Economic Doubletalk, II: The Theoretical Critiques

In our last exciting episode, we looked at a list of reasons the AI engine “Claude” gave to explain why economists reject Louis Kelso’s Binary Economics.  We didn’t think the critiques were very good (or we wouldn’t be writing this blog, obviously) and they are very easily refuted.  This week we take the first group on the list, the “Theoretical Critiques”:

The Wedding of the Century

 Back in 1951 MGM released Royal Wedding, one of the movie musicals for which the studio was noted.  Famous for the scene that has Fred Astaire dancing on the walls and ceiling (done by having a rotating set and a fixed camera . . . with the cameraman strapped into his seat), the film — which is now in the public domain — was a riff on the marriage of then-Princess Elizabeth and Phillip Mountbatten in 1947.

The Problem of Liability

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, there were significant institutional barriers preventing Ebenezer Scrooge from doing the completely right thing by Bob Cratchit and making him a partner instead of a mere employee.  For example, anyone who “participated” in any way in a business was considered a part owner, even if he didn’t have legal title to anything.  That made him jointly and severally liable for all debts of the business.  If the enterprise went belly-up, he could go to debtor’s prison.

Win the Battle, Lose the War?

       Seemingly out of nowhere, American workers are threatening strikes; October is being labeled “Striketober.”  Largely as the result of the current shortage of workers, labor unions are pushing for increased pay and benefits, shorter hours, improved working conditions, and so on.  The pandemic has put organized labor in the best bargaining position it has had in decades, and public opinion of unions is the highest it’s been since 1965.

1. Five Roadblocks to Social Justice: Social Justice!

      As a slight change of pace (although not very much of one), we thought we’d address some basic concepts and principles that stand in the way of carrying out acts of social justice instead of simply talking about situations that need to be addressed through acts of social justice.  Of course, paradoxically, these “Five Roadblocks to Social Justice” are things that need to be addressed by acts of social justice, with the first being social justice itself!

“The Jobs We Need”

A while back, toward the end of June (the twenty-fourth, to be exact), the New York Times ran an editorial on “The Jobs We Need,” although it was evident from the fact that the piece was written by staff that they didn’t include themselves as part of us.  Anyway, we got to work and sent a letter to the editor that was never published, a slightly edited version of which we post here today:

The American Chesterton Annoys Msgr. New Deal

In the previous posting on this subject, we noted that the Catholic Church’s so-called “Living (or Just) Wage Doctrine” of Msgr. John A. Ryan (or anyone else) is not exactly, er, kosher.  There is, of course, a “Living (or Just) Wage Discipline,” but not a doctrine.  You see, a doctrine is an unchanging principle, while a discipline is a changeable application of a doctrine.

The Living Wage and Social Justice

According to the Wikipedia entry on him, Msgr. John A. Ryan (author of A Living Wage, whom we met in the previous posting on this subject) was “a leading Catholic priest who was a noted moral theologian, professor, author and advocate of social justice.  Ryan lived during a decisive moment in the development of Catholic social teaching within the United States.”

Are the Computers Taking Over?

According to Ray Kurzweil and generations of science fiction writers, the human race is in a great deal of trouble.  In books and films he has warned of a coming “technological singularity.”  That is a hypothetical future point in time when technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in incomprehensible changes to civilization.

The “Myth” of Stagnant Incomes

One of the interesting things about college is the opportunity to take courses in subjects so far outside your major that students as well as professors cast suspicious looks at you.  That is, until they start to realize that you might actually be taking the course because you’re interested in it, not for an “easy A” to repair your GPA.

“When He Enters into a State of Society”

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, American liberalism that sounded very good in theory has a serious flaw in practice.  It is not too far out of the realm of possibility that this flaw may have contributed to John Henry Newman’s inability to see any difference between the English and European types of liberalism and the American type.  We refer, of course, to chattel slavery.

Halloween Horror Special: Marxism

We’re still reeling in disbelief here at CESJ global headquarters . . . and we’re almost out of fish line.  And as for the pole . . . well, we’re talking to him next week, and we’ll see what he has to say.  But enough of bad fake Marx Brothers jokes.  On to the point of today’s Horror Special . . . the wage system!

Democracy (and Wages) in America

On Monday we looked at how the wage system operated in nineteenth century America prior to the Civil War.  We noted that when times were good and workers in demand, wages tended to rise.  When times were bad and workers had to take what they could get, wages tended to fall.  We concluded that trying to induce prosperity by raising wages puts the cart before the horse; high wages don’t bring prosperity, prosperity brings high wages.

Whigs, Wages, and Wonder

We had last Thursday’s posting on the minimum wage hike in Seattle in mind while doing some research into early nineteenth century socialism, especially the varieties promoted by Henri de Saint-Simon, Félicité de Lamennais, and Charles Fourier.  All three claimed their systems were either a new version of Christianity, or replaced Christianity, whatever best suited their purposes.

Who’d Have Thought It?

Back in the eighteenth century the Good Doctor, Samuel Johnson, chastised his Boswell . . . who happened to be James Boswell . . . for ostentatiously giving a gratuity of one shilling (12 pence) for a service for which the customary remuneration was 6 pence.  If memory serves, it was the tip to a porter for helping hand down passengers’ baggage from a coach.

How to Redeem the Non-Owning Worker

Yesterday we looked at a few of the papal statements underscoring the importance of widespread private property in capital.  As thinkers through the ages have noted, people are either owners, or they are owned — one way or another . . . and the worst way to be owned (not that there is any good way) is to be owned indirectly by having the system or those who control the system keep people in a permanent condition of dependency.

“The Redemption of the Non-Owning Workers”

Yesterday we looked at the situation of the non-owning worker, and briefly touched on the matter of the fair wage, which many people assume to be the essence of social justice.  Much to the surprise of such people, however, it turns out that neither wages nor private property is the essence of social justice.  Both wages and private property come under individual justice.  As Pope Pius XI explained in § 79 of Quadragesimo Anno,

Child or Slave?

Yesterday we looked at the ancient Roman custom of the peculium and how knowing about it helps us understand what the heck (or heaven) Jesus was talking about.  That’s all very nice, of course, but how does this esoteric historical knowledge have any relevance for the modern day and age?  After all, it’s interesting to know that the otherwise daunting Roman pater familias with his terrible potestas that (in theory) included the power of life and death over his children and slaves would train them to enter society by letting them manage capital . . . but so what?

The Peculiar Peculium

Last week we started looking at the “Parable of the Talents,” and found what seemed to be one or two anomalies in it.  Not in the message, of course.  That is pretty straightforward: use your God-given talents or you will answer for it.  What seemed a little odd was the parable itself: a slave owner hands over large sums of money to some slaves and goes on a trip.

Wage and Other Slavery

At first glance, Jesus’s “Parable of the Talents” in Matthew 25:14-30 seems straightforward — and it is.  The message is obvious, especially to an audience that understands English, a language in which by coincidence the word for the unit of measurement used, the talent, is the same as the word commonly used for ability, capacity, or aptitude, i.e., talent.  The message of the parable is, use the gifts God gave you, or you will be held answerable for wasting them.