tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post4016615387398021483..comments2024-03-20T16:30:09.690-05:00Comments on The Fifth Column: Pope Francis Condemns DistributismUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-954392019528847742014-04-10T03:08:22.970-05:002014-04-10T03:08:22.970-05:00He didn't say Time is more important than Prop...He didn't say Time is more important than Property; he said Time was more important than Space.Markhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03271655419788429015noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-39797753656169908942013-12-12T16:05:46.441-06:002013-12-12T16:05:46.441-06:00Kevin, you're projecting distributism on to M...Kevin, you're projecting distributism on to Medieval Europe which was a feudal society. There's nothing that I recognize as even remotely similar to your ChesterBelloc fantasy. The land was "distributed" alright, but by the will and whim of a king, who demanded taxes and obedience. The serfs were just one step ahead of being slaves. This is your dream society? Absolute tommyrot!Steve Daltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07365458906085087105noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-32332803760683028382013-12-11T16:20:42.521-06:002013-12-11T16:20:42.521-06:00Ok, where has the Church defined the words "m...Ok, where has the Church defined the words "money" or "interest"?<br /><br />Show me where She has defined them, then we'll talk. Steve Kellmeyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07509461318016670424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-37738503204531402532013-12-11T12:52:26.407-06:002013-12-11T12:52:26.407-06:00I'm familiar with your analysis of usury Steve...I'm familiar with your analysis of usury Steve. I disagree. Where has the Church said that the words money and interest have changed? I'm not familiar with any authoritative documents that say this. Anticipating that the Church is going to say things that you'd like Her to say is a recipe for problems. A great example is the pill. People said "hey 'sex' and 'contraception' don't mean the same things that they used to mean, so condemnations of contraception don't apply to the pill."<br /><br />Then Paul VI made it clear that the condemnations do apply to the pill. A lot of people had already changed their thinking and acting and assumed the Church would catch up with them. Pax.Andrewhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07130831351237667189noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-88623987766720119912013-12-10T08:18:25.724-06:002013-12-10T08:18:25.724-06:00For the most part, usury doesn't exist in Amer...For the most part, <a href="http://skellmeyer.blogspot.com/2010/12/usury-did-church-change-teaching.html" rel="nofollow">usury doesn't exist in American society.</a> Where it does, it is prosecuted as fraud. But getting interest on a loan is no longer usury because the definitions of both "money" and "interest" have changed to mean something entirely different from what was meant when those words were used by the Church when She condemned usury. <br /><br />The words are no longer univocal. Now they are equivocal. This is one of the reasons distributism doesn't make sense today. There are many, many others. Steve Kellmeyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07509461318016670424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-71653839944382191062013-12-09T23:40:49.604-06:002013-12-09T23:40:49.604-06:00Oh, the title is accurate. Distributism died along...Oh, the title is accurate. Distributism died along with industrialization. Pope Francis realizes this, which is why he focuses on employment and says not a word about the need for guilds or any other such nonsense.<br /><br />Robots and mechanization make guilds obsolete. The whole point of a computer is its ability to mechanize and thereby universalize the specialty knowledge that makes a guild (or its modern equivalent, a union) possible. <br /><br />It also rips away jobs from low-skilled workers, since they cost more than the computers that replace them. Pope Francis is concerned about the job loss, and the concomitant loss of dignity.<br /><br />Distributism is so far gone that he essentially dismisses it by completely ignoring it. He condemns it by emphasizing the critical importance of everything that is diametrically opposed to distributism. His focus is on the city (80% of the world lives in cities now) and on mechanization of jobs. Steve Kellmeyerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07509461318016670424noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-29589039313494324132013-12-09T23:34:20.362-06:002013-12-09T23:34:20.362-06:00Steve Dalton, the pilot program ran from about the...Steve Dalton, the pilot program ran from about the sixth to about the sixteenth century in Europe.<br /><br />Steve K., you are right that the emphasis on the city in the Exhortation might be cold water for the more "green" distributists, and you're certainly right that "time" is a factor that distributists - and all of us - could focus on, but your headline "Pope Francis Condemns Distributism" is hardly accurate. <br /><br />Funny, but not accurate. This being the internet, however, accuracy is not an issue.Kevin O'Brienhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05557094020639034417noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-43186126042576833832013-11-29T21:54:44.789-06:002013-11-29T21:54:44.789-06:00I find the assertion that distributists don't ...I find the assertion that distributists don't talk about tiem at all to be odd. Discussions of usury, which are quite common among distributists, certainly involve time.<br /><br />Pax ChristiAndrew or Elizabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01289516227914272244noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5774317.post-7898541524932734102013-11-29T21:43:02.884-06:002013-11-29T21:43:02.884-06:00The distributists always talk about this wonderful...The distributists always talk about this wonderful system that's going to transform economics, but they have yet to set up a pilot program to prove it will work in the real world. <br /><br />I'm convinced their program wouldn't work, for all it is is just another form of socialism. One only has to compare the language used by the disties and the socialists to realize they're close cousins. <br /><br />If one wishes to truly educate themselves on why capitialism works and why it fails sometimes, read Hernam De Soto's "The Mystery of Capital". I've read the book and his explainations are so clear and simple, even a distie could understand them, if their minds were not so befogged by the ChesterBelloc. His bottom line is when people have sound property rights and aren't hampered by laws and regulations that frustrate using their savings to set up a business in a short time, and the free flow of that capital, capitalism works just fine. Steve Daltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07365458906085087105noreply@blogger.com