Robert L. Maginnis, a policy analyst with the Family Research Council, based in Washington DC, sets out to refute eight frequently-heard arguments in favour of legalising illicit drugs. An edited version of his paper is reproduced below. Despite data which strongly supports the continuation of effective drug abuse prevention, treatment and enforcement programs, some…
In early February, pro-life organisations in the United States were rejoicing that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, America’s major breast cancer research organisation, had announced it would no longer give grants to Planned Parenthood, the biggest abortion-provider in the US. This was huge news for both sides in the abortion debate. The grants had been given over years because Planned Parenthood (PP) claimed to provide breast-screening as part of its “services” to women. In reality, PP only did manual breast examinations which can be done by any doctor and at clinics which are not involved in abortion.…
I refer to Colin Teese’s article “EU’s options for tackling the eurozone crisis” (News Weekly, December 10, 2011). While I found it interesting, I would like to add a few points that I think, at least from a European perspective, could be insightful to the non-European reader. The main thrust of the first…
The global economic crisis has created civil and political unrest across Europe and the US, while in the Middle East newly educated, angry unemployed youth are bringing down old military autocracies. World-wide unemployment is 210 million, the highest in history, with the world needing to create another 440 million jobs in the next decade for new workers entering the global workforce, according to the International Monetary Fund. So the world will have to find a total of 650 million jobs in 10 years. Already, the highest unemployment is among youth. (Dominique Strauss-Kahn, “Saving the lost generation”, IMFdirect, September 14, 2011).…
On January 14, 2012, on the centenary of the formation of the Republic of China, elections will take place for the presidency of the Republic of China in Taiwan. Almost exactly 100 years ago, the Republic of China was established by Sun Yat-sen, following the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, the last of a series of dynasties which had ruled China for over 2,000 years. The elections on Taiwan will set the country’s direction as it enters its second century, including the complex question of relations with the People’s Republic of China in Beijing. Unlike the mainland where there have…
Across the globe, the proportion of national income going to wages has been falling for three decades, made worse by the global financial crisis (GFC) and austerity measures. It also explains the growing social unrest across Europe and the United States. Labour’s share of the economic pie varies across the business cycle, but has been consistently falling since the early 1980s. Growing US income disparities: 1979-2007. According to Peter Orszag, vice-chairman of the global banking Citigroup Inc., the fall is substantial. Writing in Bloomberg (October 19, 2011), he said that in the US, labour’s share of business income fell…
