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),
Wednesday, July 31, 2024
Monday, July 29, 2024
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:
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
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.
Monday, July 22, 2024
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:
Friday, July 19, 2024
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:
Wednesday, July 17, 2024
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.
Monday, July 15, 2024
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:
Friday, July 12, 2024
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:
Wednesday, July 10, 2024
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.
Monday, July 8, 2024
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:
Friday, July 5, 2024
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:
Wednesday, July 3, 2024
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.
Monday, July 1, 2024
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:
Friday, June 28, 2024
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:
Wednesday, June 26, 2024
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.
Monday, June 24, 2024
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:
Friday, June 21, 2024
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:
Wednesday, June 19, 2024
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.
Monday, June 17, 2024
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: