The Distributist Review: November 2005

US Big Business Sheds Jobs - Again

Two reports highlight this post.

One is from November 21, written by Dee-Ann Durbin of the left-wing Associated Press via Yahoo News. General Motors (GM) will be shutting down twelve of it's manufacturing plants by 2008. About thirty thousand jobs will be lost as a result of the cuts. According to the report, GM blames rising health care costs and fewer sales.

The second, written today - the 28th - by Angela Zimm and Nicole Ostrow for the globalist Bloomberg news service, report that Merck - the world's third largest drug maker - will get rid of seven thousand jobs thanks in part to continuing stock earnings decline and lawsuits involving the now off-the-market Vioxx drug it made. This is on top of 5,100 jobs it already shed last December.

Along with exporting the manufacturing base overseas, "free-trade" friendly policies and keeping the dollar on a "fiat currency" standard, one of the reasons why giant like Merck and GM suffer what they go through is because they insist that "bigger-is-better". As author Kirkpatrick Sale put forward in his 1980's era book Human Scale, when companies get too big, they get unwieldy, inefficient and very corrupt. If both GM and Merck didn't believe in the lie that "bigger-is-better", they would not be where they are today -- losing money, jobs and peace of mind.

In a Distributist society, said companies wouldn't be allowed to get so big. Neither would national or state government be allowed to expand to it's current stifling levels. Economic and political subsidiarity are part and parcel of a Distributist society. Let's learn from the sad lessons of GM and Merck, and promote small businesses and co-ops over big business no matter what.

Thanksgiving With Gilbert

We will be taking a break for the American holiday of Thanksgiving. We at the DR wish you all God's choicest blessings on this holiday.

And since America's Thanksgiving Day is supposed to be a day of gratitude to Almighty God for the blessings He granted us, here are a couple of quotes from Chesterton on gratitude. May God grant us the grace to profit from them.

"When we were children we were grateful to those who filled our stockings at Christmas time. Why are we not grateful to God for filling our stockings with legs?"

"I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought, and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder."

"You say grace before meals. All right. But I say grace before the concert and the opera, and grace before the play and pantomime, and grace before I open a book, and grace before sketching, painting, swimming, fencing, boxing, walking, playing, dancing and grace before I dip the pen in the ink."

"When it comes to life the critical thing is whether you take things for granted or take them with gratitude."

And finally, here is an article from the Winter 2002 edition of the - unfortunately - pro-New Age medical journal Spirituality and Health that tells of the psychological benefits of practicing gratitude...with a huge heap of praise for Chesterton and his thankful outlook on life.

A Happy and Holy Thankgiving Day to you all! Viva Christus Rex! Viva Maria Regina!

A Helpful Tool

«An AFL-CIO affiliate yesterday launched an online database of more than 60,000 companies, listing information about their executive compensation, overseas job outsourcing, and violations of labor, safety and health standards.» A useful tool, not only for workers, but also for share holders with a conscience.

The Washington Post

Just 10,000 Irish farmers to be left by 2025, states report

To add to Roy's recent post on French family farmers. The Brits tried for 500 years to destroy the Irish farmer. The Republic tried for 80 years to restore him, and was succeeding until the EU!

The Irish Times

More On WalMart

A new documentary on the retail monster is being released.

Der Spiegel(in English)

Back Big Families, Says Pope

This report, dated November 2nd, is written by the Associated Press, published by the left-wing London Guardian.

The Holy Father, Benedict XVI - the former Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger - called for the world's nations to support large families. Speaking to members of the Italian Numerous Families Association, the Vicar of Christ called for governments and society to encourage large families, especially in light of Europe's declining birth rate. Both Italy and Spain have even lower rates than the rest of the continent.

Supporters of the Sexual Revolution in all it's aspects will whine about supposed "over-population" of the Earth, despite the advance being made in feeding the world, especially by organic methods and so on. They will complain about not wanting to deal with the "burden" of children if they can help it. Chesterton - prophet that he was - anticipated this back in 1930, when he wrote in the Illustrated London News:

"I might inform those humanitarians who have a nightmare of new and needless babies (for some humanitarians have that sort of horror of humanity) that if the recent decline in the birth-rate were continued for a certain time, it might end in there being no babies at all; which would console them very much."

Hurrah for the Holy Father and his support for life and families. And down with the Sexual Revolution!

Italy Rushes Toward Reform

This report, dated November 16th, is written by Tony Barber for the Murdoch-owned Financial Times.

The government of Silvio Berlusconi wants to push through government reforms that give more power to Italy's twenty regions before national elections next April. Said reforms would also restructure the Senate and the Supreme Court. It is seen by some to strengthen the hand of his coalition government, which includes the Northern League. The League wants greater freedom for the northern half of the country, as well as ending the flow of money to the south, which they hold is more corrupt than the rest of the nation.

Distributism believes in de-centralizing the power of government - as well as business - to the lowest level possible. This is the principle of subsidiarity. The Berlusconi administration is taking necessary steps to see this done, but it still doesn't go far enough. Ideally, he should encourage Italy to also leave the UN, WTO and the European Union. The regional governments, if they aren't already doing it, should devolve their powers to the smaller divisions within each region.

But give credit where it is due. Let's hope Berlusconi and the League will succeed in their efforts.

Malaysia Govt. Pushes Biodiesel

This report, originally by the left-wing Associated Press, comes from the South African newspaper Business Report, and dated November 16th.

Malaysia, the world's largest producer of palm oil, will require government-owned vehicles to use biodiesel by next year. The government wants to convince Malaysians to use biodiesel, so as to save money on fuel and cut back on government fuel subsidies. Eventually, the national biodiesel mix will be 80% diesel fuel and 20% palm oil.

Distributism has always believed in cleaning the environment without advancing the power of big government or big business. With this Islamic state importing most of it's diesel fuel, this will help to cut it's dependence on it while helping to improve it's air quality. This is a good example to follow. Congratulations to the Malaysians!

French Family Farms In Crisis

This article, dated November 7th, is written by Amanda Hodge for the newspaper The Australian.

Just like America's shrinking family farm population, France's farmers are in similar tough straits. Just like America, her farms are dissapearing at the rate of one every 15 minutes, according to the French organic lobby called Ecovert.

The French government has been providing financial subsidies to her farmers for years. However, the structure for these subsidies was so warped, it rewarded the big agribusinesses for over-production. So many throughout France the the EU want to lower the trade barrier to allow for foreign-grown goods to enter the French market.

Yet, in doing so, this would reduce French self-sufficiency in feeding her population, much like in America. The globalist elites who scheme for a World State run by them see no problem in this. But the average French family farmer is the one most harmed by these policies.

In a Distributist France, if there are subsidies to be paid to farmers, it should always be to the small farmers and farmer co-ops, not to the big farms and agri-businesses. And though foreign agricultural trade is a given, it should be to the benefit of the small farmers and the local market, meeting local needs first. This will help to reduce the threat of over-production and glutting the market.

France walks a tightrope here. With all the other ills she faces - many of them self-inflicted, especially in the light of the nation-wide Muslim riots and her hard-hearted secularism - she does not need another trial like this. Let France reshape her agricultural subsidy policy to favor the small farmer and co-ops, not her globalist elites and agri-business and "free trade" lobbies.

African Nations Stumble Toward Democracy

This article, dated November 15, is written by Katy Guest for the London-based Independent.

Liberia elects her first woman president, as it continues to heal her deep wounds caused by civil war. However, her rival for the presidency demands a re-count, claiming the elections were rigged.

Uganda's government arrests the leader of the opposition on charges of treason. The opposition denies the charges, claiming it is a excuse by the government to keep itself in power.

Ethiopia's prime minister also brought treason charges against his opposition after riots leaving many dead. The opposition has made similar charges against the Addis Ababa government as in Uganda.

Alas, such is life in the world of politics, whether in America, Russia or the bleeding nations of Africa. As Chesterton wrote in the Illustrated London News in 1918:

"When a politician is in opposition he is an expert on the means to some end; and when he is in office he is an expert on the obstacles to it."

Let us pray for the peoples of Africa, that God may give them upright and honest governments...especially ones who know of and practice Distributism.

Pakistan Needs Green Energy

This article, written by Hussain Ahmad Siddiqui, is from the November 14th edition of the Pakistan-based daily newspaper The Dawn.

Siddiqui calls for his country, especially the rural and earthquake-prone north, to use alternative energy to help bring electricity to his suffering nation. Since Pakistan is on the front line in the war against the Taliban, this is a good policy. As we have stated in the past, de-centralizing the electrical grid makes it a less-tempting target for terrorists to knock out. Thus it reduces any chaos resulting from lack of power for homes and businesses.

This is one crucial step for Pakistan to become a Distributist nation, at least regarding her energy policy. This can only benefit the people there, especially the poor, and help make it less dependent on oil. The government in Karachi should implement this policy as quickly as possible, and good luck to them in doing it.

Laughland on Bush

This article by John Laughland was written on November 4th in the British magazine The Spectator, given here via Sanders Research Associates. In it, Laughland claims that President Bush - though he utterly rejects the lies of Karl Marx - nonetheless is inspired by Marxism for his support of a "global democratic revolution".

This is scary if it is at all true. In either case, let us all pray for the President...and ourselves.

Insider View on "Mainstream Media"

This is a knockout article by Mike Rogers of the libertarian website LewRockwell.com, regarding the American mass media from the inside. Whatever one's opinions about both the media and the Iraq War - and Mr. Rogers has strong positions on both - this is a deliciously acerbic article.

Also today, this is Veterans Day in the US and Remembrance Day in Canada. Let us pray for the souls of the soldiers of both nations, as well as for the veterans of both countries' armed forces and their families.

BOYCOTT WALMART!!

Walmart opposes Christmas, so why should we spend our money there?

From «WorldNetDaily;:

http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47330

Private Property Is Moral

This article, written by Fr. Kenneth Novak in the July 2005 edition of The Angelus magazine, relates to St. Thomas Aquinas' teachings behind the morality of owning private property.

We Distributists believe that private property - especially productive private property - be widely distributed to as many as economic possible, while restraining the power of both big government and big business. We oppose monopolization of the means of production and distribution into fewer and fewer hands.

Since we also believe in the principle of subsidiarity - that is, taking care of affairs on the lowest level possible - we hold that we must start changing our respective societies toward a Distributist direction from the bottom-up.

And always, always starting with prayer and penance before Almighty God. For as Our Lord Jesus taught, "Unless the Lord build the house, the laborers build in vain."

Will Vermont Leave the USA?

This article from Greg Szymanski from the alternative news website Arctic Beacon, given via the huge alternative news website Rense.com, tells of the first meeting on October 28th in Montpelier, Vermont. This meeting was the first formal convention meeting to discuss whether the state of Vermont should secede from the American Union and regain her independence.

Vermont was an independent nation from 1777 until it joined the Union in 1794.

Both liberals and conservatives attended, with many supporting the resolution. According to Szymanski's report, even the state's lieutenant governor expressed approval, though he stopped far short of supporting secession. The state's Congressional delegation and Governor, at best, think it is just "political theatre". Critics believe it will never work, supporters believe otherwise.

What this shows is that America is not immune from the same forces that broke Czechoslovakia and the original Yugoslavia apart. Prayerful concern and caution must be exercised by all sides, for secession is a serious matter.

Wal-Mart: is this the worst company in the world?

This is the title of an article in today's Independent (UK). It may be one of the best arguments for our position I've read in a long time. Read it and forward this post to anyone you can think of, especially our "freemarket" friends!

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article324050.ece

Free Speech Under Threat: An Analysis

This article from Steve Watson at Infowars. net notes how Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA) is still trying to attach his so-called "hate-speech" bill to any of several bills coming up for a vote in the American Senate. We have reported on this in earlier posts these last couple of weeks.

As Watson notes, bills like Kennedy's violate the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution, which - quoting from Watson - "prohibits government from favoring any particular group."

There is an old saying that "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance". So it must be paid here, by being vigilant against laws and statutes that remove the right to criticize the actions of big government or big business. It has been squashed in too many nations. It must not happen in America.

Please read the analysis and inform your Senators accordingly. Thank you.

Mega-Merger Madness in US Telecom Industry

This report, by Jennifer Kerr of the left-wing Associated Press via Yahoo News, reports that the Federal Communications Commission - by a 4-0 vote - accepted plans to let SBC Communications take over AT&T and Verizon to purchase MCI.

This is shameful. Although conditions will be put on these mergers, they should have never taken place. In Distributism, big companies like those above would have been broken up or encouraged to do so. They would have NOT been encouraged to merge and become bigger, for this only centralizes ownership and management of these behemoths into fewer hands.

We can only hope that smaller, worker-owned and managed competitors will arise in the upcoming years. Let us pray for such...and soon!

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