Again, most of the news items this week are about inflation, deflation, and other monetary myths. By insisting that money must exist prior to economic activity, the so-called experts bind people into a losing paradigm and ensure that everyone, even ultimately the presumed winners, loses. Of course, adopting the Economic Democracy Act could straighten people out on that, so maybe it’s time to get busy with it:
"Don't worry. This is normal. We're experts."
• Expert Opinions. If small errors in the beginning lead to great errors in the end, then huge errors at the beginning aren’t going to improve matters. Case in point, there has been a virtual blizzard of news stories foretelling gloom and doom in one breath and promising happy days are here again in the next. Still, once in a while the delusions agree, at least for a while. This particular article claims that the prices on the stock market are overblown and the market is due for a “correction.” Stock prices overblown? Where did they get that idea? Sure, the Dow is hovering around 35,000, only about eight or ten times its level a decade ago, but there’s nothing to worry about . . . is there? After all, everyone is eight to time times better off than they were a decade ago . . . aren’t they? Seriously, the fact that the Dow is up to 35,000 ought to scare a lot more people than it does. Shares ought to be valued at the present value of their future earnings, not their speculative value, which is meaningless. There’s also the odd belief that 70% of the economy is consumption. No, according to Adam Smith’s first principle of economics, 100% of the economy is consumption, which is the only reason to produce anything. Adopting the Economic Democracy Act. would probably fix the problem, but nobody is doing it.
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| "I AM CALM!" |
•Unspectacular Growth. Again according to the experts, the “next stage” of the U.S. economy will be marked by “unspectacular growth” . . . which makes us wonder just where the spectacular growth was for those of us actually doing productive work. Of course, they might be referring to the stock market again . . . and “unspectacular growth” sounds a lot better than “honking great adjustment that wipes out your savings.” Not to beat a live horse, but the Economic Democracy Act would help get things back on track.
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| "It's all according to plan!" |
• The Russian Economy. Putin seems to be on the horns of dilemma. Does he kill Ukrainians and his own soldiers as quickly as possible and leave Russian civilians to starve slowly, or should he let Russian civilians starve slowly and kill Ukrainians and his own soldiers as quickly as possible? Decisions, decisions. It seems that he’s decided to do both, as he is faced with the artificial Keynesian “guns or butter” conundrum and unable to produce either one, and inflation at more than 60% is a teensy bit more than the officially reported 3.7%. Of course if Putin hadn’t started the war in the first place and had the Economic Democracy Act, none of this would be happening, but that might be too much to ask.
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| "They CAN'T be wrong!" |
• Federal Reserve Rate Hikes! Evidently the experts are as baffled as anyone else about what to do about the economy other than to do something spectacularly contradictory so that they can escape blame by playing both sides of the fence. Compare this story with this one, and this story with this one, and you’ll see what we mean. How can anybody comment intelligently on any of this? The desire of the experts to cover their behinds explains why they don’t want the Economic Democracy Act, but that doesn’t do too much for the rest of us.
• Economists Mostly Dead Wrong. We realize that this “News from the Network” shtick is supposed to be news, but we couldn’t resist taking note of a dog bites man story that informed us that the economists were mostly “dead wrong” about economics. What else could you say about a profession that ignores the claims of binary economics and refuses to consider the claims of the Economic Democracy Act?
• Wholly Contradiction, Batman! Amidst fears of a recession that already exists but the experts don’t quite see, the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates to ensure that nobody has any idea what is going on. It would be interesting (bad pun) to see what would happen if Congress adopted the Economic Democracy Act. so that the market could operate as intended.
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| Business as usual. |
• The Clueless Economists. It’s not completely unexpected when the experts contradict themselves, especially in economics. For example, back in the 1970s Milton Friedman announced everybody was Keynesian, and a month later declared that what he really meant was that no one was Keynesian. Nowadays, however, they don’t bother to wait a month, but come out and contradict themselves in the same breath. That is how we know that the U.S. economy is weakening just as it is experiencing unexpected growth, and that the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates to fight inflation just as inflation is slowing down (an announcement that always comes right after the Fed announces a rate hike, by the way . . .). And how about that recession? It seems it hits only those of us not rich enough to make more money on Walls Street, so it doesn’t really exist. Adopting the Economic Democracy Act would get the economy back to reality, but the experts clearly are enjoying living in their fantasy land which isn’t so much fun for the rest of us.
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| "It don't make sense to me, either." |
• Full Employment Recession? Now we have officially seen everything: the experts are talking about the possibility of (are you ready for this? No, you’re not) a “Full Employment Recession”!?!?!?!?!? They say it’s “rare.” Actually, if Keynesian economics was in any measure a reflection of reality, it would be impossible. It would, of course, be completely unthinkable in binary economics and the Economic Democracy Act, but we’re talking Keynesian economics here, not reality. No, we have no idea what a “Full Employment Recession” is, either.
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| "Makes poifect sense to me!" |
• Financial Fantasies. All the experts — except those predicting disaster — are exultant. The Dow is having one of the longest “winning streaks” in its history! Ain’t that GREAT? Of course, what they don’t bother to tell you is that when you have an economy in which you have a few winners, you’re bound to have a lot of losers. And who might they be? Those of us who aren’t making millions out of speculation, that’s who. This would be a moot point with the Economic Democracy Act, but nobody is thinking about the possibility that no one has to lose in this economic game.
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| Support your local Congressman |
• Congress and Insider Trading. Congress is at least making noises about elected representatives having a little fun at the public’s expense with insider trading. We’ll try to keep an eye on it and see if it goes anywhere.
• About the Chinese Economy. What with getting rid of people and wasting billions, if not trillions of Yuan on fake investment schemes and other things, some experts are giving the Chinese economy another decade before it implodes. The the Economic Democracy Act could reverse this trend, but that requires that the government actually do something to implement it. It doesn’t happen by magic.
• Greater Reset “Book Trailers”. We have produced two ninety-second “Book Trailers” for distribution (by whoever wants to distribute them), essentially 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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