Free Enterprise in Three Minutes - Episode #12: No, Apple and the NFL Are Not Monopolies

Politicians, the media and more than a few economists rather haphazardly toss around the word “monopoly.” Ray Keating sets the record straight on what a monopoly actually is, and no, Apple, the NFL and Major League Baseball are not monopolies.

Tune in at http://www.buzzsprout.com/155969/707801-episode-12-no-apple-and-the-nfl-are-not-monopolies

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes Podcast - Episode #11: The Economy Is Not a Zero-Sum Game

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes Podcast - Episode #11: The Economy Is Not a Zero-Sum Game

The economy is not like poker, not like a sports game, and not about zero-sum thinking. This point matters because all sorts of bad economic ideas are rooted in mistaken zero-sum thinking, that is, the misguided idea that if one person gains in the economy, another person must lose.

Please tun in at http://www.buzzsprout.com/155969/700723-episode-11-the-economy-is-not-a-zero-sum-game

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes, Episode #10: Profits Aren't Evil

No matter what you might have heard about profits being “evil,” Ray Keating makes clear that is not really the case. Instead, Keating explains the critical roles that both profits and losses play in our economy.

List at http://www.buzzsprout.com/155969/692182-episode-10-profits-aren-t-evil

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes Podcast with Ray Keating, Episode #9: Distributing Resources – Government or the Market?

Ray Keating notes that there basically are two options when it comes to how economies ration or allocate resources – a government-led economy or a market economy. He quickly explains which one makes sense from an economist perspective.

Listen at http://www.buzzsprout.com/155969/685325-episode-9-distributing-resources-government-or-the-market

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes Podcast, Episode #8: What the Heck is Scarcity?

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes Podcast, Episode #8: Ray Keating explains what “scarcity” means in the world of economics; sums up why it matters; and notes that it should not be confused with other terms, like “poverty” or “shortages.”

Listen at Buzzsprout at http://www.buzzsprout.com/155969

Or listen and subscribe at iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/free-enterprise-in-three-minutes-podcast-with-ray-keating/id1349576104

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes: Economics? Not Dismal, But Rather Exciting

Economics? Not Dismal, But Rather Exciting

In the latest episode of the Free Enterprise in Three Minutes Podcast, Ray Keating explains that economics is only dismal when not practiced correctly, such as when political preferences are dressed up as economics. Keating proclaims that economics actually is quite exciting.

Tune in at iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/free-enterprise-in-three-minutes-podcast-with-ray-keating/id1349576104

Or listen at Buzzsprout at http://www.buzzsprout.com/155969/672483-episode-7-economics-not-dismal-but-rather-exciting

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes: The Big 5 Policies for Growth

Episode #6: The Big 5 Policies for Growth - What are the policies that allow economic growth to flourish? Ray Keating highlights the “Big 5” policy or institutional requirements that are essential to allowing economic growth to flourish.

Listen at iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/free-enterprise-in-three-minutes-podcast-with-ray-keating/id1349576104

Or at Buzzsprout at http://www.buzzsprout.com/155969/666862-episode-6-the-big-5-polices-for-growth

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes: Tune In for Quick Answers to Big Questions

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. 
Listen at http://www.buzzsprout.com/155969 or at iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/free-enterprise-in-three-minutes-podcast-with-ray-keating/id1349576104

Free Enterprise in Three Minutes: Why Some Nations Grow and Others Don't

Why do some nations grow and others don't? Ray Keating looks at the true sources of economic growth.

Tune in at Buzzsprout http://www.buzzsprout.com/155969/662926-episode-5-why-some-nations-grow-and-others-don-t

Or, listen and subscribe on iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/free-enterprise-in-three-minutes-podcast-with-ray-keating/id1349576104

The Real Deal on the Trade Deficit

There's a disturbing amount of political blather about the trade deficit these days. How about some common sense economics? Get the real deal on the trade deficit in the latest episode of the Free Enterprise in Three Minutes Podcast with Ray Keating. 

Listen at http://www.buzzsprout.com/155969/656803-episode-4-the-real-deal-on-the-trade-deficit

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.