A
significant number of news items this week, so we will get straight to the
substance:
• Units of the Just Third Way
movement are ramping up for an outreach effort to see if word can be gotten to
key figures in politics, business, and religion. Earlier today there was an extended
discussion on how best to use Twitter, FaceBook, and other social media, while
this afternoon some emails are being sent to some key media figures.
• Notable among the outreach
efforts is that of Joe R. in Guatemala, who is working on getting in touch with
a local archbishop, who may be willing to open the door for high level meetings
with other Catholic Church officials.
 |
| Not enough existing savings for everything. |
• One of the keys to a successful
and sustainable program of expanded capital ownership is monetary and tax
reform — with emphasis on monetary reform.
Relying on “past savings” is not going to do the trick, for two reasons:
1) The currently wealthy have a virtual monopoly on existing savings, and are
not likely to divest themselves of their wealth voluntarily for the benefit of
others, and 2) existing accumulations of savings are — and have always been —
inadequate to finance new capital formation.
 |
| Fabian socialism is still socialism |
• It turns out that more people are
becoming aware of the real problem with socialism. It’s not the abolition of private property per se.
As many socialists-who-don’t-like-to-be-called-socialists are quick to
point out, many forms of socialism permit private ownership of capital. And that’s the problem: the key word is
“permit.” Ownership is not viewed as a
natural right, but as a right that comes from the collective, and can be taken
away at any time someone with enough power decides to do so. The new level of awareness is a good thing,
because many people have been convinced that “Fabian socialism,” because it is
not Marxist, is acceptable.
• For some reason, Monday’s blog
posting on “A Brief Outline of How to Save the World (and Other
Modest Goals)” has been getting a lot of attention. One reader commented that it is the best
summary of the Just Third Way she had read.
• CESJ has a possible new contact
in Italy, who might be able to help get information on the Just Third Way into
some circles in that country.
• CESJ’s latest book, Easter Witness: From Broken Dream to a New
Vision for Ireland, is available from Amazon
and Barnes
and Noble, as well as by special order from many “regular” bookstores. The book can also be ordered in bulk, which
we define as ten copies or more of the same title, at a 20% discount. A full case is twenty-six copies, and
non-institutional/non-vendor purchasers get a 20% discount off the $20 cover
price on wholesale lots ($416/case).
Shipping is extra. Send enquiries
to publications@cesj.org. An additional discount may be available for
institutions such as schools, clubs, and other organizations as well as
retailers.
• Here’s the usual announcement
about the Amazon Smile program,
albeit moved to the bottom of the page so you don’t get tired of seeing
it. To participate in the Amazon Smile
program for CESJ, go to https://smile.amazon.com/.
Next, sign in to your account. (If you don’t have an account with Amazon,
you can create one by clicking on the tiny little link below the “Sign in using
our secure server” button.) Once you
have signed into your account, you need to select CESJ as your charity — and
you have to be careful to do it exactly this way: in the
space provided for “Or select your own charitable organization” type “Center for Economic and Social Justice
Arlington.” If you type anything
else, you will either get no results or more than you want to sift
through. Once you’ve typed (or copied
and pasted) “Center for Economic and
Social Justice Arlington” into the space provided, hit “Select” — and you
will be taken to the Amazon shopping site, all ready to go.
• As of this
morning, we have had visitors from 49 different countries and 48 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 United Kingdom, Germany,
the Philippines, and Brazil. The most popular postings this past week in
descending order were “Book Review: A Field Guide for the Hero’s Journey,” “News
from the Network, Vol. 9, No. 28,” “Why Did Nixon Take the Dollar Off the Gold
Standard?” “A Brief Outline of How to Save the World (and Other Modest Goals),”
and “The Purpose of Production.”
Those are the happenings for this
week, at least those 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, so we’ll see it before it goes up.
#30#
