It is becoming increasingly evident that many of the more serious problems in the world could be solved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act., but it is also increasingly evident that none of them are considering it, seriously or not. As a case in point consider the fact that Russian dictator Putin used up missiles earlier this week with a price tag of upwards of a billion dollars to kill a few civilians at a time when units of the Russian army are struggling for survival and starving for basic supplies, and the economy of the country is tanking. And in other news:
• Antonio L. Betancourt, R.I.P. We at CESJ were saddened to learn this week of the death of Antonio L. Betancourt, President of the World Institute for Development and Peace (WIDP). Antonio was a long-time supporter of CESJ's mission and programs, particularly the Economic Democracy Act as national economic policy, as well as other Just Third Way applications for renewing poverty-stricken communities in East St. Louis and Washington, DC through universal citizen access to ownership of land and new technologies. As an organizer of many international conferences, Antonio featured as speakers leading scholars and proponents of the Just Third Way, including CESJ President Norman Kurland, former senior economist of the National Security Council for international affairs Dr. Norman Bailey, former D.C. Delegate and civil rights leader Rev. Walter Fauntroy, and the former Chief Architect of Georgetown University Dean Price. These conferences included those held in Seoul, New York, and at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Antonio the Executive Director of the Summit Council for World Peace (SCWP) and the Association for the Unity of Latin America (AULA); and the Deputy Secretary General of the Federation for World Peace (FWP). As an officer, he was responsible for leading these organizations in international affairs in the fulfillment of their charters; brokering dialogue with countries around the world through forums and conferences with current and former heads of state and government, prime ministers, and renowned dignitaries from the Far East, the Middle East and Islamic world, China, Russia, Europe, Latin America and North America. He was a recipient of CESJ’s Soldier of Justice Award.
• Russia Running Out of (Some) Weapons? Considering the gigantic stockpiles of munitions the Russians built up for decades, it seems weird to think that Russia might be running low on some critical types, but that is the opinion of some of the experts, particularly in light of Putin’s revenge strikes earlier this week across Ukraine, targeting civilians at a time when Russian troops are facing serious difficulties against advancing Ukrainian armed forces. The Kremlin, of course, denies that they are short on anything, although they’ve been sending conscripts in to fight with two days of training, and many of the recruited convicts have either been killed or deserted. Still, the fact that Russia keeps pulling back and retreating, then attacking civilian areas is a clear sign of desperation on Putin’s part as far as some of the experts are concerned. What would put the final seal on Putin’s pretensions in Ukraine would be the Economic Democracy Act, as that would rebuild Ukraine economically at a time when Russia’s economy is imploding, but Russia may actually defeat itself before long.
• Russia’s Economy Gutted. There’s an old Russian joke that when Stalin was on the way out, he gave Khrushchev two envelopes. Stalin told him to open the first when things got bad, and the second when things got really bad. When Khrushchev opened the first envelop, it had a sheet of paper on which Stalin had written, “Blame everything on me.” That began the great Stalin purge, and things got better for a while, but then degenerated. When Khrushchev opened the second envelop, it had a note saying, “Prepare two envelopes.” We suppose it’s possible that Yeltsin gave Putin two envelopes, but the first one read “Start a war.” We don’t know if Putin has yet opened any second envelope, but it would be time, especially considering the way small to mid-size companies across Russia are either failing or losing people to the draft or getting out of the country. Of course, if instead of reading “Prepare two envelopes,” the second message read “Adopt the Economic Democracy Act, Putin might even save his career and his life, but he probably doesn’t think that way.
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| Benjamin Bernanke |
• Bernanke Nobel Laureate. In a not-so-surprising move, former Federal Reserve Chairman Benjamin Bernanke has been awarded the Nobel Prize in economics. It is a graphic demonstration that going with the flow, giving politicians what they want, telling people what they want to hear, and generally being a better politician than economist can do for you. By continuing the Federal Reserve’s downward course as a money-creator of first resort for the federal government and mismanaged, even incompetent corporations deemed too big to fail (like Russia in the war Putin is waging in Ukraine), Bernanke ensured that the powers-that-be would look kindly on him. Of course, had he wanted ordinary people to think well of him and give him a prize that really matters — the good opinion of history and grateful people around the world — he would have pushed for the Economic Democracy Act., but although it was repeatedly recommended to him, he did nothing.
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| Finland annexes part of Russia for Ukraine |
• Finland Annexes Russia for Ukraine. . . . sort of. Two men in Finland, decided to pull a Russian consul’s nose recently by painting his reserved parking space to resemble a Ukrainian flag, and holding a unilateral two-man referendum annexing the parking place to Ukraine. The Russian Consul could not be reached for comment, but people in the neighborhood seem enthusiastic about the loss of a few square meters of territory and have been flying Ukrainian flags where the Consul could see them on a daily basis. The city council has declined to remove the paint job. Of course, it would have been more effective to adopt the Economic Democracy Act. . . . but you have to start somewhere.
• Greater Reset “Book Trailers”. We have produced two ninety-second “Book Trailers” for distribution (by whoever wants to distribute them), essentially a minute and a half commercials for The Greater Reset. There are two versions of the videos, one for “general audiences” and the other for “Catholic audiences”. Take your pick.
• 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 25 different countries and 34 states, provinces, and territories in the United States and Canada to this blog over the past week. Most visitors are from the United States, Kenya, India, Brazil, and Spain. 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. 38,” “The Purpose of Production,” “Thomas Hobbes on Private Property,” and “Did C.S. Lewis Approve of Socialism?”
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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