We at the DR wish all the readers of this blog - in America and the rest of the world - a safe and Happy New Year.
Our hope is that this coming year, we will have more posts on world events and the Distributist perspective on them. And as always, we ask and encourage your comments on them.
May Our Saving Lord Jesus bless you always through the Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart of Mary!
This report, dated December 26, comes from Reuters News Service via CNN's, Money section.
A conglomerate called Seven & I Holdings Company, which owns the 7-Eleven convienence store chain in America and other countries, has purchased 65% of the Japanese retail giant Millenium Retailing Inc. for over one billion US dollars. This was done in light of the global retail colossus Wal-Mart buying the majority of Seiyu Ltd., which Reuters reports is the fourth largest supermarket chain in the country.
Once again, the major international conglomerates play games with the assets and employees of smaller companies, all for the sake of grabbing market share from their fellow huge rivals. In a Distributist society, these super-companies would not exist in the first place. Distributism favors small companies and worker-owned and managed co-operatives, rather than huge companies and chain-store behemoths.
The small stores and co-ops of Japan must band together against both big government and big business. Such financial movements by both Wal-Mart and Seven & I Holdings should be fought tooth-and-nail, as well as such conglomerates broken up into small, more efficient and more humane sizes.
The above title is Latin for "Rejoice! Christ is born!"
We four contributors to the DR will be with our families this holy weekend. We wish you all a Blessed Christmas, and pray the Holy Family keep you from all sin and evil.
And for our readers, here are some Christmas presents for you - Chesterton writings that pertain in one form or another to Christmas:
From the Web archives, an essay by Fr. James Schall called "Amid Roars of Happy Christmas Laughter".
From Chesterton's book on Charles Dickens, we present Chapter 11, on Dickens' "Christmas Books".
And finally, Gilbert's beautiful "Christmas Carol Poem".
Merry Christmas to all our readers worldwide! Alleluia!
In his weekly ‘general audience’, on 30 October 2005, in front of 30,000 people at St Peter’s in Rome, Pope Benedict XVI urged Christians to make a “fundamental option” of generosity towards their neighbours, and to reject false ways of life based on debt-systems (usury).
To be happy, the leader of the world’s 1.5 billion Catholics declared, it is necessary “to follow a morally unexceptionable life, against any illusory alternative of success obtained via injustice and immorality.”
Echoing the constant call of the Hebrew prophets to side with the marginalized, he explained that for Christians, “loyalty to the divine word consists of a fundamental option, which is active love towards the poor and needy: respecting the biblical call to be generous towards the poor and to those in need.”The pontiff spoke of the corrosive impact of a culture of self-interest, highlighting “the usury that destroys the lives of the poor.”
The Christian Tradition contains deep-rooted critiques of lending with interest, some of which have come to the fore through the recent Jubilee 2000, since the Old Covenant Jubilee involved forgiveness of debt.
Earlier this year Benedict XVI said that Christians are called to renounce power and wealth and should choose instead to serve others with Christ's humility.
Concerned Women for America has released a list of companies regarding their attitude toward Christmas. It's a little late in the shopping season, but keep it in mind even after Christmas.
This report, written by Zvi Zrahiya, comes from the Israeli newspaper Haaretz and dated December 8th.
The Israeli government's Income Tax Authority will be eliminating a "stamp tax" law that was in place since the days of the British Mandate over Palestine decades before. As Zrahiya notes, the law taxed documents, rather than economic transactions. The law was put in place only to increase the government's coffers. The original date for removing this odious tax was to be 2008, but Israel's Finance Minister asked the Authority to move the deadline up ahead.
This tax will be repealed by New Year's Day 2006.
This is very good news for businesses - especially small businesses and co-operatives - in Israel, as they still have to operate in a heavilly Socialist society. This is a positive and pro-Distributist step for the country, as this will lessen the burden on entrepreneurs and co-ops somewhat. Let the progress continue!
This report, written by Naveed Ahmed and dated December 7th, comes from the Pakistani-based news website The News.
The Microcredit Summit Campaign, which promotes efforts for the Third World poor to start their own businesses, reports that as many as a hundred million people will be using micro-credit resources to become small-scale entrepreneurs.
Micro-loans are used to start many low-tech businesses. In Pakistan alone, as Mr. Ahmed reports, over 670,000 loans have been made to nearly 23,000 villiages in that nation. Roughly four out of ten loans go to women.
This is heartening news. Distributism believes in promoting small businesses and co-operatives over big business, and the local economy over the global economy. These micro-loan efforts in the Third World will help to increase their overall economic health by reducing unemployment and encouraging home production and commerce. This will, in turn, contribute to reducing social tensions that lead to untold misery.
It is not a panacea for Third World ills by any means. But the micro-credit movement helps to alleviate them. Congratulations to those in this movement.
This report from the left-wing Associated Press, given via pro-globalist USA TODAY, tells of the ongoing tragedy in Zimbabwe. The neo-Marxist led regime of Robert Mugabe continues to devistate the people and their economy. Thanks to the lack of foreign currency, there is no money to buy fuel for even garbage collection.
And the weekly report from Cathy Buckle in the suffering country itself, sent via the news website Rense.com, tells of more farmers and milk producers thrown off their lands by government officials who wants their land. And this even after hunger and disease are increasing.
Still the West nor Russia and China will get rid of the Mugabe dictatorship. Russia and China won't, for he is one of them in promoting a Marxist world. The West won't, so as not to further accusations of "racism" and "recolonization".
So like so many other countries, Zimbabwe is caught between a rock and a hard place. Only a new government committed to God-centered and Distributist principles can help fix the nation for the better.
Pray for Zimbabwe, for only Our Lord and Mary Immaculate can help them now.
This report from the English language page of the Norwegian daily Aftenposten is dated December 2nd.
The head of the Socialist Left party in Norway's parliament is calling for legislation to allow 40% of a company's ownership to be turned over to it's employees. Some problems arise from this report.
One, there is not enough information on how big the company will be for said employee ownership to happen.
Two, will this apply to all industries or only certain sectors?
Three, is there any proviso in the language of this law that will sneak in the government into part ownership of these companies? If so, this would be dangerous for both company and employees.
Four, why is a Socialist party - which is no friend of a true market economy - proposing this legislation?
There is not enough information here to make a good opinion one way or the other. It seems to be a positive move toward a Distributist economy, but with the Socialists making the effort, it raises suspicions in the mind.
We will keep an eye on this situation.
This is a brief column - in the neo-conservative WorldNetDaily - by author and commentator Devvy Kidd on America's terrible debt situation and what must be done. The US is over eight trillion dollars in debt, and something must be done about it...now!
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