It’s a little unclear about the
details, but the Integrity Marketing Group, LLC, an insurance company, has
declared it
has an “Employee Ownership Plan” that gives “meaningful ownership” to its
750 employees. The ownership structure
and definition of “meaningful ownership” were not given, nor how the workers
participate in share ownership, dividends, voting, or anything else — or the
reaction of existing owners/shareholders.
Since the program was not described as an “Employee STOCK Ownership
Plan,” the “ownership” could be like that of the “Scott Bader Commonwealth” that
is “owned” by people with no defined ownership stake, i.e., not actual
ownership as that is understood in law.
In other news:
 |
| Not quite, but you get the idea: teachers and students both. |
• Teacher Retirement Costs.
According to an article in the Wall Street Journal, advisors to
teachers for investing their retirement savings may be taking more than their
due — or at least more than the traffic can bear. Most teachers require additional savings to
supplement their pensions, many of which are local or state government run and
are chronically underfunded. The higher
the fees charged for investment services, the less there is for
retirement. This is a double whammy that
would not be seen in Capital Homesteading.
First, unlike savings programs like 401(k)s and IRAs, Capital
Homesteading would be funded using self-liquidating loans to purchase
pre-vetted, full payout shares. In other
words, a Capital Homesteading Account does not require the “Capital
Homesteader” to save by cutting consumption, but by increasing production. Not everyone can cut consumption, but by
participating in ownership of capital anyone can participate in increased
production. Second, instead of paying
someone an additional fee to advise on selection of investments for a Capital
Homesteading Account, that is covered by the lender’s fee up front, which also
covers risk (using capital credit insurance and reinsurance to satisfy the
demand for collateral) and a just profit.
Unique among retirement savings programs, Capital Homesteading is
designed and intended to pay out income from the first year of participation,
which can start at birth. In Capital
Homesteading what accumulates is not cash to be paid out in the future, but
assets that generate income that is paid out to the participant, after using
part of it to pay for the assets, i.e., the program is self-liquidating.
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| Stock market, Tulip Mania, what's the difference? |
• Federal Reserve and Interest Rates.
Much to no one’s surprise, the Federal Reserve is standing pat and
leaving things as they are. After all,
we’re in the middle of the greatest economic recovery in history . . . judging
from the level the stock market has reached.
On the other hand, a more rational explanation is that we are actually
in the middle of one of the greatest gambling fevers in history, something on
the order of the Dutch Tulip Mania, the South Sea Bubble, the Mississippi
Scheme, or any of the other frenzies that seem periodically to grip the human
race. The only thing that seems to stop
the fever is a crash or tragedy that demonstrates the obvious illogic of the
obsession. Anyone who doubts this should
take a glance at Charles MacKay’s 1841 classic, Extraordinary Popular
Delusions and the Madness of Crowds.
 |
| "BONUS? You're lucky you've got a job, Bob!" |
• The Xed-Mass Bonus. It all depends on how you look at it. If you’re an investor, an activist, or a
politician running for office or in management, the economy is booming. If you’re unemployed, don’t own anything, an
activist, or a politician running for office or on the shop floor, the economy
is on the skids. Nowhere is this more
evident than in the Christmas bonus game.
According to the Wall Street Journal (“Rejoice! It’s Christmas
Bonus Season. Or, Uh, Not.” 12/13/19, B1, B5), the number of companies giving
Christmas bonuses is dropping, and those that still offer them tend to give
something along the lines of a fruit basket or the “Jelly of the Month” that
triggered Chevy Chase’s psychotic meltdown in National Lampoon’s Christmas
Vacation. So, if you’re in the upper
echelons of income and wealth already, the economy is doing great. If not, well, tough luck. Of course, Capital Homesteading
would eliminate the problem by and large, but so far people aren’t listening as
they wait breathlessly for their Christmas bonus.
 |
| Shinzo Abe |
• Shinzo Abe and Health Care.
Japan’s now longest-serving Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, wrote an op-ed
piece that appeared in the Washington Post in favor of health care for
all (“All Nations Should Have Universal Health Care,” 12/13/19, A21). This is interesting, as Abe is considered
somewhat conservative, being president of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party, described
as “a right-of-center conservative party.”
Abe, however, has been facing fading popularity for a number of his
positions, and may be touting universal health care in an effort to bolster his
political position. How wise this might
be is not clear, as it contradicts his previously conservative economics. Frankly, Japan’s economy — nor any other
economy — might not be able to sustain universal health care, at least as long
as the existing Keynesian framework keeps the world in economic bondage. The only thing that has the potential to
deliver the wherewithal for universal health care or even general economic
sanity is Capital
Homesteading, which Japan needs at least as much as does the United States.
 |
| "I don't see you 'Smiling'!" |
• Shop online and support CESJ’s work! Did you know that by making
your purchases through the Amazon Smile
program, Amazon will make a contribution to CESJ? Here’s how: First, go to https://smile.amazon.com/. Next, sign in to your Amazon 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.
• Blog Readership. We have had visitors from 30 different
countries and 48 states and provinces in the United States and Canada to this
blog over the past week. Most visitors are from the United States, India, the United
Kingdom, Canada, and Argentina. The most
popular postings this past week in descending order were “The
Decline and Fall of Reason,” “Thomas
Hobbes on Private Property,” “News
from the Network, Vol. 12, No. 49,” “More on
Fulton Sheen,” and “Book
Review: A Field Guide for the Hero’s Journey.”
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.” Due to imprudent
language on the part of some commentators, we removed temptation and disabled
comments.
#30#
