It may be open to debate (but not much), but the prevailing modern philosophy of modern times is that the end justifies the means . . . which translates into “might makes right.” If you don’t agree with that assessment, think about it for a moment. If someone wants something badly enough and is willing to run roughshod over everything and everybody in his or her way to get it, then — if he or she is strong enough to get it — that proves the means used were fully justified, regardless of where the chips fell. It worked; therefore, it was good.
We don’t have anything to add to what President Zelenskyy said, except that adding the Economic Democracy Act to the mix for Ukraine would be an unbeatable combination::
Today we present the first half of our annual news roundup. Someone suggested that we forgo it this year in favor of something much shorter and confined to one week, but we already had this written, so here goes. In any event, the important thing is that we move forward to adopt the Economic Democracy Act, but we’re getting there:
Recently in a discussion about something else entirely a question came up about rights and duties. This is an important topic in the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism, for “personalism” derives from “person,” and “person” — legally speaking — is that which has rights. This is important in the greater scheme of things because it is by exercising rights (especially life, liberty, and private property) that we become “virtuous,” that is, more fully human . . . which, according to Aristotle and other philosophers, is the reason and purpose of life.
JTW Podcast: Robert Ashford on Binary Economics Revisited
Last we had Robert Ashford talking about binary economics on Paula Gloria’s show. This week we have Dr. Ashford again, which helps us understand why the Economic Democracy Act is so important:
For a slight change in pace this week, there a few — very few indications that things could turn around. This does not mean that things will turn around, but that there is a possibility that they could turn around. Of course (you know what’s coming) the possibility would be greater if there would be a strong push to adopt the Economic Democracy Act . . . but one step at a time:
In the previous posting on this subject, we looked at a possible solution to the problem of implementing a monetary standard when the commodity chosen as the standard has different prices in different regions. We proposed that it should be feasible to use the highest price of a Kilowatt hour in the economy, which would have no adverse effect if (and only if) the Economic Democracy Act has been implemented, and all consumers of electricity own the electricity producer(s) in direct proportion to their usage.
Last we had Norman Kurland and Robert Ashford talking about binary economics on Paula Gloria’s show. This week we have Dr. Ashford soloing, but that just means we get a new and different perspective on Louis Kelso’s binary economics, which is the basis of the Economic Democracy Act:
If there is one thing painfully evident from what is going on in the world, it is that few — if any — of the people we call “leaders” have a clue about what is going on in the world. As you might expect from that, they spend most of their time implementing programs and solutions that have never worked, and then spend the rest of their time explaining why they didn’t work and why we need to keep on doing the same thing over and over to get different results. Of course, the one thing they don’t consider is the one thing that has been proven to work. If they actually wanted to be effective, they would adopt the Economic Democracy Act:
In the previous posting on this subject, we looked at what can happen if you impose a uniform monetary standard when the price of the standard is not uniform. Of course, before any standard at all is considered, it is essential that the reserve currency be 100% or at least predominantly asset-backed . . . and “asset” does not include debt issued by the issuer of the reserve currency.
In case you were wondering if the continuing series of podcasts with the two Joes was going to continue, here is the latest installment, talking about what (at least according to Tom Lehrer) we all deeply and sincerely believe in at this time of year . . . money. Of course, if you want to bolster your (financial) faith, you might want to look into the Economic Democracy Act, after listening to the show, or just wait until the next installment:
This week we did something a little unusual, at least for us. Generally, we try to report news consistently, but this past week the news about Federal Reserve Follies was so contradictory that we decided to report the stories as they appeared, even those that contradicted themselves and each other. After all, if the people in charge of the financial system wanted to make sense, they would adopt the Economic Democracy Act: