Capitalism and the Gospel of Love

By |2023-09-06T19:06:29-05:00September 6th, 2023|Categories: Adam Smith, American Republic, Capitalism, Economics, Free Markets, George Stanciu, Love, Modernity, Timeless Essays|

In “The Wealth of Nations,” Adam Smith was absolutely right: The widespread division of labor would cause the interior life to die; an unsurprising result, for under capitalism, the human person became a commodity, a resource, a thing used to further profits. My parents, Romanian gypsies, born in a Transylvanian village and raised in thatched-roofed [...]

Capitalism Produces Socialism

By |2023-07-30T11:12:35-05:00June 19th, 2023|Categories: Catholicism, Christianity, Free Markets, Liberalism, New Polity, Socialism|

There is a lot of talk these days about an increasing interest in socialism. It is quite the conundrum if approached within the assumptions of late liberalism: why indeed would the victors in the Cold War seek to become their vanquished enemies? Pope Pius XI helps us through this problem. He helps us see that [...]

Spending Time and Money With Our Lord

By |2023-01-25T09:44:23-06:00January 25th, 2023|Categories: Books, Christianity, David Deavel, Economics, Free Markets, Senior Contributors|

Much of what Jesus had to say on debts, taxes, death, and charity, as well as other aspects of money, economic life, and discipleship, was expressed in his parables. Thus, this might be a very good time to pick up Fr. Robert Sirico’s new book, "The Economics of the Parables." The Economics of the Parables [...]

Romantic Nationalism, Trade, & Moral Contingency

By |2022-10-10T19:42:49-05:00September 20th, 2022|Categories: Adam Smith, Conservatism, Donald Trump, Economics, Free Markets, Free Trade, Nationalism, Pat Buchanan, Political Economy, Wilhelm Roepke|

It is the perennial task of the conservative to disentangle the truth from the weeds of confusion which keep growing up around it. Samuel Francis and Patrick Buchanan have greatly contributed to the present resurgence of conservative elements rising up in America. Whatever political victories may come of their work should certainly be celebrated. “Go [...]

The Best Possible World and Concrete Living

By |2022-07-18T19:30:44-05:00July 18th, 2022|Categories: Adam Smith, Capitalism, Free Markets, George Stanciu, Politics, Timeless Essays|

When we strip away all the fancy arguments and strong opinions about capitalism, or industrialism if you like, we see a person in the workplace is a commodity, a thing to be used up and discarded. As a result, capitalism creates a thing-oriented society, where machines, profits, and properties are more important than people. I [...]

The Poverty of Liberal Economics

By |2022-05-01T08:17:24-05:00April 30th, 2022|Categories: Christianity, Communio, David L. Schindler, Economics, Essential, Free Markets, Hans Urs von Balthasar, Second Spring, Timeless Essays|

The poor, Jesus famously said, will always be with us. Jesus’ followers have often been accused of misusing these words of their Master as an excuse to ignore the systemic causes of poverty. Christians, the charge runs, have preached private benevolence as a substitute for the more arduous, and more courageous, task of fighting to change [...]

Celebrating Aaron Feuerstein: An Example of Selfless Generosity

By |2021-11-17T08:06:04-06:00November 16th, 2021|Categories: Audio/Video, Capitalism, Community, Free Markets, John Horvat, Labor/Work|

What made Aaron Feuerstein famous was not success but his attitude in the face of catastrophe. When a fire destroyed the textile mill he owned, he faced the decisions of whether to rebuild and whether to continue to pay his 1,400 workers, who were left destitute in the dead of winter. His decision became a [...]

Fusionism Is Dead, Long Live Conservatism!

By |2020-09-09T16:10:56-05:00September 9th, 2020|Categories: American Republic, Community, Conservatism, Economics, Free Markets, Libertarians, Politics|

The fusionism of the past has been outmoded not due to some notion of progressive change but because the libertarian perspective it promotes is fundamentally flawed. Acknowledging the failure of fusionism is the first step to ensuring that conservatism may long endure. I recently had a rather extended debate with a libertarian-minded friend who expressed [...]

Why Adam Smith’s Critique of Mercantilism Matters Today

By |2021-03-08T16:18:20-06:00July 1st, 2020|Categories: Adam Smith, American Republic, Capitalism, Economic History, Economics, Free Markets, Free Trade, Political Economy|

Adam Smith, the father of the discipline we now refer to as economics, was a moral and political philosopher of the Scottish Enlightenment and contemporary and acquaintance of Edmund Burke. Long heralded as a proponent of self-regulating markets, limited government, and free-market “capitalism,” Smith is often invoked by proponents of corporate capitalism as an archetype [...]

Deciding When to Let the Market Decide

By |2019-08-14T00:23:29-05:00August 13th, 2019|Categories: Culture, David Deavel, Economics, Free Markets, Senior Contributors, Sexuality|

I often cringe a bit when I hear people say, “Let the markets decide.” I’m all for letting the markets decide a lot of things, but with the proviso that in the market I’m a decider. So when companies use their power and their marketing to shut down voices of sanity and to promote unhealthy [...]

Discussing “Capitalism”

By |2019-06-17T15:19:38-05:00December 16th, 2018|Categories: Capitalism, Economics, Free Markets, Free Trade, Government, Joseph Pearce, Political Economy, Senior Contributors|

Speaking personally, I’d rather discuss many things during this joyful season of Advent than “capitalism.” And yet Matthew Summers’ recent essay “In Defense of Capitalism” for The Imaginative Conservative has prompted me to comment on the topic, albeit briefly. […]

In Defense of Capitalism

By |2019-06-13T12:39:13-05:00December 2nd, 2018|Categories: Adam Smith, Capitalism, Economic History, Economics, Free Markets, Ludwig von Mises|

The term capitalism has long been used by critics as a catch-all to denote a system replete with greed, indulgence, excess, and deprivation. It is easy to misinterpret self-interest as selfishness and write off capitalism and economics. But the truth of the matter is much more complicated… I find myself still scratching my head over George Stanciu’s [...]

All Work & No Play: How Schools Are Crushing Our Kids

By |2018-11-28T01:09:26-06:00November 27th, 2018|Categories: Culture, Education, Free Markets, Liberal Arts, Liberal Learning|

We’re filling up so much of kids’ time with extracurriculars and studying that they don’t have time to play—and without play, it’s harder to develop the self-starter instincts and resilience of an entrepreneur… This election cycle, liberal Democrats are rallying around the idea of socialized higher education. Democratic socialist firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is leading the [...]

How the Myth of the ‘Robber Barons’ Began—and Why It Persists

By |2020-05-27T01:48:31-05:00November 7th, 2018|Categories: Books, Capitalism, Communism, Economic History, Economics, Free Markets|

We study history to learn from it. If we can discover what worked and what didn’t work, we can use this knowledge wisely to create a better future. But when propaganda is the goal, accuracy is the victim. Cornelius Vanderbilt Capitalism Worked, But We Were Told It Didn’t We study history to learn [...]

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