Toma nota.../Take note...

The Acton Institute, devoted to the study and promotion of "a free and virtuous society characterized by individual liberty and sustained by religious principles", published a critical review of the recent Encyclical letter drafted by Pope Francis, an apostolic exhortation "to embark upon a new charter of evangelization" but with a lot of emphasys on "a Church which is poor and for the poor" and on social dialogue. The Acton Institute reaction refers to the Pope's denounciation of the current economic system as "unjust at its root", because "a new tyranny is thus born, invisible and often virtual" that according to this exhortation derives from an "autonomy of the market" in which "financial speculation" and "widespread corruption" and "self-serving tax-evasion reign".

Acton Responds to ‘Evangelii Gaudium’

The Acton Institute has been flooded with media requests because of the 2013 Apostolic exhortation of Pope Francis. While "Evangelii Gaudium" primarily examined the role of evangelization in the world, the new Pope also wighted in on economic issues and the free market. Acton's primary criticism of the document, stated by research director Samuel Gregg in National Review, was that far too many unexamined economic assumptions had made their way into the text. One might assume from some of the Pope's comments that the role of the State's interest is benign or unbiased in the world in comparison to the free market.

El país ha recuperado la posición que perdió el año pasado y “se mantiene como la economía más competitiva” de la región. Con respecto a Venezuela, el Informe de Competitividad Global 2013-2014 resalta que es el país menos competitivo de Suramérica, ubicándose en el puesto número 134 de 148 países. Además, el informe coloca a Suiza en la cúspide de la competitividad por quinto año consecutivo, mientras que Singapur y Finlandia permanecen en segundo y tercer lugar.

Santiago, Sept. 2.─ Chile es el país más competitivo de Latinoamérica, según el índice que a este respecto elabora cada año el Foro Económico Mundial y que fue divulgado este martes en Ginebra (Suiza).

Chile, en el puesto 33 del índice, ha recuperado la posición que perdió el año pasado y “se mantiene como la economía más competitiva de Latinoamérica, con un perfil muy estable”, señala el informe.

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Bitcoin is a new "currency" created in 2009 by an unknown person using the alias Satoshi Nakamoto. Transactions are made with no middle men – meaning, no banks! There are no transaction fees and no need to give your real name.  

Bitcoin is a consensus network that enables a new payment system and a completely digital money. It is the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen. From a user perspective, Bitcoin is pretty much like cash for the Internet. Bitcoin can also be seen as the most prominent "triple entry bookkeeping" system in existence.

Triple entry is a simple idea, albeit revolutionary to accounting. A triple entry transaction is a 3 party one, in which Mary pays Tom and Ivan intermediates. Each holds the transaction, making for triple copies. To make a transaction, Mary signs over a payment instruction to Tom with her public-key-based signature. Ivan the issuer then packages the payment request into a receipt, and that receipt becomes the transaction.

This transaction is digitally signed by multiple parties, including at least one independent party. It then becomes a powerful and tangible evidence of the transaction. The final receipt *is the entry*. Then, the *collection of signed receipts* becomes the accounts, in accounting terms. This collection replaces the double entry bookkeeping system, because the single digitally signed receipt is a better evidence than the two entries that make up the transaction, and the collection of signed receipts is a better record than the entire chart of accounts.

How does one acquire bitcoins?

El Interamerican Institute for Democracy ha instituido el Premio Henri Durant a la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial para reconocer las acciones filantrópicas más nobles del sector empresarial de los países del hemisferio americano, destacando la importancia de invertir socialmente en las comunidades a las que sirven. Este Premio honra a las personas que dedican su tiempo y recursos a ayudar a los menos favorecidos.

Miami, Mayo 17 (DP.net).─ El Interamerican Institute for Democracy (IID) concedió el pasado 15 de mayo el Premio Henri Dunant 2014 a la Responsabilidad Social Empresarial a Carlos y Vivian Pellas en un interesante acto convocado en la ciudad de Miami.

El premio se le ha concedido a una pareja que ha servido de ejemplo a la función social que puede ser producto de la economía de mercado cuando los empresarios tienen conciencia de sus responsabilidades con la sociedad en la que viven.

En el caso del matrimonio Pellas, se multiplican las obras de caridad a las que han contribuido o que son de su propia iniciaiva, pero destaca sobre todo el concepto de que la caridad no debe ser un regalo o una dádiva sino un medio de resolver problemas y proporcionar oportunidades.