As usual, there are many problems in the world we report on this week that would either be greatly alleviated or eliminated entirely with the adoption of the Economic Democracy Act:, but the big job is convincing the powers-that-be it is a good idea and to get moving on it:
• High Fixed Costs Close Businesses. Much to the astonishment of several policymakers and economic theorists in California, raising the minimum wage to $20 per hour has caused fast food restaurants to shut down or seriously consider it. Contrary to popular belief, “profit” is not a dirty word, and if your business doesn’t make a “profit” it can’t afford to stay in business. If it doesn’t make enough profit, the business owner has to consider the possibility that he or she could make more profit elsewhere, or just cut losses and get out of business entirely, and stop being blamed for presumably criminal activities. The policymakers and economic theorists can then figure out whether it is better for workers to live on insufficient income, or no income. Of course, the whole issue would be moot if policymakers and economic theorists would push for adoption of the Economic Democracy Act, but they don’t seem to consider that.
• Liberal Lala Land? Related to the above, minimum wage rates and decreased hours are going up everywhere locally, resulting in some business closings and in key businesses replacing more human workers with automation. Louis Kelso had the answer over half a century ago. As he was quoted in an editorial in Life magazine, “If the machine wants our jobs, let’s buy it.” If a human being does the work, he or she should be paid the market value of the work, not what some policymaker or economist decided. Of course, if a machine does the work, then the human owner of the machine should be paid for what his or her machine does. Kelso simply pointed out the obvious fact that anybody can own a machine, while not everybody can get a job. If someone needs more income, don’t get another job, get another machine! It is only necessary to adopt the Economic Democracy Act., and the problem solves itself.
• Voodoo Interest Rates. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell expects the Federal Reserve to lower rates this year in order to hit the magic 2% inflation rate. Of course, it might be a better strategy to drop the Keynesian economic fantasy and go with the economics of reality (binary economics) and stop lying to ourselves (Keynes said we would have to lie to ourselves for at least a century to get his system to work, and the end is not in sight), and adopt the Economic Democracy Act, which would eliminate the presumed need to manipulate the currency, but that’s too easy, evidently.
• Bitcoin Not Rising! Experts are utterly baffled by the “inability” of the Bitcoin virtual currency to rise in what people think is value. They are telling people to stand pat and wait for the latest jobs report to be released (see above), which will evidently cause the virtual currency to rise in value. Of course, if people would stop to think for a moment what a Bitcoin or any other virtual currency really is, they might be tempted to get out of it entirely. It has no intrinsic value, nor does it stand for anything of value. It is the perfect application of what they used to call “the greater fool theory.” If you have something of no value in and of itself, find someone dumber than you to buy it at a higher price than you paid. Alternatively, we could adopt the Economic Democracy Act, but that is, like, so crazy . . . not like investing in something that doesn’t actually exist. . .
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| The Jobs Market |
• Jobs-Jobs-Jobs. This week’s stock market was taking a nosedive until it was discovered that the economy had added a quarter of a million new jobs . . . which might start to make up for the jobs lost through raising the minimum wage! Of course, the term “jobs market” has always made us a little suspicious and even uneasy. When did “jobs” become a commodity? What does that make the workers who fill the jobs? Consumers instead of producers? It’s all a very strange concept. Why don’t we get back to a normal economy of consumers and producers being the same people by adopting 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 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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