The Top 5: Wrecking ball candidate, online shopping, the best economic recovery in the world
Welcome to the latest edition of the Top 5 articles we’ve read this week. Each week, we read dozens of articles in the hope we find essays and reporting that speak to big ideas, trends, future looks, and incredible human stories. We hope you enjoy our list, and do always let us know if you have a suggestion or a recommendation!
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The Spirit of Our Politics: Spiritual Formation and the Renovation of Public Life is available now!
Here is a sampling of some interviews and reviews from this past week:
Christianity Today’s “excellent” review of the book
Relevant Magazine’s excerpt from the book
Conversatio, a conversation with the Martin Institute’s Michael Di Fuccia
That Sounds Fun Podcast with Annie F. Downs
Faith Angle Podcast with Josh Good and Tim Alberta
Craft & Character Podcast, a great listen for pastors
The Top 5 articles for your week:
“Falling inflation, rising growth give U.S. the world’s best recovery” (Washington Post)
Because David Lynch suggests that DC might be forming a new playbook for how the US deals with future economic strife.
Washington’s success in reviving the economy also suggests a new approach to future downturns, one that relies more on the government’s power of the purse and less on the Federal Reserve’s control of the cost of credit.
“‘Our System Needs to Be Broken, and He Is the Man to Do It’” (Politico Magazine)
Because Michael Kruse finds an aspect of a Trump voter that may be different than the typical narrative of the last 8 year: rather than Trump as just the “fighter,” he is the “wrecking ball.”
So Johnson’s journey…to how he says he’s set to vote this week — a four-and-a-half-month turnabout from literally wanting to “pull us back together” to literally wanting to “pull it apart” — offers as instructive an insight as I’ve yet encountered into how on earth we are where we are.
“Keep Your Money Close” (Plough Quarterly)
Because Jane Clark Scharl explores the instant gratification of online shopping.
When we acquire so many of our goods through one or two massive suppliers via the internet, we’re losing the experience of a basic human interaction: the tie of trade. Trade is more than a transaction. Selling is more than supplying. And money is more than a ticket to getting stuff. Scripture spends a seemingly inordinate amount of time on economic issues. Money and trade permeate even the teachings of Christ, who uses basic economics – trade, price, investments, etc. – in eleven of his parables to help his listeners understand the kingdom of heaven.
“Welding Won’t Make You Rich” (The Atlantic)
Because Paul Tough asks: why is welding held up as a very lucrative alternative to a college degree?
The third possible reason for the ubiquity of the wealthy-welder myth is less benign: If we are able to persuade ourselves that there are plenty of lucrative opportunities available for young people like Orry who didn’t much like high school, it absolves us of our shared responsibility to address the reality of his limited economic prospects. And if you are able to define welding training, in the public mind, as something separate from college, rather than what it actually is—a college major like any other—it provides a way to distract public attention from policy shifts that have made it more difficult for young people like Orry to reach the middle class. Over the past decade, as the make-believe story of the rich welder has grown and spread, public spending on the community colleges where actual young people are trying to learn actual welding has shrunk—in some states, quite drastically so.
“The Menu Trends That Define Dining Right Now” (NYT)
Because Priya Krishna, Tanya Sichynsky and Umi Syam argue that restaurant menus are “a time capsule of culture, reflecting the comforts, habits, flavors and values of an era.”
ICYMI on Wear We Are:
The Morning Five: January 22, 2024
The Morning Five: January 23, 2024
The Morning Five: January 24, 2024
The Morning Five: January 25, 2024
Episode 96: Spiritual disciplines, Ruby Bridges, and The Spirit of Our Politics