Category: Commentary

I recently sat in on a lunch meeting where the agenda was simply “values.”

We were asked to talk about what is good and what is bad.  The comments and questions that followed were unsurprising for Americans these days, but the group anchored itself in respectful listening.

But one member put on the table a list of behaviors associated with good motivations and others associated with “less than helpful” approaches to life.

Here is a list of those latter behaviors.  If they were to be associated with a prominent personality, who might come to mind?

Addictive, acquisitive, prohibiting, conquering, authoritarian, egotistical, competitive, controlling, dominating, insensitive, suspicious, aggressive, self-preserving, hierarchical, isolated, absolutist, contemptuous, closed/secretive, given to pretense, comfort-seeking, divisive.

These expressions of personality were associated with fear-based, materialistic, defensive approaches to life by Demi Miller of St. Paul, Minnesota.

When an earlier generation of Caux Round Table members discussed and settled upon certain ethical principles for a moral capitalism, the encyclical of Pope John Paul II, Centesimus Annus, provided welcome guidance.  Encyclicals provide the Catholic Church with social thought or as some say, social teachings.

The 1991 encyclical was written by Pope John Paul II to mark the 100^th anniversary of the first encyclical – authored by Pope Leo XIII to provide moral guidance for the post-feudal economic system of capitalism.

Such advocacy of what should be for the best in our earthly ambitions, ideals and daily practices reflects theology and intuitions of the divine, but confronts the realities of human-ness.

When, some years after presenting ethical principles for moral capitalism, under the leadership of then-chair Winston Wallin, former CEO of Medtronic, the Caux Round Table published ethical principles for moral government.  These principles were designed to provide moral capitalism with legal and regulatory foundations, drawing forth personal and social endorsement of and the actual practice of the fitting behaviors that would further moral capitalism’s idealism in business and finance.

No reliance was made then on Catholic social teachings.

However, several days ago, Pope Leo XIV spoke to a plenary session of the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences convened to consider the uses of power: legitimacy, democracy and the international order.

I attach a copy of the Pope’s message (apologies for it being a little crooked on the page).

I also attach a copy of our Principles for Moral Government.

I am encouraged and reassured by the harmony between our principles and Catholic social teachings as presented by Pope Leo XIV.

Providing foundational rationality for moral government, in all cultures and religious traditions, empowers humanity to rise above abuses of power and the use of political governance as a tool of intolerance and oppression.

Which of these two men is the least admirable as a worthy leader?

When does anyone – president or not – risk going against the first of the Ten Commandments – “You shall have no other gods before me” – not even yourself?

One year ago last Thursday, Donald Trump stood up for rugged individualism in markets by imposing import taxes on Americans.  He called his edict a “liberation,” as if Americans were oppressed by importation of goods they desired to buy.  His hope was that domestic American production would respond with more output, more employment to make the American economy the “hottest” ever in the history of humanity.

Some hopes are false.

Two hundred and fifty years ago, Adam Smith published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations.  This was not a book about hope, but rather one of practical observations about the ways of the world.

As you know, the Caux Round Table has just published, with De Gruyter Brill, a book with chapters placing Adam Smith in a modern context, integrating his book on free market economics with his previous book on moral sentiments.

In Wealth of Nations, Smith observed the negative externalities that accompany tariffs.

In a recent commentary in the Wall Street Journal, two experienced economists looked at the data and like Adam Smith, observed negative externalities following on President Trumps imposition of tariffs on Americans.

Their commentary is here.

Are you interested in serving on corporate boards?  If so, our colleague, Eric Mahler, founder of Aretos Advisory, will be speaking on the topic from 8:30 am to 11:30 am next Thursday, March 26, at the Marriott Southwest in Minnetonka and I encourage you to attend.

In his presentation, Eric will cover the current “tensions” facing public, private, advisory and mission-based boards.  This will include how companies have departed from their values and how boards have increased pressure due to outside activism.

To learn more or register, please click here.

The event is sponsored by Financial Executives International Twin Cities, the CEO Roundtable and Private Directors Association Minnesota.

My thanks to John Mannillo, a man of dedication, determination and implementation, for convening a group of experienced and caring St. Paul residents to brainstorm how to set off a rejuvenation of the city.  John gave the name “defibrillator” to their analysis, conclusions and recommendations to focus attention on action now!  Get the heart of St. Paul pumping out progress and community self-confidence once again.

A press release announcing the project can be found here and a copy of the group report here for your review and comment.

I will send on to John your reactions and suggestions.

For the third time to provoke us to shift our perspectives, I have used the Yijing and its hexagrams to point us towards flows of success and failure as we move through another 12 months of a lunar year and see history unfold around us – for better or for worse.

Recently, I sent a notice on the accuracy of my predictions for last year.

This essay relates premonitions and predictions to what we see happening now.

President Trump’s war against Iran and its leaders fit the dynamic of a Fire Horse year very well, but may not be so in line with the modalities favored by the Yijing’s hexagram 45.

Here are several more short videos on relevant and timely topics.  They include:

–New Book: Adam Smith and Modern Economics

–On the Epstein Scandal

–Media Freedom Lowers Corruption

–Trump, Tariffs and the Meaning of Words

–Trump and Norman Vincent Peale

All our videos can be found on our YouTube page here.  We recently put them into 9 playlists, which you can find here.

If you aren’t following us on Twitter or haven’t liked us on Facebook, please do so.  We update both platforms frequently.

The last few years, I have sought to globalize cultural analysis of the forces which move events – are they moral in any sense?  To do this, I have consulted the ancient Chinese Yijing – 64 hexagrams each of which has six lines, each representing a yin force or a yang force.  The arrangements of the lines offer a prediction as to the direction of events.  So, the hexagram associated with a particular year gives us a coherent sense of what will have effect during the year and what will be of little effect or even suffer reverse or failure during those 12 lunar months.

As midnight Monday was the end of lunar year 2025, this notice is a report on the accuracy of my predictions for that year.  I will shortly consult the Yijing again for its wisdom on what is to come during the current lunar year of 2026.

Last January, I made the following observations as to what would likely happen during 2025.  The relevant hexagram was #44.  It called things pretty much as they would happen over the year.

Here is some of what I concluded:

The fissiparous nature of the world order will frustrate the emergence of leaders with the necessary yang energies to respond to the times with alliances and collaborations.  We can expect petty squabbles, petulance, disobliging, stubborn, recalcitrant, beggar-thy-neighbor policies and decision from all quarters.  This will hinder ending the wars in Ukraine and between the Palestinians and the Jews of Israel.

In the U.S., President Trump, personally in line with yang energies, will find himself checked internationally by an unwillingness to see things his way or meet his demands.  He would be better served if he backed away from threats and punitive responses which use yin and spread his concern and compassion for others far and wide, being a partner, not a boss.  He should think of himself as a kind and gentle wind blowing freely everywhere to bring hope of change through team spirit to everyone.  He should think big and wholesomely about moving Heaven and Earth for the good of all.

In a very consequential mistake, going against this lunar year’s auspicious energy flows, was Trump’s decision in early February 2025 to impose tariffs on American imports from Canada and Mexico.  The Canadians and Mexicans immediately retaliated, setting off a trade war that will raise hard feelings, provoke anger and resentment and prevent collaboration.  Going against the yin/yang balance of this Year of the Snake will make it harder for Trump to get his way and so confront him with a loss of power and influence.

Domestically, Trump will achieve more, as he has a team in place and he engages with them, allocating responsibilities for results to others.  He is taking advantage of their willingness to work together on an agenda.  His opponents – symbolized by the first line denoting yin energy – will be unable to obstruct him.  The more he reaches out and engages (“couples,” as the hexagram says) with others, the more he will be successful.  The more he tries to impose his will on others, the less he will accomplish.  It is a year set to reward coalition building and finding the middle ground, giving advantages to all parties.

The Democratic Party, resting in the first line of the hexagram, will not get its act together.  They are out of sync with the times.  They have lost sight of Heaven and Earth and are so prevented from using the great powers of those realms to further their aspirations and their efficacy.  As Proverbs 28:19 tells us, “Where there is no vision, the people perish.”

The advantage will be to the small, the innovative, the trusting and the trustworthy, in the economy – not the behemoths of the great corporations.  Artificial intelligence will assist collaborations, as it makes useful for small businesses and entrepreneurs data multiplied by data.  Those who stand aside or refuse to align their efforts will stagnate or fail.  The flow of forces should moderate inflation and keep equity markets optimistic.  However, there will be no success in reducing debt levels.

I do not see reforms in American education, reversing recent trends of declining competence in reading, writing, mathematics and the ability to think rationally and effectively.  Fixations on “my truths” and lack of respect for merit will prevent schools, colleges and universities from engaging with and inspiring their students to benefit from primal energies and soar in their ability and their aspirations.  Those institutions, too, are stuck in the first line of the hexagram – a yin-bounded view towards life, cut off from greater yang possibilities.