Some Thoughts for the Present and Future

 Pope Leo XIV, the newly elected leader of the Catholic Church, faces many challenges in applying Catholic social doctrine to solving today’s problems such as the growing wealth, income and power gap in every nation; widespread poverty; destruction of the environment; conflict-driven immigration; growth of State power; the decay of families, and many others.

JTW Podcast: Why Are So Many Americans Poor?

 Today’s podcast delves into the causes of poverty in America, as examined by Louis O. Kelso and Patricia Hetter.  The discussion debunks common misconceptions about why people are poor, such as lack of education, laziness, or living in impoverished areas, and argues that the main reason is the lack of accumulated wealth and productive capital.

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 24

 This week’s news items are a replay of past weeks that suggest the only way to solve a lot of the problems affecting the economy is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

The Issue is Power

 Everyone needs power.  It’s essential if you want to take control of your own life and become virtuous, as Aristotle pointed out.  The problem is how to get it legitimately and how to use it to control your own life and not others.

JTW Podcast: The Who . . . What . . . Why

Today we present a very brief overview of the career of Louis Orth Kelso, the lawyer-economist and corporate attorney who developed the theory of binary economics.  This podcast, “The Revolutionary Ideas of Louis O. Kelso: ESOPs, CSOPs, and Binary Economics” dives into Kelso’s groundbreaking work which transformed economic theory with his invention of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and Consumer Stock Ownership Plan (CSOP).

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 23

 Admittedly there is a depressing sameness about the news items these days, but with a little hard work and a lot of luck (or maybe the other way around) we might be able to change that in the coming weeks.  In any event, a lot of the chaos which has been spreading throughout the global economy would be dramatically lessened and perhaps even completely eliminated by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

Saving or Investing for Retirement?

 According to a recent article in Fortune magazine, “Boomers” are being forced to “unretire” due to inadequate savings.  That’s bad, of course, but the real point of the article is a wonderful (wunderbar?) new proposal in Germany.  The idea is for the government to fund retirement accounts for children between age six and eighteen.  Cash would be deposited, and the interest would compound.  As described by Fortune,

JTW Podcast: The Thoughtful Rebel’s Guide to Economics

Today we present “The Thoughtful Rebel's Guide to Economics: A Lecture by Louis Kelso.”  This 1969 lecture delivered by Louis Orth Kelso at the College Editors’ Conference scrutinizes the inefficiencies and injustices of the world's economic institutions.  “Rebelling” against conventional economics, Kelso argued that the prevailing economic systems operate under several false assumptions, such as the belief that only labor produces wealth, and full employment should be the ultimate goal.