On the bright side, if we had the Economic Democracy Act, there wouldn’t be anything to write about. That not being the case:
• Russia’s Nose Spites Face. It appears that Russia’s cutting down on gas exports to Europe is having some unintended consequences . . . such as failing to make up sales in other areas, such as India and China, which prefer to bargain for much lower prices than Russia was getting in Europe. As a result, Russia’s economic position is weakening far more than would otherwise be the case, despite Putin pocketing huge profits from gas and oil as well as stolen grain and other commodities. Naturally, we think that a lot of this would be brought to a screeching halt if Russia adopted the Economic Democracy Act, but that obviously makes too much sense for a country in which a third of the people, including Putin himself, allegedly believe in the bologna of the New Chronology.
• Economic Oblivion for Russia. In keeping with the miscalculation Russia made on Europe’s demand for oil and gas and its ability to make up the difference elsewhere (above), some experts believe that the Russian economy has reached the point of no return already. The analysis, of course, assumes that the current economic and financial paradigm remains in place along with the current leadership. The picture would be significantly different if Russian leadership happens to change and the country adopts the Economic Democracy Act.
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| We don't want yours, we want ours. |
• Zelenskyy Fails to Put Super Rich in Their Place. If there is one thing the rich are good at, it’s keeping as firm a grip on their riches as possible. That is why, despite campaign promises and all efforts to the contrary, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, president of Ukraine, is not having much success in getting the oligarchs roped, tied, and corralled. This argues that a new tactic is needed, even a change in strategy. Since the rich are going to hold on to their wealth at all cost, it may be time to consider an “end run” to circumvent their wealth instead of trying to get a piece of it or take it all away. At present, the best argument that the super rich have as to why they should be left alone to monopolize wealth is that we need them to finance new capital formation and fund various projects to take care of people. As Louis Kelso proved, howeer, we don’t need the rich to finance the future out of past savings. What we need them to do is to let go of their virtual monopoly of ownership of wealth that does not yet exist . . . in effect, we want the super rich to give up something they don’t have, anyway, and to which they have no right. Under the Economic Democracy Act, the super rich can keep what they have, but just not be able to get more than what anyone else gets. Their wealth would be “sterilized” and all they could do in the future is have fun spending it, rather than to be penalized for having it. It’s the best solution all around.
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| Putin's Paradise . . . or Skid Row? |
• Yale Study Says Russian Economy on the Skids. With foreign companies leaving Russia in droves, and Russia not able to replace them with anything resembling a quality or even acceptable product, the economy is imploding, at least according to a Yale University study. Evidently all of Putin’s bluster about being able to go it alone and turn back the clock to a time when wars of conquest and raw, naked aggression could be carried out safely are just that, although drenched in the blood of tens of thousands of his victims. What Russia needs is not the sick fantasy of the New Chronology, but a dose of reality and the Economic Democracy Act.
• Federal Reserve’s Inflation Promises. According to Market Watch, the Federal Reserve’s tactic of raising interest rates is not what the country needs. We agree. Also according to Market Watch, Biden needs to allow more gas and oil production immediately, increase weapons to Ukraine, and a number of other things. We agree . . . sort of, and up to a point. Where we strongly disagree is where Market Watch seems to think that the Federal Reserve or the president of the United States or anybody else should be setting economic and fiscal policy, at least the way they’re doing it. In the Just Third Way, the role of the State should be limited in economic matters to setting and enforcing standards, enforcing contracts, and maintaining a level playing field. If the system were set up logically, as in the Economic Democracy Act, it would be largely self-regulating.
• Millennial Debt Problem. It turns out that nearly 75% of millennials are over their heads in debt, and most of it is not home mortgages. Student loans are a large part of that, but not the biggest part, which turns out to be credit card debt. Evidently, many millennials did not get the high-paying jobs they were promised when they took out college loans, but they still insist on living the lifestyle to which they wanted to become accustomed. As a result, many are spending money they don’t have and will likely never have. The way out, of course, is the Economic Democracy Act., but nobody seems to be considering it.
• Federal Reserve Raises Interest Rates. In an effort to combat inflation (defined here as a raise in the price level), the Federal Reserve is raising the interest rate, a cost of doing business, by 75 basis points. This increases the costs of doing business and brings down prices by raising them. While the logic of all this escapes us, we do know that you don’t lower anything by raising it. What would make more sense is lowering the costs of doing business and raise income at the same time by adopting the Economic Democracy Act. This would allow busninesses to get “no cost money” by selling new equity shares, and virtually everyone to increase consumption income by receiving dividends on those shares. Dividends would first be used to repay the acquisition loan, and then used as consumption income when the loan is repaid.
• Social Security is Down the Tubes? According to Market Watch, unless the United States takes in more immigrants willing to take low-paying jobs, there won’t be enough people paying into Social Security to keep it solvent. This whole problem, in fact, is why CESJ published Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen: A Just Free Market Solution for Saving Social Security (2004). Frankly, the whole concept of Social Security was shaky from the beginning and has only gotten shakier since. Furthermore, most people are under the impression that Social Security is a quasi bank account that they’ve paid into and will eventually start withdrawals. No, it was always intended as a “pay as you go” system. That’s why we advocate keeping Social Security as a need-based backup, but shifting the core of retirement income to the Economic Democracy Act.
• Backwards Sanctions? It appears that Russia’s problems with sanctions is not so much what they can’t sell, but with what they can’t buy. Russia needs many things from the rest of the world to keep its economy going, and they aren’t getting them. Neither can they make the things themselves. Of course, if they got rid of Putin and adopted the Economic Democracy Act they wouldn’t have this problem, but how are you going to convince people who believe in the New Chronology?.
• Russian Companies to Withhold Financials. The Russian central bank has ordered a number of companies to withhold their financials from the public. Nothing could be more indicative of serious problems than that. Accounting is the language of business, and the Russian authorities don’t like what they’re hearing. Individuals were silenced about the war, now companies are being silenced about the results of the war. Of course, with the Economic Democracy Act once there would necessarily have to be complete transparency and truth, but that is the last thing Putin wants in his workers’ paradise.
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| Don't egg them on! |
• Marines Eat Greece. . . . out of eggs and meat. Seamen and marines of the U.S.S. Arlington on a port call reportedly ate every egg in town and almost cleaned them out of meat as well. Restaurant owners were delighted with the business. It was hard to figure out to weave in the the Economic Democracy Act, but if Greece adopted it, restaurants could sell out everything all the time.
• Video Games and Training in Ukraine. To conserve ammunition and other resources, as well as to speed up training, Ukraine is using video games to train soldiers how to use the new weapons they’re getting. It evidently is very popular and gives the soldiers a skill they can carry over to civilian life.
• Overheated Economy or Stupidity? According to Larry Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury, the reason for the high inflation right now is we have an “overheated” economy. Just where the heat is is a mystery, but you don’t argue with the experts on a thing like this, especially considering the success they’ve had for the past century or so guiding economic growth to achieve universal prosperity. [https://www.yahoo.com/finance/video/inflation-consequence-overheating-economy-larry-210500033.html]. The idea you can stop inflation by passing a law..
• The Greater Reset. CESJ’s new book by members of CESJ’s core group, The Greater Reset: Reclaiming Personal Sovereignty Under Natural Law is, of course, available from the publisher, TAN Books, an imprint of Saint Benedict Press, and has already gotten a top review on that website. It can also be obtained from Barnes and Noble, as well as Amazon, or by special order from your local “bricks and mortar” bookstore. The Greater Reset is the only book of which we’re aware on “the Great Reset” that presents an alternative instead of simply warning of the dangers inherent in a proposal that is contrary to natural law. It describes reality, rather than a Keynesian fantasy world. Please note that The Greater Reset is NOT a CESJ publication as such, and enquiries about quantity discounts and wholesale orders for resale must be sent to the publisher, Saint Benedict Press, NOT to CESJ.
• Help Joe Walk Again for Economic Justice. Just a reminder, if you haven’t already done so, to visit the GoFundMe campaign and consider making a contribution and spreading word out among your social media networks. It’s off to a good start, but it’s still just a start.
• 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 over 155,000 total views. The latest Sensus Fidelium video is “The Five Levers of Change.” 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 persons 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 21 different countries and 26 states, provinces, and territories in the United States and Canada to this blog over the past week. Most visitors are from the United States, India, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Brazil. The most popular postings this past week in descending order were “Social Justice IV: The Characteristics of Social Justice,” “News from the Network, Vol. 15, No. 28,” “The Purpose of Production,” “Does Vladimir Putin REALLY Believe This?” and “JTW Podcast: The New Chronology.”
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 well see that it gets into the next “issue.” Due to imprudent and intemperate language on the part of some commentators, we removed temptation and disabled comments.
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