Friday, August 19, 2011

News from the Network, Vol. 4, No. 33

The main focus of this week's news items is door-opening. It may be that the reason Capital Homesteading strikes so many people as being "out of the box" is simply that people inside the box haven't heard about it from a credible source: you. If you don't tell anybody about it, chances are nobody will. The ideas and the initiative can be killed more effectively with silence and ignorance than from any other cause.

Your goals are simple and straightforward. Present the idea of Capital Homesteading to potential door-openers and prime movers as a possible way out of this current economic malaise. Do you have to know everything about Capital Homesteading? No. You just have to know enough to get people hooked. You don't have to be the expert. That's our job. Your job is to direct people to CESJ once you've intrigued them.



Just Third Way Heroes Contest

Tell you what. To the first person who opens a door that leads to Norman Kurland having a meeting of at least twenty minutes with a Congress Critter or Senator — not the aides, the legislator him- or herself — we will send a free copy of Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen, autographed by all the authors, and a custom-made CESJ Certificate of Appreciation on parchment (like) paper, suitable for framing, signed by the CESJ Executive Committee. Anyone who arranges subsequent meetings with legislators or candidates for public office, or significant prime mover at the national level will get a CESJ Certificate of Appreciation. Each winner will be announced in the News from the Network after the completion of the meeting.  Everyone may enter.  There is no limit to the number of times you may enter — or win!  Heck.  You don't even have to be a natural person.  "You" can be an organization that wants to gain undying fame as helping to lead the march toward economic and social justice.

The only people not eligible for these awards are members of the CESJ Executive Committee. You do not have to be a member of CESJ or even smarter than a fifth grader. (And if you happen to be a fifth grader, you're eligible, in case you were wondering. Show the grownups how it's done.) Just get the meeting. This offer is good until revoked in writing on this website. Get busy. The whim may move us at any time.

Along the same lines, anyone who sets up a substantive (i.e., more than a photo-op) meeting with a Head of State currently in office will receive complimentary copies of every CESJ publication in print, autographed by the (living) authors as well as a CESJ Certificate of Appreciation. You will also (unless you expressively state that you do not want public recognition) be mentioned in news items like the following:

• The 329th consecutive CESJ monthly meeting was held on Wednesday when the executive committee came together. The main topic of the meeting was getting CESJ members and friends to use their contacts and open doors to potential leaders and prime movers to introduce Capital Homesteading as a possible solution to economic problems in the United States and throughout the world.

• Among the many issues discussed at the Executive Committee meeting was continued support for Russell Williams's radio show, The Challenge. After a lively debate, it was decided that CESJ officially supports the show, and urges all CESJ members, friends, and casual passersby to tune in for some entertainment, and possibly learn something.

• You don't have to be an economist to understand that Capital Homesteading probably represents the best hope for recovery from the current Great Depression, Part III. You just have to have the common sense to realize that no country, regardless how powerful it thinks it is, or how good its cheerleading, can hope to spend without producing, or spend more than it produces. That's Say's Law of Markets, a bit of obvious common sense ridiculed by Keynes and rejected by Marx. Realizing this, the National Lawyers Association is looking into Capital Homesteading as a possible "Pro-Life economic agenda," to advance the cause of economic justice for all.

• For years we've been questioning the assertion that the economy is "recovering." Now it appears that even the media are becoming convinced that "another" recession is in the offing . . . before we've gotten out of the first one (which is really a depression, Part III of the series that began with the Panic of 1893). Typical of the doubletalk by means of which people are given what passes for hope these days is, "job growth has been consistent, though below what's needed to reduce the unemployment rate." In other words, jobs are being "created," but not as fast as jobs are being lost. Throwing the word "growth" in, however, makes it sound better.

• The bottom line is that the "financial services industry" needs to orient itself away from government and consumer spending and stock market gambling, and start serving — the meaning of "providing services" — the productive sector, as it was designed and intended to do. The first step? Emancipation from the "Slavery of Past Savings," and going to pure credit to finance feasible new capital, the ownership of which much be widely distributed in conformity with the principles of economic justice.

• Consistent with the need to surface a genuine leader to spearhead the move to sanity, we've been trying to get word about Capital Homesteading to Michele Bachmann's campaign. Why don't you write in and suggest she look into Capital Homesteading? — info [at] michelebachmann [dot] com.

• Possibly recognizing that the "same old thing" isn't going to work, the Washington Post put out a call for suggestions on how to reduce the deficit. All you have to do is send an e-mail to them with "Reducing the Deficit" on the subject line, and in 200 words or less suggesting that they look into Capital Homesteading. Send the e-mail to "letters [at] washpost [dot] com.

• Here's a shocking suggestion. If you're Pro-Choice, write to Pro-Life movers and shakers, suggesting that they look at Capital Homesteading as a Pro-Life economic agenda that would remove all economic rationalizations for abortion. You can disagree on fundamental principles, but — unless you think that people who don't want abortions should be forced to have them anyway — there's no reason why you should object to allowing a truly free choice uninhibited by economic or political pressures.

• Send an e-mail to your congressman and both senators — most of them won't accept e-mails from anyone except constituents — suggesting that he or she read Supporting Life. If the legislator is Pro-Choice, point out that Capital Homesteading would ensure a truly free choice. If the legislator is Pro-Life, point out that "power naturally and necessarily follows property." If you want to empower individuals and families to resist the Culture of Death, you won't do it by turning everybody into a government wage or welfare slave through artificial "job creation" and deficit spending. True empowerment only comes through access to the means of acquiring and possessing private property in capital, and real economic growth through producing marketable goods and services. If you hook any of them, set up a meeting with Norman Kurland (see the Just Third Way Hero Contest, above).

• Why don't you go to Amazon and post a review of any of CESJ's publications? It doesn't cost anything, and helps give the message credibility.

• President Obama has come out in favor of a stimulus package that relies on cutting taxes (revenue) and increasing spending (expenditures). This is a perfect example of trying to get out of a hole by digging it deeper. Why not send an e-mail to the White House suggesting that it might be a good idea to look at Capital Homesteading? To keep the riffraff out they no longer accept regular e-mails. Instead, you have to fill out an internet form.

• As of this morning, we have had visitors from 44 different countries and 46 states and provinces in the United States and Canada to this blog over the past two months. Most visitors are from the United States, the UK, Canada, India, and the Philippines. People in Italy, Canada, Malaysia, Guatemala and the United States spent the most average time on the blog. The most popular posting this past week was "History of Binary Economics . . . Sort Of" "Panic in the Streets, Part I," Panic in the Streets, Part II," "Alternative to the Stimulus, Part II," and "Panic in the Streets, Part IV."

Those are the happenings for this week, at least that we know about. If you have an accomplishment that you think should be listed, send us a note about it at mgreaney [at] cesj [dot] org, and we'll see that it gets into the next "issue." If you have a short (250-400 word) comment on a specific posting, please enter your comments in the blog — do not send them to us to post for you. All comments are moderated anyway, so we'll see it before it goes up.

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