by Rick Ackerman, Rick's Picks No one ever looks back with nostalgia on Wall Street’s good old days; for in fact, there never were any “good old days.” The stock market was always the same sleazy carnival game that it is today, a hoop-toss rigged to… more »

by Guest Author Rick Ackerman For breathtakingly stupid political ideas and catastrophic “solutions” to America’s biggest problems, it’s hard to beat the New York Times op-ed page. There, joined by such jihadists of the Left as Frank Rich and Maureen D… more »

by Rick Ackerman, Rick's Picks I hadn’t intended to do a “Rick’s Picks Predictions for 2012” because I’m skeptical that anyone could get it right. So many things could go wrong next year that it’s difficult for me to imagine the world muddling through… more »

[In the essay below, Tom Waldenfels, aka “fallingman,” a regular contributor to the Rick’s Picks forum, explains how an America steeped in the ideals of freedom lost its way. A political perversity of the day, he notes, is that one earns the label “progressive” by arguing for more government control over our lives. Is the system too far gone to save? Read on for Tom’s answer. RA]What constitutes progress for us as a species? Is it defined by advancements in science and technology? Can we point to the rise in living standards these advances have made possible and say that’s what progress is all about? Sure, that’s a big part of it, but I’d like to suggest that this kind of visible and easily measurable progress is actually an artifact of an advancement that’s more fundamental and far less appreciated. I’m alluding to the spotty but impressive progress we’ve made over the centuries in relating to each other on a non-violent, consensual basis. more »