Everyone seems to be agreeing that we are headed into a recession (Keynesian newspeak for depression), but nobody seems to know what to do about it except keep repeating the same things that got us into this mess in the first place. No one is considering something different, like the Economic Democracy Act:
Bullwinkle Economics
• Economics as Usual. As usual, economists are talking out of both sides of their mouths about whether or not a recession is coming. They have to hedge on such matters because for some reason they lost their Ouija boards and Tarot hasn’t been forthcoming. No one, however, faces the fact that the underlying cause of so many economic problems is some very flawed assumptions about what economics is all about and even what money and credit really are. Most economists assume either that the government or some other mystical force is in charge of the economy. In consequence, the right magical formula or magic spell will put everything right, if the rituals are performed correctly, the right sacrifices are made, and the gods are pleased. The idea that economics can be self-adjusting if left alone — no, we’re not talking laissez faire here, but when government and other mystical forces may assist the functioning of the correct principles of economics instead of trying to replace or distort them to achieve political ends. No one considers implementing the true principles of economics found in the Economic Democracy Act.
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| Keynesian Economics |
• Economic Absurdity. Jeremy Siegal of the Wharton School of Business says that the Federal Reserve’s approach to the economy is “absurd” and that there is no way to resolve the current banking crisis and stabilize inflation at the same time. He’s right . . . as long as the Federal Reserve, Siegal, and everyone else remain locked in the Keynesian economic fantasy paradigm, which is predicated on the assumption that you can have your cake, everyone else’s cake, and eat it all while not having to wonder where cake comes from in the first place. Of course, if they ever gave the matter any thought, they’d realize that just as for every action there must be an equal and opposite reaction, for every production there must be an equal and opposite consumption and vice versa. You can’t consume what doesn’t exist, and you must produce in order to consume and for no other reason. The Just Third Way of Economic Personalism is based on these rather obvious principles that most economists today seem in complete ignorance of, and is applied in the Economic Democracy Act.
• Economic Storm Signals. According to Roger Altman, the U.S. is “barreling toward recession,” which is the way they say depression nowadays. Actually, the U.S. and the global economy have been living in a Keynesian fantasy for almost a century now, which ironically is the length of time Keynes said we would have to fool ourselves and lie before everything starting working right and we reached Utopia. Of course, we could stop believing the lies Keynes told us and with which we deluded ourselves and adopt the Economic Democracy Act, but nobody seems to be considering that.
• French Retirement Protests. Facing serious financial problems, France has been attempting to adjust retirement benefits and is being met with massive protests. Evidently, the people of France are under the illusion that a government can create money out of nothing to pay them benefits that politicians promised them — promises that others were supposed to keep. Here’s an unpleasant reality” money is a derivative of production, either existing or the present value of future production, and if you create money that does not represent production, you are creating demand for something that doesn’t exist. This is consistent with the “Law of Markets” of a French economist, Jean-Baptiste Say. Just printing up money increases demand for what does exist, driving up prices and inflating the currency, meaning that the government has to create more fake money to try and catch up. Of course, all of this would be moot if France would implement the Economic Democracy Act at the earliest possible date.
• Electric Vehicles. Electric cars may be the wave of the future, but that doesn’t mean that there might not be a few problems with them . . . such as generating the electricity they run on in the first place. Then, there is the issue of how long the batteries in an electric car actually last. This is a question that cannot easily be answered, for battery technology is still developing.
• Book Buyout? Simon and Schuster, the book publisher, is up for sale if a buyer can be found. No one is considering the possibility of a worker and even author buyout of one of the “Big Five” book publishers through an ESOP or some other arrangement.
• 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 19 different countries and 29 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, Germany, Spain, and Australia. The most popular postings this past week in descending order were “Binary Banking Theory, V: Fractional Reserve Banking,” “Social Justice IV: The Characteristics of Social Justice,” “Book Review: A Field Guide for the Hero’s Journey,” “News from the Network, Vol. 16, No. 12,” and “America’s Kryptonite.”
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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