Links for 12/6/18

https://www.ncronline.org/news/opinion/distinctly-catholic/links-12618
Income inequality is about the distribution of nice stuff, but it is much more about the distribution of power, which is why the Catholic notion is called distributism, although this concept ignores the economies of scale that larger employee-owned organizations can provide. Currently, no one is doing it right - but this can change in almost an instant. I have a book that literally is a step by step guide to doing so, but it is for client consumption only and it does not come cheap. Thus is the dilemma of fighting capitalism, you must have resources to do it.

Mulvaney is the Trumpster's Trumpster. He is only a bit more obnoxious than Clintonians like Larry Summers. Again, the problem is capitalism, not party. The Neo-Libs are only an improvement because they try to avoid capitalism destroying itself. I am not sure which is better, saving it or letting it spin out of control. This is why the left considers both options bad. Of course, collapse usually becomes an excuse for authoritarianism, so capitalism must be defeated from within, starting with unionized and employee-owned businesses. See above.

Being Latino is not monolithic. Cubans love their Republicans, especially Trump. In Florida, the GOP is more crooked than most and the state has a nasty racist streak. Running an African American candidate gets the black vote out, but is a big ask for those on the borderline. A black Panamanian might have won or might have alienated everyone. It's not the Democrats, it's Florida.

Preventing such bosses from making such demands is why we have non-discrimination laws. To ignore these laws, just have Republicans be the enforcers, or neo-liberal Democrats. This is an area where the Church's moral voice on Life is strongest. Some judges require poor women to get birth control implants as well. That is also repugnant, as is a parish priest telling an employee with lots of kids to use Natural Family Planning because he can't pay a higher wage (or a bishop for that matter).

It takes a while for a movement to begin to govern sensibly. Democratic Socialism is not used to holding power in the country. Naivete only wears off with experience - in which case the radicals think you have lost your edge.

Saint Ambrose is the father of the substitutional theory of salvation that must devolve into God being an Ogre to be bought off with blood sacrifice. This gave rise to indulgences, the belief that one must continue a pregnancy or avoid contraception if having a child would kill the mother or that one must avoid suicide if life was surely to be horrible.  The philosophy of Abrose makes atheism possible.

Trump will not be President for long and the rumor mill is saying Pence is also at risk. The question is whether Ryan is put in before January or who Nancy Pelosi wants to be President. I am thinking Hillary, since she would not put in Sanders and does not seem to want the job, however last I saw her and addressed her as Madam Future President, she (Nancy) laughed. Anyone who could not see this coming has a deficit of imagination or is simply a rookie.

The neo-liberal Council on Foreign Relations, which publishes Foreign Affairs, is wrong on several points. Client change will collapse certain industries, but many will adapt or die (let us hope coal ala the Kochs are on the die list). Cars will adapt and beach front property will move inland, displacing the poor whom are employed by the rich beach goers. Deficit spending on both remediation and alternative sources (fusion is big science and big science can be done quickly if you throw enough money at it). Indeed, big deficits take money away from the capitalists who, when they have too much money, drive up asset prices without providing for a larger economy.