News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 22

Admittedly, there is a depressing sameness in the news items this week and the previous weeks, but a lot of that is due to the extreme uncertainty of economic and monetary policy under political regimes existing in the world.  That being the case, we still present some of the more important or at least the least repetitive news items affecting the Just Third Way, many of which could be solved or at least ameliorated by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

Fight Fiercely, Harvard

 Those of you who remember the very early songs by Tom Lehrer will be familiar with the gentlemanly fight song he wrote for his alma mater, Harvard.  If not, well you can listen to it here, if you are (or ah) really anxious to hear it.  That, however, is not the point of today’s posting.

JTW Podcast: What Louis Kelso Knew

Today we present “The Revolutionary Economic Insights of Louis Kelso.”  In this comprehensive exploration of Louis Kelso's economic thought, Patricia Hetter Kelso delves into the dichotomy between thinkers characterized as foxes and hedgehogs, referencing philosopher Isaiah Berlin’s taxonomy.

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 21

 Economic chaos continues to reign supreme.  This will continue to be the case until people realize that something different is possible and push for Congress to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

The End of Private Equity Firms? No Way!

A few years back a member of the CESJ board of directors expressed concern over the Economic Democracy Act and the necessity of shifting new capital formation from past savings to future savings.  There was also the issue of phasing out governments monetizing deficits by emitting bills of credit (the constitutional form of “creating money” out of nothing).

JTW Podcast: Labor’s Great Mistake

The full title of this podcast is “Labor’s Great Mistake: Rethinking Full Employment in a Capitalist Society.”  In this video, we explore Louis O. Kelso's seminal 1960 article, “Labor's Great Mistake: The Struggle for the Toil State.”  In the face of the fixed belief human labor is the only true factor of production and thus a “job” is the only way to gain income, Kelso argues against the conventional wisdom that full employment is an ideal societal goal.

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 20

Although some of the experts seem to be acting as if everything is going to be fine, this week’s news items suggest disaster is in the offing and it’s only a matter of time.  We, of course, think that adopting the Economic Democracy Act: will go a long way to correcting the problem and providing a foundation for genuine sustainable growth:

Where is Pope Leo XIV Coming From?

The election of a new pope has repercussions far beyond the Catholic Church, Christianity, and even all religion.  Especially since the Catholic Church became a truly international organization with the loss of the Papal States in the 19^th century, people of goodwill everywhere look to the head of the Catholic Church as a voice for good, even if they do not always agree with what he says.

JTW Podcast: A Martyr to Economic Justice

Today’s podcast is more than a little different from what we’ve been presenting.  It is an original twelve-and-a-half-minute video about Blessed Pauline Jaricot, a nineteenth century “martyr” to economic justice.  Anticipating the work of Pope Leo XIII which the new pope, Leo XIV, has taken as his guide, Pauline struggled to achieve justice for the working classes of her day.

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 19

While the world situation seems to be getting more surreal by the hour, at least there may be a break coming with the election of a new pope . . . who might be open to hearing about the Economic Democracy Act:

Egocentrism, Tariffs, and the Single Tax, Part IV

Concluding our discussion of tariffs, as we noted previously there are three badly flawed economic principles which many people hold as absolute, unquestioned dogmas.  Two of these flawed principles are general, but applied specifically in the third, regarding tariffs, which we looked at last week.  The principles are:

JTW Podcast: The Case for 100% Dividend Payout

If there is one thing which upsets people enmeshed in the fallacy Louis O. Kelso called “the slavery of [past] savings, it’s the systemic necessity of full dividend payout if Say’s Law of Markets is to be restored.  In this article, Kelso recommended changes such as corporations paying out 100% of earnings as tax-deductible dividends.

Paying out all earnings would force corporations to compete in the market for new capital rather than retain earnings as reserves for expansion — concentrating ownership in fewer and fewer hands, distorting market equilibrium.

The audio-visual presentation was created in “Descript”, using an AI-generated voice for narration. Visit CESJ.org for more information.

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 18

With the political chaos being spread by the current administration in Washington, it is difficult to discern what principles are driving policy decisions — if any.  This makes the case for the adoption of the Economic Democracy Act even more urgent: