Happy (Late) Birthday, Francis!

Yes, we know.  Pope Francis’s birthday was yesterday.  He was born December 17, 1936, making him seventy-eight years young (see? we can be diplomatic at times).  So, what do you want?  CESJ is not a Catholic organization, nor is the Just Third Way a Catholic movement.  We didn’t get him a cake, either, or tug 78 times on his earlobe (yes, that’s the Argentinian tradition, we looked it up).

Some Notes on Discounting Acceptances

Believe it or not, the title of this posting is not gibberish — unless, of course, you are irrevocably stuck in the Currency Principle that underpins today’s three mainstream schools of economics, the Keynesian, the Monetarist/Chicago, and the Austrian.  In that case, none of this will make any sense at all to you.

The (B)oil (We)evil

We were going to head this posting, “The Boil Weevil” instead of “The (B)oil (We)evil” to suggest the “evil” of oil, but some people might think we had just made a stupid spelling error and move on without reading the posting.  That would be a pity, because it’s a great play on words and highlights a serious problem.

Santorum’s “Better Place” II: The Vision

Last Thursday we took a look at the biggest problem any contender for the White House in 2016 faces: no vision and no specific proposal except some form of jobs and welfare, or an arrangement where some benefit at the expense of others.  Frankly, we think Santorum can do better than that.  Heck, we think Obama can do better than that.  All it takes is an open mind and a willingness to listen to something genuinely new instead of rehashing the Same Old Thing.

News from the Network, Vol. 7, No. 49

As of this writing (10 am), the stock market is plunging.  The world is coming to an end.  Again.  According to the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, this is due to the rapid decline in the price of oil.  The fall in oil stocks is having a ripple effect throughout the market, with the perceived increase in consumer spending due to the illusion of increased disposable income not enough to offset the perceived decrease in future revenue from oil.

Santorum’s “Better Place” I: Why Not Ownership?

No, even though we took the phrase straight from yesterday’s Washington Post, they weren’t referring to Rick Santorum’s departure from this life, but his reentry into political life.  It seems that Santorum has been contemplating running for the presidency (of the United States) in 2016.  He’s been keeping it low key, describing his position for 2016 as being “in a better place” than in 2012.

On Usury and Other Dishonest Debate

The online edition of Crisis magazine recently (December 8, 2014) had an article on the perennial problem of usury, “Did the [Catholic] Church Change Its Doctrine on Usury?“  Although it might seem like re-plowing old ground, we thought we’d weigh in again with a few brief thoughts.

New Release: The Political Animal

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CESJ Publishes THE POLITICAL ANIMAL: ECONOMIC JUSTICE AND THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE HUMAN PERSON

Amazon U.S.   Barnes and Noble   Amazon U.K.

Economic Justice Media, ISBN: 978-0944997062, 144 pp. $10.00

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA (December 1, 2014) — Is it possible to be a good person and at the same time a good citizen within a defective or unjust society or institution?  In The Political Animal: Economic Justice and the Sovereignty of the Human Person, author Michael D. Greaney, Director of Research of the Center for Economic and Social Justice in Arlington, Virginia, USA, answers this age-old dilemma with a resounding “Yes!”

Of Cosby, Crime, and Calumny

There is one glaring fact about the allegations against Bill Cosby that few, if any of the increasingly voluble commentators either defending the comedian (a small but diminishing number) or nodding sagely that they knew all along there was something fishy about the guy, a crowd seemingly as large as the vast majority who never voted for Richard Nixon.

Cardinal Burke’s Opportunity

Cardinal Burke has assumed his new office as Patron of the Order of Malta.  What business does the Just Third Way movement have commenting on Cardinal Burke’s new position at the Vatican?  None whatsoever.  That makes us instant experts.  With that in mind, we offer the following advice, free of charge, and possibly worth every cent:

News from the Network, Vol. 7, No. 48

Tomorrow is the “feast” of Saint Nicholas of Myra, the original Santa Claus.  If you say “Saint Nicholas” in Dutch very fast, it comes out “S’int-nihc-loss,” making “Old Saint Nick” a bit more understandable as a, er, nickname.  Sorry.  In any event, St. Nicholas of Myra is famous for bringing presents to good little children, and for punching heretics in the mouth.

Bernie “Backwards” Sanders

Bernie Sanders has announced that he has a twelve-point economic plan to break the power of the Koch brothers and other financial oligarchs, and restore prosperity to America.  Nice try, Hon. B. Sanders, but from a Just Third Way perspective and the logic of Say’s Law of Markets, you’re going about it the wrong way, even backwards.

Two Key Questions for the Georgists

Some people in the Just Third Way movement have been taking a significant number of questions (read “unsupported assertions”) from the “georgists,” as followers of the thought of Henry George are known.  Henry George was the noted author of one of the two most influential socialist works of the 19^th century, apart from those of Karl Marx: Progress and Poverty (1879).  Edward Bellamy’s Looking Backward: 2000-1887 (1888), “One of the most remarkable books ever published in America” (Erich Fromm) was the other.

That Krazy Keynesian Multiplier Again

We recently got some more questions about the Keynesian money multiplier, developed by Baron Kahn in the 1930s, and embedded in the monetary and fiscal policy pretty much throughout the world ever since.  That is in spite of the fact that there are some glaring inconsistencies and contradictions in Keynesian multiplier theory — as well as most of the fundamental assumptions in Keynesian theory in general, for that matter.

Incompatible Capitalism

One of the more bizarre accusations people make against the Just Third Way and Capital Homesteading is that it’s socialist.  How a proposal that calls for expanded capital ownership can be socialist is beyond us, frankly.  Socialism is defined as the abolition of private property in capital.  The Just Third Way means extending private property to everyone.

News from the Network, Vol. 7, No. 47

This week has seen a sudden upswing in book sales, mostly of the Just Third Way Edition of Fulton J. Sheen’s Freedom Under God.  There also seems to be a spurt in the works of Robert Hugh Benson, the unique novels of John Henry Newman, and even those touching on the subject of widely distributed ownership of capital listed on the Distributist Books and Media website.

Economic Justice, V: Being Thankful

At this time of year, today especially, it is customary to rack (not “wrack,” evidently) one’s brains to try and figure out something for which to be thankful.  This is especially the case if you’ve been invited somewhere for dinner and the tradition of making a short speech covering what you have to be thankful for is suddenly sprung on you.

Economic Justice, IV: What is “Social Justice”?

Today’s subject, social justice, involves us in a double difficulty.  First, there is a problem with defining it.  To many people, “social justice” means State action to take up the slack when individual justice and charity just don’t seem adequate, and people are in need.  When that happens, so the theory goes, the State steps in and mandates or imposes desired results.  Not surprisingly, this error is virtually identical to the error many people make with distributive justice.  Even less of a surprise, many people confuse distributive justice with social justice by defining both in the same way, and thus both incorrectly.

Economic Justice, III: What is “Distributive Justice”?

If you thought yesterday’s posting on participative justice was a bit difficult to grasp, you ain’t heard nothing yet.  Participative justice is relatively easy to get across.  It’s a new term, so there’s no baggage to jettison before we started to talk about it.  Unfortunately, everybody “knows” what “distributive justice” is: just what Karl Marx said in his 1875 Critique of the Gotha Program: From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.

Economic Justice, II: What is “Participative Justice”?

As we noted yesterday, economic justice is divided into three principles, which are themselves forms of justice.  These are participative justice, distributive justice, and social justice.  We will look at participative justice today.

News from the Network, Vol. 7, No. 46

The increasingly surreal world situation makes it ever more clear that, of all the various proposals that have been made, and (especially) those that have been implemented, only Capital Homesteading has the potential to deliver economic justice for all.  Everything else focuses exclusively on direct action to ameliorate the effects of problems, rather than dealing with the underlying causes of the problems — an individualistic or collectivist approach, rather than a truly political or systemic approach.

Economic Justice, I: What is “Economic Justice”?

A few days ago we completed a short series on the importance of each and every individual, and of each and every institution in society being in conformity with the natural law.  Some people may have been confused, of course.  Because the breakthrough in moral philosophy that reconciled individual and social ethics — the life of the individual as an individual, and the life of the citizen in the State — was the accomplishment of a religious figure (Pope Pius XI), and he framed his thought in religious terms, some people might have been turned off.

How to Distort Anything

Everybody is jumping up and down about the stream of videos on which Jonathan Gruber, the “Obamacare Architect,” is caught saying that Americans are stupid, and other words to that effect.  What they seem to be missing is that this attitude is nothing unique.  Do an internet search using the words “Americans are stupid,” and you’ll be amazed at how many matches pop up.

Religios Politikos, IV: The Act of Social Justice

Thirty years or so after Leo XIII issued Rerum Novarum, Pius XI was elected to the papacy.  From the very beginning of his pontificate he made it clear that he was going to reconcile individual ethics and social ethics, and thereby present a practical means to implement the vision of Leo XIII.

Religios Politikos, III: “Are You a King?”

In this short series we’ve covered how essential it is to conform our individual and social behavior to the absolute moral standards of the natural law in order for that behavior to be truly human.  In Christian/Western terms, this is often characterized as “the Reign of Christ the King.”  Nor is this substantially different for any other faith or philosophy.  Substituting any other personified moral standard gives you the same thing.

News from the Network, Vol. 7, No. 45

We sometimes get too close to things to see if there is any progress being made.  Nowhere is this more evident than when you are charged with reporting the news from the movement each week.  Things seem to go much more slowly when you keep a constant watch on them — “a watched pot never boils,” as they say.

Religios Politikos, II: Humanity is Social

See yesterday's posting as to why we changed the title of this series.

Yesterday we noted that, given the Christian belief that Christ is the perfect embodiment of true God and true man, people become more fully human and acknowledge Christ as “king” by adhering to the precepts of the natural law.  Nor is this only a “Christian” belief.  Every philosophy and organized religion says essentially the same thing: become more fully human by adhering to the precepts of the natural law as taught by your religious or philosophical teacher.  This is an idea that came to us from the pagan philosopher Aristotle — and that Aristotle probably got from others.

Religios Politikos, I: What is “Politics”?

Yes, we changed the title.  It looked as if we were picking on Catholics or other Christians. No, we offend everybody.

Earlier this week we were copied on an e-mail that was in response to last week’s election.  It seems there was a lot of discussion in religious circles whether a committed Christian (or a member of any other religion) could even vote when the choices on all sides were so bad.  The obvious response, of course, is “If you know how the job should be done, why aren’t you running?”

In Your Face

A while back in ancient times (i.e., September 16, 2014) there was an article about how “the rich” who were tired of associating with us peasants were starting their own social network called “Netropolitan.”  Netropolitan bills itself as a sort of Facebook for the elite, as “the online country club for people with more money than time.”  We’re reminded of Robert (formerly “Bob”) Hope’s opening to Fancy Pants: “No popcorn during my performance, peasants.”

Death to Reason! Long Live Love!

The idea seems to have gotten about in the last couple of centuries or so that “love” has triumphed over and abolished reason.  Love conquers all.  All you need is love.  All that jazz about truth and justice . . . feh.  It just gets in the way.

News from the Network, Vol. 7, No. 44

Even the Devil backed down from this guy

Even given the “massacre” of the Democratic Party on Tuesday (of which less below), we don’t expect that anything will change with respect to fundamentals when the Republicans are in power.  There still aren’t any political leaders with any kind of realistic vision or even idea of returning power to the people through capital ownership.  Maybe that’s understandable.  Daniel Webster, who pointed out in 1820 that “Power naturally and necessarily follows property,” was a Whig, not a Democrat or a Republican.

“The Classical Forms of Justice”

Is it Thursday already?  A few weeks of Mondays ago, we were asked to prepare a briefing sheet on areas of potential differences with a potential new member of CESJ’s advisory board, the Board of Counselors, with whom we met shortly after.  (Happy ending: the potential new member became a member, so any differences were straightened out.)

The Academic Fantasy

Every now and then students, especially college students, complain that their education and the academic environment isn’t anything like the “real world” it’s presumably training them to enter.  That’s true.  In one sense, academia isn’t supposed to be a reflection of the real world, but of real life, a place in which one prepares to assume the great task of becoming more fully human.

Election Day Special: God or Cæsar?

Two questions a lot of people are asking themselves today as they stand in line at the voting booth (aside from, “Is this really better than working?” and “How much longer is this going to take?”) is whether they can morally vote for the lesser of two (or more) evils, or respect their religious convictions and be good citizens at the same time.

Poverty and Freedom

Almost exactly one month ago the Wall Street Journal ran a piece by William Easterly.  The point of the article was that there is a link between poverty, and economic and political freedom or (to be precise) the lack of wealth and income leads to a lack of economic and political freedom.  (“Singing About Fighting Poverty, Slightly Off-Key,” Wall Street Journal, 10/02/14, A13.)

News from the Network, Vol. 7, No. 43

At least as of this writing, the stock market is soaring to new heights.  Why?  According to an article we read yesterday, credit card companies are reporting record earnings as consumers assume a greater burden of debt to buy now and pay later.  In today’s hothouse investment environment, this translates into “greater consumer confidence” on the theory that consumers wouldn’t be going into debt unless they thought they could pay it off.

Halloween Horror Special: The Faith that Ate Reason

We used to have an annual series of “Halloween Horror Specials” on this blog for the entire month of October.  Then we shortened it to a week.  Last year we didn’t post anything.  Why?  The entertainment value of horror (especially if there is an attempt, however weak, at humor, e.g., Army of Darkness) depends on the ultimate conviction that none of it is real.  It might make you think (e.g., Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein . . . who was the creator of the monster, not the monster, by the way), or just entertain (H.P. Lovecraft’s Cthulhu Mythos . . .  not that we’re entertained particularly by horror, especially of that subgenre) but you know, ultimately, that it’s not happening and you can go to sleep safely.  After you’ve checked under the bed one more time.  Or maybe two. . . .

Property, Schmoperty

Every so often the combatants in the War on Property have another battle.  For example, since republishing Fulton Sheen’s Freedom Under God in a Just Third Way edition with a new foreword, we’ve been seeing the idea resurfacing that the “universal destination of goods” (a.k.a., “the generic right of dominion”) means that individual human beings do not have the natural right to own capital, only the collective does, which doles out that right as it sees fit.

Synod on the Family, II: Focus on the Family

As we mentioned yesterday, the discussions reported as taking place in the recent Catholic Synod on the Family seemed remarkably shy about addressing the needs of plain, ordinary, normal families, whatever religion or political system within which the family subsists.  There seemed to be an over-emphasis on “hard cases” and what to do about them, and very little attention paid to the increasingly desperate situation of the Just Plain Old Family, everywhere more and more being subsumed into, not merely subsisting within, the State.

Synod on the Family, I: A Few Quibbles

What right does a non-religious organization have to comment on a religious event?  Every right, evidently, if you are the media.  The problem, of course, is that, even with all the best will and good intentions in the world, if you don’t understand the underlying principles of reason that support a religious organization’s faith, you’ll probably get a lot of things wrong, and misinterpret or misunderstand what you get factually correct.

News from the Network, Vol. 7, No. 42

The important Just Third Way news this week is the Synod on the Family in Rome . . . at least, the distorted views of it we got from the media.  Few people seem to be aware that such gatherings are merely for discussion.  They are not planning sessions for a Crusade or to plot the overthrow of Religion As We Know It.  We’ll weigh in with a few thoughts, below, but (aside from the fact that an interfaith group has almost as little authority to be commenting as the media on internal affairs of the Catholic Church) we have to keep in mind that, however high or low the level, it’s just talk, folks.

The Importance of the Frontier, II: Politics Follows Power

As we noted in yesterday’s posting, quoting Daniel Webster, “Power naturally and necessarily follows property.”  Not surprisingly, then, politics naturally and necessarily follows power, which follows property, so that people who have property are going to dictate politics.  The obvious thing to counter political corruption, then, is to ensure that as many people as possible have property.

The Importance of the Frontier, I: Power Follows Property

Recently we received an e-mail from one of our readers who was concerned about the moral decay of society.  Specifically, he was concerned about how the United States Supreme Court keeps making decisions that are in clear conflict with humanity’s natural rights, especially life, liberty, and property.  In our opinion, the basic issue is power.  Once people have power, the Supreme Court will no longer be able to force its morality on others.

Economics for Ecclesiastics, II: Another Problem

Yesterday we looked at what we believe to be the main problem with offering a course in Keynesian economics to religious leaders: Keynesian economics is based on unproved — and un-provable — assertion.  Keynes built a towering and complex superstructure on a foundation not merely of sand, but of quicksand.

Economics for Ecclesiastics, I: A Problem

Recently a regular reader of this blog sent us a copy of Michael Severance’s article, “Economics for Ecclesiastics.”  Severance is Operations Manager of the Acton Institute for the Study of Religion and Liberty in Rome, and can see first hand some of the problems that crop up when religious leaders do not have a sufficient grasp of economics.

News from the Network, Vol. 7, No. 41

Is the stock market still plunging?  Or is it rising?  Is this the beginning of the end?  Or is it the end of the beginning?  Are you pro or antihistamine?  Is it colder in New York than it is in the summer?  What’s the difference between a duck?

Second-Hand Objectivism

A short time ago we got a question about Ayn Rand’s “objectivism.”  Cutting out all the adjectives that made it rather clear that the questioner didn’t care for Rand’s philosophy, we had to ask, what, specifically, did the questioner object to?  All we had been asked was what we thought about it.

Love Is Our Mission?

A few weeks ago we got an “advance review” from Dcn Joseph Bernard Gorini of the orientation book for the World Meeting of Families to take place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, September 22 through 27, 2015: Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive, A Preparatory Catechesis for the World Meeting of Families (Huntington, Indiana: Our Sunday Visitor, 2014).

“Little Moral Progress”?

Last month, the Wall Street Journal published a letter to the editor from a Mr. Anthony Crebbin to which we responded with a letter to the editor that they did not publish, shame on them.  Evidently the editors of the venerable financial newspaper remain unaware of the gems of wisdom that we impart so freely are worthy of publication at all times.  Hence our publication of the gist of the letter today on this blog.

Natural or Supernatural?

Last week’s brief series on whether or not “the rich” are automatically criminals based on mere unproved assertion and faith caused a minor flurry of commentary.  The cause of the tempest in a teapot was the implication that humanity can only enforce human law.  Divine law is God’s business.  This upset a couple (okay, we’re “under-exaggerating” here) of people.  There just seems to be a visceral reaction with some people that if God just can’t or won’t enforce His law to our satisfaction, we must take up the burden and start acting as judge, jury, and executioner until the poor, old, Divine Duffer finally wakes up and starts doing His job.