Again this week we see a large number of problems that could be solved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act, but people still insist on implementing failed programs that never worked in the first place:
• New Wave of Railroad Strikes in Britain. British railroad workers are going on strike to protest lack of sufficient increases in wage and benefits. We could go on and lecture how the Pullman Strike was caused by a decrease in wages and a refusal to lower the rent for company owned housing and the prices in company stores, but the problem here seems to be that the demands are being made regardless of the ability of the railway companies (we wonder who that could be . . .) to pay the increases; it’s being demanded as a right, regardless of how well or even if a job is done. Of course, this would all be a moot point if the workers themselves owned the company, say, through something like the Economic Democracy Act, but nobody seems to want to consider that.
• It’s Raining Russians! We understand that the Russians are thinking of establishing “Falling Russian Zones” due to the amazing number of Russians committing suicide by jumping off high buildings or accidentally plunging to their deaths from high rise balconies or down staircases. There have also been murder-suicides in which someone killed his entire family and then shot himself multiple times — or perhaps killed himself and then his entire family. We knew that Russians tend to be a very depressed people — who wouldn’t be, living under the greatest dictator of the twentieth century — but they should exercise more care (and possibly a little creativity) in how they choose to bump themselves off, otherwise people might be tempted to think that they aren’t really suicides at all, perish the thought!
• Getting Rid of the Useless Eaters. Yusuke Narita, an assistant professor of economics at Yale University, has suggested that the elderly in Japan should all consider mass suicide, and that euthanasia could be made compulsory. Doctor Narita, who is thirty-seven, believes such “useless eaters” are a burden to the State and should be eliminated so their wealth or what would have been spent on them out of government funds can be redistributed to more productive people, such as Yale University assistant professors of economics. Of course, the the Economic Democracy Act would allow such people to support themselves without being a burden on Dr. Narita or the State and would permit people like Dr. Narita to make their own piles instead of being a burden on the State or Tale University students and alumni, but that never seems to occur to those who propose such schemes. It is not known whether Dr. Narita carries pictures of Hitler and Putin in his wallet.
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| Neville Chamberlain and You Know Who |
• Peace in Our Time. Evidently under the impression that Dictator Putin is a real nice guy and will stop when he has liberated eastern Ukraine . . . or all of Ukraine . . . or all of Europe . . . or Alaska and the west coast of the United States . . . a number of political figures on both sides of the aisle are trying to duplicate Neville Chamberlain’s brilliant success in negotiating with Adolf Hitler, a diplomatic victory that completely prevented Der Führer from expanding his incursions in Eastern Europe into an attempt at world conquest. In a story given to the Washington Post on condition of anonymity, a “high official” in the Biden administration has stated “We will continue to try to impress upon [Ukraine’s leaders] that we can’t do anything and everything forever.” The fact that the Economic Democracy Act would make it possible both to rebuild Ukraine and finance the defense against Russia seems to occur to no one.
• Crypto Con Game. Charlie Munger, not generally known for his altruism, has come out strongly against the rage for crypto currencies. Not that his monetary theory regarding non-crypto currencies is anything to write home about, but even a glimmering of intelligence should be encouraged, wherever it occurs. Of course, the only thing that’s really going to put things right monetarily speaking are the monetary and tax reforms of the Economic Democracy Act, but we have to start somewhere.
• The End of the Russian Federation? According to Oleksii Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC), Ukraine’s victory in the current war will lead to the collapse of the Russian Federation, just as agitation in Ukraine led to the downfall of the Soviet Union. While there might be some dispute about who or what was responsible for the downfall of the communist empire — Poland and Afghanistan might want to put their dibs in — who really cares who actually eliminated an evil as long as it’s gone . . . and is replaced by something better, like the Economic Democracy Act? Danilov is, however, not the only one saying this, as pundits from the BBC and even George Soros have been making this prediction for months, but it is certainly something to look forward to.
• Are You A Putin Propagandist? Western intelligence agencies recently revealed what everyone has known all along, but which has been confirmed by sources within Russia itself, evidently sickened by the dictatorship of Putin and the direction their country has taken. Putin’s security services rely on local western journalists to launder narratives intended to undermine Ukraine’s unexpectedly robust performance on the battlefield, distorting casualty figures in Russia’s favor, and simply inventing facts that are easily refuted except by Putin’s willing stooges and followers in the west, many of which continue to view him as a savior, despite the lunacy of the claims.
• 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.
• 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 24 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, Kenya, Ireland, and the Philippines. The most popular postings this past week in descending order were “Social Justice, IV: The Characteristics of Social Justice,” “Activism versus Leadership,” “The Purpose of Production,” “The American Chesterton,” and “News from the Network, Vol. 16, No. 6.”
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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