News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 26

The stock market, of course, is bouncing around like a rubber ball, President Trump is fretting because manufacturers are leaving the U.S. — which they wouldn’t if the U.S. had a Capital Homestead Act, a rational tax system, and an elastic, asset-backed currency that financed private sector growth instead of government spending — the immigrant “problem” is upsetting people (which it wouldn’t if the U.S. and other countries had a Capital Homestead Act, etc.), and so on.  In other words, business as usual.  What isn’t “business as usual” are the advances we continue to make in promoting the Just Third Way:

The Triumph of the Will

If history has shown us anything, it is that Woodrow Wilson was the wrong man in the wrong place at the wrong time.  At a time when the United States needed a new direction to restore and retain government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” it got an elitist snob with a vision limited by his own ego.  When the world needed the U.S. to take the lead and douse the flames that led to World War I, Wilson retreated into isolationism until the situation he helped create got so bad it could no longer be ignored.

And What IS Money?

Back in 1912 people were demanding reform of the financial system as a result of the Panics of 1893 and 1907.  The problem was that few people demanding reform had a good grasp of what money actually is.  Having looked into why we think Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) does not give a good — or even coherent — definition of money, today we will look at a Just Third Way understanding of money.

The Presidential Campaign of 1912

As we saw in the last posting on this subject, the 1912 presidential campaign was hotly contested, with five different parties fielding candidates.  These were the usual Republican and Democrat Parties, but also the Progressive Party, the Prohibition Party, and two socialist parties, the Socialist Party of America and the Socialist Labor Party.

Just Third Way Podcast No. 24

This week on the Just Third Way Podcast we have a panel discussion on the Capital Homesteading concept.  The CESJ core group gets together and fields some insightful questions and comments from your host, Dave Hamill —

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 25

It might be something of a paradox, but it is something to consider.  If every country in the world had a “Capital Homesteading” program or the equivalent, it is possible that there would be more jobs created than there would be people to fill them.  Instead of discouraging immigration, countries would be encouraging it in order to get enough workers.  At the same time, countries would also encourage people to remain at home in order not to decrease the workforce and discourage emigration.  All of a sudden, countries would be competing to see which one could offer the best incentives to come and stay in their country.  It’s at least something to think about:

Democrats and Friends in the 1912 Campaign

In the previous posting on this subject, we discovered that the Republican Party had split into reactionary and progressive factions.  The reactionary faction, the “Old Guard” Republicans, were the social and economic élite who had come into the Grand Old Party following the Civil War when it was the only game in town, the Democratic Party having been discredited.

Is Government Money Real Money?

In the previous posting on this subject, we took a look at what is meant in Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) by “pure money.”  We discovered that “pure money” doesn’t mean what one might expect from the Just Third Way concept of “pure credit,” but is something similar in form to the Just Third Way idea, while being pretty much its exact opposite.

Meet the Republican Candidates . . . for 1912

As we saw in our previous discussion on this subject, the 1912 presidential campaign was blessed — or cursed — with an abundance of parties and candidates, including a few nobody remembers.  There was only one previous campaign of national importance in United States history that even came close to the variety of candidates and positions in the public eye.

The Just Third Way Podcast

This week on the Just Third Way Podcast, Host Dave Hamill interviews CESJ intern Sasha Miltreiger from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.  Sasha, a political science major, talks about how she became interested in the Just Third Way and selected CESJ for her internship, joining a number of other very well qualified interns that CESJ has had over the years:

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 24

Despite what is normally a slow period for news, some interesting things are happening around the world in the Just Third Way network and beyond.  These range from minor matters such as meetings, to important breakthroughs in historical research on the development of the concept of social justice.  There is also a bit or two on the need to work for a more equitable distribution of the world’s wealth, but without harming the rights of anyone:

Panics, Populism, and Progressivism

The United States presidential campaign of 1912 was, all things considered, unique in American history.

Pure Money

Last week we finished off our look at what was meant in Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) by the claim that money is a creature of law rather than a commodity.  We concluded that “creature of law” in MMT did not mean consistent with the natural law and the legal definition of money as anything that can be accepted in settlement of a debt.  Rather, it meant that money is a special creation by the government . . . which pretty much negates the real definition of money.

Freedom and Justice for All

In 1647 Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) and his son-in-law Henry Ireton (1611-1651) had a problem.  They had succeeded in their revolution but had no real idea what to do with their victory.  They wanted to impose Presbyterianism but had no program of political reform.  Having no plan, they did nothing.

The Just Third Way Podcast

This week on the Just Third Way, Host Dave Hamill again pushes the envelope a little by giving a brief rundown of “Things You May Not Know About the Just Third Way.”  As Dave is both entertaining and informative, you’re sure to enjoy this episode:

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 23

As the summer days get longer (depending on when your summer begins), so do some of the news items affecting the Just Third Way and the philosophy (so to speak) of economic personalism.  This would seem to be appropriate as the world situation becomes more critical:

Theodore Roosevelt and the Crisis

In our previous posting on this subject — the failure of the progressive movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to address the issue of widespread ownership of capital — we noted that because of a quarrel between Roosevelt and one of his “trust busters,” Judge Peter S. Grosscup, the ownership issue was sidelined during Roosevelt’s administration.  It never became a part of the progressive platform, despite ongoing efforts by Grosscup to focus people’s attention on the critical need to spread out ownership of America’s productive capacity.

Money as a Creature of Law

Last week we delved into Modern Monetary Theory, or “MMT” as it is known, based on Keynesian economics, which is in turn derived from the “chartalism” of Georg Friedrich Knapp, also known as “the State Theory of Money.”  As we noted, the essential principles of MMT are:

Why Not Ownership?

Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. described himself as a “Lincoln Republican.”  That term means pretty much anything someone wants today, but back in Roosevelt’s day it meant something specific: government of the people, by the people, and for the people.  When most people owned a small farm or business or were wage workers socially and economically not too different from owners and managers, society was more egalitarian.

The Just Third Way Hour Podcast

On this week's Just Third Way Hour, Host Dave Hamill interviews Gary Reber, who has been a supporter of the Just Third Way for a long time.  Gary is very active in the social media, and has a large number of articles and postings, most (if not all) of which relate to the Just Third Way:

News from the Network, Vol. 11, No. 22

With everyone obsessed with the effects of bad monetary and economic decisions, very few people (if any of them) are paying attention to what is causing the problem in the first place: lack of productive capacity on the part of ordinary people.  If that can be fixed, then a major obstacle to the establishment and maintenance of a just and sustainable economy has been removed.  Unfortunately, that is not what the powers-that-be have been busy doing: