Not too much different to report in this week’s news items . . . but then the powers-that-be keep making the same mistakes over and over. Everyone seems to be frantic about raising the debt ceiling, but no one is saying anything about doing something effective to eliminate the need for a ceiling in the first place, or why we need government debt. Maybe all that’s needed is a new approach to money and credit, such as can be found in the Economic Democracy Act, but that might be getting a little crazy for the powers-that-be that don’t want a solution, but a continuation of the status quo:
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• Greatest Threat to National Sovereignty. In 1898 Henry C. Adams published Public Debts: An Essay in the Science of Finance. One of the points he stressed throughout the book was the danger to national, state, local, and personal sovereignty that debt imposes. Adams, of course, spoke of debt that does not generate its own repayment by being invested in self-liquidating productive assets, that is, the kind of debt that has been used for millennia to make the rich richer. Adams was concerned with debt incurred for consumption, in which category are included government debt and speculative investment. Unfortunately for countries that accepted loans from China, they are now founding out the truth of what Adams — and Shakespeare — was saying. The bills are falling due, and China expects more than its pound of flesh. One thing that could save the countries in debt to China is the Economic Democracy Act, but for some reason word is slow to reach them.
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| What's the difference? |
• The Creature from Heckle Island. Everyone either loves or hates the Federal Reserve. They love it when its policies put money in their pockets and hate it when it doesn’t put as much money in their pockets. For over a hundred years, however, the Federal Reserve has not been doing the job for which it was designed, and thus has been enriching the rich and impoverishing the poor at an increasing rate. That is why recent concern that the Federal Reserve’s policies will destroy the current recovery are both sad and amusing. Sad, because the so-called recovery has been waiting since 1861 to start for ordinary people (the Homestead Act of 1862 only staved off the collapse for a while) and amusing because the rich think that what happens to them is the only thing that matters. The monetary and tax reforms of the Economic Democracy Act would go a long way toward making the recovery real for everyone, but few of the people in power seem to realize that.
• And You Thought You Had It Rough. A worker who has been on full disability for a decade and a half is suing because he did not get any pay raises while not working, even though his disability income is more than twice what most people ever see. The poor sick man had agreed to the arrangement, but evidently didn’t realize just how long he would be forced to do nothing and get paid for it, so now wants more money. Possibly not even the Economic Democracy Act, would satisfy his desperate need for ever-increasing amounts of cash, but it might help those of us who aren’t getting paid to be sick at a very high rate of pay.
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| Jamie Dimon |
• Less of the Same? While not all of the economy’s woes can be blamed on the deregulation of the financial system — the underlying Keynesian economics shares a huge part of the blame — no rational person would claim that the repeal of Glass-Steagall and other regulations has had a disastrous effect on economic and financial life. So, what is financial guru Jamie Dimon demanding? Less regulation and government oversight so that we can have a great and glorious financial free for all with no restraints! He doesn’t seem to realize that while government regulation is not very effective at replacing good internal control, it’s better than nothing (although not much). Of course, adopting the Economic Democracy Act would get rid of a lot of the government regulations that terrify Dimon, but it would also break the monopoly the rich and the financiers have over the economy, while letting him keep his current wealth intact. Too bad nobody ever thought of it.
• Putin Commands a Better Economy. No stranger to paddling his own Canute, Putin has decided to command not that the tide stay out, but that the Russian economy get better. Having already revised history to make Russia the only Christian nation on Earth (if you accept “the New Chronology,” that is, and don’t mind a Christianity without Christ). Of course, all of this (except the invention of another New Christianity) could be achieved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act, but that would be too easy, and would take away a lot of Putin’s power.
• Pasta Politics. Whatever it takes. In view of rising prices for spaghetti and other pasta, the Italian government has called emergency talks to address the crisis. Of course, they’re ignoring the underlying problem, which is a poorly structured economy, too much government control of virtually everything, and an anti-family bias. Much of this could be resolved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act, but as usual no one is thinking along those lines.
• Creepiest Story of the Year. Forget about Putler and his goons, at least for a while. We found something almost as weird and sickening: a social media influencer has “cloned” herself via AI so that her millions of admiring male fans and followers can have individual attention from her and the right to create an exclusive girlfriend that acts and talks just like her over the internet. Not creepy enough? How about having your very own Stepford Wife, a robot with AI that will do anything for its owner . . . maybe even paint the house!
• Americans Worried About Default. One of the things troubling Americans — but not enough to do anything about it — is that a debt default will make the economy even worse. Not being aware that the gigantic debt is one of the things causing the bad economy in the first place. If the debt ceiling is lifted, it will only stave off the inevitable for a little while. The real solution is not to raise the debt ceiling, but to adopt the Economic Democracy Act? The economy could be restored along with the tax base, government expenditures reduced, and the debt paid down instead of increased.
• Save the Baby Stock Market! The financial experts who got us into the present mess in the first place are frantically informing us of all the horrible things that will happen if they are not allowed to continue. As they claim, “a pause in federal payments would hurt the economy, which would hurt the stock market, which would in turn hurt the economy even more, and so on.” We could go on for hours and even days about what is wrong with that statement, but we’ll confine ourselves to noting that if people could produce marketable goods and services for themselves, Wall Street and the stock market could go hang. What we need is not a more active stock market, but the Economic Democracy Act.
• Can’t Afford Spouse, Family, or Children. Authorities are concerned that women aren’t having enough children. Of course, it doesn’t occur to them that perhaps the decades-old war on the family that has been carried out so relentlessly for so long might have something to do with it. No, the blame is being placed on other things. As this article claims, “Are the ‘OMG! I forgot to have children’ generation, selfish women who have been stripped of hope by destructive Left-wing ideology or are they in fact making decisions based on much more mundane stuff? Stuff like not being able to afford a home of their own, the huge cost of childcare, the shortage of men who want to parent with them.” If there was anything in the article about a meaningful effort to restore and support families, we missed it. Of course, there was also nothing in it about adopting the Economic Democracy Act, either, and the latter may be key to the former.
• More AI Concerns. Sam Altman is concerned about the dangers of artificial intelligence . . . but not enough to do anything effective about it. The most effective way to prevent AI from controlling people’s lives is to ensure that they can control their own lives, and the best way to do that is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act. It is much more difficult to control other people when you have no hold over them.
• More Feared Than Nuclear Weapons? Maybe this is the real reason some so-called conservatives think that we mustn’t provoke Putin by opposing his program of world conquest: “A key piece of Moscow's new retaliation strategy is a decree that President Vladimir Putin signed last month, that Prokopenko said gives the government's property management agency control over Western assets affected by halts to Russia operations and the ability to sell them to Russian buyers. The decree also requires firms of ‘unfriendly nations’ to pay a donation to Russia's war efforts, equating 5% to 10% the value of a sold asset. Western companies are also required to sell their stakes in projects shared with Russian partners at a 50% deduction.” Of course, if we had the Economic Democracy Act in the west, Russia could whatever it wanted, as all the assets Russia has seized or will seize are sunk cost and can be safely ignored. Seize our assets? Fine. We’ll just make more.
• 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.
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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