As the global situation continues to heat up in everything but a good way, world leaders seem more intent than ever on keeping old and failed programs going instead of implementing something that actually works and has been proven to work: the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism:
• CESJ’s Bookstore. Have you visited the CESJ Bookstore yet? There is a good pre-selection of books, and a rebate for CESJ members (you have to be an official member, not just with us in spirit) that applies to verified purchases for verified members . . . once we verify it. And you have to request it; it’s not automatic, sorry (blame state tax laws for making it complicated; we do NOT make retail sales, you HAVE to go to the bookstore, not us directly, although we do have certain titles available for bulk discounts if you buy direct from us.) We should mention that some of the books are also available as free download in electronic format, if you feel you can’t afford the cash right now. If you do buy some books, however, be sure to take advantage of the Amazon “Smile” program, below. It won’t cost you any more, but it will benefit CESJ.
• Go Figure. This week, as the European Union announced an economic slowdown, the European stock markets rose. When the last announced an increase in economic growth, the stock markets rose. When Merkel blew her nose, the stock markets rose. Of course, the stock markets — just as in the rest of the world — also experience sudden downturns in response to . . . stuff (if we knew, we could make a fortune placing our bets), but it doesn’t really matter whether it goes up or down as long as it moves. None of it represents anything other than speculation, and the gamblers can make money whichever way it goes, by going long on rises and short on declines. Who loses? Anybody who thinks the stock market runs the economy instead of the other way around.
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| "But I issued an Executive Order!" |
• President Biden’s Economic Initiative. As reported in Yahoo! Finance (although it wouldn’t seem to merit even a small “yippee”), Biden is preparing to sign an executive order that will promote “competition across the U.S. economy — including measures that target big tech companies, aim to lower prices for consumers and call for greater scrutiny of mergers across industries.” As the article reports, “President Biden is taking decisive action to reduce the trend of corporate consolidation, increase competition, and deliver concrete benefits to America’s consumers, workers, farmers, and small businesses.” The article then describes what sounds like a program to increase government employment without doing the single most effective thing he could do for the private sector: push for the adoption of the Economic Democracy Act.
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| President Maia Sandu of Moldova |
• Moldova, Socialism, and Russia. Moldova, the poorest country in Europe, is attempting to break the stalemate between native socialism, Russian influence, and overall national interest that has probably been the single largest factor holding the country back. As reported in EuroNews and the Eurasia Daily Monitor, “Moldova could break out from its cycle of political instability and economic decay, provided that President Maia Sandu’s creation, the Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS), gains an outright parliamentary majority on its own in the July 11 elections.” The socialists, however, are turning out in large numbers, while the “Russophiles” have substantial financial backing and other resources. What Ms. Sandu’s government needs — assuming she can form one after the election — is the Economic Democracy Act. Know anyone in Moldova to get the word to?
• Hortense and Her Whos. In case you’ve been wondering how you might advance the Just Third Way by introducing it to legislators at any and all levels of government, we’ve made it easy for you, with the “Hortense Hears Three Whos” initiative. Visit the explanatory website, and consider downloading the postcard to send to people in government. Don’t worry if you think they won’t be open to it, as the postcard is intended to get them to open their eyes.
• Economic Personalism Landing Page. A landing page for CESJ’s latest publication, Economic Personalism: Property, Power and Justice for Every Person, has been created and can be accessed by clicking on this link. Everyone is encouraged to visit the page and send the link out to their networks.
• Economic Personalism. When you purchase a copy of Economic Personalism: Property, Power and Justice for Every Person, be sure you post a review after you’ve read it. It is available on both Amazon and Barnes and Noble at the cover price of $10 per copy. You can also download the free copy in .pdf available from the CESJ website. If you’d like to order in bulk (i.e., ten or more copies) at the wholesale price, send an email to publications@cesj.org for details. CESJ members get a $2 rebate per copy on submission of proof of purchase. Wholesale case lots of 52 copies are available at $350, plus shipping (whole case lots ONLY). Prices are in U.S. dollars.
• Sensus Fidelium Videos, Update. CESJ’s series of videos for Sensus Fidelium are doing very well, with nearly 150,000 views in total. The latest Sensus Fidelium video is “The Principles of Economic Justice.” The video is part of the series on the book, Economic Personalism. The latest completed series on “the Great Reset” can be found on the “Playlist” for the series. The previous series of sixteen videos on socialism is available by clicking on the link: “Socialism, Modernism, and the New Age,” along with some book reviews and other selected topics. For “interfaith” presentations to a Catholic audience they’ve proved to be popular, edging up to 150,000 views to date. They aren’t really “Just Third Way videos,” but they do incorporate a Just Third Way perspective. You can access the playlist for the entire series The point of the videos is to explain how socialism and socialist assumptions got such a stranglehold on the understanding of the role of the State and thus the interpretation of Catholic social teaching, and even the way non-Catholics and even non-Christians understand the roles of Church, State, and Family, and the human person’s place in society.
• 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 31 different countries and 40 states and provinces in the United States and Canada to this blog over the past week. Most visitors are from the United States, Kenya, Canada, South Africa, and Australia. The most popular postings this past week in descending order were “The Purpose of Production” “America Delenda Est?” “Book Review: A Field Guide for the Hero’s Journey,” “News from the Network, Vol. 14, No. 26” and “What ‘Social Justice’ REALLY Means.”
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.
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