Everyone is still trying to figure out what to do about the war in Ukraine and the bank failures (as well as everything else), but it should be increasingly obvious that one thing that could be done to everyone’s advantage is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:
• Well, Yes and No. Depending on which expert you ask, the Federal Reserve is going to cause another “Great Recession” (we mustn’t use “Depression” because Keynes stopped depressions for all time and besides, it’s so depressing) either by failing to raise interest rates or by raising them. Like anything else, this is an example of trying to have your cake and eat it, too. It’s like the old sports betting scam where you send out predictions to a bunch of people, half getting one team, and the other half getting the other team. Half the people drop out each time, but you convince a small number of people that you’re always right and they place a big bet with you without realizing you’re playing both sides. The sun is going to come up tomorrow, or it isn’t. Raising interest rates will cause a recession or it won’t. Of course, all of this avoids the real issue, which is whether the private sector is getting the money and credit it needs to be productive and be able to supply food clothing, and shelter so that ordinary people can live in a manner befitting the demands of human dignity, not so that politicians can get reelected. The only way to do that is not to try and run the economy, but to set it up on the right principles and let it run itself, as provided for in the Economic Democracy Act.
• China and Russia. News flash for Putin: if you want military aid from China, you might want to keep your private army from murdering Chinese people. Of course, Xi cares about as much for the Chinese people as Putin cares for the Russian people, but he still has to consider appearances. Plus, if either of the dictators kills off too many of their own people, they won’t have anybody to dictate to, and if they start killing off each other, they’re only accelerating the process. It’s like the business tycoon who lowers wages and raises prices to the point where nobody can afford to buy his product, and he loses more money by being greedy than he would make by being generous. This could be one reason Xi “snubbed” Putin. Of course, it would be infinitely better if people ruled themselves without a dictator and didn’t have to rely on an employer being generous before they had enough to live on, which is what the Economic Democracy Act is all about.
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| "Screw the Peasants" |
• Russian Stupid v. Ordinary Stupid. A little while ago we reported a story about fake Russian war widows being given fake gifts of fur coats for a fake video. That was bad enough, but now Putin is refusing to pay his soldiers . . . which could get a little sticky for him. Evidently, caught up in the fake history he’s been spreading, he’s forgotten one of the most important rules of being a bloodthirsty tyrant: keep the people charged with enforcing your bloodthirsty tyranny happy. Even Suleiman the Magnificent, considered one of the greatest of the Ottoman rulers, was almost assassinated when his Janissaries (slave soldiers) didn’t get the loot they thought they were due. The Caesars knew they had to keep the Praetorian Guard happy to keep the army in line and keep the army happy to keep the citizens in line, and the citizens happy (or at least alive) to pay taxes and support the Empire and thus keep Caesar in power. Of course, a more rational system would be to implement the Economic Democracy Act, but nobody seems to be considering that.
• Swiss Monetary Neutrality Fails. One of the problems with the Currency Principle — that the amount of money in the system determines economic activity — is that somebody somewhere has to have something of value behind the money. If everybody is on the Currency Principle and nobody is on the Banking Principle, then one failure anywhere in the world can start a domino effect. That may have happened in Switzerland, which has always been considered the bulwark of sound finance. Putin’s war on Ukraine and the bank failures in the United States have, however, uncovered the weakness in the Currency Principle model, and a good reason for somebody, somewhere to adopt the Economic Democracy Act at the earliest possible date.
• 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.
• Blog Readership. We have had visitors from 24 different countries and 27 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, Ireland, Kenya, and Nigeria. The most popular postings this past week in descending order were “News from the Network, Nol. 16, No. 11,” “JTW Podcast: JTW Home Economics,” “The Panic of 1907,” “Social Justice IV: The Characteristics of Social Justice,” and “The Purpose of Production.”
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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