Well said. I think Solomon's fall was incremental. He took many wives and concubines and many of them were idolators. To please them ( not thinking with his brain obviously) he built them shrines to their gods. So all his wisdom was blindsided by his below the belt weaknesses. Unlike David I dont get the sense that he repented. I could be wrong. I haven't read the full text.
I like the narrators warning. That we can start worshipping blessings to the point where we lose ourselves in them, and God gets choked out. St. Francis didn't want his brothers to touch money. I think he saw what it did to his dad. He also didn't want them to get too much into book learning. He wanted them to stay in the presence of God.
Disturbing, but plausible, assessment of Donald Trump’s recent decisions and actions: https://www.unz.com/runz/america-faces-tank-bottom-on-oil-and-on-munitions/
I appreciate these kinds of analysis. But I have begun to give them a lot less value. Primarily because what we see is only based on surface level information, what we are allowed to see. So, I am not trying to deter or object to these polemics, but maybe give some insight into the weight, value or emphasis I think they have. A prime example for me of where I started to give less credit to these polemics analyses is the Ukraine war. First Russia was losing, then it was winning, then this and then that. They are still at it today, why? Then we find out it is a huge money laundering operation for the Democrat party. Now zelensky and Netanyahu are coming to the US to talk to Trump this week. It's all a show, like a soap opera, these presidents need to actually talk to each other in person? To pass along information when a phone call would suffice? So, what is actually happening in Israel/Gaza and Iran and Ukraine? Forget the kayfabe soap opera part of it. Clearly war is happening, clearly these are the physical front lines. Now, we are finding out that Fauci lied about the actual death rates of the infected. Remember the Vatican was 100% on board with covid mandates. Fauci lied and millions died. We also found out that the 2020 election was stolen. That China heavily influenced the US election, even having printed ballots. And so many more things. Everything is slowly coming out, but it is coming out quicker than before. My personal question regarding Iran, is it possible it is being run by someone else? Could Iran already be under US control so the desire is to keep the straight closed and destroy its military infrastructure at the same time? To keep oil prices high world wide, possibly to force actions in other nations regarding oil. I am almost certain the war in Ukraine is about Russian oil and gas. Is it possible that certain government programs break when oil gets to be too costly? Like all the green scan stuff. IDK I think we are gonna see a lot more things coming out in time. We aren't getting the answers now. But nothing is what it appears for the time being and is a kind of theater IMO.
In fairness, Unz has got it fairly right all along. I think it was in one of the comments, many of which tend to be risible, that somebody said it all resembles Orwell’s ‘1984’, wherein war was continuous and unending, all to the benefit of the Military-Industrial Complex and the politicians who make a living off it. The information Unz supplies is plausibly sourced. If it’s anyway true, the big beneficiary is China. If so, how have they engineered such a situation? Have they established a greater ability to bribe US politicians than AIPAC? Are the Israelis in on it and about to switch horses?
https://x.com/i/status/2082092688409600285 I just saw the above. DJT jr calling out these prominent Democrats as Chinese Communist useful idiots. We also now know China funded BLM. As well, a bill just passed Congress where by Congress can't play the stock market. Pelosi being the most crooked player. A game most likely being played of trading stock tips for influence. We also know that some politicians had direct CCP connections like Swalwell. What is all of this pointing to? Your guess is as good as mine. But clearly there are highly prominent Democrat politicians, who are highly corrupted / compromised, Who are at best aligned with communist chinese policy. Who are also very likely trading access/influence to the US for stock tips. We also see a lot of nations under Chinese influence currently like Canada. I am not saying that China is the boogey man behind everything. But I think China is playing a large role and is quite successful in projecting influence for the time being.
I think it depends on the definition of being right. They can be right about a whole bunch of details but get the emphases, motivations and or directives incorrect. For all the analyses of the Ukraine and Gaza wars I have yet to see any thing that gives me a conclusive understanding. Same with Iran, same with the housing market. Housing market should have crashed and yet it just keeps humming along. I am also just throwing out theories regarding oil. Because this makes two wars over energy now. Which would make Europe the desired area to be effected IMO, or one of the desired areas.
One thing is certain: there are a lot of bogey men. They are everywhere and have infiltrated everything. One thing I’ve noticed about the Chinese: they despise wokism; this is laudable in itself, but not so much if they’ve realised that wokism can be weaponised to weaken and destroy rival societies. Where are all these woke groups getting their money from? As you suggest, a newly wealthy China might be the Santa clause.
It would be a good thing for the plebs for the housing market to crash, but the house prices are being kept up for the benefit of international investment funds, with the full cooperation of most governments and every law and regulation is tweaked to ensure that continues.
This is exactly it. I can give you all the reasons in the world why the real estate market should crash. There are likely millions of videos and articles generated about the looming crash over the last 20 years. All of them with proper facts and logical reasons. But, here we are. That being said warfare today seems to be one where the battle lines have changed. It's about getting the most influence for the least amount of investment. Elon Musk points out often that this is what George Soros skillfully did. So we have a battle of ideologies worldwide, the internet among the newest fronts. It appears to be along the lines of socialism/communism vs Westernism/Christianity/capitalism. Though I am not entirely positive it is so simple to draw up the lines like this. All of this being, said one of the tools being used by the communists, I believe to their own detriment, is laundering tax dollars to fund their side of the war. Historically, when people become over taxed and inflation sky rockets due to money printing, nations collapse. These wars over oil could be attempts to force collapse of socialist/communist structures. Because when people can't afford to pay their mortgages and taxes for lack of funds, it puts further pressure on government to cover the markets, like the housing market. Which already happened in Canada where Carney had to buy million dollar properties in Vancouver and Toronto because no one was buying them. It is estimated that 10% of home owners in the greater Toronto area, whose mortgages are coming up to be refinanced, will not be able to do so. Also, the scammed tax dollars in the US are drying up with the advent of USAID being shut down and fraud being exposed. Communists can't ever generate anything new only destroy and steal, so I think they are on the beginning of their fall. When I went to the march for life this year there were far far less activists than before, which tells me the support is dying out for lack of funds.
I think it was Chesterton who said that communism and extreme capitalism are two sides of the same coin. They both involve a concentration of wealth in the hands of a few. Maybe, it is possible to honestly accumulate billions of dollars of wealth; if so, I’d like some tips!
Coincidentally, there was an interview of a mortgage broker on one of the Irish national radio stations, this evening, practically celebrating that Irish parents were financing their children, helping to buy their houses. He was practically unchallenged, yet he’s a vested interest making more money out of the higher house prices that this futile practice is causing. And tough luck for those young people with parents who don’t have this spare money to be fleeced of, in what is simply another form of taxation. This Shylock was also boasting how it was possible to borrow even more money than the maximum mortgage/salary ratio allowed. Yet little or no regard was given by this broker and the very timid (in this instance-if would be different if it was a controversy in the Catholic Church) interviewer to the risks of lending more than people can afford, not to mention the catalysing effect on house prices of this policy.
To my understanding, problem isn't the concentration of wealth it is what's done with it. A person can roll their investments forward and get a home, start a business, provide services, and be a benefit to society. Or they can use their money, to buy influence, so they don't have to pay their workers. Stuff like that. So the problem isn't billions of dollars but how they are used. Governments like to keep their people in dependence for whatever reason.
I think it is also very important how money is accumulated. Real, honest capitalism should be a level playing field rewarding intelligence, diligence, hard work and honest dealing. It seems to more often reward those who have the right connections to lobby for contracts, avail of discriminatory regulations and those who can devise schemes to contribute as little to their community as possible. I remember reading a few years ago that the average US CEO in 1960 earned seven times more than his lowest paid employee. By the turn of the century this had increased to a factor of about 900, as far as I can remember. This implies that whereas the janitor and his boss lived in the same universe in 1960, they’re probably completely alienated now. Doesn’t seem healthy or right.
Yeah, lots of people on the street currently. I like your thoughts on how wealth is accumulated. Not at the expense of people but to their benefit. Pope Leo XIII promoted distributism. I think it's in rerum novarum. Under this system stocks would still exist depending on the company or corporation, but one person couldn't go out and own everything. Like in a pyramid model. It would be more like a giant curve where everyone has a share in the means of production. Guilds would be promoted, it's really cool stuff in terms of an economic model rooted in Catholicism.
In the 12th century, Abbot Philip of Harveng wrote a theological treatise entitled Response Concerning the Damnation of Solomon. The work was composed in response to an ongoing debate among medieval monks over a controversial question: Was King Solomon ultimately saved, or was he condemned? Philip adopts a notably strict position. He argues that Scripture nowhere states that Solomon repented, and therefore there is no biblical basis for assuming that he was saved. Because Solomon ended his life in idolatry, Philip concludes that he was ultimately condemned. It is important to note, however, that this was not an official teaching of the Catholic Church, but rather the opinion of a single medieval theologian. Throughout the Middle Ages, Solomon's final fate remained the subject of considerable debate. Some writers argued that he was damned because of his apostasy, while others believed that he had repented, often interpreting the Book of Ecclesiastes as a work expressing his repentance. A third group maintained that his ultimate fate simply cannot be known with certainty, since Scripture does not explicitly reveal it. Interestingly, there are also very early Christian apocryphal traditions, such as the Gospel of Nicodemus (Acts of Pilate), which describe Christ's descent into Hades after His crucifixion. According to these accounts, Christ led many of the righteous of the Old Testament out of the realm of the dead, including King Solomon. This demonstrates that there was no unanimous view regarding Solomon's eternal destiny even within the earliest Christian tradition. Only God can judge. The one thought that has always stayed with me comes from Padre Pio. He once spoke to a mathematics teacher who had been one of the leaders of the Communist Party after the Second World War. She later converted and went on to live a life of remarkable holiness. Padre Pio told her something along these lines: "Precisely because you were intelligent, you did far more harm than others." In other words, the gift of intelligence that God had given her had been used for evil, and because of that she bore greater responsibility than those who were less gifted. If we also consider that, according to Christian theology, the fallen angels were condemned because of their perfect knowledge and understanding—their "no" to God being final because they fully understood the consequences of their choice—we are faced with an interesting question. King Solomon was the wisest man who ever lived, second only to Christ, who is God Himself. As the Bible tells us, Solomon possessed unparalleled wisdom, the greatest understanding of good and evil—that is, of God and of the rejection of God, and of the choices between them. Could it be argued that Solomon's decision was, in some sense, as definitive as that of the fallen angels because of the extraordinary gift of wisdom he had received? He knew exactly what he was choosing. Yet unlike the angels, he was still a human being, even if his wisdom surpassed that of every other man. The road to salvation is a narrow one. We often wish we were a little more attractive, a little more intelligent, a little wiser. We envy those who seem to possess greater gifts. Yet perhaps the very fact that we were not given those gifts may one day contribute to our salvation, while the same gifts may become the cause of another person's condemnation. Every talent entrusted by God also carries with it a greater responsibility.
