara and I will be speaking at the Una Voce Symposium, Libertarianism or Distributism: Which Way for Catholics? The event will take place October 14th, at 6:30 pm at…

Robert T. Miller and I discuss two opposed views of Catholic Social Teaching as it relates to economics in this month’s issue of Dappled Things. Robert defends that “… for people like us in a society like ours, capitalism is…

Pogo2

One has a free choice of whether to take one’s cocaine in crystal or powdered form. However, while this may be a free choice, it is never a choice of freedom, since either choice leads to slavery.

zombie

But that is not so with computers, for no matter how many doctorates one holds in computer science, at some point the system disappears into a world of magic.

City of Dreams

by John Médaille on May 2, 2011 · 4 comments

in Short

Imagine designing a city for people rather than cars: Curitiba, Brazil…

11 TDPOPP05  HINDASH

Last Saturday, I had the pleasure of addressing the ISI Conference at Taylor University, “Whose Capitalism? Which Free Market? Exploring the Moral Dimensions of the Market.” My message to the 200-plus participants was an attack on the philosophic bases of…

Those Front Porchers in the Indianapolis-Fort Wayne area might want to attend the ISI Conference, “Whose Capitalism? Which Free Market?: Exploring the Moral Dimensions of the Market Economy,” Saturday, April 9th, at Taylor University. I’ll be speaking there, and there…

The No-Suicide Pact

by John Médaille on March 22, 2011 · 0 comments

in Short

You cannot slit your wrists. It says so, right here in your employment contract. And besides, we’ve installed suicide netting on all of our buildings. So if you manage to kill yourself, it is not our fault. So tell your…

Social Security Card

It was the best of times; It was the worst of times.
Charles Dickens begins A Tale of Two Cities with a paradox, but one that is easily resolved because he is talking about two cities with two very different…

California, we are told, will have a $25 billion budget deficit over the next 20 months. However, they seem to be caught in a trap. If they were to actually “balance” their budget, that is, actually cut $25 billion dollars…

Join in this debate between myself and Brian Domitrovic (Econoclasts) at the ISI “First Principles” blog.…

Egypt

Here are two scenarios: one leads through democratic enlightenment to peace and prosperity, and the other through intractable economic problems to war and disintegration.

I am proud to say I made the list.…