What are your thoughts on capitalism?

Jacob is talking about building a community in the purest sense of the Catholic tradition. It is a privilege to listen such a well educated and good natured person. Thanks for bringing him in.

Also please do not leave KZfaq, Matt, unless you specifically feel the Lord leading you to do so. I am one of those protestants being drawn to the Catholic church whom your show continues to encourage in that vein and I would hate to see you go.

Oh my gosh. I just finished my first year at a super liberal university. I joined for the cross country and track team (half the team left because of covid btw) and I can confirm college is just a cesspool of sin and sloth. I feel terrible about my decision. Almost all my friends are atheists and I fell into despair near the end of the year. I have a terrible prayer life now. It got so bad that I'm taking a gap year to go into the military. But, I am doing well in my studies toward my degree, and I want to continue to run on the team, and I do have some good friends. I also just got confirmed at a TLM parish close to my school. I'm fighting between transferring to a better school or continuing with my degree at the same university. Please pray for me and for my friends. I'm hoping this next year will give me more time to relax and pray to be prepared better for my last two years of college.

So excited to be a sponsor -- thank you, Matt! Interestingly, in relation to this episode, Homeschool Connections' business model was built on Distributist principles.

This has to be one of the most fascinating PwA episodes. Not just Imam's backstories but also the topics that were brought up! God bless!

Just got home from 1st Friday Traditional Latin High Mass tonight and found this talk by accident... My friends and I now celebrate Catholic Feast days by going out to lunch or dinner.... We went all out at Darling Harbour last Saturday after High Mass in honour of St Joseph the worker... I love the First Friday Festival there! Thanks soo much Matt and Jacob for the Amazing, Inspirational Talk! Prayers, Blessings and Rosaries from Sydney!

The joys of having a live guest is doing these longer streams.

This is one of the MOST interesting conversations I’ve heard in a long time. And I like to thing that I frequent good material

"Capitalism is a protestant heresy, and Socialism is a catholic heresy". Mind. Freaking. Blown. Learning so much here, gentleman, thank you!

Did anyone else get an ad to help fund an Islamic Center? LOL

So when is Trent Horn coming back to break the 4-hour mark?

I love that this is basically just a conversation between 2 friends for 3 hours that delves into important topics.

Matt, listening to you talk about the amazing support you have encountered while Cameron has been sick makes me both so happy and yet so sad. Happy because I am so glad you and your family are being provided for in that way! How amazing! I love to know that community like this exists. Sad, because I have been very debilitatingly I'll for over a decade with numerous rare illnesses and we are always largely in survival mode. We have lost everything due to medical bills. My husband works a factory job often he's gone over 60 hrs a week and I homeschool our 11 yr d daughter. I'm primarily homebound. We do have my mother's help some but my husband and I were just saying how we have largely only God to rely on, and praise be, He had really provided, because as wonderful as our family and friends are, they largely ignore our major struggles...it's such a heavy cross...and I know most people in situations like we both our families in are probably much more likely to experience similar things to my family than yours. This discussion makes me wonder where the roots of that lie. Thank you for this conversation. God Bless you during these times of challenge for your family. 🙏🏼

Jacob, thank you far the enlightening discussion with Matt. I agree that we would do well to use terms such as “ free markets”which means agreement between producer and consumer at the most fundamental level. Capitalism, which is a more commonly used term, emphasizes control by those who have the means to produce (capital, management and licensure) . Mike & Theresa

I couldn’t continue telling you how grateful I am for your work without supporting you financially. Count me back in your ranks, my man! PWA was born for KZfaq, Steubenville, and specifically this beautiful studio 💪

One of the best talks, and dissemination’s on the economy of everything that I have yet to hear. This conversation is extremely important

So many good interviews recently, but this must be one of the best.

Please don't apologise for talking about community in Stubenville, as you said it is relatable with other communities no matter how Catholic or secular they are. Testimony. Matt Fradd has been talking about Catholic community and the Church calls us to a private and communal prayer life for a while. I recently prayed to God to guide and improve my prayer life as I noticed some days I prayed more than others and it was predominantly private. After dropping off the kids to school yesterday i stopped by local Church to pray to God about this. A nun, Sister Rosa welcomed me into the Church at the entrance and said Mass has just finished but you're welcome to join the Legion of Mary for Rosary and prayers and said they meet every Thursday mornings. She also offered for me to attend their Bible study groups on Saturdays and to pray the Rosary with the sisters every Monday morning. Recently found the other local parish down the road also offers Bible studies. I then tell my mother about this moment I had yesterday and she tells me of Somascan Priests down the road who also offer bible studies and catechesis which is part of their vocation.... Glory to God.

This podcast, literally, put into words how I’ve been thinking about economics & Catholicism. I absolutely enjoyed every minute of this and it has gotten me rethinking about how to invest and build my small business.

Fantastic interview! Thank you both!

I really appreciate that Jacob isn’t afraid to take a hard line on unpopular opinions. It’s clear he’s taken a lot of time to honestly think through a whole position from beginning to end.

Wealth without work is an economic sin... My son and I were just discussing society and economics after watching ‘Nomadland’ last night. Listening to this today is my God-cidence for the day!

I'm all about this. Good job, guys.

This discussion is very interesting and a lot of it has never really crossed my mind, maybe because I live in a 3rd world country where people are always making money just to make ends meet yet also still where materialism is a huge thing. We equate money with survival on one hand, and greed on the other. I live in the Philippines where there is a mall in almost every area in the capital but with shanty homes and countless homeless people living next to these malls. Almost here everyone knows the value of education as a means to stability because to apply to jobs that pay more, you need a college degree. We don't think of education for just the sake of learning. Manual labor work like garbage disposal and construction work and farming make so little that's why no one wants to do them unless you have no choice. People here want to get into college because it is one of the primary ways to get their family out of poverty. I am 29 years old, have a college degree and have worked professionally as an artist for 9 years and I barely have enough savings to buy a car yet I am still better off than half the country. Most families have relatives living abroad so that they can send money back to their families here. I can't relate to many of the things said here but the thought of money as a placeholder struck me because I always felt I needed to save for rainy days, for a better life. I always felt I needed more out of fear. People here are prayerful because of suffering and poverty but out of necessity and poor catechism, in many ways, the faith takes a back seat. Many can't go to mass because of work, so we have churches in malls. A lot of people don't pay taxes because of poverty or some can but choose not to in order to save more. Our government is so corrupt and leaves us dry in many aspects. I'm lucky to even have health care when it is supposed to be free for everyone. These gives me a lot to think about and I hope you guys can also see it from the perspective of people who live on the other side of the world too.

What a great conversation. Thanks Jacob and Matt

Love the community conversations! Our Catholic community in Allentown, PA has a lot of these marks and it has also been grassroots and working with our bishop

We're going to need more elaboration on the idea that investing in a company you don't work for is a sin to demonstrate it's a sin rather than, "Thomas says so."

Matt: please consider doing a series or at least one talk with an expert on 'Catholic Social Teaching' which balances economics, virtue and the practice of Christian life.

My husband says that if you want to help your community you need to create a business that meets a need and creates jobs. My Dad liked to help fund businesses and be a mentor to the younger businessman so that he succeeds. From history, at one point in the 10th century Basil II saw the powerful families taking so much from farmers in their power that the farmers could not pay their taxes and were forced to sell out to the powerful family. He made a law that made the powerful families responsible to pay all taxes that their farmers could not pay. The result was the powerful families began to help the farmers to improve their stock and become successful. I think profit can be ethical as in helping someone be successful so the loan can be paid off, but loaning money without helping the businessperson learn how to be successful is not ethical. It is important not to set someone up to fail and be in debt.

As someone who lives and travel full-time in our RV with our two teenagers, it was more to have time with them. We were so busy with sports and work, volunteer activities at the parish, I wanted to stop passing each other in the driveway. There is plenty of community to be had with the RV community. The ability to experience different parishes was a true blessing.

What an incredibly interesting man and conversation. I love all of the detailed questions Matt. All of this has really got me thinking...which is a good thing. Thank you!

Brilliant - as someone “in finance” myself this was a brilliant talk (well worth watching all the way to the end)!

What a great guy... good one!

There is a big powerful light of Jesus in Jacob. I hope I am not saying any blasphemy. Jacob seems to be a genuinely good person.

I would recommend Jacob to check the economics thoughs of the School of Salamanca develop by the theologians in the University of Salamanca pre-adam smith, I think they are close to what he describes as a christian economics. Really a great guy Jacob, thanks for the great job Matt.

Listening to this reminds me of "Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect"....thanks for this.

Fascinating discussion. Thank you both so much.

At 2:54 when Matt says, "I know nothing!" LOL felt that in my soul!

I would love to see a debate on usury. I keep hearing different perspectives on this issue from Catholics who I consider orthodox. There are those who say that our understanding of money has developed such that taking interest is not usurious and there are those who say even in today's economy, usury still applies and our entire banking system is immoral.

Matt, very happy to have learned of Jacob and his work at New Polity. Thanks for your work.

Great conversation. However, I have found that even the desire and willingness to put forth effort towards community isn’t enough. I live in a place with a great parish and a vibrant parish life full of activities. However, my experience has been many Catholics especially traditional Catholics see asking for help or showing need as weakness. I have tried so hard to deepen my friendships here and reach that level where you can call on each other for a favor or have a last minute beer together in the back yard and no one seems interested. We have lived here 10 years.

Jacob Imam seems like the nicest human being on the planet. I love this interview!

Impressed by his ability to pin down Capitalism and Distributism, by explaining that it is not a theory, but a description of the [potential] state of things.

OK so I know this is late, but here’s a little story what a dear friend and priest shared with me about Saint Teresa of Avila. One day at dinner she was just attacking her dinner, and one of the sisters asked her why she was eating like that. Her reply was, “when it’s time for prayer, prayer. When it’s time for Partridge, Partridge.” And then went back to tearing that bird apart. Partridge… Cornish game hens…?

I’m orthodox, but I couldn’t agree more.

I love longer episodes like this!

Wow. Imam has crystallized so many of the thoughts I've had over the years, especially as I have converted, and also is being a voice for God to call me to be holier and use my money better. I am going to call my 401K guy today and see what I can do to either liquidate or put it into an index fund made by Catholics so it can do some good.

Love hanging out with you guys. I think I should move there.

Hey Matt, for future videos, can you make time stamps for topics in the conversation. After watching Tumblar House for a few years, I have gotten used to clicking time stamps after watching parts of podcasts and coming back to it later. Just a thought - keep up the good work! Pax

The way Matt describes present day Steubenville was probably very similar to the day to day life of someone living in Medieval Europe. Structure, community, and a strong religious presence that was the rule and not the exception. (From a macro scale of course, not the small minutiae…)

All the live chats went belly up on my phone. I read most of them. I so appreciate the comments. Praying for the Fradds. Read Camron's chats. Ha ha!

I love First Friday on Fourth -- so fun!

You should have Tom woods on he’s a catholic historian who is a Austrian economics and can explain the connections of freedom, markets and faith

Hello! I'm not a regular listener. I found this discussion incredibly interesting, thank you! I wonder if you and Jacob are familiar with Austrian Economics perspectives on fundamentally what money is, and their critiques of: fiat currency systems, fractional reserve and central banking, and their understanding of what drives the boom-bust business cycles? I think there is a LOT of wisdom there, including for Catholics, to better understand economics and how the financial system “works” and how it has tragically come to be this way. I recommend Mike Maloney's “Hidden Secrets of Money” episodes, as well as podcasters such as Tom Woods, Bob Murphy and Peter Schiff. Thank you again for such a great discussion. Would love to hear from you.

What a wonderful young man.

On Walter Hooper, Really enjoyed the Interview on Socrates on the City with Eric Metaxas. Also, funny Costa Rica was mentioned, here there are several Cooperatives, as well as Solidarity associations.

Every time I think I'm finally over not moving back to my hometown something like this pops up 😂

Hi Matt. If you are ever able to I highly recommend trying to get Jacob Imam and Jordan Duffer together to talk about Islam. Jordan is a Catholic leader who sympathize with Islam, and wrote 'Islamophobia' and Finding 'Jesus among Muslims'. I believe Jacob and Jordan would have some similarities but differences in how they approach Islam from a Catholics perspective. Good to hear you and Jacob now live in Steubenville, our family left once I graduated from Franciscan, but still stay in touch with a lot of community there!

You guys are such brothers. God bless both and your families.

Jacob is making so much sense. His description of things as seen through Catholic tradition is mind-blowing in its wisdom. Here is a brilliant mind illumined by Truth Himself, Jesus Christ. He shows how Jesus' Commandment of love would translate into concrete life and interaction, the economic and political set up. If we love and obey Christ we become divinized by the Holy Spirit, and so we are perfected in virtue and we will take care of one another and no one will disenfranchise his fellow man. Christ is truly the Light that enlightens the world.

This is an incredibly misleading interview and will lead to financial ruin for hard working Catholic families. Jacob contradicts himself several times in the interview and skirts the line of regulated financial advice. He only used examples of investing in common equity in publicly traded companies. This is such a narrow focus and ignores the lion’s share of other investing options that families have to preserve and grow their assets. He also did not clearly define his distributism solution relative to capitalism or socialism and conflates corporatism with regulated capitalism. This afforded him the ability to avoid the main prerequisite of distributism which is in order for distributism to work the entire polity must be Catholic. In my opinion, distributism is closer to the beatific vision but Jacob’s demonization of capitalism and the profit motive are not adequately addressed in his corrective action plan. I also don’t think Jacob has accurately diagnosed the root cause of our current economic environment. His focus is on the elite and the monopoly. My focus is on covetousness that turns into materialism which drives consumerism and leads to greed which feeds the next level of covetousness. Prayer, gratitude, and contentedness are great antidotes.

Every Christian needs to hear this conversation!!

Jacob's great

he is so different than when you interviewed Jacob on webcam, he was so formal then...now he is so lively and act like a very ordinary guy...

The alcohol be kicking in on the end. They got the giggles

The guest Jacob is super impressive. what a lively guy. he should go around on the catholic talk circuits.

I know this is a month late, but Seth James Demore is a great Catholic family in Denver. He's has been on EWTN and has his own (running related) KZfaq channel.

Great definitions, Thanks Jacob

Just listened. Two thoughts: 1) FUS financial aid dept. needs to listen to this conversation and think about making some big changes. Speaking as a FUS graduate, btw. 2) I'm a Timber-framer who would love to talk with Jason about his trade school.

Have Liz Bruenig on!!! Catholic socialist writer for the NYT. I used to be socialist and was really into a lot of her stuff. Now I’m not a socialist, but I like her as a person.

About the ASP (American Solidarity Party). The presidential elections aren't about "starting at the top". As much as possible, the political party (like any political party) tries to grow locally and do what good it can locally. But the fact is that a political party can't even get enough attention to start local chapters unless they have a presidential candidate. Like anything else political, there is strategy at play.

Dear Pints with Aquinas, I'm so taken aback by today's topic. Please have Mr. Imam for a second show on the topic of Jihad. I know it's a sensitive subject, nonetheless, we must be aware and educated as to the real tenets of Islam. I know that all religions do have bad elements ( individuals ), however, the actual call for holy war within the Qur'an seems to directly contradict Muslim's definition of Islam as a religion of peace. The fact that young men die in " martyrdom" with the hope of going to paradise and have access to 60 virgins speaks of total lack of the concept of sanctification, of overcoming sin in order to become the image of the Creator. Is it the truth ( 60 virgins). Up to what point should Jihad should be taken in its literal sense, as we have passages in the Holy Bible that should not be taken in the literal sense. Thanks for the content you present, may God continue to bless and prosper you in both the spiritual and material endeavors. Greetings from Saudi Arabia.

Beautiful Testimony!

While I appreciate that he wants a virtuous society, he is basically a socialist. I used to be a big fan of Distributism but it opens the door for Catholics to become socialist/communists. I don't know if he is basing or working with Mondragon in Spain, which is the best example of cooperative systems..to a point. To say it is a SIN to invest in a business that you don't work for is madness. A sin, even a venial one, is an infinite offense against God. Also he said business needs to have "mercy" in it, and a virtuous man cannot work in Capitalism, because it is evil is also madness. While Adam Smith told of self interest he was also talking about the common good. By a man taking care of his self interest he can take care of his family and the family becomes a benefit to society. Economics is not based on anything but Justice, like war or sports. The system of Capitalism is neutral, the abuse is the problem. I am not sure what saint said it, I think it was Loyola, but he said; " Form the man and the society takes care of itself" I think we can become too focused on "systems" and lose the plot. Virtuous people do virtuous things. I don't think he has ever run a business with the public. You need to have justice and mercy is on occasion. Just like the Law. If I own a coffee shop and people keep giving me a reason they can't pay and I am "merciful" I go out of business. But if I become successful and make a lot of money I can use that money to help people, I have an obligation.. I am all for coops I think they can be great but this guy's manner of thinking is warped . It reminds me of the" Utopian-70's- Catholic-Speak" .

There is nothing better than being an atheist.

What was the book Jacob mentioned at around 2:18:00? I couldn't quite hear it myself. Sorry!

Fine line between imprudence and courage

How do you invest in the stock market? I'm not talking about the theory behind it, but the literal process of investing.

Love their reaction when they were called "based". Based boomers.

Adam smith was appealing to, or was highlighting the concetp of "wealth without work is an economic sin." From his work The Theory of Moral Sentiments, we can read that his famous phrase "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner," has nothing to do with robbery, fraud or coveting other individual's property. By the contrary, it highlights the idea that only by first relying on morality, it is possible to earn money by producing goods to others.

Matt has gotten so much better at these interviews...or maybe it's the whiskey.

I think everyone who is worried about measuring tangible outputs to understand economics consistently undervalues the output of solving logistical problems. When somebody criticizes the stock market as "work without labor", they are missing the work of solving the logistical problem of allocating resources to the firms who will best use them.

Where can I find Saint Thomas Aquinas rules for investment?

Superb! 🙏🙏🙏

And here in the Bible Belt we have First Friday Art Trail and everyone in town loves it bc it’s all art and food trucks and music….but it’s basically become and LGBTQ festival every first Friday that used to be something safe and fun for all. The amount of people practicing Wiccan here is terrifying. And our city has become one of the new stops from the border between midland and Amarillo. Our P.D. has done several human trafficking busts in the last….wait for it….2 1/2 years. Flooding our streets with drugs. It makes me so sad. We even had a miracle of the sun here on Our Lady of Guadalupe’s feast day! We were the largest city to ban abortion AND we are a major college town (Texas Tech). It’s growing so fast it’s scary.

Jacob is saying capitalism is when the means of productions are owned by the few, but wouldn't it be more accurate to say, the means of production are private? Can't there be a capitalist society where most people own some means of production?

I'm in love with this GUY! I want to become a money giver not a money saver!!

Such an interesting relator imam

Man, Pints is pushing this guy Imam hard

Matt throws empty beer can on ground at 47:05. Power move.

This is great!

2:06:ish - Our lady of lourdes has a great young adult community. they have loads of resources on the archdiocese page

56:00 - productive properties in the hands of families. Would be curious to hear interaction with that idea and some of Wendel Berry's writings

If it isn’t already can you make a clip of the part about 401k, investing, and the connection to supporting immoral companies/practices? This whole video is so amazing!

New Polity will get a sub after hearing Jacob's thoughts on topics I have been thinking about as well.

Jacob Imam: you talk about distributism with regards to families owning the means of production and eliminating the state. I agree with distributism, but with regards to eliminating the state, can one not speak about a town or a nation as an extended family? The father is the head of the family, it makes no sense that the children make the choices for the father. Similarly, can one not speak of a monarchy as the "parent" of an ethnos (nation)? Monarchy naturally developed, not imposed, like a patriarchal extended family.

Free enterprise is great, but unrestricted evolution of enterprise's institutions under the presumption that "it's for the best" is absolutely corrupt.

me sheringt this video in Bosnien and herzegowina with USA - youth to give them a great testemony frm USA Chatolics💯

Where can we donate for the trade school!! MATT PIN A LINK PLEASE!!