The news items this week are anything but new. Rather than pre-depress you, however, let’s just add to the reasons for adopting the Economic Democracy Act:
• FIVE DOLLAR SALE! It’s opportunity of a lifetime time again! The Greater Reset: Reclaiming Personal Sovereignty Under Natural Law, is currently available through the end of August from the publisher, TAN Books, an imprint of Saint Benedict Press, and for $5.00 per copy in any quantity, while supplies last. The heart of the book is, of course, the Economic Democracy Act?, but there is much more there in what the “Censor Librorum” of the Catholic Diocese of Arlington, Virginia, called a “real page turner.” Don’t worry — although published by a Catholic publisher, the book is written from a natural law, interfaith perspective, and applies across the board to all human beings.
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| Morning commute |
• The Long Trek. The “housing market” isn’t dead, but it’s getting harder and harder for people to find homes at a convenient distance from their workplaces. Of course, it could result in it costing more to work than it is worth, and with many people already on the brink of financial disaster it would take less than that to push them over the edge. Frankly, the only option we see to rebuild a healthy economy is the Economic Democracy Act . . . which no one seems to want to consider.
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| Sound as the dollar . . . uh, oh . . . |
• U.S. Banks Downgraded. One of the reasons for having a central bank, the original reason, in fact, was to ensure that member commercial/mercantile banks always have adequate reserves and access to liquidity so that they avoid getting into a credit or liquidity crunch and will always be able to stay solvent. With governments taking over central banking to fund operations, the private sector is left high and dry, with the result that commercial banks are getting into trouble making bad loans and not having adequate reserves. Of course, if bankers really understood banking, this situation probably would not have come about, but it is nevertheless relatively easy to fix. Adopting the Economic Democracy Act, would put the monetary and financial system back on a sound footing.
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| Going shopping |
• Hyperinflation? Not Yet, “But”. People who don’t understand money are constantly raising fears of hyperinflation, evidently unaware that if some government would adopt the Economic Democracy Act, there would be very little danger of hyperinflation, regular demand-pull inflation, or even the dreaded (to speculators, politicians, and academics) deflation.
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| Paul Krugman |
• Delusional Economics. Don’t worry. According to economist Paul Krugman, the U.S. economy is assuming debt at too great a rate for there to be a debt crisis! In other words, don’t worry about paying down existing debt, just assume more and more, because the more in debt we are, the richer we are!! Woo-Hoo!! If you’re suffering from obesity, EAT MORE!! If you’re an alcoholic, have another drink!! If you’re a gambler, double down!! Don’t worry, for as John Maynard Keynes said, in the long run, we’re all dead, so there’s nothing to worry about . . . except for sticking the next generation with an even greater mountain of debt. Of course, the whole problem could be solved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act, but where’s the fun in that?
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| We're cooling the economy. What could go wrong? |
• Re-Editing Inflation. According to the so-called experts, the latest version of what they call inflation has been cooling. Of course, we haven’t seen actual prices come down as those paid by consumers are carefully not included in the calculation of inflation, and — of course — “cooling” inflation doesn’t mean a fall in prices but a slowing down in the rate at which prices are rising. Oddly, no one seems to notice that the same people who insist that there is no need to raise interest rates are the same ones who benefit most from low interest rates . . . which ain’t us. Adopting the Economic Democracy Act might straighten things out, but that may be the last thing the powers-that-be want.
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| "You were right! Keynesianism IS profitable!" |
• Re-Editing Inflation, Part II. In today’s weird Keynesian economy, you’re damned if you do, then double-damned when you change the definition of something until you get the results you want. It’s a little like a butcher who adjusts the scales to get the desired weight rather than adding or taking away meat from the order. This used to be called fraud. Now it’s called Modern Monetary Theory. Yet another expert has warned if the definitions of inflation and economic growth aren’t changed there will be a disastrous downturn in housing, although commercial real estate should be booming . . . meaning houses will fall in price allowing people to afford them, while commercial real estate will soar . . . neither of which makes sense going by the expert’s assumptions, but which could happen, just not for the stated reasons. Of course, all of this would be a moot point with the Economic Democracy Act, but what would be the fun of that?
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| Economic growth |
• A Surprising Consistency. It’s an amazing coincidence that the speculators and gamblers on Wall Street are united in their predictions of disaster if rising interest rates threaten their access to “easy money.” A fall in, say, housing prices is a disaster for the speculators, even though rising home prices mean that more people are homeless or have to find affordable housing at great distances from their workplaces. Rising share prices on Wall Street, which have virtually nothing to do with the real, primary economy, are taken as a sign of prosperity . . . when more and more ordinary people are drowning in debt and unable to afford to pay for common domestic needs. Adopting the Economic Democracy Act? could resolve these problems, but it’s very difficult to break through the wall of self-interest of academics and politicians.
• Student Loan Crisis, Continued. Surprise, surprise. It’s being projected that higher interest rates and student loan payments will kick off a recession. This warning, of course, comes from speculators who don’t want higher interest rates and people who don’t want to pay their student loans. Of course, if the loans are forgiven, consumer demand will also drop anyway, because it just means tht other people will have to cut consumption income to pay for the loans, or the government will simply print more money to cover the shortfall, reducing consumer demand by inflating prices. The consumer gets stuck either way. The obvious solution is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act, but no one seems to be thinking of that.
• Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain. Don’t be fooled by the fact that inflation is up and prices are down!! Right. And as soon as we figure out what rising inflation and low prices (that we haven’t seen anywhere) mean, we’ll be able to comment on it intelligently. Until then, we will continue to push for the Economic Democracy Act.
• 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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