Grant Takes Command

Hiram Ulysses Simpson Grant (1822-1885) may not have been the worst president in U.S. history, but both his administrations set a standard of corruption that would be hard to beat.  When he was asked to run for president in 1868, he was initially very doubtful . . . and he probably should have gone with his gut reaction.

“Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion”

On the morning of October 29, 1884, the Republican candidate for president of the United States, James Gillespie Blaine (1830-1893), attended a rally of Protestant clergy at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City.  The afternoon was to be devoted to a final visit to the city’s Irish neighborhoods to clinch the Catholic votes Blaine seemed certain to get, and on which he relied to secure his election.

News from the Network, Vol. 10, No. 04

We rather like the way actor Tom Hanks put it.  We hope President Trump does so well that we’d vote for him for a second term.  That being said, however, it is painfully obvious that if Trump wants to do well, he desperately needs the Just Third Way, both to “Make America Great Again,” and to repair past efforts that, regardless how well-intentioned, didn’t quite make the grade.  So here’s our take on this week’s news items:

The More Things Change. . .

It comes as a complete surprise to many people today to find out that one of the most burning issues of the latter half of the nineteenth century in U.S. politics was “the Catholic Question.”  The fact that not even textbooks in Catholic schools mention this, or give any hint that something was amiss, may be a symptom of just what is wrong with both Academia and politics today.  After all, if you don’t know why something is the way it is, how can you expect to come up with a just or even workable solution?

Panic on the Street

. . . on Wall Street, that is.  It seems that the “Baby Boomers,” who have an estimated $10 trillion in tax-deferred savings accounts according to the Wall Street Journal (“Boomers to Start Mandatory 401(k) Exit,” 01/17/17, A1, A10), are going to have to start receiving the mandatory distributions required under law in the year in which someone turns age 70½.

The Problem of Wealth, IV: The Just Third Way Solution

The problem as Louis O. Kelso saw it was that technology was becoming so productive and cost-effective that it was rapidly displacing labor from the production process.  Aside from all the other problems this caused, this meant that people who formerly were able to gain an adequate income from selling their labor were no longer able to do so.

The Problem of Wealth, III: The Fabian Failure

Last Thursday we gave a summary of the capitalist solution to global poverty . . . which bears a striking resemblance to the socialist solution.  Both bear a striking resemblance to what Hilaire  Belloc called the Servile State in his 1912 book with that title.

News from the Network, Vol. 10, No. 03

You mean you’re reading today’s news items instead of protesting, counter-protesting, or watching the political antics on television? . . . There might be hope for you yet!  Seriously, the new administration represents a new opportunity to implement the Just Third Way that would empower ordinary people instead of the State or a private sector élite.  This can be done by making all Americans, not just the abstract America, great again:

The Problem of Wealth, II: The Capitalist Solution

In a sense, this posting might be considered a trifle redundant.  That of a few days ago covered the agenda of the World Economic Forum currently meeting in the resort town of Davos, Switzerland.  Briefly, the discussions center on two issues in the struggle to find a viable solution to the growing problem of poverty.  These are, one, how to create jobs, and, two, how to train people to fill those jobs.

The Problem of Wealth, I: The Socialist Solution

The word is out.  Eight people in the world own more wealth than half the human race combined.  Given Adam Smith’s first principle of economics (“Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production”), that means less than a dozen people each have the potential to consume 430,000,000,000 times what it takes to support one individual at a minimum — give or take a few million.

Jobs, Training, and the World Economic Forum

The World Economic Forum starts today in Davos, Switzerland, and will go through Friday, January 20, Inauguration Day in the United States.   The Forum, which describes itself as being a unique advocate for public-private partnerships, has been meeting since 1971.

Just Third Way Home Economics, II: Optimal is Beautiful

Last Thursday we looked at the reason why Keynesian economics divides the science into “micro” and “macro”: to justify crazy stuff that no one with any common sense would accept if it wasn’t presented to him or her by people hiding their pointy heads behind Ph.D.s . . . which could easily stand for, “Pointy-headed Dunces.”

News from the Network, Vol. 10, No. 02

The New Year is off to a good start, as you can see from this week’s news items.  They illustrate the importance of outreach — and persistence (as well as persistence and persistence, the first, second, and third keys to gaining acceptance of revolutionary new ideas):

Just Third Way Home Economics, I: Micro v. Macro

Back in 1984 Father William Ferree, S.M., Ph.D., Dr. Norman Kurland, and a number of others came together in a cafeteria at the American University in Washington, DC, and organized the interfaith Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ).  From the first — possibly because of the cafeteria connection — CESJ events have almost always included food and drink.  There has even been talk of putting together a collection of recipes one day.

The Real Fix for Corporate Tricks

When a Harvard professor who also happens to be a past president of Harvard, a former Treasury Secretary, and economic advisor to President Obama speaks, it’s probably a good idea to listen.  The words of Lawrence Summers carry weight.  They have what the Romans used to call gravitas.  He is Somebody, in italics and with a capital S.

The Anti-Francis Effect, II: Leo’s Vision

Yesterday we looked at how so many people seem to be upset with Pope Francis.  Neither the liberals nor the conservatives seem to be getting their way.  One thing we discovered, however, is that none of this is particularly new.  It’s all happened before, with Pope Leo XIII, with whom Pope Francis has a number of similarities.

The Anti-Francis Effect, I: Leo & Francis

It would be funny if it wasn’t so tragic — and, frankly, silly.  With increasing regularity, headlines about Pope Francis appear that seem calculated to shock Catholics and non-Catholics, believers and non-believers alike.  FRANCIS FRENZY FULMINATES FAITHFUL!  PAPAL PRONOUNCEMENTS PROMOTE PONTIFICAL PERVERSION!  VATICAN VEILS VILE VEHEMANCE!”

News from the Network, Vol. 10, No. 01

The New Year is off to a good start, as you can see from this week’s news items.  They illustrate the importance of outreach — and persistence (as well as persistence and persistence, the first, second, and third keys to gaining acceptance of revolutionary new ideas):

Crisis of Reason, II: Why is This Important?

Yesterday we looked at the problem that the Catholic Church (and other faiths) are having retaining young people.  It’s not that they’re converting to other religions or denominations.  They’re just sort of drifting away from religion altogether, some of them persuading themselves that they are “spiritual, but not religious” (whatever that means), others just not wanting to bother with all that jazz.

Crisis of Reason, I: What’s the Problem?

 “It’s almost a crisis of faith,” according to Dr. Mark Gray, a senior research associate at the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University.  “It” is a massive migration of people out of the Catholic Church at an early age, mostly between the ages of ten and seventeen.  Most attribute their loss of faith vaguely to the alleged conflict between faith and reason.

Whence Cometh This Demand?, V: Labor AND Capital

As we saw yesterday, ordinary people who own no capital and have only their labor to sell are, in a modern industrial economy, ground between the upper and nether millstones of inability to produce enough with labor in competition with advancing technology to meet the consumption needs of themselves and those dependent on them, and an even greater inability to acquire and possess the technology that is making it virtually impossible for them to meet their own needs through their own efforts.

Whence Cometh This Demand?, IV: Labor v. Capital

Last week — last year, in fact — we looked at how, if everybody who consumes, produces, and everybody who produces, consumes, things would work a lot better in the world.  That’s because Say’s Law of Markets has four things going for it that most people don’t look at.  And they are?