Big Benefits for Small Business from NAFTA

My piece on big benefits for small businesses from NAFTA 

Go to http://sbecouncil.org/2018/02/28/nafta-big-benefits-for-small-businesses/

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes: Protectionism Sucks!

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes with Ray Keating podcast - Tune in and find out why protectionism sucks in a mere three minutes!

Go to http://www.buzzsprout.com/155969/651383-episode-3-protectionism-sucks

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes: Free Trade Rocks!

Tune in to the second episode of the Free Enterprise in Three Minutes podcast. Ray Keating explains why free trade rocks!

Tune in at http://www.buzzsprout.com/155969/649162-episode-2-free-trade-rocks

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes Podcast Launched!

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes is a podcast meant to provide three-minute (give or take a few seconds) answers to important questions about free enterprise, the economy, business and related issues. Ray Keating is an economist, columnist, author and podcaster who cuts through the economic mumbo-jumbo, tosses aside the economic mistakes often made in the media and in political circles, and quickly gets at economic reality. Who says free enterprise and economics have to be mind-numbing? That's not the case with Free Enterprise in Three Minutes with Ray Keating.

The first episode? "Is Free Enterprise About Greed?"

Tune in at http://www.buzzsprout.com/155969

Government's Incentives to Spend

My latest Real Clear Markets column - incentives inside government push for more spending and higher taxes. Go to

https://www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/2018/02/01/its_naive_to_assume_salt_changes_will_reduce_state_spending_103129.html

Kirkus Reviews Loves LIONHEARTS

LIONHEARTS: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL received a big thumbs-up review from Kirkus Reviews:

“In this seventh entry of a series, terrorists attacking Christians in the United States must contend with the proficient recurring protagonist armed with Scripture and a Glock… By now, fans of Keating’s (Wine Into Water, 2016, etc.) thriller series will anticipate skillfully drawn characters. [Stephen] Grant, for one, is a considerate husband and unquestionably capable in action… The narrative’s swift momentum is retained even during profound moments, like a scene in which terrorists debate their cause after murdering two men that’s intercut with clergymen reciting biblical passages. Though sequences of Grant or [Paige] Caldwell and her team engaged in combat are exhilarating, the story’s brimming with everyday heroes. One political figure, for example, is rescued by a neighbor whose courage is measured by the hefty Desert Eagle gun he brandishes. First-rate supporting characters complement the sprightly pastor, who remains impeccable in this thriller.”

Read the entire review at https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ray-keating/lionhearts2/

LIONHEARTS: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL Has Arrived!

LIONHEARTS: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL by Ray Keating is here! It’s the seventh thriller featuring the onetime Navy SEAL, former CIA operative, and current Lutheran pastor. 

In LIONHEARTS: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL by Ray Keating, war has arrived on American soil, with Islamic terrorists using new tactics. Few are safe, including Christians, politicians, and the media. Pastor Stephen Grant taps into his past with the Navy SEALS and the CIA to help wage a war of flesh and blood, ideas, history, and beliefs. This is about defending both the U.S. and Christianity.

Lutheran Book Review says: “I miss Tom Clancy. Keating fills that void for me.” Keating also has been called “a great novelist” by the host of KFUO’s “BookTalk” radio, and MURDERER’S ROW won the 2015 Book of the Year award from KFUO radio. 

LIONHEARTS: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL is available in trade paperback from Amazon.com at https://www.amazon.com/dp/1548964182/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1504126067&sr=8-2&keywords=lionhearts+by+keating

Signed copies can be ordered at www.raykeatingonline.com. 

This thriller also can be purchased and downloaded for the Kindle at Amazon.com. Go to https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074RZN1V6?ref_=pe_2427780_160035660

PRE-ORDER Signed Copies of LIONHEARTS: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL

PRE-ORDER Signed Copies of LIONHEARTS: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL now at a Sale Price!

War and Terrorism on American Soil in Award-Winning Novelist Ray Keating’s New Thriller LIONHEARTS: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL

Stephen Grant, Former Navy SEAL, Onetime CIA Operative and Current Lutheran Pastor, is Back in the Fight

Go to www.raykeatingonline.com. LIONHEARTS will be shipped just prior to September 5th publican date!

Sale on All 7 Signed Pastor Stephen Grant Novels.  Order all of the Pastor Stephen Grant novels, and you effectively get a signed LIONHEARTS for free! 

In LIONHEARTS: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL by Ray Keating, war has arrived on American soil, with Islamic terrorists using new tactics. Few are safe, including Christians, politicians, and the media. Pastor Stephen Grant taps into his past with the Navy SEALS and the CIA to help wage a war of flesh and blood, ideas, history, and beliefs. This is about defending both the U.S. and Christianity.

With action on the churches, home, media and political fronts, LIONHEARTS: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL ranks as a breathtaking, edge-of-your-seat thriller. Tragedy, justice, faith, love, friendship, violence, death and loss, hatred, courage, commitment and patriotism are brought to life for the reader. As with his earlier novels, Keating also serves up fascinating characters and relationships, humor, and crisp dialogue.

Keating’s previous thrillers/mysteries – WINE INTO WATER: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL, MURDERER’S ROW: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL, THE RIVER: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL, AN ADVENT FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL, ROOT OF ALL EVIL? A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL and WARRIOR MONK: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL – have received widespread praise. For example, Kirkus Reviews has said the following:

On WINE INTO WATER: “A first-rate mystery makes this a series standout…”

On MURDERER’S ROW: “Action fans will find plenty to love here, from gunfights and murder sprees to moral dilemmas.”

On THE RIVER: “A gritty, action-stuffed, well-considered thriller with a gun-toting clergyman.” 

Keating also has been called “a great novelist” by the host of KFUO’s “BookTalk” radio, and MURDERER’S ROW won the 2015 Book of the Year award from KFUO radio.  And Lutheran Book Review declared, “I miss Tom Clancy. Keating fills that void for me.”

Kirkus Reviews Big Thumbs Up for WINE INTO WATER

Kirkus Reviews gives a big thumbs up for Ray Keating's WINE INTO WATER: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL:

It was declared in the review:

"The recurring protagonist shares the spotlight with many characters who appeared in preceding novels. This narrative approach, however, proves beneficial. To begin with, the story, though boasting the series' now-prerequisite action sequences, shifts most of its attention to the mystery. Keating establishes genuine suspects: seems all winemakers, from the respected to the dubious, are under attack, so those culpable aren't easily detectable. Grant undoubtedly shines in confrontations with baddies as well as lighter subplots: scenes behind the pulpit and his visible awkwardness whenever Caldwell and his wife, Jennifer, are together. But it's the search for killers that makes the biggest impact, and the pastor can't take full credit; it's a team effort, with characters (i.e., Grant's old CIA pals) that are just as essential.
     "A first-rate mystery makes this a series standout, even if the titular protagonist splits his hero status with others."              - Kirkus Reviews

Read the entire review here.

Highly Recommend Amazon's The Man in the High Castle

I actually just re-watched the first season of The Man in the High Castle, which runs on Amazon.com. I highly recommend it.

It's rare to say that a television series is better than the book on which it's based, but that is clearly the case here. After closing the book, I felt frustrated, while the end of the first season of the show left me longing for much more.

The story and characters are incredibly compelling, and there is much to ponder about how people react to, rebel against, or comply with the varied evils of totalitarianism.

This Amazon.com production ranks as a television series at its finest. I very much look forward to the forthcoming second season (available on December 16), and will, no doubt, find the time to binge watch it.

New Thriller from Award-Winning Novelist Ray Keating Titled “Wine Into Water: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel”

Former CIA Operative and Current Pastor Takes on Wine Counterfeiters, Seeks Justice, and Embraces Forgiveness

Long Island, NY – Who knew the wine business could be sordid and violent? But that’s what happens when infiltrated by counterfeiters. A pastor, once was a Navy SEAL and CIA operative, is pulled into action to help unravel a mystery involving wine fakes, murder and revenge. WINE INTO WATER: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL is Ray Keating’s sixth novel.

Along with his former CIA colleagues and the FBI, Grant is called on to seek justice and take on evil, while embracing forgiveness and staying rooted in his calling as a pastor.

In WINE INTO WATER, Keating not only serves up fine wine accompanied by some excellent food, but also a compelling mystery, interesting characters, action, adventure, fascinating relationships, humor, international intrigue, weakness, strength, doubt, forgiveness and faith.

Keating has been called “a great novelist” by the host of “BookTalk” radio. His previous thriller, MURDERER’S ROW: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL, won the 2015 Book of the Year award from KFUO radio. Kirkus Reviews heaped praise on the book, noting, “Action fans will find plenty to love here, from gunfights and murder sprees to moral dilemmas.”

Discover Pastor Stephen Grant and his world of intrigue, faith, action, love and murder.

Amazon.com reviewers compare his thrillers to the works of Clancy, Ludlum, Grisham, Cussler, Griffin and Morrell.

WINE INTO WATER: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL is available in trade paperback from Amazon.com at

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1515274950/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1477252255&sr=1-2&keywords=wine+into+water+by+keating

This thriller also can be purchased and downloaded for the Kindle at

https://www.amazon.com/Wine-Into-Water-Pastor-Stephen-ebook/dp/B01MCT217H/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1477252202&sr=1-1&keywords=wine+into+water+by+keating

Keating’s previous books include MURDERER’S ROW: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL, THE RIVER: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL, AN ADVENT FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL, ROOT OF ALL EVIL? A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL and WARRIOR MONK: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL. In addition to being a novelist, Keating is an economist, entrepreneur, a longtime adjunct professor, and a former, 20-plus-year newspaper columnist with Newsday, Long Island Business News and the New York City Tribune.

Review copies, interviews for the media, and author appearances are available upon request.

Contact: Ray Keating

Phone: 631-909-1122

E-mail: raykeating@keatingreports.com

PastorStephenGrant.com

Pre-Order the Kindle Version of Ray Keating’s New Thriller WINE INTO WATER: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL

Pre-Order the Kindle Version of Ray Keating’s New Thriller WINE INTO WATER: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL. 

Order now and the book will be delivered to your Kindle on October 27^th! The paperback will be available on October 27^th as well! 

Blood, wine, sin, justice and forgiveness…

Who knew the wine business could be so sordid and violent? That’s what happens when it's infiltrated by counterfeiters. 

A pastor, once a Navy SEAL and CIA operative, is pulled into action to help unravel a mystery involving fake wine, murder and revenge. Stephen Grant is called to take on evil, while staying rooted in his life as a pastor.

WINE INTO WATER is the sixth thriller in the Pastor Stephen Grant series penned by award-winning novelist Ray Keating.

https://www.amazon.com/Wine-Into-Water-Pastor-Stephen-ebook/dp/B01MCT217H/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1476324239&sr=1-2&keywords=ray+keating

Ray Keating's New Novel Coming Soon!

Big Announcement! Get ready, the new Pastor Stephen Grant novel by Ray Keating is coming very soon!

Trump’s Huge Recession

by Ray Keating

Way back in 1970, the late Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton Friedman wrote, “I have been impressed time and again by the schizophrenic character of many businessmen. They are capable of being extremely farsighted and clearheaded in matters that are internal to their businesses. They are incredibly shortsighted and muddleheaded in matters that are outside their business but affect the possible survival of business in general.”

This phenomenon has only spread over the past 45-plus years. We now are constantly berated by corporate executives and high-profile investors saying things about the economy and public policy that make absolutely no economic sense. These leaders in business turn out to be economic illiterates.

Unfortunately, one of these economic illiterate businessmen just happens to be leading the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. Of course, I speak of businessman and reality TV star Donald Trump.

It’s not easy figuring out how Trump came to rise and stay atop the GOP field. But to a significant degree, the Trump train keeps chugging along due to the fuel of populism. Specifically, Trump has played on or ginned up people’s fears, in particular, irrational fears of foreigners. After all, Trump is the guy who is going to fix “bad trade deals,” apparently by imposing massive tariffs on products from nations with which we run trade deficits, like Mexico, China and Japan. Trump also plans to create a “deportation force” to move 11-12 million illegal immigrants out of the nation.

While this might be classic populist politics, it’s also classically wrongheaded populist economics. Trump misses simple economic facts.

For example, in the U.S., periods of higher economic growth usually coincide with shrinking trade surpluses or mounting trade deficits, while economic slowdowns and recessions coincide with declines in trade deficits. The U.S. trade deficit shrank dramatically during the 2007-2009 recession, declined during the slowdown and recession in 1990-91, and during the economic woes of 1979 to 1982, the trade deficit not only declined, but shifted to a surplus during two of those years. Indeed, the surest way to “cure” a trade deficit is with a recession.

For good measure, the last time the U.S. went down the path of protectionism, it did not turn out well, to say the least. As a result of protectionist tariff measures passed in 1921 and 1922, and, most egregiously, the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930, trade declined. Most egregious, the Smoot-Hawley measure triggered the Great Depression. It took decades for trade to regain previous levels.

Make no mistake, free trade – that is, reducing governmental barriers and costs to trade – is a positive for economic growth; for increased opportunity for U.S. entrepreneurs, small businesses and workers; as well as for expanding choices and reducing costs for U.S. consumers.

And trade is increasingly important to the U.S. economy. From 2000 to 2015, for example, the growth in real U.S. exports equaled 22.5 percent of the growth in real GDP, and the expansion in real total trade (i.e., exports plus imports) came in at 41.6 percent of real GDP growth. Also, consider that in 1950, U.S. exports equaled 4.2 percent of GDP, and imports registered 4 percent, while in 2015, exports had jumped to 12.6 percent of GDP, and imports to 15.5 percent of the U.S. economy.

Donald Trump misses all of this, apparently.

As for immigration, few disagree that the current system, which allowed for 11-12 million people to be in the nation illegally, needs to be fixed. Indeed, respect for the rule of law demands immigration reform. At the same time, it must be recognized that most immigrants – both legal and illegal – come to this nation seeking a better life, and they contribute as workers, business owners and consumers. For good measure, immigrants also benefit the economy by overwhelmingly doing work that is complementary to the native born.

Given these economic realities, the Trump agenda of tariffs and deportation would inflict serious harm on the U.S. economy.

On trade, American Action Forum, a free enterprise group, has estimated that Trump’s plan for imposing significant tariffs on imports from China and Mexico would hit U.S. consumers with $250 billion in annual costs.

For good measure, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce has projected that the Trump tariffs on China and Mexico would bring about a significant recession: “The U.S. recession would set in within the first year under Trump’s proposed trade policies, which include a 35 percent tariff on imports from Mexico and a 45 percent tax on goods coming in from China. Over the next three years, the U.S. economy would shrink by 4.6 percent and the unemployment rate would nearly double to 9.5 percent.”

As for the Trump – as well as Senator Ted Cruz – deportation agenda, the story for the economy gets even worse. The American Action Forum offers the following points and estimates:

• To deport all illegal immigrants in the nation in two years, as Trump proposes, the federal taxpayer costs would be massive. These would include federal immigration apprehension personnel increasing from 4,844 positions to 90,582 positions; the number of immigration detention beds jumping from 34,000 to 348,831; immigration courts rising from 58 to 1,316; and the number of federal attorneys legally processing undocumented immigrants increasing from 1,430 to 32,445.

• As for the economic costs, they are even more frightening. AAF reports: “The result is a sudden and deep recession similar to what the United States recently experienced during the Great Recession. Let’s say that full immigration enforcement starts at the beginning of 2017 and the U.S. government successfully removes all undocumented immigrants by the end of 2018. At the end of 2018, the labor force would be 6.4 percent smaller than if the government had not removed those immigrants. Relative to CBO baseline projections, the labor force would decrease by 10.3 million workers. As a result, the labor force would fall to its lowest level since 2006. In addition, the labor force participation rate would fall from about 62.3 percent to 60.7 percent, the lowest level since the 1970s. The steep decline in the labor force would cause the economy to decline sharply. At the end of 2018, the economy would be 5.7 percent smaller than it would be if the government did not remove all undocumented immigrants. For purposes of comparison, note that the decline in real GDP during the Great Recession was quite similar – 6.3 percent. This suggests that real GDP would be about $1 trillion lower in 2018 than CBO’s baseline estimate, wiping out all economic growth that would have occurred during the previous three years.”

The most likely outcome of the Trump tariff and deportation agenda? A huge recession.

None of this should be surprising to anyone who understands the economics and history of both trade and immigration.

But maybe Trump has an excuse. After all, his business career seems to be best known for four high-profile business bankruptcies in a span of 18 years. Milton Friedman was bewildered by businessmen being “farsighted and clearheaded” in their own businesses but “shortsighted and muddleheaded” on matters outside their business. It can be argued that Trump is shortsighted and muddleheaded on matters both inside and outside his businesses.

______________

Mr. Keating is an economist and novelist who writes on a wide range of topics. His Pastor Stephen Grant novels have received considerable acclaim, including The River: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel being a finalist for KFUO radio’s Book of the Year 2014, and Murderer’s Row: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel winning Book of the Year 2015.

The Pastor Stephen Grant Novels are available at Amazon…

Murderer’s Row: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

The River: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

An Advent for Religious Liberty: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

Root of All Evil? A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

Warrior Monk: A Pastor Stephen Grant Novel

What's Being Said About Ray Keating's Thrillers?

A Lutheran pastor, former CIA, and onetime Navy SEAL stands at the heart of Ray Keating’s exciting and thoughtful Pastor Stephen Grant novels.

Not only does the host of KFUO radio’s BookTalk call Keating “a great novelist,” but Keating’s latest thriller, MURDERER’S ROW: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL, was named KFUO’s “Book of the Year 2015.” And Kirkus Reviews says, “Action fans will find plenty to love here, from gunfights and murder sprees to moral dilemmas.”

For good measure, THE RIVER: A PASTOR STEPHEN GRANT NOVEL was a “Book of the Year” finalist in 2014. Regarding THE RIVER, Kirkus Reviews declares, “A gritty, action-stuffed, well-considered thriller with a gun-toting clergyman.”

There’s much more, including…

• From a Washington Times review of THE RIVER written by a pastor and former CIA officer: “What Ian Fleming's 007 series has probably done for ex-MI-6 agents and Tom Clancy has done for retired CIA officers, Mr. Keating has done for the minority of former CIA agents who have served their country by working in the intelligence community, but now wish to serve God.”

• A Touchstone magazine review of MURDERER’S ROW says: “This is a fun read, though the embedded theology is real and salutary. There is death and life, adultery and commitment, friendship and betrayal, violence and victory over violence… Perhaps the best part of the book for the reviewer is that the clergy are good at helping people bring Christ into their vocations.”

• Marvin Olasky, editor-in-chief of WORLD magazine, lists Ray Keating among his top 10 Christian novelists. WARRIOR MONK also ranked as a Top 10 book on a WORLD magazine June 2013 list.

• On WARRIOR MONK, an Amazon reviewer observed, “Most Christian fiction leaves a lot to be desired. This book will appeal to non-Christians as well. Warrior Monk is about real people with real desires, emotions and feelings. I am anxious to read the other books in the series. Readers won't be disappointed.”

• And Lutheran Book Review says: “I miss Tom Clancy. Keating fills that void for me.”

Get all five of Keating’s thrillers – MURDERER’S ROW, THE RIVER, AN ADVENT FOR RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, ROOT OF ALL EVIL? and WARRIOR MONK – at Amazon in paperback or for the Kindle.

http://www.amazon.com/Murderers-Row-Pastor-Stephen-Grant/dp/1514137615/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1451917243&sr=1-1