News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 51

This is the first half of our annual news roundup.  We’re trying something different this year, however.  Instead of trying to choose all the important news stories, we’re just picking what we thing may be the most important one from each week as it relates to the Just Third Way.  The overall objective, of course, is to get the powers-that-be (or powers-that-are-to-be) to adopt the Economic Democracy Act, but in the meantime:

Is It Really “Too Complicated”?

The halls of justice (or should that be “the howls of justice”?) rang recently with protests to the effect mentioning economic and social justice — at a meeting of the Center for Economic and Social Justice(!) — is “too complicated” and turns people off (“they just roll their eyes”).  The complaints got louder when some of us tried to explain why you just can’t say “you’ll have more money” to explain economic justice and ignore social justice altogether as having been hijacked by the socialists.

JTW Podcast: Professor Dave on Socrates and Plato

Okay, although Prof. Dave uses the word “impactful,” this video is still useful as providing basic background material on two very important philosophers, who — even if we don’t accept their thought in preference to Aristotle — are still important:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 50

This is the last new news report for the year as next week we plan on posting the first half of our annual news roundup . . . which some people actually read!  If you don’t, we can sum up the message for the year as the powers-that-be should the Economic Democracy Act:

Why It’s Not Distributism

A little backstory.  A few years ago, we were asked to prepare an explanation of what we mean by “the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism.”  Even though we are an interfaith group, the request came from an official at the Vatican (not the pope or anyone you know).  We wrote the explanation based on universal principles of natural law applicable to all “natural” faiths and philosophies (mostly based on or compatible with Aristotelian philosophy).

JTW Podcast: Presocratic Philosophy, Part II

This week, “Professor Dave Explains” continues his talk on Greek philosophers before Socrates.  It’s a little abrupt, since Part I was the first half of the lecture and this is the second half, but that’s not really anything to worry about.  So, let’s get down and funky with the Presocratics:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 49

As the year draws to a close, we see increasing numbers of reasons for somebody somewhere to adopt the Economic Democracy Act and lead the way for the rest of the world:

What is the Federal Reserve For, Exactly?

George Will’s November 30, 2024, column asked the question as to what, exactly, is the purpose of the Federal Reserve System.  This is a reasonable concern, especially given the way governments throughout the world have been using their central banks to spend money like drunken sailors on leave.  Unfortunately, although Will pontificated for 750 words or so, it was evident that, while he clearly intended the title of his column to be rhetorical, he himself has no realistic idea of the role or function of a central bank, much less any bank other than a bank of deposit.

JTW Podcast: Presocratic Philosophy, Part I

This week, “Professor Dave Explains” about Greek philosophers before Socrates.  It’s pretty rapid fire, but still informative and (up to a point) entertaining.  As before, personally, we find the use of “BCE” instead of “BC” is annoying, but we’re big enough to let that pass . . . for now:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 48

A lot of news items this week and consequently a lot of arguments to adopt the Economic Democracy Act, so we’ll get right into it:

Union Solidarista Guatemalteca y Costa Rica

It’s not so much a buzzword nowadays, but “solidarity” is still an important concept, and one that often doesn’t mean what people think it does.  To define what we mean by solidarity, we begin with the thought of Pope Saint John Paul II (Karol Józef Wojtyła, 1920-2005, elected 1978).

JTW Podcast: East Asian and Indian Early Philosophical Thought

Here is an additional take on the history of philosophy and logic from “Professor Dave Explains.”  We’re most interested in Aristotelian philosophy, but knowing something about other systems is useful as well.  Personally, the use of “BCE” instead of “BC” is annoying, but so what:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 47

Trump and the economy are the Big News this week . . . and since he isn’t really saying anything different than anyone else, we still need to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

Some Comments on Social Credit

In China, the social credit system (SCS) is a national reputation system that rates the trustworthiness of individuals, businesses, and government entities.  The idea is to regulate social behavior and ensure compliance with laws and regulations.  The SCS assigns a score to each entity, with higher scores leading to more benefits and lower scores leading to more penalties.  High scores can lead to tax breaks, jumping the public housing queue, and easier access to credit.  Low scores can lead to denial of licenses and permits, exclusion from booking flights or high-speed train tickets, and restricted access to public services . . . all based on some bureaucrat’s idea of how good a person you are.  It’s a fun and easy way to have your life ruined.

JTW Podcast: Introduction to Philosophy and Logic

Here is an interesting take on philosophy and logic from “Professor Dave Explains.”  Logic is a tool to help us think about knowledge, while philosophy is knowledge about knowledge . . . it’s not that bad (or bad at all), as you will see from this short video:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 46

 Economic and social insecurity is increasing at an increasing rate these days.  Ironically, a lot of this could probably be eliminated by the Economic Democracy Act:

Who REALLY Owns the Federal Reserve?

On paper, the Federal Reserve System, the central bank of the United States, is owned by its member banks.  Member banks are required to purchase a special form of preferred stock paying a minimal dividend but carrying a meaningless vote.  This is not, however, true ownership.  As Louis O. Kelso once pointed out, control means ownership in all codes of law, and as we will see below, the federal government, while it does have “legal title” to the Federal Reserve System, controls it by having the president of the United States appoint the Chairman of the Board of Governors, and by receiving all revenue in excess of what is expended in operations.

JTW Podcast: Four Possibilities to Prove Reality is Real

This week’s podcast deal with reality and the existence of God, a question relevant to every faith and philosophy.  Again, if there is no God, then there is no absolute standard and there are no rules to live by and no moral law to follow; anyone can do anything he wants — might makes right.  And why is that important?  Because if there are no absolutes and right is whatever the strongest says it is, then the Just Third Way is nonsense:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 45

Everyone is obsessing about the results of the U.S. election this week, but life goes on (and on, and on, and on).  Regardless how it would have turned out, in our opinion the only thing that will Make America Great Again is to make AMERICANS (or any other nationalities) great again, and that means adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

Why “Binary”?

Occasionally, someone thinks he (or she) has come up with a brilliant criticism of the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism by pointing out “binary economics” is not a good way of describing the ideas of Louis O. Kelso which form the primary economic theory of the Just Third Way.  The critic takes a brief look and sees Kelso divided the factors of production into labor and capital instead of labor, land, and capital, and assumes it is the whole of Kelso’s thought, which is ultra-simplistic.

JTW Podcast: The Case for God

This week’s podcast deals with the case for the existence of God.  Why is this important?  Because as Dostoyevsky had Ivan Karamazov in The Brothers Karamazov (1880) claim, if God does not exist, then everything is permitted.  If there is no God, then there is no absolute standard and there are no rules to live by and no moral law to follow; anyone can do anything he wants — might makes right.  And why is that important?  Because if there are no absolutes and right is whatever the strongest says it is, then the Just Third Way is nonsense:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 44

As the United States gets closer to the upcoming election, it becomes increasingly obvious from this week’s news items none of the candidates are looking at the economy in any realistic way.  What is a realistic way?  The program in the Economic Democracy Act:

The Pecuniary Advantage

Last week we noted what makes the rich different is not more money (although that certainly doesn’t hurt . . .) but access to money creation.  Access to money and credit determines who can acquire and possess capital, which is what makes people rich, not mere money.

JTW Podcast: Aquinas v. Kant

This week’s podcast is still about “Natural Theology,” but don’t worry — this is just basic philosophical concepts underpinning the theory of natural law from which the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism is derived.  Why is this important if the Just Third Way is not a religion?  Because consistent with the philosophy of Aristotle, the Just Third Way assumes as a given that there are absolutes, which necessarily implies the existence of God.  Again, don’t worry: the only thing we can tell from natural reason about the existence of God and the natural law is that it exists . . . which segues into Emmanuel Kant and his Critique of Pure Reason (1781):

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 43

There seems to be more of a focus on financial problems associated with retirement . . . something which (as we’ve commented previously) might need a little bit of rethinking.  There are other news items, of course, notably the notice about the Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum event in Ottawa, Canada, but still many problems might be resolved or reduced in magnitude by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

Is the Proletarian Condition “Normal”?

Last week we looked at the question whether the rich, as F. Scott Fitzgerald claimed, are different.  We concluded that today the rich are, indeed, different . . . but not as human beings.  Rather, what makes the rich different these days is access to money and credit which enables them to buy advanced technology which can and usually does outproduce human labor at a quantum level.

JTW Podcast: Natural Theology, Part II

This continues last week’s podcast on “Natural Theology”, which is what can be discerned by reason about God, so is applicable across the board to people of all faiths and philosophies, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Pagan, or what have you.  Today Sproul covers what G.K. Chesterton called "the Double Mind of Man," the idea something can be both true and false at the same time.  Here is what R.C. Sproul had to say on the subject:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 42

The news items this week approach the surreal, with items contradicting each other, and others simply not making sense.  As usual, many of these problems could either be resolved or made much less worrisome by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

The Rich are Different . . . Now

It is probably apocryphal, but Ernest Hemmingway allegedly replied to F. Scott Fitzgerald’s statement that “the rich are different” — “Yes, they have more money.”  Mmmmm . . . that was true at one time, but no longer.  Once upon a time, all the rich had was more and better of what everyone else had.  Nowadays what the rich have is not more money, but access to money and credit to become the owners of productive technology which is closed to those of us without similar access.

JTW Podcast: Natural Theology, Part I

No, today’s podcast is not going far afield from the Just Third Way.  All “Natural Theology” says is that knowledge of the existence of God and of the natural law can be derived from human reason by examining nature and using your head.  It doesn’t say anything other than “God” exists and that what we see in human nature and everywhere else tells us something, however dimly, about “God’s” nature which is the content of natural law . . . and the Just Third Way is based on natural law.  Here is what R.C. Sproul had to say on the subject:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 41

Again, there is not too much new this week, and, again, most of it could be resolved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

How Much Money?

One of the problems with the global monetary system is the so-called experts are never able to decide how much money to create so that there is low inflation, high employment, low prices, and high wages . . . and you get the idea.  The experts argue endlessly about everything except what they’re really concerned about: how to get the money they want and prevent everyone else from getting it.

JTW Podcast: Mystery

Do you love a mystery?  This week’s lecture on “Mystery” continues last week’s talk on “Contradiction and Paradox.”  Just to keep it exciting, Sproul starts off with antinomy.  Not, the metal, which is antimony, but the concept.  As usual, you can ignore the fact this lecture is part of a series on Christian apologetics, as the subject concerns thought and logic itself.  Apologetics is just the application . . . which is neither a contradiction nor a paradox.  Here’s what R.C. Sproul had to say on the subject:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 40

Not too much new this week, and most of it could be resolved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

The High Priest of Capitalism?

There is much more to Adam Smith (1723-1790), the purported high priest of laissez faire capitalism, than many today suppose.  Part of this is because few people in positions of authority, whether Church, State, or Family, understand the underlying principles of his philosophy.  Instead, they accept conventional wisdom based on the principles of a competing paradigm having little in common with Smith’s fundamental tenets.

JTW Podcast: Contradiction and Paradox

Continuing our series of R.C. Sproul’s lectures, this week we have a talk on “Contradiction and Paradox” which are not the same thing.  As usual, you can ignore the fact this lecture is part of a series on Christian apologetics, as the subject concerns thought and logic itself.  Apologetics is just the application . . . which is neither a contradiction nor a paradox.  Here’s what R.C. Sproul had to say on the subject:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 39

We have some very sad news this week, the loss of a CESJ founding member and one who made continuing input into supporting the Just Third Way and the Economic Democracy Act:

“Freedom is Not an Empty Sound”

In the previous posting on this subject, we looked at William Cobbett, to whom some have referred as “the Apostle of Distributism,” meaning a sort of proto advocate of small ownership.  Of course, in some cases, the people who attach such a label have little understanding of what ownership consists.  We can sum up what Cobbett was talking about by quoting American statesman Daniel Webster: “Power naturally and necessarily follows property.”

JTW Podcast: Analogical Language, Part II

 Last week’s podcast was Part I of R.C. Sproul’s lecture on “analogical language.”  This week podcast is Part II of the lecture.”  Again, you can ignore the fact this lecture is part of a series on Christian apologetics, as the subject concerns thought and logic itself.  Apologetics is just the application.  Here’s what R.C. Sproul had to say on the subject:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 38

Some interesting events this week, but also a lot of more of the same . . . much of which could be resolved or at least ameliorated by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

“Power Tends to Corrupt”

From 1824 to 1826, William Cobbett (1763-1835), whom G.K. Chesterton and others consider “the Apostle of Distributism,” published segments of A History of the Protestant Reformation in England and Ireland.  In the book, portions of which were later adapted for The Poor Man’s Friend (1829), Cobbett’s goal was not to defend the Catholic faith.  As he clearly stated, he was a Protestant, and never had any intention of being anything else.

JTW Podcast: Analogical Language, Part I

And you thought big words were just for dictionaries, not for the instant gratification internet crowd.  This week’s podcast is another lecture from R.C. Sproul, this time on “analogical language.”  And what is “analogical language”?  That’s what you’ll find out today, at least the first part.  Interestingly, Fulton Sheen's doctoral thesis, God and Intelligence in Modern Philosophy (1925) is related to this lecture.  Again, you can ignore the fact this lecture is part of a series on Christian apologetics, as the subject concerns thought and logic itself.  Apologetics is just the application.  Here’s what R.C. Sproul had to say on the subject:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 37

More of the same, only more so?  In a sense, yes, this week’s news items bear a strong resemblance to those that have been listed week after week for some time.  Keep heart, though, we’re continuing to work on introducing the principles of the Just Third Way as applied in the Economic Democracy Act:

Central Banking, III: The Role of a Central Bank

Despite all the conspiracy theories floating around, central banking is essential in a modern technologically and economically advanced economy.  Allowing government to fill the role of a central bank is a serious mistake on so many levels that we won’t get into it.  We’ll focus instead on the mechanics.  So, what is a central bank all about?

JTW Podcast: Sense Perception

Does sense perception have a role in matters pertaining to faith or even to reason itself?  Again, you can ignore the fact that this lecture is part of a series on Christian apologetics, as the subject concerns thought and logic itself.  Apologetics is just the application.  Here’s what R.C. Sproul had to say on the subject:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 36

It seems the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee is worried about the interest rate and the unemployment rate.  It is a Keynesian dogma, constantly disproved, that there is a tradeoff between inflation and employment . . . except that Keynes said there is no such thing as real inflation until full employment is reached.  Is there a way to get out of this weird paradox?  Yes.  It is only necessary to adopt the Economic Democracy Act, and bring a halt to some of this surreal weirdness:

Central Banking, II: Commercial Bank Problems

In the previous posting on this subject, we noted that a single commercial bank is always riskier than several commercial banks acting together as part of a system.  There is also the problem that, however sound an individual bank may be and stable its issues with respect to their value over time, the banknotes of one bank will never have the same value as the banknotes of another bank which is independent of the first bank.

JTW Podcast: The Law of Causality

Although this lecture is intended as an “apologetic” for Christianity, we’re presenting it as a basic lesson in principles of logic, using Christianity as an example.  Here’s what R.C. Sproul had to say on the subject:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 35

Were you among the elite group expecting to benefit from whatever comes out of meetings at, say, Jackson Hole, or were a normal person trying to get by as the elites and the central banks of the world continue to manage the global economy into more chaos?  If the latter, you might want to consider promoting the Economic Democracy Act:, and bringing a halt to some of this nonsense:

Central Banking, I: Commercial Banks for Commercial Banks

Conspiracy theory to the contrary, central banks are not a plot by the bankers to conquer the world by controlling access to money and credit.  Government got into central banking by an accident of history.  King William III of England needed money and demanded a bribe in the form of the specie reserves of the newly organized Bank of England in exchange for “government stock” (i.e., government debt) for the bank to obtain a charter.

JTW Podcast: The Law of (Non) Contradiction

Does the world have a rational basis, or is it purely in the mind of the beholder?  As some of today’s thinkers and politicians insist, do we create our own reality?  Do we choose what we want to be and self-identify as?  R.C. Sproul thought differently:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 34

It’s tempting to say, “Nothing to see here, move along,” but there might be something in the Same Old Thing that makes people realize things could be different by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

A Rational Approach to Taxation, Part II

In the previous posting on this subject, we noted that by and large the tax systems in place throughout the world are employed as means of social control and justifying Keynesian economics instead of their sole justified use as the sole legitimate source of revenue for government.  Interestingly, both Adam Smith and Pope Leo XIII — usually assumed to be at odds on everything — agreed that for taxation to be just, it must adhere to what Smith called the four canons of taxation:

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Seeking Faith

In the 1930s, Mortimer Adler, a self-described unbaptized pagan, took a lot of criticism for “converting” people to Catholicism simply by getting people to think logically:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 33

This week’s news items are more of the same only more so.  It gets a little tiresome to see all the situations that could easily be solved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

A Rational Approach to Taxation, Part I

Reportedly, vice presidential candidate Tim Walz “created ‘the most progressive tax system in the country’ for Minnesota.”  Pundits believe this will help Kamala Harris in her tax proposals.  It will probably do that . . . but are Harris’s tax proposals what is needed?  Come to think of it, are Trump’s tax proposals any better?

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Equality

Concluding our series on Mortimer Adler on the Six Great Ideas, today we have “Equality” — false ideas of which Alexis de Tocqueville warned us about.  So, what does “equality” mean?  Let’ hear Mortimer Adler:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 32

 What’s astonishing about the wild fluctuations of the stock market this week is that people (the so-called experts) think it is not a sign that something is wrong with the system and that the Economic Democracy Act isn’t necessary:

Vladimir Putin, Keynesian

In his General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (1936) John Maynard Keynes made some astonishing, even bizarre statements, many of which boggle the imagination.  We have addressed a few of them on this blog, and if this were an “anti-Keynesian” venue instead of a “pro-Economic Personalism” platform, we would have enough to keep us going for quite some time, years, in fact.

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Goodness

Continuing our series on Mortimer Adler on the Six Great Ideas, today we have “Goodness.”  What does “goodness” mean?  All things aim at the good, according to Aristotle, but what, exactly, is good?  Mortimer Adler gives us a few thoughts on the subject . . . and it might not be what you think:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 31

“Winning isn't everything; it’s the only thing” in various forms has been to UCLA coach Henry Russell “Red” Sanders.  Similarly, some people talk about money so much you’d think it is the only thing.  It’s not — but if we don’t solve “the money question” in a just manner, we might as well stop where we are, and hope things don’t get worse.  Fortunately, we have a tried-and-true program of monetary and tax reform applied in the Economic Democracy Act which would stop a great deal of the foolishness we see in the news with respect to economics and finance:

Putin’s Pertinacious Problems, III: Not Paying Your Bills

When you or I can’t pay our bills, our telephone service gets cut off or “they” repossess the car, truck, fishing boat, or whatever.  When a country can’t pay its bills, the consequences get even more dire.  As Henry C. Adams noted as recently as 1898, or 21 BK (Before Keynes, who thought being permanently in debt was a Good Thing),

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Justice

As it says in the Bible, “Justice, justice, thou shalt pursue.”  Continuing our series on Mortimer Adler on the Six Great Ideas, today we have “Justice.”  This is particularly important these days because, having suffered from the distortions of socialism and capitalism, so many people do not know the difference between justice and charity:

Putin’s Pertinacious Problems, II: Continuing a War of Conquest

In the previous posting on this subject, we looked at the problem Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has with starting a war of conquest when neither he nor Russia (despite their fantasies) were prepared for it, and for trying to deceive others into thinking it was anything other than an attempt to increase his own personal wealth and power, for which others were paying with their lives, liberty, and property.  Today we look at the problem Putin has on his hands due to continuing a war of conquest (or any other kind), when it was painfully obvious from Day One the attempt has failed — at least to anyone applying reason to the situation.

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Liberty

Continuing our series on Mortimer Adler on the Six Great Ideas, today we have “Liberty.”  Some people are of the opinion that liberty means they can do anything they like, which means anything they can force others into letting them do.  Is that so?  Or is that “license,” while liberty means the freedom to become more fully human as an individual while living together with others in society?  Let’s listen:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 29

Alas, all we have this week is more of the same, which will almost certainly be the case until and unless the Economic Democracy Act is adopted:

Putin’s Pertinacious Problems, I: Starting a War of Conquest

Vladimir Putin has a few problems.  Well, he has a few hundred million problems, but we’re only going to look at three, all of which derive from his biggest problem: himself.  When you need to control or destroy other people to live your own life, the real problem is you.

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Beauty

Continuing our series on Mortimer Adler on the Six Great Ideas, today we have a video he made on “Beauty” . . . which might not be what you expect:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 28

With the upcoming U.S. election and the Russian attack on the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine, things are looking a trifle bad for sanity in the world.  Still, while it won’t solve all problems or even most of them, adopting the Economic Democracy Act could be a giant step in the direction of restoring sanity and a world in which children might actually be permitted to live:

Total Financial Mobilization

In defense of Ukraine, money and credit are as crucial as guns and ammunition. A robust economy with widespread purchasing power is vital for both national prosperity and security. A solid financial system and sustainable growth are necessary in peacetime and wartime alike.

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on the Necessity of Government

Continuing our series on videos we’ve discovered about Mortimer Adler, today we look at Adler’s thoughts on the necessity of government.  Given the antics of today’s leaders and politicians, this is a reminder how good, even great ideas can be twisted by bad philosophy, bad motives, and bad people:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 27

Once again, the news items from this week sound like a fantasy writer who might have snacked on the wrong pan of brownies and got kicked off the writing team of Killer Klowns from Outer Space for being too far out.  Ironically, many of the world’s problems could be solved or at least ameliorated by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:, returning economic (and thus political) power to people, and getting rid of a few of the dictators and wannabes:

Central Bank Funding, II: Traditional Solutions to the Twin Threats

Today’s posting is the second half of “Central Bank Funding of Economic Growth and Economic Justice Through Expanded Capital Ownership” By Norman A. Bailey, Ph.D., presented at the Capital Ownership Group Conference on Globalization, Four Points Sheraton Hotel, Washington, D.C., October 9-11, 2002.

The first half of this article,“The Twin Threats,” can be found here.

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler on Beauty

Continuing our series on videos we’ve discovered about Mortimer Adler, who brought knowledge of philosophy to a popular audience, today we have a talk he gave on beauty:

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 26

One of the “interesting” things about the current world situation is the insistence of the experts that what has never worked must work if we just try harder, and to avoid like a cliché what has been proven to work and continues to work every day . . . but which endangers the monopoly of power currently held by the elite.  Not their wealth, just their currently monopoly on power.  What’s the solution?  Adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

Central Bank Funding, I: The Twin Threats

Today’s posting is the first half of “Central Bank Funding of Economic Growth and Economic Justice Through Expanded Capital Ownership” By Norman A. Bailey, Ph.D., presented at the Capital Ownership Group Conference on Globalization, Four Points Sheraton Hotel, Washington, D.C., October 9-11, 2002.

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.