It used to be that the experts were consistently wrong, meaning they at least agreed with one another at the same time. Now they are all disagreeing . . . none of which makes any sense. Of course, if they wanted to make sense, they would have adopted the Economic Democracy Act decades ago, but until then, this is what we get:
• FIVE DOLLAR SALE! It’s opportunity of a lifetime time again! The Greater Reset: Reclaiming Personal Sovereignty Under Natural Law, is currently available 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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| New Fed Chairman? |
• Federal Reserve and Blowing Weed. Noted economic commentator Robert Kiyosaki is starting to wonder what the Federal Reserve officials have been smoking. We’ve been wondering that for some time, although we wouldn’t put it in quite those terms. It’s odd how academic economists, politicians, and the Federal Reserve think they can take the contradictions inherent in Keynesian economics, apply them in a contradictory manner, and get the system to work against all knowledge and experience. Ironically, there is a system that has been proven to work and does not contain inherent contradictions and has the potential to solve many of the problems with which they’re dealing, but they are ignoring it, the Economic Democracy Act.
• High Interest Rates Are Here to Stay. At least according to some of the commentators at and about the Federal Reserve (nobody agrees on anything). What that means is that economic life — which means that all of material life — is going to be getting tougher for those of us who do not have loads of cash piled up. For those of us (including the government) with debt, it means things are going to get very bad, permanently, if high interest rates are “here to stay.” Of course, if we were to adopt the Economic Democracy Act, this would be a moot point. The market would set the interest (and discount) rate, not people trying to manipulate economic life to fit contradictory Keynesian principles.
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| "And as for the Federal Reserve . . ." |
• High Interest Rates Are NOT Here to Stay! Yeah, yeah, yeah. The experts are also saying that it is impossible that high interest rates are here to stay. This makes more sense, because if interest rates are artificially determined by anything except the market, the Federal Reserve will be forced by political pressures to lower them. This will be the case because, despite all the myths about the central bank being independent, it is completely under the control of the government simply because the government can remove the chairman at will. Independence is illusion if your boss is totally at the behest of another — that’s the definition of slavery. What’s the answer? Let the market set interest rates as proposed in the Economic Democracy Act.
• The U.S. Shell Economy? According to some commentators, the Chinese economy is a paper tiger, a straw man, only holding its own through smoke, mirrors, and creative bookkeeping. The Chinese economy has been pumped up by massive amounts of government debt and private sector debt used for speculation instead of true investment. Looking at the massive debt assumed by the U.S. government and the private sector, some experts have concluded that the U.S. economy is in lockstep right behind the Chinese. This would not be the case if we would adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
• Fear the Fed! It sounds like conspiracy theory, but it’s not quite that. According to Peter Tchir, we should be worried that the Federal Reserve doesn’t want to do anything. Well . . . the Federal Reserve, along with every other central bank in the world, should never seek to do anything. Its proper role is to be completely reactive and only create or cancel money in response to the market. That is the whole idea behind the monetary policy in the Economic Democracy Act.
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| 'Whaddaya mean it doesn't really exist?" |
• Economic Sugar High? According to Jamie Dimon, Americans are hooked on cheap money for non-productive uses, and the remedy is high interest rates. We disagree. Let the market set interest rates, and use credit for productive purposes as proposed in the Economic Democracy Act.
• Americans Wealthier Than Ever! Woo Hoo! According to the Federal Reserve, Americans are fabulously wealthy because home prices and share values have increased! That’s great . . . except that neither homes nor equity shares today are productive wealth. It’s sterile. Why? Houses don’t generate income if they’re your primary residence, and most shares today don’t pay diddly in dividends. In both cases, the only way to realize the presumed increase in wealth is to sell it . . . which means you don’t have it anymore. A proposal to allow people to build productive wealth instead of sterile wealth is the Economic Democracy Act.
• Paycheck to Paycheck. Yup. Contradicting the previous item, it seems that more Americans than ever are living paycheck to paycheck . . .when they have a job, that is, after the government finishes redefining “employment” to look good for the next election. Of course, if more Americans had dividend checks, they might not be living on the edge as much, but that would take 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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