During the Great Depression, the government initiated a temporary program to help distribute surplus food and alleviate hardship. During the Kennedy administration the program restarted, expanding to be a permanent entity. This Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps, as it has been traditional known, has attracted particular scrutiny recently.
Daniel Webster famously observed that, "The power to tax is the power to destroy." We often see arguments over taxes framed as conflicts between the compassionate and the miserly. If you care about the poor, we are told, you will support higher taxes to provide them with better services.
The Civil Rights Movement successfully repealed unjust laws with very little violence. And while things are far from perfect in America today, countless black Americans have risen to the heights of success in every way it can possibly be measured.
In April, Bloomberg released a list of the top twelve "boomtowns" in the United States. These were the metropolitan areas that had experienced the greatest growth in population according to US Census data, and the greatest growth in economic productivity as measured by Gross Domestic Product, adjusted for inflation.
So here's the million-dollar question: why are we still paying record prices for gas? Why haven't prices gone down as the law of supply and demand would suggest? There's rarely a simple answer to a complicated question, but the short answer is: corn.
Lost in the never-ending push to redefine marriage are those who suffer most when they are denied the benefit of a traditional marriage. Children need both a mother and a father far more than any adult needs societal approval of a romantic relationship.
My commentary today explores the dramatic difference in the value of human life (versus the value of animal life) in privileged versus impoverished communities in the same city - Philadelphia. I am concerned that Philadelphians seem more committed to protecting the lives of animals than they seem to be committed to saving the innocent lives of unborn children and their young mothers.
New York City's Mayor Michael Bloomberg has become an interesting urban social engineer. In 2012 alone, he pumped nearly 2.5 million dollars of his own money to help legalize same-sex marriage in the state of Maryland. Needless to say, he has become a formidable foe to traditional family values.
Obesity puts us at risk for all kinds of health problems, including heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and certain cancers. And it doesn't afflict everyone equally: nearly 50% of blacks are obese, and lower income Americans in general are more likely to be obese than others.
In 1965, Yale and Princeton raised their tuition, making them the most expensive Ivy League schools at the time. The hefty price tag; just $1950 a year. Even accounting for inflation that would only amount to about $14,350 in 2013 dollars.
