I asked myself what I might present to a group of Catholic entrepreneurs who want to practice their Faith in business. The task is rendered difficult by the times and the many misconceptions people have about the Faith and finances. Some Catholics think the Christian business model should be based on charity. … Read more
In the fight against the coronavirus, most governments, including America’s, have enacted the Chinese lockdown model for industry. The plan shuts down all “non-essential” activities, lays off workers and expands government benefits and control of society. These massive one-size-fits-all programs deliver predictably inhuman and inflexible results, typical of communist governments. The problem … Read more
Between a Rock and a Hard Place America is stuck between a rock and a hard place. The nation must decide whether to ratchet up enforcement of non-essential business closures or allow production to resume. While we need to address the spread of the coronavirus with prudent measures such as social distancing … Read more
A review of The Age of the Customer: Prepare for the Moment of Relevance by Jim Blasingame, (Florence, AL: SBN Books, 2014). A good book is one that provokes good questions in the mind of the reader. It need not provide all the answers. The important thing is to challenge the person to … Read more
In the 2016 presidential election cycle, no single group, not even President Obama, has been the object of more contempt than “the establishment.” Nearly every candidate of both parties has attacked his or her rivals for supposedly belonging to the “establishment” while vehemently denying ever having belonged to it themselves. Large numbers … Read more
There have been many attempts to apply socialism to the modern workplace. One of these was the program of former president of France François Mitterrand who sought to implement what he called self-managing socialism in 1981. Like all such schemes, it was a dismal failure. He could not make the moldy principles … Read more
American telecom giant Sprint Corporation has the not-so-coveted distinction of having signed the first trade agreement with communist Cuba to provide cellular roaming coverage to the few Cubans that have phones and some tourists. Sprint hopes to turn a profit on the combination of visiting Americans and the little more than 15 … Read more
Alphonse Ratisbonne was a young Jew from a family of well-established bankers in Strasbourg, France. He also was socially prominent due to his wealth and blood-ties to the Rothschild. In 1827, Alphonse’s older brother, Thèodore, converted to Catholicism and entered the priesthood, thus breaking with his family whose hopes now lay in … Read more
If the pace of life seems overwhelming, it might well be because we have assumed so many of the jobs once held by others. This is the position of Craig Lambert in his book, Shadow Work: The Unpaid, Unseen Jobs That Fill Your Day (Berkeley, Calif., Counterpoint Press, 2015). The Harvard sociologist … Read more
As the nation enters another exhausting election cycle, there is ever growing frustration with government. America is polarized and unable to move forward. Some believe the solution lies in forgetting about moral issues and just doing what it takes to return to power and prosperity. Such a pragmatic approach reduces all things … Read more