Wilhelm Roepke How can a German economist be called a Southerner? Obviously not geographically but in the important sense that Southern Agrarians came to understand, as a possession of the mind and spirit. That Wilhelm Roepke’s mind and spirit, embodying the best of the German tradition, share significantly in the essential features of [...]
A question has haunted the aftermath of the Great Recession: where is all the inflation? If the Federal Reserve is going to spike the money supply most massively in the context of minimal economic growth, as it has since 2008, it would seem that a severe price inflation must ensue. Yet the consumer price index [...]
It is our generation’s task, then, to reignite the true engine of America’s economic growth—a rising, thriving middle class. So said Barack Obama in his State of the Union. And for one of his ideas to reignite that engine, Republicans applauded. “And tonight, I am announcing that we will launch talks on a comprehensive Transatlantic [...]
“Any damn fool can pull a strike. It takes commonsense to avert one.”–Joseph Frederick “As in other warfare, victory in a strike is to the strong, not the just; and often noncombatants suffer most.”–W. H. Hutt Strike One When a strike happens, almost everyone loses, whether businesses, or consumers, or workers. […]
My topic is a theological appreciation of the notion of “gift”, and how this throws light on what something is, which to our usual way of thinking would seem to be a matter for philosophy or science rather than theology. The sense of being as “gift” and ourselves as primarily “receivers” of this gift of existence, which carries [...]
Distributism, as originally conceived by G.K. Chesterton and Hilaire Belloc, has long ceased being a practical possibility for the majority of those living in the liberal democracies of the West. Yet this does not mean that the core principle of distributism—widely distributed private ownership of the means of livelihood—is wholly beyond our reach. Chesterton, [...]
In that year of happy memory, 1972, George McGovern, the Democratic nominee, declared he would chop defense by fully one-third. A friendly congressman was persuaded to ask Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird to expatiate on what this might mean. The Pentagon replied the Sixth Fleet might have to be pulled out of the Med, leaving [...]
I make no claims to a high level of expertise in the philosophy of Adam Smith. This is the first time I have spoken about Smith outside of a classroom setting. I assign selections from The Theory of Moral Sentiments and The Wealth of Nations in a sophomore-level core course, so the students and I [...]
Wilhelm Roepke’s work is an exposition of the essence of Western thought that can be summed up in the word “liberal” properly understood. Much of Wilhelm Roepke’s work can be understood as an exposition of the essence of Western, Occidental thought, a contribution to civilization that can be summed up in the word “liberal” properly [...]
On Tuesday, March 19, Catholics will celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph, in honor of which I would like to submit the following brief reflections on the meaning of work as craft: 1. Work is not meant to be worship in what Matthew B. Crawford calls the “cult of the sovereign self”; rather, work is [...]
Remember stimulus spending? That’s the stuff that the government is supposed to come up with when the economy goes into recession. The idea is that since government expenditures are one part of overall economic output, when private activity wanes, aggregate output, or “GDP” can be maintained. It’s intriguing as a theory, perhaps, but in practice [...]
The dollar—that thing the Federal Reserve has been printing like mad the last few years—is in one of the worst spells in its history, short, medium, and long-term. Against the world’s major currencies, the dollar’s rate of exchange is down 5% since the Great Recession started, 32% from the 2001 peak, and 15% from the [...]
I have been reminiscing lately, probably a sign of my age, but I came to recall an episode in my earlier life before I returned to St. John’s College more than 20 years ago, when my second son announced: “Dad, I’m willing to talk with you about my college choices, but I’m not going to go [...]
Book of the Day: Hailed as the guide to capitalism when it first appeared in 1981, Wealth & Poverty is one of the most famous economics books of modern times. In it Mr. George F. Gilder argues that supply side economics and free market policies are the answer to decreasing America’s poverty rate and increasing her prosperity. He also [...]