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The Servile State
The Servile State - Nov 2022
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John
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Nov 01, 2022 03:16AM
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My intention as I posted in the previous discussion is to have a greater presence in this discussion, and that I did not remain in limbo like the previous one in which almost no intervention was made. I will try to reread this book before my birthday. Especially to get rid of the bad taste in my mouth of my last readings.
I can leave it parked until Monday. Reading Morris West's "Proteus," and spending the afternoon Friday through Saturday rereading "The Servile State." Tomorrow I will post the review of "The faith of our fathers" by Joseph Pearce, and a football book that I have promised to write to a friend "Que bajé Dios, y lo explicaqué" written by journalist Don Ramón Álvarez de Mon about how Real Madrid won its fourteenth European Cup. In the afternoon I will be shopping in the supermarket, and I will watch a movie on 13 TV, and then I start rereading "The Servile State". As I told you I feel more comfortable when Belloc talks about History, but it is a topic that we like, or we should not talk about it.
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https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I Will write other. I am for the section (chapter) four.
I have finished this my second read of this book. This is my review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show... i offer with humblity.
I have never been able to make any sense of economics, and thsi book is no exception. Even his examples in Section 9 make no sense to me. Is English law that different from American?But I am suspicious when he enumerates the "only possible" (maybe 3) economic systems. Surely if people sincerely listen to each other's deeply-held views, creative alter`natives can emerge.
People (and not just educated, "capitalist," upper-class people) in our day change jobs so often. Isn't that an argument against their being servile?
Legislating a minimum wage doesn't force anyone to work, it just specifies what he'll be paid when he does.
How sad that France and Ireland are no longer Christian exceptions.
The last thing i have said in my review, unfortunatelly the secularism spread for the first World. It is a global evil. In the rest i do not agree i think that we must look for an alternative to the current econmic models. But i am not objective except in the question of Philip II i am Chesterbellocian :-).
Jill wrote: "People (and not just educated, "capitalist," upper-class people) in our day change jobs so often. Isn't that an argument against their being servile?”..."Yes, there is definitely frequent job changing which drives the working persons from being tied to an employer for decades. Younger people, especially with good education, beyond college, move up the income ladder that way. The work from home trend probably contributed to that. I would like to see some statistics on these if there are any.
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But I am suspi..."
Jill, if you are interested in understanding economics, I recommend Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics: A Citizen's Guide to the Economy. As to your suggestion that people sincerely listen to each other, economics is (or should be) concerned with what is, not with an idealized world that we might wish for. In a sense I disagree with Belloc on his identifying three economic systems. I think there is one key economic question with two possible answers, that generate the various types along a continuum: who decides? Do I decide for myself what I will work at, and for how much? What I will sell my products for? Etc.? Or does someone else with the backing of the State decide on my behalf?
You are right about minimum wage. But the bigger concern with minimum wage is that some people will not be employed because they are insufficiently productive to hired at the minimum. So the "price" for a minimum wage is higher unemployment.
John wrote: "Jill wrote: "I have never been able to make any sense of economics, and thsi book is no exception. Even his examples in Section 9 make no sense to me. Is English law that different from American?B..."
I admit that economic issues are tremendously dry, and difficult, and unpleasant, although unfortunately absolutely necessary.
By the way, even if it's bad for my Goodreads challenge, I'm very likely to participate in The Loss and Gain discussion. It will be my second, or third reading of the book. I hope I like it better. The criticism I write of it will be dedicated to Father Ian Kerr. I liked this book more https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4... and I liked Fabiola https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1... of Cardinal Wiseman more than the two mentioned.
