JTW Podcast: Labor’s Great Mistake

 Today’s podcast is about “Labor's Great Mistake: The Economics of Full Employment and Wealth Production.”  In this writing, Kelso challenged the conventional belief that full employment is a societal ideal, arguing instead that true economic advancement comes through increased participation in production facilitated by capital ownership. He critiqued the Keynesian approach of pump-priming the economy to create jobs and illustrates the inefficiency and inherent issues in such policies.

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 26

 Some of this week’s news items might come across as a trifle surreal but we can assure you they are drawn from today’s headlines.  The stories are true.  None of the names have been changed because there are too few innocents to protect.  Of course, many of the non-innocents would lose their opportunities to inflict themselves on others if legislatures would adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

Muddling Through to Servility

 The election of Pope Leo XIV has aroused renewed interest in “Catholic” social teaching . . . which is not “Catholic,” but “catholic” with a small c, as it is based on the natural law common to every human being.  Unfortunately, there is a flaw in how these teachings have been presented.  This is not a flaw in the teachings, mind you, but in how they are applied, which is a mistake anybody, even a pope or president, can make.

JTW Podcast: Mortimer Adler and The Capitalist Manifesto

 Today’s podcast is the Preface to The Capitalist Manifesto: Revolutionizing Democracy and Economy by Mortimer J. Adler and Louis O. Kelso.

Mortimer J. Adler wrote this preface to The Capitalist Manifesto, co-authored with Louis Kelso. Adler disclaimed credit for the underlying capitalist theory, attributing it to Kelso's extensive research. He elucidated the inseparable link between political democracy and economic freedom and equality.

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 25

As usual, there is nothing new under the sun with the news affecting the effort to get legislators to adopt the Economic Democracy Act.  Still, the effort goes on.

Some Thoughts for the Present and Future

 Pope Leo XIV, the newly elected leader of the Catholic Church, faces many challenges in applying Catholic social doctrine to solving today’s problems such as the growing wealth, income and power gap in every nation; widespread poverty; destruction of the environment; conflict-driven immigration; growth of State power; the decay of families, and many others.

JTW Podcast: Why Are So Many Americans Poor?

 Today’s podcast delves into the causes of poverty in America, as examined by Louis O. Kelso and Patricia Hetter.  The discussion debunks common misconceptions about why people are poor, such as lack of education, laziness, or living in impoverished areas, and argues that the main reason is the lack of accumulated wealth and productive capital.

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 24

 This week’s news items are a replay of past weeks that suggest the only way to solve a lot of the problems affecting the economy is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

The Issue is Power

 Everyone needs power.  It’s essential if you want to take control of your own life and become virtuous, as Aristotle pointed out.  The problem is how to get it legitimately and how to use it to control your own life and not others.

JTW Podcast: The Who . . . What . . . Why

Today we present a very brief overview of the career of Louis Orth Kelso, the lawyer-economist and corporate attorney who developed the theory of binary economics.  This podcast, “The Revolutionary Ideas of Louis O. Kelso: ESOPs, CSOPs, and Binary Economics” dives into Kelso’s groundbreaking work which transformed economic theory with his invention of the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) and Consumer Stock Ownership Plan (CSOP).

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 23

 Admittedly there is a depressing sameness about the news items these days, but with a little hard work and a lot of luck (or maybe the other way around) we might be able to change that in the coming weeks.  In any event, a lot of the chaos which has been spreading throughout the global economy would be dramatically lessened and perhaps even completely eliminated by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

Saving or Investing for Retirement?

 According to a recent article in Fortune magazine, “Boomers” are being forced to “unretire” due to inadequate savings.  That’s bad, of course, but the real point of the article is a wonderful (wunderbar?) new proposal in Germany.  The idea is for the government to fund retirement accounts for children between age six and eighteen.  Cash would be deposited, and the interest would compound.  As described by Fortune,

JTW Podcast: The Thoughtful Rebel’s Guide to Economics

Today we present “The Thoughtful Rebel's Guide to Economics: A Lecture by Louis Kelso.”  This 1969 lecture delivered by Louis Orth Kelso at the College Editors’ Conference scrutinizes the inefficiencies and injustices of the world's economic institutions.  “Rebelling” against conventional economics, Kelso argued that the prevailing economic systems operate under several false assumptions, such as the belief that only labor produces wealth, and full employment should be the ultimate goal.

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 22

Admittedly, there is a depressing sameness in the news items this week and the previous weeks, but a lot of that is due to the extreme uncertainty of economic and monetary policy under political regimes existing in the world.  That being the case, we still present some of the more important or at least the least repetitive news items affecting the Just Third Way, many of which could be solved or at least ameliorated by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:

Fight Fiercely, Harvard

 Those of you who remember the very early songs by Tom Lehrer will be familiar with the gentlemanly fight song he wrote for his alma mater, Harvard.  If not, well you can listen to it here, if you are (or ah) really anxious to hear it.  That, however, is not the point of today’s posting.

JTW Podcast: What Louis Kelso Knew

Today we present “The Revolutionary Economic Insights of Louis Kelso.”  In this comprehensive exploration of Louis Kelso's economic thought, Patricia Hetter Kelso delves into the dichotomy between thinkers characterized as foxes and hedgehogs, referencing philosopher Isaiah Berlin’s taxonomy.

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 21

 Economic chaos continues to reign supreme.  This will continue to be the case until people realize that something different is possible and push for Congress to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:

The End of Private Equity Firms? No Way!

A few years back a member of the CESJ board of directors expressed concern over the Economic Democracy Act and the necessity of shifting new capital formation from past savings to future savings.  There was also the issue of phasing out governments monetizing deficits by emitting bills of credit (the constitutional form of “creating money” out of nothing).

JTW Podcast: Labor’s Great Mistake

The full title of this podcast is “Labor’s Great Mistake: Rethinking Full Employment in a Capitalist Society.”  In this video, we explore Louis O. Kelso's seminal 1960 article, “Labor's Great Mistake: The Struggle for the Toil State.”  In the face of the fixed belief human labor is the only true factor of production and thus a “job” is the only way to gain income, Kelso argues against the conventional wisdom that full employment is an ideal societal goal.

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 20

Although some of the experts seem to be acting as if everything is going to be fine, this week’s news items suggest disaster is in the offing and it’s only a matter of time.  We, of course, think that adopting the Economic Democracy Act: will go a long way to correcting the problem and providing a foundation for genuine sustainable growth:

Where is Pope Leo XIV Coming From?

The election of a new pope has repercussions far beyond the Catholic Church, Christianity, and even all religion.  Especially since the Catholic Church became a truly international organization with the loss of the Papal States in the 19^th century, people of goodwill everywhere look to the head of the Catholic Church as a voice for good, even if they do not always agree with what he says.

JTW Podcast: A Martyr to Economic Justice

Today’s podcast is more than a little different from what we’ve been presenting.  It is an original twelve-and-a-half-minute video about Blessed Pauline Jaricot, a nineteenth century “martyr” to economic justice.  Anticipating the work of Pope Leo XIII which the new pope, Leo XIV, has taken as his guide, Pauline struggled to achieve justice for the working classes of her day.

News from the Network, Vol. 18, No. 19

While the world situation seems to be getting more surreal by the hour, at least there may be a break coming with the election of a new pope . . . who might be open to hearing about the Economic Democracy Act:

Egocentrism, Tariffs, and the Single Tax, Part IV

Concluding our discussion of tariffs, as we noted previously there are three badly flawed economic principles which many people hold as absolute, unquestioned dogmas.  Two of these flawed principles are general, but applied specifically in the third, regarding tariffs, which we looked at last week.  The principles are: