Columns

America risks losing to China on cryptocurrencies

Everybody’s looking at China.

More thoughts that should keep you awake at night

No single theme grabbed my attention this week, so we’re back to a potpourri of random thoughts. For instance, I often encounter news reports about some inmate serving a life sentence and going before the parole board for the umpteenth time.

National debt is out of control

Breaking news: Federal spending is out of control. I’m kidding, of course. Spending, deficits and debt have been out of control for years. It’s just that last week we broke yet another record.

The year without a Father’s Day

“This is the time to remember, ‘cause it will not last forever.” — Billy Joel According to the National Retail Federation, Americans will spend a record $16 billion on Father’s Day this year. But how many more decades can the necktie-and-hammer gravy train possibly last?

Efforts to reduce cost of insurance fall flat

Louisiana’s business voice, LABI, as well as the Louisiana Insurance Department each took a huge hit in the waning days of the recent legislative session.

Transgender bathroom case nothing like school desegregation

I was recently watching a cartoon marathon of The Flintstones with some fourth graders, and when the last line of the theme song blared from the TV, a 10-year-old girl looked up at me and said, “Were the Flintstones gay?”

America needs another baby boom

America’s declining birthrate has given me pause. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the number of babies born in the United States in 2018 was the lowest in 32 years, continuing what NBC News calls “a decades-long trend toward fewer and fewer babies being born each year.”

Bill Buckner: One moment didn’t make the man

Bill Buckner was a terrific baseball player. He played 20 years in the Major Leagues, collected 2,175 hits, hit for an average of .289 and won a batting title. The most money Buckner ever earned in a year, according to Baseball Reference, was $785,000.

Struggling with forgiveness

Louisiana Congressman Steve Scalise says he is still struggling over whether to forgive the man who shot him two years ago. “I’ve never, internally, formally forgiven the shooter from the baseball shooting,” he said. “It’s something I’ve struggled with as a Catholic.”

Death penalty is about protecting the innocent

Fifty years ago this summer, Charles Manson went on a killing spree that shocked the nation and was the ghoulish “gold standard” for heinous crimes.