JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Justice

Possibly the best known (and best? you can have your own opinion) Aristotelian philosopher in the twentieth century, Mortimer Adler brought knowledge of philosophy to a popular audience.  Today we have a talk he gave on the premier natural virtue of justice:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 25

Yet another week of the same old same old.  Putin is destroying Russia in his bid to save Ukraine from itself and the hordes of gay Jewish Nazis, while politicians and academic economists cannot seem to understand how an economy that benefits the few at the expense of the many isn’t benefiting the many!  Oh, the humanity.  No one seems considering the possibility of making it easy on themselves by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

Declaring War on Debt

According to the Bureau of Fiscal Service, America’s public — and completely non-productive — debt and liabilities now stands at $42.9 trillion and rising.  At the same time, America’s net worth in private sector agricultural, industrial, and commercial wealth is estimated at $123.8 trillion, while the federal government owns $5.2 trillion in assets.

JTW Podcast: Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics

Today we have a talk on the Nicomachean Ethics of Aristotle, which most authorities consider the first half of The Philosopher’s The Politics:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 24

As the Russian economy implodes and its attempted conquest of Ukraine flounders with astronomical losses of men (more than half a million estimated to date) and material grinds to a stalemate, Putin continues to threaten the world with nuclear holocaust, promise aid to America’s “crappy” (Russia’s term) allies, and make shows of force that everyone except other delusional politicians and toadying sycophants on Putin’s payroll knows are expensive shams, the world continues to dither about What To Do About Russia.  No one seems to consider the possibility that adopting the Economic Democracy Act would be the final nail in the coffin Putin has constructed for Russia and virtually ensure Russia could never effectively threaten Ukraine or anywhere else ever again:

Something Missing

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

In response to the spread of socialism and the other “New Things,” Pope Pius IX, socialism and the other new things continued to spread.  Finally, in 1868 he convened the first ecumenical council since Trent in the sixteenth century.

JTW Podcast: Washington Outsider Report

“How Banks Went Astray — But Can Still Help Independence Movements and the Poor.”  That pretty much says it all, but you’ll want to see this episode of the Washington Outsider Report from Tuesday, June 4, 2024, featuring Michael D. Greaney, Director of Research for the interfaith Center for Economic and Social Justice talking about money, credit, banking, and all the things that go along with really trying to understand what is going on today:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 23

One thing that struck us this week about the news is how often experts and dictators who aren’t succeeding at solving their own problems are busily solving everyone else’s or threatening to do more of the same.  How about if we adopt the Economic Democracy Act and the economists and dictators can do as they want to themselves and their warships and leave the rest of us alone?

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Goodness

You can always count — or at least you could when he was with us in the flesh — on Mortimer Adler giving us a few good tips on moral virtue:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 22

Ex-president Trump has been convicted, but what difference will it make?  We predict no difference at all for good or ill . . . unless Congress wises up and adopts the Economic Democracy Act:

Putin’s Tiger by the Tail

According to Renaud Foucart, a senior economics lecturer at Lancaster University in a recent article in Business Insider, Putin has put Russia into a “lose-lose” position.  In a “tiger by the tail” scenario, the country cannot afford to continue the war against Ukraine, but neither can it afford to stop.  According to Foucart’s analysis, the Russian economy has become so dependent on the war that “defense” spending is the only thing keeping up the illusion of viability.

JTW Podcast: Fulton Sheen on Firing Line

William F. Buckley on Firing Line interviewing Fulton J. Sheen.  Buckley tries his usual one-upmanship, and for some reason doesn’t come off too well:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 21

Not much has been happening in the Global Justice Movement this week . . .that we can report about!  A great deal has been happening, but mostly setting the stage for what we’re working on, primarily getting the Economic Democracy Act adopted:

Just Third Way Tax Reforms

 As the saying goes, nothing is inevitable but death and taxes, and hopefully not in that order.  That being the case, how should taxation (for we don’t claim any power over death) be made as fair and just as possible?  We have some suggestions, consistent with the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism.

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Aristotle

A little knowledge may be a dangerous thing, but at least according to Mortimer Adler, you cannot have too much of it, or moral virtue, either.  As for what else Adler has to say, view the video:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 20

We can save you a lot of time on this week’s news items.  People who think they are in charge of the economy are making the same stupid decisions week after week, and we are getting nowhere fast as no one considers adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

Keynesian Economics and Income Distribution

Occasionally, we get a question from a reader that forces us to think . . . what on Earth Keynes and his disciples thought they were doing and what they are still trying to do with Keynes’s backwards economics.  Recently we received the following question:

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Aristotle’s Theory of Happiness

Someone (actually a lot of someones) told they deserved to be “happy.”  Since that usually involved wrecking someone else’s life to get something they wanted, it is hard to see how anyone deserves to be “happy” under those conditions.  What, however, if happiness meant something other than merely satisfying your own selfish desires?

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 19

The news items speak for themselves, so all we’ll say this week is that someone soon ought to realize the only way out of the current mess is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

The Keynesian Fairy State

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

One of the first things a student must learn about Keynesian economics is there are certain questions one must not ask, such as, How could Keynes reject Say’s Law of Markets when he couldn’t even define it correctly?  What did it mean when Keynes declared inflation — which means a rise in the price level — isn’t really inflation until after “full employment” is reached, and that a rise in the price level before reaching full employment is due to “other factors” and isn’t really inflation . . . meaning a rise in the price level isn’t really a rise in the price level until Keynes said it is a rise in the price level?

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Reading Aristotle Backwards

Yes, we know some people have enough trouble reading Aristotle (or anyone or anything else) frontwards, but in this instance, Mortimer Adler has some interesting points to make:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 18

Week after week, one thing becomes crystal clear (as if it hadn’t already): Keynesian economics isn’t working and has never worked . . . but the politicians and so-called experts insist with all their heart and our lives, fortunes, and sacred honor that it’s going to work, or they’re going to see that we die while they try.  Or they could do the sensible thing and adopt: the Economic Democracy Act:

The Theory of Certitude

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Socialism as promoted by Robert Owen, Claude-Henri de Rouvroy, comte de Saint-Simon, François-Marie-Charles Fourier, and others, sought to abolish traditional concepts of private property, marriage and family, and religion.  In their place would be new institutions that might go by the same name and even have the same outward form as the old institutions (Saint-Simon, for instance, called his system, “the New Christianity”), but the substance would be completely different.

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Aristotle

Aristotle Made Easy?  Mortimer Adler explains why he titled one of his later books with such an intimidating title.  Intimidating?  Yes — whenever we see something “made easy”, we suspect the subject is so difficult we’re being lured into something we will never understand.  In this case, however, it is almost the right title, because once you understand Aristotle’s underlying assumptions, it really does become “easy” (sort of):

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 17

One thing becomes clear looking over the week’s news items: the so-called experts have no idea what they’re doing or even what they’re talking about.  We do know what we’re talking about, and what we’re talking about is an economic reform package that has been proven to work: the Economic Democracy Act:

The Financial Revolution

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Few people — at least those of us who are not wealthy — would argue that there is something seriously wrong with the money system in the world today.  Most people, however, either dismiss matters as “the way things are (and whatcha gonna do ’bout it?)” or assume it’s due to some conspiracy or other.

JTW Podcast: The Front Line with Joe & Joe

Michael D. Greaney & Dawn K. Brohawn have co-authored the book: The Greater Reset, which traces the historical, religious, political, and economic roots of humanity’s perilous condition today … and how returning to God-given principles of natural law can help build a more just, liberating, prosperous, and hopeful future for every person:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 16

Just in case you thought the experts and politicians know what they’re doing, we bring you selected news items that suggest they have no idea which end is up.  If they did, they would quickly adopt the Economic Democracy Act to get away from the nonsense and establish a sound and sustainable economy:

The Age of Revolution

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

To oversimplify somewhat, three revolutions have led to the alienation of most people from the institutions of the common good by stripping them of power. The first two did this almost inadvertently by limiting access to social and technological tools, while the third did it by the nature of the change itself. These were,

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Happiness

Mortimer Adler on happiness, and why it might not be exactly what you think.  How do we live, and how do we live well?

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 15

We seem to have more than the usual numbers of contradictions in the stories in the media, but still no one considers adopting the Economic Democracy Act to get away from the nonsense and establish a sound and sustainable economy:

The Political Animal

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

As we noted in the previous posting on this subject, being true to oneself means conforming to one’s human nature.  By doing so, people become more fully human by acquiring and developing virtue (“human-ness”).  If done at all, this is the work of a lifetime and the hardest path to follow.

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on the U.S. Constitution

We have a real treat in store for you today: Mortimer Adler on the U.S. Constitution, which many people do not realize is in very close conformity with Aristotelian-Thomist philosophy:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 14

As usual, there are many problems in the world we report on this week that would either be greatly alleviated or eliminated entirely with the adoption of the Economic Democracy Act:, but the big job is convincing the powers-that-be it is a good idea and to get moving on it:

Dorothy Jean Fry Previc, R.I.P.

Dawn K Brohawn, Guest Blogger

Recently CESJ was saddened to learn of the death on March 17, 2024 of our member and long-time supporter Dorothy Jean Fry Previc.  A resident of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania, Dorothy graduated from T.C. Williams High School, Alexandria, VA, attended Mary Washington University, Fredericksburg, VA and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, PA.

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Goodness

Today we have Mortimer Adler’s lecture on “Goodness” . . . which might not be as straightforward as it sounds . . . no, it's not an April Fool's joke:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 13

As usual, there are many problems in the world we report on this week that would either be greatly alleviated or eliminated entirely with the adoption of the Economic Democracy Act:, but the big job is convincing the powers-that-be it is a good idea and to get moving on it:

The Reasonable Alternative

 

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on How to Speak, How to Listen

Today we have Mortimer Adler’s lecture on “How to Speak, How to Listen,” taken from his book of the same title:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 12

The only thing significantly different from previous news notes is the fact that they seem to be getting weirder . . . and staying the same all the time.  Cutting to the chase, the only thing that’s going to make the situation better is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

Faith and Reason

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Man, as Aristotle noted in the Politics, is the rational animal. Anything that shifts the human person away from reason as the foundation of a faith or a philosophy contradicts essential human nature, that is, what it means to be human.

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on the Great Ideas

Here is one of Mortimer Adler’s appearances on William F. Buckley’s Firing Line about the need for genuine education:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 11

It is depressing to see how strong a hold discredited economic theories have on today’s global and national economies.  All of the news items this week wouldn’t even be on the radar if the so-called experts had sound principles and a workable paradigm, as found in the Economic Democracy Act:

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler Gets Attacked

Frankly, we didn’t know anything about this . . . and neither do a lot of other people:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 10

Yes, it’s depressingly the same news items (or very nearly) week after week, but it’s what is going to continue happening until we adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

Solidarity and Personalism

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Confronted today by growing conflict and inequality between people and nations around the globe, no one can ignore any longer the universal question that will shape the future for generations to come: What is the place of the human person — each of us — in society?

JTW Podcast: The Perennial Philosophy

Given that this week marks the 750^th anniversary of the death of Thomas Aquinas, we thought we’d give you a little talk about Aquinas talking about how faith and reason go together:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 09

At the top of the news this week, at least from the perspective of the Just Third Way, is Norman G. Kurland being honored as an Ambassador of Peace by the Universal Peace Federation:

The Just Third Way

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

The fortieth anniversary of the interfaith Center for Economic and Social Justice is coming up.  We’ll tell a little bit more about that as the anniversary itself, April 7, approaches, but today we’re looking at a major program developed by CESJ: the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism.

JTW Podcast: March on Washington, August 28, 1963

The National Archives film on the March . . . they left out private property in capital, though:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 08

This week’s news items are again a brief chronicle of dumb government tricks seemingly validated by failed Keynesian economics.  Again, as usual, we believe most if not all of these issues could be solved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act.

Five Levers of Change: Technology

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

For centuries workers have understood that when technology advances it usually means they will lose their jobs to machines that can do the work better and cheaper. Sometimes advancing technology creates more new jobs than it displaces, although this is not always a benefit. The cotton gin created an enormous demand for labor that was filled by expanding the number of human beings owned as slaves. The Industrial Revolution largely eliminated most production by small and family-owned enterprises and turned millions of people into “employees” dependent on private employers and the State.

JTW Podcast: Walter Reuther on Civil Rights, August 28, 1963

Just in case you were wondering who else spoke during the March on Washington . . . and note the irony that the bill to which Reuther referred died with Kennedy a little over two months later:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 07

As has become usual, this week’s news items focus primarily on the growing debt crisis, both personal and public.  Again, as usual, we believe most if not all of these issues could be solved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act.

Five Levers of Change: Tax Policy

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

 

In 1891, Pope Leo XIII declared that “Many excellent results will follow” from expanding ownership to as many people as possible (Rerum Novarum, § 47). As he said,

JTW Podcast: Walter Reuther on Profit Sharing, Part 2 of 2

As we noted in last week’s posting on this subject, January 1958 saw the publication of The Capitalist Manifesto by Louis O. Kelso and Mortimer J. Adler . . . and this Mike Wallace interview of labor leader Walter Reuther about profit sharing, of which we present Part 2 of 2 today:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 06

This week we have a plethora of news items that sound remarkably like the previous week and the week before that and the week before that and the week before that . . . but you get the idea.  Not to get repetitive, but most if not all of these issues could be solved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act.

Labor, Economic, and Civil Rights

What with the state of the economy and the so-called “woke” culture to which so many people today look for salvation when the solution is already within reach with a little effort, few realize that it was only a few decades ago that matters took a dramatically wrong turn.  The Keynesian New Deal, which many believed was supposed to be temporary, became permanent public policy following World War II, even though its disutility was painfully obvious by 1936 and the surreal “Depression within the Depression” that directly resulted from Keynes’s prescriptions.

JTW Podcast: Walter Reuther on Profit Sharing, Part 1 of 2

January 1958 saw the publication of The Capitalist Manifesto by Louis O. Kelso and Mortimer J. Adler . . . and this Mike Wallace interview of labor leader Walter Reuther about profit sharing:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 05

Ready for this week’s short list of economic insanity and gloom and doom?  Neither are we, but here it is, anyway.  Of course, we could adopt the Economic Democracy Act . . . so if people want to see something new in this report, get Congress to act . . .

Five Levers of Change: Money and Credit

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

As we have seen in the previous postings on this subject, the meaning and purpose of life — becoming virtuous to become more fully human — requires that people have power. As a rule, to have power, people must have private property. In order to have private property and be secure in its possession, people must have access to the means of acquiring and possessing private property, and that requires access to the just and responsible use of money and credit.

JTW Podcast: The Great Conversation, XXXIX

This appears to be the final installment of “The Great Conversation” . . . like Jack Benny, they stopped at 39.  The end or not of this series, today’s video is about how Herodotus explained the first ancient people and the origin of the Nile.

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 04

Yet again there is a depressing sameness about the news items this week.  That means that our solution is the same, if not at all depressing: adopt the Economic Democracy Act . . . so if people want to see something new in this report, get Congress to act . . .

Five Levers of Change: Politics

Aristotle

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Despite what “politics” means to most people, it is not something to avoid.  In the Aristotelian, philosophical sense, politics refers to the behavior of human beings as “political animals” having both individual and social aspects. In this broad sense, politics refers to the art of securing and maintaining fundamental human rights of all persons without harm to other individuals, groups, or the common good as a whole. Social justice is the particular virtue directed to the common good by means of which this social order is structured, reformed, and maintained.

JTW Podcast: The Great Conversation, XXXVIII

Today we continue Herodotus with the FALL of Cyrus the Great . . . after what we assume was a great Summer . . . right?

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 03

Once again, we have a depressingly similar roundup of news items.  Of course, that makes our commentary very simple: adopt the Economic Democracy Act . . . so if people want to see something new in this report, get Congress to act . . .

Five Levers of Change: Education

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

In social and economic justice, there is no “one size fits all.” Applying the principles of economic personalism to any particular society is and will always remain more of an art than a science. The question of which institutions need to be reformed and what will be the most effective means to do this is one that cannot be resolved easily. At the same time the question must be settled before any effective action can be taken.

JTW Podcast: The Great Conversation, XXXVII

Today we pick up Herodotus again with the birth of Cyrus the Great:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 02

All the news media are saying how great the economy is doing . . . so we know there must be terrible problems that in our opinion can only be resolved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act, so what is stopping them?

The Framework of Economic Justice: Restoration of Private Property

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

As we saw in the previous postings on this subject, widespread private property in capital is essential to a just society.  That of course raises the question as to what private property is.

JTW Podcast: How to Read a book

For today’s podcast, we’re starting off the year right, with an examination of Mortimer Adler’s How to Read a Book:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 01

As the new year opens . . . it seems very much like the old year, at least economically and financially speaking.  All the experts are talking about how different it’s all going to be if things just stay the same . . . right.  Isn’t one definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results?  If they really wanted something different, they would adopt the Economic Democracy Act, so maybe this will be the year they wake up:

The Framework of Economic Justice: Free and Open Markets

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Not too long ago a book came out purporting to instruct people on how to development and implement a truly free market.  Since this posting is not a book review (and we don’t want to give the author of the tome more credit — or blame — than he, she, and, or, it has already garnered) we will refrain from saying any more than the author’s idea of a truly free market sounded a lot like some of the more restrictive forms of socialism.

Happy New Year

 

News from the Network, Vol. 16, No. 52

This week we bring you the second part of our annual news roundup of the past year.  Again, don’t be too surprised at the depressing sameness of the news items, as the same things are bound to keep happening until and unless we adopt the Economic Democracy Act, and that is not yet on anyone’s political agenda:

The Framework of Economic Justice: A Limited Economic Role for the State

Today’s blog posting is adapted from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Especially today with two centuries of people being brainwashed that all good things come from the State, it is difficult to persuade them that they should have control over their own lives.  This in many cases boils down to access to money and credit . . . not for consumption (there’s never been any problem with that, as the rich and powerful want people to buy what they are selling, unless it would take power away from them), but the means to acquire and possess private property in capital, that is, to be a productive member of society.

Merry Christmas!

 It's all Greek to me!!

News from the Network, Vol. 16, No. 51

This week we bring you the first part of our annual news roundup of the past year.  Don’t be too surprised at the depressing sameness of the news items, as the same things are bound to keep happening until and unless we adopt the Economic Democracy Act, and that is not yet in the cards:

The Framework of Economic Justice: Widespread Capital Ownership

Today’s blog posting is a selection from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

In the previous posting on this subject, we looked at the necessity of reconnecting people to society and concluded that “persons without power must have the means of obtaining power, and those with power must have the means of securing it.”

JTW Podcast: The Great Conversation, XXXVI

Yea, verily, we’re back to the subject matter of the Great Conversation, a story from Herodotus, “The Wisdom of a Fallen King,” Croesus goes down before Cyrus.  Evidently, as a rule, kings still in power either don’t have wisdom or don’t need it. . . .

News from the Network, Vol. 16, No. 50

One thing becomes increasingly clear as time goes on without the powers-that-be considering the Economic Democracy Act, and that is that without a clear vision of where you are going, any road will take you there . . . and you have a high likelihood of selecting the wrong road:

The Framework of Economic Justice: Reconnecting Persons to Society

Today’s blog posting is a selection from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Combining Louis Kelso’s innovation in economics and finance, and with Mortimer Adler the clearly defined principles of economic justice, along with Pius XI’s revolution in social philosophy lays the groundwork for economic personalism. In this way, economic institutions — including the policies and laws governing those institutions — can be structured in a way the respects the dignity of every person. The result is a Just Third Way that transcends the flaws inherent in collectivism that manifests as socialism, and individualism that finds expression in capitalism.

JTW Podcast: The Great Conversation, XXXIII

This week’s podcast is about how men and women think different(ly).  It’s not directly related to the Just Third Way, but it’s moderately interesting and relates to what the Just Third Way is for, rather than the specifics of the Just Third Way:

News from the Network, Vol. 16, No. 49

This week we again have more of the same: experts having no real idea of the real-world making decisions about things they know nothing about.  The weird situations they think they’re dealing with could be solved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act, but they don’t seem to consider that.

The Framework of Economic Justice: Social Justice, the Feedback and Corrective Principle

Today’s blog posting is a selection from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Today’s posting requires a little explanation.  In general, social justice is the virtue that acts directly on the common good and indirectly on individual good.  The idea that social justice is simply a replacement for individual charity and justice when those two virtues fail to operate or operate effectively is a complete misunderstanding of social justice.

JTW Podcast: The Great Conversation, XXXII

“That’s (More Than) Entertainment!”  This week’s Great Conversation is about the ancient Greek poets:

News from the Network, Vol. 16, No. 48

One thing evident from this week’s news items, is that most if not all the experts have no idea what they are talking about.  As usual, however, most of the problems could be ameliorated or eliminated entirely by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

The Framework of Economic Justice: The Out-Take Principle

Today’s blog posting is a selection from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Today we look at distributive justice, the “out-take principle” that governs distributions from a common endeavor.  Distributive justice, in one sense, is an individual virtue built on commutative justice, commutative justice being the most basic form of justice.

JTW Podcast: The Great Conversation, XXX

Life in the Clouds . . . of Aristophanes . . . an example of “the New Comedy” . . . of 2,000 years ago:

News from the Network, Vol. 16, No. 47

This week is another episode of “Non Novum Sub Soles.”  All the experts are busily trying to figure out ways the Keynesian system is really working when it really isn’t, and carefully avoiding figuring out ways to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

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It’s Not an Either/Or Issue

Occasionally, we feel the urge to explain a little about social justice.  This is usually prompted by a comment or question from a faithful reader or two.  This time it was sparked by a comment someone made on FaceBook about how they aren’t interested in helping people one-on-one, but in changing the system that makes it necessary to help people.

JTW Podcast: The Great Conversation, XXIX

Why did Socrates refuse to escape and stay, knowing he would be sentenced to death?

News from the Network, Vol. 16, No. 46

This week the experts are trying to scare people by raising the specter of inflation versus recession . . . forgetting (or ignoring) the fact that there is no correlation between economic growth and inflation, and recession and lowering inflation.  This is evident once we understand the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism and economic reality as applied in the Economic Democracy Act:

The Framework of Economic Justice: The Input Principle

Today’s blog posting is a selection from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

JTW Podcast: The Great Conversation, XXVIII

Is there a difference between apologizing and apologetics?  Specifically, in Plato’s Apologia, why didn’t Socrates apologize for anything . . . as we mean apologizing today?

News from the Network, Vol. 16, No. 45

Again, this week in the news items we have more of the same, only more so.  We know we sound like a broken record (obscure cultural allusion; “records” used to “break” in a way that would cause them to keep repeating the same phrase or notes over and over), but the only way we see out of the dilemma is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

The “Characteristics of Social Justice”

Today’s blog posting is a selection from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

As we may have mentioned a few thousand times on this blog, personalist social justice is distinguished from the collectivist and individualist version by not being a substitute for charity or a euphemism for redistribution.  Need-based distribution is individual charity, except in cases of “extreme need” when it falls under distributive justice as an expedient.  Personalist social justice is the virtue concerned with restructuring the social order to make it possible for people to take care of themselves.

JTW Podcast: The Great Conversation, XXVII

What is the meaning and purpose of life?  To get more stuff?  Or to become more fully human, that is, virtuous?

News from the Network, Vol. 16, No. 44

The big news this week is that the Federal Reserve decided not to raise interest rates.  Yay.  Now if they would decide to take effective action by pushing for the Economic Democracy Act, we might get somewhere:

The “Laws of Social Justice”

Today’s blog posting is a selection from the book, Economic Personalism, which you can get free from the CESJ website, or from Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

Louis Kelso’s and Mortimer Adler’s breakthroughs in moral philosophy (with the principles of economic justice) and in economics and finance (with future savings) were “the missing links” in Catholic social teaching. Combined with Pius XI’s definition of social justice, Kelso’s and Adler’s financial systems concept and principles of economic justice — connecting economic personalism with economic justice — made a truly personalist social order possible as explicit policy for the first time in history.