The American obsession for buying on credit has long been embedded in the national culture. However, many people do not realize just how far back such consumer practices go. Already at the turn of the twentieth century, Americans were acquiring a buy-now, pay-later mentality. Marketing professor James A. Roberts reports that over the period 1898-1916, … Read more
More than a White House contest between two candidates, the 2016 election was the groundswell of growing discontent over America’s increasingly socialist tone. Now, thanks be to God, the conservative vote won the White House, Senate and House, and a record number of governorships and statehouse majorities. This reality has brought relief and awakened great … Read more
With literally trillions of dollars in personal debt now hanging over the American consumer, the question might be asked as to where all this debt came from. It has a long history. Buying on credit started at the turn of the twentieth century. Buying dreams on credit was an American invention that served to create … Read more
Jesuit Fr. Bernard Dempsey warns against the use of the word “capitalism” in economic debate. The principal reason is that there is really no such thing as capitalism. He claims the word cannot be defined scientifically and really only exists in a Marxist dream world. F.A. Hayak declared that the word is largely the “creation … Read more
It is difficult to get a handle on what exactly is happening in our troubled economy. Everyone feels the malaise but few know how to explain it. Some say the economy is getting slightly better; others say it is getting much worse. There is debt, unemployment and stagnation which some say is caused by too … Read more
The present day economic crisis is nothing new. In fact, since the dawn of modern economy in the late eighteenth century, crisis is a permanent fixture. As the book, Return to Order states, this is in part due to the frenetic intemperance found in sectors of modern economy that are constantly throwing things out of … Read more
I received a very interesting e-mail from a gentleman who has bought the book, Return to Order, and raised a number of very intriguing questions and comments. His concern is that the book misdiagnoses our modern problem by not going straight to the root of the problem – capitalism. To get results, he claims, one … Read more
When I think of the debate around the “sequester,” I think of an amusement park. I know that this is no laughing matter, but there’s something so incredibly unreal about the situation that an amusement park is what comes into mind. This comes from observing how things like quantitative easing, derivative instruments and massive debt … Read more
I received an email with a very interesting question from a reader of Return to Order. It occurred to me that others might have similar questions. The question can be summed up like this: Have you seriously considered the possibility of a web of conspiracy behind our visible government that directs many of the financial … Read more
The battles that conservatives have waged in the Cultural War are grueling. We have to dispute every step of the way especially with a liberal political establishment and a vast socialistic bureaucracy. We also have to regenerate social institutions like family, community and faith against a hostile culture. There are no instant solutions in this … Read more
