Tonite's show: Equity and Equilibrium: The Political Economy of Distributism by John Medaille

This week, John Medaille will be my guest to talk about his new book. Call in and talk with him at 646-200-3496.

From the publishers web page: Distributists have often argued their case on moral terms grounds alone; they have placed their arguments in the necessary connection between free property and free men; they have argued on agrarian terms, on the natural rhythms of life and social order often disrupted by modern capitalism; they have argued from Catholic teaching and the social encyclicals. But while the moral argument is necessary, it is not sufficient. We must be able to make the case on economic grounds as well. Distributism forms a superior economic theory, one able to give a rational account of actual economic conditions. But it is often the case that Distributists are not able to put the case in purely economic terms.

The theme of this book is simple: Economics, or more properly, political economy, cannot be a proper science unless it is a humane science; to be a humane science it must embody some notion of justice, and particularly of distributive justice. Indeed, as a practical matter, as well as a theoretical one, there can be no balance between supply and demand without distributive justice; the moral question and the economic question are, in reality, one question. Economic equilibrium cannot be divorced from economic equity, and the attempt to do so will lose both equity and equilibrium; the economy will be unable to balance itself, and so will fall either to ruin, or to ruinous government attempts to redress the balance.

The book is written in layman's terms, yet intended to enable the reader to stand his ground in debates with the Austrian, the Keynesian, the Monetarist, the Neoconservative, the Socialist, and all other contenders.