Five Levers of Change: Money and Credit

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

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

JTW Podcast: The Great Conversation, XXXIX

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

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

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

Five Levers of Change: Politics

Aristotle

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

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

JTW Podcast: The Great Conversation, XXXVIII

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

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

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

Five Levers of Change: Education

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

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

JTW Podcast: The Great Conversation, XXXVII

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

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

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

The Framework of Economic Justice: Restoration of Private Property

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

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

JTW Podcast: How to Read a book

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

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

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

The Framework of Economic Justice: Free and Open Markets

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

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

Happy New Year

 

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

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

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

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

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

Merry Christmas!

 It's all Greek to me!!

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

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

The Framework of Economic Justice: Widespread Capital Ownership

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

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

JTW Podcast: The Great Conversation, XXXVI

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