A Missing Link

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, in response to the “new things” of socialism, modernism and the New Age, in 1891 Pope Leo XIII proposed a program of expanded capital ownership.  This would empower people and families, giving them the opportunity and means to overcome the growing social alienation that had led to the development and growth of the new things in the first place.

New Things

In case you haven’t noticed, it has become increasingly frequent over the past couple of decades to demonize anyone who disagrees with you on virtually any subject.  We’d say, “on any subject,” but there must be some things that people don’t disagree on.  Somewhere.

Backwards It Getting

No, we’re not trying out a bad Yoda impression, although that might not be a bad idea if it brings in readers.  Or maybe a Darth Vader as (apocryphally) done by Tony Curtis in The Black Shield of Falworth?  “Luke, I am yer Fada.”

The Just Third Way on EWTN Live

Okay, admittedly the Just Third Way only comes in around the last quarter of the show, but at least half the studio audience stated explicitly that it was the best part of the show, and a number of other people concurred, judging from the mail we've received.  So, just in case you missed it when it was live or on some of the reruns, here is the January 8, 2020 EWTN Live show with your host Father Mitch Pacwa interviewing CESJ's Director of Research, Michael D. Greaney:

News from the Network, Vol. 13, No. 02

Perhaps the most unusual thing this week from the Just Third Way perspective is how no one seems to be questioning the incredible rise in share values on the stock market that is not linked to any discernible increase in the quantity or quality of marketable goods and services, i.e., “economic growth.”  Instead, the rise in share values is itself taken as “economic growth,” even though shares are not actually marketable goods or services.  Be that as it may, here are the Just Third Way highlights for this week:

Debt and Taxes

According to an article in the December 27, 2019 Washington Post, in the middle of a presumably booming economy, Americans are drowning in non-mortgage consumer debt. (“Americans Piling Up Near-Record Levels of Credit Card Debt,” A-3.)  Unacknowledged in the story — or anywhere else — is the depressing (and sobering) fact that Keynesian economics and all derivatives, absolutely rely on non-productive spending for consumption, what Jean-Baptiste Say called “multiplying barren consumptions.”

Rethinking Saving for Retirement

It’s a truism that has become engrained into American life.  Go to school to get good grades.  Get good grades to get a good job.  Get a good job to get a good pension for retirement.  Be sure to save enough on the side in an IRA or 401(k) to supplement your pension and Social Security so you can afford to do all the fun things you see other people doing on TV.

The Idea of “Leisure Work”

In the previous postings on this subject we looked at the effect two key inventions, the cotton gin and the McCormick Reaper, had on society, whether for good or for ill.  The cotton gin made raising cotton profitable, while the McCormick Reaper made it possible to think about ending world hunger and famine.

Norman Kurland on the Harold Channer Show

Here's a video from not too long ago, September 18, 2000, featuring Dr. Norman G. Kurland, president of the Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ), having a conversation with Harold Channer on his show.

EWTN Live! and Ten Battles Everyone Should Know

A relatively short time ago the principal author of this blog had a book published by TAN Books.  With the title Ten Battles Every Catholic Should Know (2018), which will be featured — along with the author! — on EWTN Live! January 8, 2020, 8:00 pm EST on the EWTN Television Network, a cable television channel.  Check your local listings for when it airs in your area.  If you miss it or don’t have cable, EWTN usually puts the show up on YouTube within a couple of days.

News from the Network, Vol. 13, No. 01

The big news this week is actually for next week: Michael D. Greaney, CESJ’s Director of Research, is scheduled to appear on the Eternal Word Television Network’s show EWTN Live! with Father Mitch Pacwa, S.J.  In the expanded ownership arena, we kick off the year with the SECURE Act, that puts more power in the hands of participants in qualified retirement plans:

A Tale of Two Machines, II: The McCormick Reaper

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, the invention of the cotton gin revolutionized cotton production and, in a horrifying twist of fate, revived what to all appearances was a dying institution at the end of the eighteenth century: human chattel slavery.  Cotton was now phenomenally profitable as the world’s leading fiber, cheap, durable, and economical to produce . . . if you ignored the fact that it provided an excuse to enslave millions of human beings and wore out land at a tremendous rate.  When money talks, human dignity walks.

Happy New Year!

Since it's a holiday, the blog is also taking the day off. . . .

An Unimportant Shift in Meaning

In the previous posting on this subject we looked at the fundamental assumption of socialism: that people have a right to what they need.  In the modern age this has largely displaced the traditional assumption that people have a right to the means to acquire what they need.

Just Third Way for Local Government

In this week’s podcast we bring you a special guest, Chris Dardzinski from Lincoln Park, Michigan, where he is an Economist, local politician, and Just Third Way activist. He talks about how to organize for change right where you live, including efforts to implement the concept of Capital Homesteading locally.

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 52

It’s time again for our annual news roundup, the first part of which we posted last week, and the second part today.  Again, there is such a volume of material that for once we decided to forgo illustrations:

How to Have Your Cake and Eat It

In case you haven’t noticed, there is something of a split in modern society.  On the one hand are those who believe that you only deserve what you work for, and if you don’t have something, it’s because you didn’t work for it.  You are lazy, shiftless, and worthless.

Merry Christmas!

If you're visiting this blog today . . . why?  As long as you stopped by, however, kick off your shoes, sit back, and have a glass of hot mulled cider or whatever you want.

“Good Upon ’Change”

This is the time of year when people give each other the Dickens in the numberless readings and dramatic adaptations of A Christmas Carol, that is, as well as all the parodies, spoofs, rip-offs, and cartoons.  A personal favorite among the later comes from the old New Yorker/Saturday Review of Literature cartoon series by the late Burr Shafer (1899-1965), “Through History With J. Wesley Smith,” known as “History’s Greatest Wrong-Guesser.”

An Oldie But a Goodie

A while back the talk was about Louis Kelso's "Second Income Plan."  The principles are the same as those of the Capital Homestead Act, and some people might wonder why we continued to develop the concept.  View these videos and judge for yourself.  We think we've come a long way, but you will see that decades ago Kelso was already centuries ahead of where we are now:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 51

It’s time again for our annual news roundup, the first part of which we will post today, and the second part next week.  There is such a volume of material that for once we decided to forgo illustrations:

A Tale of Two Machines, I: The Cotton Gin

Many people are aware that advancing technology has an effect on society and individual behavior.  From the displacement of human labor from the production process to video game or social media addiction, technology often seems to benefit only a relatively small number of people at the expense of everyone else.

Guest Blog: Is Capitalism a Moral System?

A short time ago, someone “accused” CESJ of promoting capitalism as a moral system, linking us with Father Robert A. Sirico of the Acton Institute.  This was presumably due to the fact that both capitalists and adherents of the Just Third Way support the institution of private property . . . but that’s about as far as it goes, as today’s Guest Blogger, Dr. Norman G. Kurland, president of the Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ) explains in this slightly edited version of his response:

What They Should Have Read

It’s that time of year when various publications, online and off, come out with their lists of “best books of 2019,” some of which the people who said they read them might actually have done so.  A lot of the lists, however, sound more like books you leave on view so people will be impressed that you (presumably) read them than something they actually wanted to read.  And what better way to put hoi polloi in their places than to be asked for a list of books that you thought were the best?

The Challenge with Russell Williams

Yes, we know that today is Beethoven's Birthday, but we were unable to round up either Beethoven or Schroeder for an interview.  Instead, today we have a segment of the show, The Challenge, with your host, the Rev. Russell Williams, who presents the Just Third Way in a nutshell:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 50

It’s a little unclear about the details, but the Integrity Marketing Group, LLC, an insurance company, has declared it has an “Employee Ownership Plan” that gives “meaningful ownership” to its 750 employees.  The ownership structure and definition of “meaningful ownership” were not given, nor how the workers participate in share ownership, dividends, voting, or anything else — or the reaction of existing owners/shareholders.  Since the program was not described as an “Employee STOCK Ownership Plan,” the “ownership” could be like that of the “Scott Bader Commonwealth” that is “owned” by people with no defined ownership stake, i.e., not actual ownership as that is understood in law.  In other news:

The Decline and Fall of Reason

For the last couple of postings, “More on Fulton Sheen” and “Fulton Sheen and the Idea of Ideas,” we’ve been looking into the bruhaha (ha, ha, ha!) over the announced delay in the “beatification” of the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.

Fulton Sheen and the Idea of Ideas

Yesterday, in the previous posting on this subject, we looked at one of the most important things the late Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen addressed in his work: the fact that God created human beings, not humanity.  We also noted that most people would be completely baffled by this distinction, not able to see the difference between the actuality of a child, woman, and man created by God, and the ideas of children, women, and men created by human beings.

More On Fulton Sheen

Yesterday was the fortieth anniversary of the death of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.  As some of our readers might be aware, Sheen (whom the Catholic Church considers “Venerable,” or two steps away from canonization or official recognition as a saint, as people in Heaven are called) was scheduled for “beatification” later this month.  As a “beatus” or “blessed,” Sheen would have been one stop away from official recognition as a saint.

JTW Vlogcast: Dave Hamill at the Lincoln Memorial

We're so used to hearing the voice of Dave Hamill, host of the Just Third Way podcast, that we might forget he's a real person and not just a disembodied Spirit of Change coming over the internet.  In today's podcast we decided to give everyone a treat and let them see Dave's smiling face as he gives a talk in 2013 in front of the Lincoln Memorial:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 49

We just got a notice from a religious watchdog group that we usually ignore as it tends to go as far in favor of religion as anti-religious counterparts do against it.  This time, however, they might have had a point: a push by certain anti-religious groups during the Christmas Season to convince people that freedom of religion is the single greatest threat to freedom that exists seems to be a little over the top.

College Versus Childcare

A think tank that shall remain nameless recently presented a study, the point of which was that free childcare is more important than free college.  At first glance this seems like heresy.  For around half a century at least, the constant mantra in the United States was to study hard, get into a good college and you’ll get a good job.  That is, assuming that there are any jobs to get, but that’s another issue. . . .

Capital Homesteading and Social Security

It’s amazing the stories people will tell when they have no idea what they are talking about.  For example, for years we’ve been hearing that the goal of the Just Third Way is to abolish wages (which are presumably absolutely secure) and force all workers to live on profit sharing alone.

Are the Computers Taking Over?

According to Ray Kurzweil and generations of science fiction writers, the human race is in a great deal of trouble.  In books and films he has warned of a coming “technological singularity.”  That is a hypothetical future point in time when technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in incomprehensible changes to civilization.

JTW Vlogcast: Why We Need Justice University (and Capital Homesteading)

According to Dr. Noriko H. Arai, in most countries today (although she was focusing primarily on Japan), students memorize vast amounts of data — which any computer can do better, e.g., “Watson” on the “Jeopardy Challenge” — but often fail to understand meaning, that is, they do not really comprehend what they “learn” in any meaningful sense.

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 48

With a holiday to break up the week, you would think there would be less important news to report.  On the contrary, however, there is more — as the information about Dr. Noriko Arai demonstrates:

Happy Thanksgiving . . . For What It's Worth. . .

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  No, this is not a Beatles retrospective, but our annual Thanksgiving Day greeting to all our loyal readers.  We're making a lot of gains, but sometimes it just seems a little slow . . . like roasting a turkey or something. . . .

Pillars of a Just Market Economy

The three principles of economic justice as stated by Louis O. Kelso and Mortimer J. Adler in Chapter 5 of The Capitalist Manifesto (1958) are hardly radical.  They are, in fact, in full conformity with the natural law and the founding principles of the United States.  Nevertheless, they had been introduced into a society in which Keynesian economics and New Deal politics were as solidly embedded as unquestionable as the population theories of the Reverend Thomas Robert Malthus.

Why Keynesianism Promotes Waste and Consumerism

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, John Maynard Keynes established his reputation as the World’s Greatest Economist™ by employing the simple expedient of telling people what they wanted to hear, regardless how goofy it ended up being once it was examined.  Take, for example, his claim that the only way to finance new capital formation is by reducing consumption and accumulating the excess production in the form of money savings.

Monetary Reform and the Younger Set

From the usual faces one sees in the Just Third Way Global Justice Movement, it's easy to get the impression that it's a bunch of retired academics and politicians (when they're not already departed this world) with nothing of relevance to say about the modern world.  You might get a different impression after viewing this video from a few years ago:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 47

As the holiday season gets into full swing and companies and countries start to think about year end statements and declarations, important events in the Just Third Way may sometimes get overlooked.  Here are a few we think should not:

Counterfeiting for Fun and Profit

The late economist Irving Fisher, considered by the late Milton Friedman to be the greatest late economist America ever produced (a remarkable statement by Friedman), once said something to the effect that inflation was the same as “legal counterfeiting.”  The late Paul Samuelson reportedly echoed this sentiment, although we have not be able to find the source for either Fisher or Samuelson.  It doesn’t matter, though, because we agree with it, at least up to a point.

Greed is Good! Deceit is Delightful!

And now for something completely different!  Every so often we’ve made a reference to Dr. Milton Friedman’s appearance on the Phil Donohue Show and his comment that “greed is good.”  It turns out that Friedman wasn’t the only economist advocating the goodness of greed and its benefits for the human race.

A Global Monetary Standard?

As we noted in the previous posting on this subject, occasionally we get questions from our readers the answers to which we think would make a good blog posting or two.  This particular set of questions came from someone in another country who wanted to know how we would go about establishing some kind of global standard for all the different currencies of the world.

Just Another Just Third Way Video

. . . or is it?  Today we bring you a video of the keynote speech given by Dr. Norman G. Kurland, president of the interfaith Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ) at the 2010 "Rally at the Fed", where a small band of concerned citizens attempted to tell increasingly deaf ears that the whole Keynesian paradigm is off-based, and only a system that truly respects the dignity of each and every human person, every child, every woman, and every man, has a chance of restructuring the social order in a more just manner without redistribution or other injustice:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 46

With all the hoopla over politics and economics these days, you’d think there would be something with some substance to it, but all we see is the same-old-same-old that does not get to the root of any of the problems or exhibit any respect for human dignity.  In any event, here are this week’s news items:

A New Monetary Principle

Every so often we get a question from one of our readers that we can answer and get a new blog posting at the same time.  This one comes in response to someone in another country who wanted to know the basic principles of the new monetary system we propose under Capital Homesteading and other Just Third Way reforms.

The Slavery of Savings

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, John Maynard Keynes established his reputation with the publication in 1919 of The Economic Consequences of the Peace.  In the book he made the remarkable — and demonstrably false — statement that the world could not possibly have advanced to the stage of economic development it enjoyed before the outbreak of World War I had not ownership of capital been concentrated in the hands of a few people.

“Never” is a Long Time

Many people today deplore the consumerism and waste that permeates the developed world, and point out that if (other) people would just share what they have, consumerism would lessen its grip on the economy and waste could be eliminated.  That is true, but only up to a point.

Just Third Way Video:

Not too long ago a CESJ Fellow from Belgium put together a brief video explaining the Just Third Way using animation.  It's a little short, so for an added bonus we've included a repeat of another brief video, "People and Things:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 45

It seems the closer we get to the end of the calendar year and the start of the holiday season, the harder it gets to find Just Third Way news items.  Everybody tends to put important things aside until after the holidays and as a result not only does nothing get done, nobody talks about it and there is nothing to report except about the things you are going to do, or at least hope to do.  Even so, we have a few news items:

The Pons Asinorum of Binary Economics

Today we address a problem that most (if not all) economists do not even think of as a problem — which may itself be the biggest problem of all.  How, after all, can you solve a problem that most people will not even agree exists?

The Rise of Socialism

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, the two fatal flaws in Keynesian economics (at least the two with which we are most concerned . . . today) are the idea that labor is responsible for all production and that past savings are essential to finance new capital formation.  These two assumptions are not exclusive to Keynesian economics, however.  They are also integral to the rise of capitalism — and socialism.

Say’s Law of Markets

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, under the Currency Principle “consumption” is divided into direct consumption by people, and indirect consumption to create capital instruments.  Under the Banking Principle, of course, consumption is consumption, it does not matter whether it is direct or indirect.

JTW Vlogcast: Is Greed a Virtue?

Back in 1979 Nobel Laurette Milton Friedman was on the Phil Donohue Show and made his (in)famous declaration that greed is good.  This has been taken ever since by libertarians and others as proof that capitalism beats socialism all hollow.  In the opinion of others, however, it does no such thing.

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 44

For some reason there seems to have been a focus on candy this week in addition to the usual horrors.  That was in spite of the fact that we did not run a single “Halloween Horror Special” this October, unless one includes the posting on Herman Melville’s novel, Moby Dick.  Be that as it may, here are some of the more Just Third Way-ish happenings this past week:

More on Economic Justice

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, in any properly designed social system, the three principles of economic justice work together to support the system as a whole as well as fill particular functions.  No system designed by human beings can be perfect, but the Kelso-Adler principles provide a framework that, within the constraints of natural law, optimize the possibility for a just and stable economic order.

A Whale of a Tale

This is the 3,000^th posting on this blog, so we decided to do something deluxe.  Sort of.  As a result of our researches into early nineteenth century America, we have come to the conclusion that most people — including (or especially) most Americans — have no idea what was going on in the United States between the American Revolution and the American Civil War.  Yes, there was something about slavery, the War of 1812, the Battle of New Orleans (but only if sung by Johnny Horton), and maybe a war with Mexico, but it’s all kind of vague.

The Principles of Economic Justice

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, the Great Depression of the 1930s revealed serious problems in the U.S. economy, problems that were not really addressed by the program of John Maynard Keynes, which really only made matters much worse than they needed to have been.

JTW Podcast: Global Finance in Connecticut

Today we hear host Dave Hamill have a friendly conversation (it’s much better to listen to than an interview . . . although if you don’t like two Southerners reminiscing about being Southerners — it seems to be a “Southern Thing” — you might want to skip the first couple of minutes) with the Rev. Russell Williams of Hartford, Connecticut, host of his own show, The Challenge.  Dave and Russell get in to a fascinating discussion about how the Just Third Way can be implemented even on a limited, small scale to start turning things around:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 43

Some interesting events have happened this past week, and some of them are very interesting, indeed:

That Consumption Thing

As we saw in the previous postings on this subject, the main theoretical difference between the Currency Principle and the Banking Principle is that under the Currency Principle the amount of money in the economy determines the level of economic activity, while under the Banking Principle the level of economic activity determines the amount of money.

A Few Words on Anarchy

A few days ago we got into a discussion over human nature.  Specifically, we somehow got snagged by someone who wanted validation for his personal theory of Christian anarchism . . . which, given the Aristotelian basis of much mainstream Christian philosophy — Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox — as well as Judaism (thanks to Maimonides) and Islam (thanks to Ibn Khaldûn) is something of an oxymoron, that is, a self-contradictory term, like dry water, a wet martini, or government intelligence.

The Savings Myth

In the previous posting on this subject, we looked at the “Currency Principle,” the fundamental assumption (obviously) of the Currency School that is the basis of virtually all modern economic thought.  We discovered that the Currency Principle can be stated very simply as the belief that the amount of money in the system determines the level of economic activity.

Just Third Way Vlogcast

Is "vlogcast" even a word?  We don't know, but we thought we'd try it out, just as we invite you to try out this little video prepared by CESJ stalwart Guy Stevenson and read (mostly) by the Rev. Russell Williams.  It is both informational and inspirational:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 42

All the “Big News” in the media is on things other than those affecting he Just Third Way, at least directly.  If you know something that you’re not telling us that you think should go into the weekly news roundup, of course, just drop us a line per the instructions at the bottom of this posting.  In the meantime:

The Currency Principle

It has come to our attention that we may occasionally use words or concepts on this blog that many people have difficulty understanding, especially when we talk about money.  For example, a question came up recently about the terms “Currency Principle” (or School) and “Banking Principle” (or School).

Financial Disaster

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, politicians could not keep their hands of the central bank’s money machine.  Other factors also contributed to laying the groundwork for financial disaster.

War and Depression

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, a serious problem developed in the United States following the Civil War: wealth became concentrated.  Many people had no realistic hope of ever owning land or technology that could generate an income to supplement or even replace wage income from labor.

Opening the Door for Capital Homesteading

Today we feature a conversation between Dr. Norman Kurland, president of the interfaith Center for Economic and Social Justice (CESJ), and the Woodman sisters, Jackie and Monica, of Cleveland, Ohio, who together with their brother Rob (Captain Robert Woodman) have been with the Just Third Way almost from the beginning, having been tutored in the elements of economic and social justice by their father, Bob Woodman:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 41

It is becoming increasingly difficult to select news items for our weekly roundup.  Most of the news these days is about personalities, and we are trying to concentrate on facts as well as suggest solutions that don’t involve liquidating undesirables, such as our first item that would “cancel” some people for the benefit of all . . . presumably:

Money and Say’s Law of Markets

In the previous posting on this subject, we looked at Adam Smith’s “invisible hand” and how it fits into Smith’s first principle of economics, that “Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production.”  We concluded (tentatively) that production for a purpose other than consumption is a serious mistake.

The End of Democracy

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, had he not been assassinated, there is evidence suggesting that Abraham Lincoln would have used the 1862 Homestead Act as the first step on a total social reformation, putting the financial system on a sound basis and opening up opportunities for everyone to own capital other than land.

Money and the Invisible Hand

Understanding money and credit — two aspects of the same thing — is impossible without first understanding private property and something called “Say’s Law of Markets.”  Both are not merely important, they are interdependent when speaking economically.  From a monetary perspective, however, it may be easier to understand private property if we first understand Say’s Law, but we won’t understand Say’s Law until we understand Adam Smith’s “invisible hand.”  So we will post today on the invisible hand, then on Say’s Law and private property in future postings on this subject.

Norman Kurland Before the Congressional Black Caucus

We were going to have something on the Battle of Lepanto that took place October 7, 1571 and give us a free plug for the book, Ten Battles Every Catholic Should Know, but we couldn't figure out how to work it in.  We will just have to be satisfied with this short video featuring Norman Kurland's testimony before the Congressional Black Caucus on September 24, 1992, which (as you will see in  the first minute or so of the video) was considered something of substance instead of more of the usual empty rhetoric:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 40

The media are still clogged with politics and religion, which means that important items that have some bearing on the Just Third Way get short shrift.  Since we haven’t been getting too many news items from our faithful readers (that are fit to print, anyway), we have managed only a few short but important items this week:

Repo Men?

In 1984 a film came out that has achieved “cult status” and is still considered one of the best films released that year: Repo Man.  The film stars Harry Dean Stanton and Emilio Estevez, and the executive producer was Michael Nesmeth, as in, “Hey, Hey, We’re the Monkeys” Nesmeth.  It’s about a couple of guys trying to repossess an automobile that seems to be connected with extraterrestrials.

John Henry Newman and Liberalism

What with the “canonization” of John Henry Cardinal Newman (1801-1890) coming up in a couple of weeks, we thought we would add our two cents as well as a few hundred words into the discussions that are raging.  (Canonization does not "make" someone a saint; it is a certification process.)  By and large, the discussion seems to be whether Newman was a liberal or a conservative.  From the interfaith viewpoint, however, it seems more to the point whether Newman was in agreement with the Just Third Way.

Some Thoughts on Fractional Reserve Banking

In the previous posting on this subject, we looked at how commercial banks really create money.  It turns out that (contrary to popular belief) commercial banks don’t usually make loans out of their reserves, but by creating money backed by the value of the financial instruments they accept.

JTW Podcast: Lech Wałęsa of Solidarność

In 1983, Lech Wałęsa of  Solidarność was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for leading the non-violent revolution that eventually led to the downfall of the Soviet Union.  Since we expect within the next month or so to release a new book that examines the concepts of personalism and solidarity as integrated into the Just Third Way, it seemed like a good idea to remind people of the events of a generation ago:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 39

With most of the news this week focused on people saying and doing things that are of little or no interest to the Just Third Way of economic personalism, this week’s news items may seem a trifle removed from reality . . . at least for those readers who think that what the media report has any resemblance to reality.  For a small dose of the real thing, then, we present this week’s news items:

How Commercial Banks Create Money

In the previous posting on this subject, we looked at the idea of money, notably the definition used by Louis O. Kelso.  Today we want to look at how people think the banking system operates as opposed to the way it actually does operate.

Is Liberty Diabolical?

A few days ago we commented on a pair of articles that appeared on the website of Catholic World Report.  The articles were “Thomism and Political Liberalism, Part I,” and “Thomism and Political Liberalism, Part II” by Dr. Joseph G. Trabbic, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Ave Maria University.  We thought the articles were okay, but could have been better, so we offered a comment:

Thoughts on Money

There is an old joke when someone says money is not the most important thing in the world.  Love is . . . it just so happens that the one telling the joke loves money. . . .

Solving Homelessness with Louis Kelso

Actually, this should be titled, "Solving Homelessness With Louis Kelso's Ideas In a Practical Way That Takes Into Account the Demands of Human Dignity and the Common Good," but it wouldn't all fit in the subject line.  That being the case, here is a video shot a while back, an episode of Paula Gloria's Farther Down the Rabbit Hole:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 38

If you can tear yourself away from reading the latest news flashes about why Hollywood no longer casts Rocky Schwartz in films, how tuna instead of salmon is causing global warming, or why we need to bring wooly mammoths (or maybe it was Sheb Wooley) back to life, here are this week’s news items from the Just Third Way:

Church Versus State

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, we discovered that Monsignor John A. Ryan of the Catholic University of America (1869-1945), based his interpretation of Catholic social thought on socialist theories developed in the 1830s and 1840s.  This is despite the fact that he claimed Pope Leo XIII’s 1891 encyclical Rerum Novarum as his inspiration.  The result was an interpretation of Catholic social teaching that rejected both faith and reason in favor of the tenets of “the Democratic Religion” of socialism.

An Economic Revolution

On April 14, 1865, an actor by the name of John Wilkes Booth (1838-1865) entered Ford’s Theater in Washington, DC during a performance of Our American Cousin featuring Laura Keene (1826-1873) in the role of “Florence Trenchard.”  Booth, a pro-slavery Confederate sympathizer, shot and mortally wounded President Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) four days after the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia under Robert Edward Lee (1807-1870).

Dispelling Some Monetary Myths

One of the key elements of the Just Third Way is monetary reform, to which is added essential tax reforms.  The problem is that very few people understand money.  Today we take a look at three concepts about which many people have ideas that may not be entirely accurate, monetization, fractional reserve banking, and the Quantity Theory of Money.

Just Third Way Video on Say's Law

Here's a short video we found on Say's Law of Markets, which is pretty good.  Of course, we might be saying that only because it sounds as if the fellow in it has been reading this blog or other Just Third Way materials.  Be that as it may, overlook the somewhat terrible jokes and go for the substance:

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 37

We are not entirely sure of which of the minor deities governs when Friday the thirteenth pops up, but it’s our own fault that it occasionally coincides with the weekly Friday news roundup.  As events demonstrate, however, there is no connection between bad luck and what day of the week or even number it is, since there seems to be a number of good things happening:

“An Unbelievable Decision”

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, the landmark case Scott v. Sandford (the notorious Dred Scott decision) resulted in a change in understanding the whole basis of the United States Constitution.  It was changed from a grant of rights from people to create the State, to a grant of rights from the State to create persons.

A Few Thoughts on Solidarity

While researching an upcoming book on economic personalism we delved a little more deeply into the subject of solidarity than we had previously.  This is natural, for solidarity and personalism are inextricably linked with the social doctrine of Pope Pius XI on which the Just Third Way is, in part, based.

“A Yoke Almost of Slavery”

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, Alexis de Tocqueville predicted in Democracy in America that the failure to resolve the issue of slavery and the treatment of Native Americans could undermine the foundations of American liberal democracy.  Nor were the popes unaware of the dangers of a “democracy” that permitted some people to be treated like things.

Norman Kurland on Russell Williams's "The Challenge"

In this 29-minute interview from December 12, 2016, Norman Kurland explains the Just Third Way, a new economic paradigm that arose largely from the ideas of Louis Kelso. Kurland explains to host Russell Williams how this justice-based approach could support democracy and help us address many of the problems facing communities, nations and the world.

News from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 36

What with Hurricane Dorian tearing up the Islands and the East Coast, and Keynesian economics tearing up the world economy, not to mention the economic antics of China that is increasingly relying on expanding its bubble economy at everyone else’s expense, it’s easy to overlook what else is going on:

A CPA’s Perspective on Pope Francis

As a Certified Public Accountant, this writer has carried out audits on a number of organizations.  This is not a Bad Thing for the organization or institution being audited.  As we CPAs are aware, although people often express fear and even terror of an audit, our job is actually something similar to a medical checkup for an organization.  Yes, like physicians we can be called in when something is wrong, but it’s better to have regular checkups to see how you’re doing and see if there’s something you should be doing better or differently.

Democracy in America

As we saw in the previous posting on this subject, for centuries a constant theme of reformers and philosophers was the importance of owning capital to be able to participate fully in society as a “political animal,” i.e., an individual with rights and a social nature.  The problem was that methods of finance virtually dictated that ownership of capital would be concentrated, unless a source of “free” capital became available — which in Europe was all-but impossible.

The Modernist Monsignor

We closed the previous posting on this subject with the comment that “America’s Prince of Cranks” — Ignatius Loyola Donnelly (1831-1901) — had influenced the interpretation and understanding of Catholic social teaching, and thus the natural law “written in the hearts of all men.”  At first glance this seems rather odd, since Donnelly left the Catholic Church and took up spiritualism, was a socialist, influenced theosophy, and may have inspired certain features of Nazi racial ideology.

JTW Podcast: Message to the Hong Kong Dissidents

Purely by coincidence, CESJ recorded and scheduled a podcast addressed to the dissidents in Hong Kong the day before the latest phase of the crackdown by the authorities began.  Many people have been “detained” (a euphemism for arrested), and some may “disappear” as so many others have before.  There is, however, a solution that the powers-that-be might not be considering: