Apocalypse Now?

Recently we were copied on a comment someone posted about the proposal for a single global currency.  The commentator said, “Read the part about ‘a single global currency’, read the Book of Revelation, and tell me it doesn’t smell of the Mark of the Beast.”  Well, we could get flip and ask what does the Mark of the Beast smell like, but the commentator was evidently sincere.  We think.  So here goes:

Faith and Reason Again

A short while back somebody commented on Facebook that somebody [else] had quoted the Quran in a forum devoted to discussing Christian issues.  This seemed to the commentator to be the camel’s nose under the tent, possibly the first step in an electronic Jihad or something.  This, we felt, was silly in more ways than one, especially in a discussion on matters relating to the natural law “written in the hearts of all men.”

Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained

This posting has absolutely nothing to do with the Battle of Lepanto, the 442nd anniversary of which is today.

In Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe, or, The Peer and the Peri, a couple of lords — members of the House of Peers — help build up their nerve to speak to Phyllis (an Arcadian shepherdess) by singing a song composed primarily of aphorisms about, well, building up one’s nerve.  Like all G&S ditties, it is clever and moderately satiric.  The bottom line is, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.”

News from the Network, Vol. 6, No. 40

The U.S. government “shut down” represents a serious danger to Modern Monetary Theory, or “MMT,” as it is called.  MMT, based solidly on the “Chartalism” of Georg Friedrich Knapp through the virtual global hegemony of Keynesian economics, relies on government creation of all money.  Chartalism is based on the “currency principle,” which in part assumes that “money” consists solely of or represents a claim on the present value of existing wealth.

A Brief Take on Social Justice

It came out recently that one of the organizations targeted by the Internal Revenue Service that was suing to gain 501(c)(3) status it had been denied had reached a deal with the IRS.  The organization would get its 501(c)(3) status if they would agree to drop the lawsuit.

Some Brief Thoughts on Federal Reserve Monetary Policy

Once upon a time (last week, it may have been), we got a request from a reporter for our take on current Federal Reserve monetary policy.  Good?  Bad?  Indifferent?  Is anything wrong?  Is it causing any problems?  What is your opinion as financial and monetary commentators?

The Trial of . . . Socrates?

Recently a friend of ours who has a Ph.D. in Medieval Philosophy and who teaches at a Jesuit institution of higher learning (no, not Georgetown), read an essay on the trial of Socrates that very nearly cost him his hair and eyesight.  He was tempted to tear out the former and gouge out the latter after reading such gems as:

Redeeming Economics, Revisited

This past January we posted our reasons for not wanting to read Dr. John Mueller’s opus, Redeeming Economics.  Subsequently we were manipulated into reading it, and have made other comments on what we see as very, very serious problems with the book, but a peregrinus who came across our January posting evidently didn’t bother to see if we’d said anything else.  Anyway, the wanderer told us off in what he presumed was fine style for daring to express our opinion on our own blog:

News from the Network, Vol. 6, No. 39

No, we’re not “All Sheen, All the Time.”  It just sort of worked out that way this week.  We have been getting a lot of very positive comments, too, as well as some good reviews on Amazon.  Remarkably, there have been only two negative reactions.  The first was from a reviewer who got a flawed copy and thought the book was supposed to be like that.  We advised him to return it where he got it for a refund or replacement (he wanted a replacement).

The Foundation of Decay

A very short time ago, someone made a comment on our Facebook page to the effect that the decay of modern civilization began in the 1990s, with the abrogation by American politicians of fundamental principles of morality.

Clash of the Clueless

It’s being built up as a “Clash of the Titans,” but ultimately is little more than an ineffectual “More of the Same, Only More So.”  “It” is an upcoming debate under the heading “Argument of the Month™” between Michael Voris of Church Militant TV, and Mark Shea of the National Catholic Register.  The event is sponsored by the “The Mens [sic] Forum for Catholic Apologetics,” and is described as “Mark Shea vs. Michael Voris: One Night.  One Fight. Who’s Got It Right?”

Expanded Capital Ownership and the Catholic Church, II: The Proposal

As we noted yesterday, the Catholic Church made two omissions in its social teachings.  One was to fail to remind people that (everything else being equal), future as well as past savings can be used to finance new capital.  The other was that the principles of economic justice, while implied, are not explicit.

Expanded Capital Ownership and the Catholic Church, I: The Situation

The Catholic Church has always defended the natural right of every human being to be an owner of capital. The social, political, and economic necessity of this, however, was not made explicit until Pope Leo XIII issued Rerum Novarum in 1891. The goal was to counter the rapidly spreading socialist error that justice requires the abolition of private property. The pope clearly explained that, far from abolishing private property in capital, justice and respect for human dignity require that “The law . . . should favor ownership, and its policy should be to induce as many as possible of the people to become owners.” (§ 46)

News from the Network, Vol. 6, No. 38

Some pundits are claiming that Americans are accepting greater government control over their own lives in order to avoid “another meltdown.” This is news to us.  We weren’t aware that the first meltdown had managed to cool and congeal.

The Question

Today's posting is from a guest blogger/poet, who knocked out a vignette in verse for us the other day.  Rather than get into a long introduction and deep analysis of the piece (and whether there should be more or fewer commas), here is, in its first public appearance, "The Question":

Abortion, Slavery, and Private Property, IV: The 14th Amendment

Picking up where we left off on August 15, following the Civil War and the abolition of chattel slavery, the Congress realized it was essential to overturn Scott v. Sandford — the Dred Scott case.  The ruling of the United States Supreme Court, that no human being of African birth or descent, slave or free, was a person as that term was used in the Constitution, could not be allowed to stand.

Glad You Asked That (I Think . . .)

Every once in a while we get a real interesting question.  Maybe a little offbeat, but interesting.  Sometimes it actually has something to do with the Just Third Way.  It might be a very little, but it’s still something.  This question actually relates (distantly) to the question as to whether the rich (or anybody else) are inherently evil, or whether all the hate that is spewed out against them is just envy.

The Vocations Crisis

This actually has something to do with the Just Third Way.  Someone recently started a thread in a Facebook discussion about the “vocations crisis” in the Catholic Church.  Some people gave one answer, others another.  Most bemoaned the fact that there weren’t enough ordinations.  While I don’t have an answer, I thought I’d add my two cents, anyway.

News from the Network, Vol. 6, No. 37

The big news this week (actually, pretty much the only news) is the very positive reception for the Just Third Way Edition of Fulton J. Sheen’s Freedom Under God.  So far we’ve only had two reactions that were less than positive.  The first was from someone who said he hadn’t read the book, and didn’t want to.  He just knew he hated it.  The second was that somebody got a copy that had a binding error: during the binding process part of someone else’s book was included.  (We advised that the customer return the book and get a good copy.)

Obama and Napoleon

No, we don’t think that President Obama has gone around the bend and now thinks he’s the Emperor Napoleon, or even a pastry or snifter of cognac.  It’s just that someone asked us recently whether there were any parallels in history to the way the Russians and the Chinese seem to be moving in a way almost calculated to force Obama to act out of ego and pride instead of reason.