• Higher Than Expected Inflation. The stock market has been “plunging” in the wake of various voodoo indicators like interest rates, job reports, and other fake and manipulated data that ignore the real economy in which actual people live, work, and produce. While this has everyone in a tizzy, people need to realize that the stock market is not the real economy. It is a “secondary economy” that relies on the primary, productive economy for any validity or significance it has. If our so-called leaders would adopt the Economic Democracy Act, people would soon realize what the real story is, but probably not until then.
• Government Interest Rates on the Rise? Considering the probable refusal of the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates (although who really knows what they’re going to do . . . especially them?), the interest rates on government debt will probably rise . . . or so the experts tell us. In other words, because the Federal Reserve probably won’t raise interest rates . . . interest rates will probably rise! Huh? Sorry, that’s the way Keynesian economics and Modern Monetary Theory work. Of course, if you want an economy that just might operate sanely, we could adopt the Economic Democracy Act, but what fun would that be?
• Shocked to Find Inflation Going on Here. In the iconic film Casablanca, Claude Rains as the corrupt police inspector is shocked, shocked to find gambling taking place . . . as he pockets his bribe, disguised as winnings of bets he hadn’t made. Similarly, the experts are shocked, shocked to discover that as they create as much money as they can (for gambling and speculation, of course), producer costs (and thus prices) are increasing. Of course, if they want to stop being shocked, shocked to find inflation going on, the might try adopting the Economic Democracy Act, but then where would they get their bribes?
• About Interest Rates and Inflation. At one and the same time, all the experts are speculating (in the thought sense, not the stock market, gambling sense . . . although they’re doing that, too) that the Federal Reserve is not finished raising interest rates to fight high inflation . . . and that the Federal Reserve is not going to raise interest rates soon because of high inflation. Somehow, it is easy to get the impression the Federal Reserve has no idea what it is doing. It might, if we adopted the Economic Democracy Act, but they don’t seem to be able to think of anything that makes sense while trying to reconcile contradictions.
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| And who let them get big? |
• Answers from the Big Banks. “Wall Street” is demanding answers from the “Big Banks” about the economy. They don’t have to ask the “Big Banks.” We can give “Wall Street” the answer right now: Wall Street. Instead of creating money for private sector industry, commerce, and agriculture, the “Big Banks” (and government) have been creating money at an incredible rate to pour into speculation on the stock market, not the production of marketable goods and services. How did the stock market rise so high so fast while the real productive economy was struggling to survive? It’s a no-brainer: trillions of dollars pouring into secondary security issues, driving up prices beyond all reason and the ability ever to pay for itself, except by creating more money to drive up prices even higher and faster . . . until the bubble bursts, as it did in 1929. What’s the answer? Adopt the Economic Democracy Act, and create money only for productive purposes, not speculation, gambling, or consumption.
• Man versus Machine? Not really — it’s more like government stupidity versus man. California raises the minimum wage for fast-food workers . . . and wonders why franchise operators are replacing human workers with kiosks, automated chefs, and servers. Why? Because to make a [gasp] profit, you can’t pay out more money than you take in. What’s the real answer? More than half a century ago, Louis Kelso gave the answer: if the machine takes our jobs, we should be able to buy the machine, and invented the ESOP to do so. This, frankly, can be done throughout the economy, and not just for people who lose their jobs to automation, by adopting the Economic Democracy Act, so that every person can be an owner and gain income from capital ownership as well as or instead of from labor.
• 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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