I would like to draw your attention to what Michael Miller is doing and his blog at michaelmathesonmiller.com.
I met Michael when I attended the Acton University the annual conference of the Acton Institute, which is devoted to promoting faith, freedom and prosperity through the free economy. Acton University is open to all and is taking place again this year and I would recommend it to all who are interested in how faith, freedom and the flourishing of the human person, including economic prosperity, are connected.
He is a research fellow at the Acton Institute and is an inspiring speaker. He is particularly interested in the interaction between capitalism and culture. He is aware of the accusation that is often made against the free market economy, that even if we allow for the fact that it promotes economic prosperity, it stultifies the culture. I do not believe this and Michael is someone who speaks eloquently to counter this. I have include a link to a video of a talk by him entitled Does Capitalism Destroy Culture. Listen particularly to his descriptions of the different types of capitalism and why some forms are bad, and some are good. It may surprise some to hear an advocate of the free market state that the United States does not represent a free market economy. The text is on is website here along with a list of longer articles he has published.
Michael is devoted to working towards the alleviation of poverty in the undeveloped world particularly by promoting entrepreneurial solutions. He has recently been a key part of a team that has made a film that is attracting a lot of attention called Poverty Inc. which has the strap line Fighting poverty is big business, but who profits most?. This is an award winning documentary that describes how the West's traditional approach to helping the developing world - foreign aid - has actually caused more problems than it has solved. The answer, it argues, it to promote entrepreneurial solutions. The trailer for this is here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UrUIDu5SfKU
His talk at Acton on Capitalism is below here
http://youtu.be/e25PvN9c6Ik
Here is a radio interview by Bill Frezza on the Real Clear Radio Hour. In this is discusses the video. He also talks well about Catholic social teaching in relation to this and how we might interpret the recent statements by Pope Francis about capitalism. The link to the podcast is here.
Don't forget...the Way of Beauty online course, for credit, continuing ed. units or for audit. Read more on Online Courses page on this blog or sign up by going to Pontifex University's homepage, here, go to Catalog
