It seems the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee is worried about the interest rate and the unemployment rate. It is a Keynesian dogma, constantly disproved, that there is a tradeoff between inflation and employment . . . except that Keynes said there is no such thing as real inflation until full employment is reached. Is there a way to get out of this weird paradox? Yes. It is only necessary to adopt the Economic Democracy Act, and bring a halt to some of this surreal weirdness:
• Breaking Up is Hard to Do. The corporate culture in Japan has often struck people in “the West” as rigid and, well, just a bit much, such as a typical 12-hour workday, seldom seeing your family, and lifetime job security in exchange for such devotion. Which cuts both ways, as it is evidently very difficult to quit a job. It is so stressful and difficult to quit a job that some people hire “resignation experts” to help them through the process. Naturally, it would be better if people had jobs they owned, rather than jobs that own them — which could be the case with the Economic Democracy Act.
• Climate Change and Infrastructure. According to some experts, climate change is putting much greater than ordinary stress and strain on America’s infrastructure. Bridges and road built for one type of climate are starting to fall apart when subjected to more extreme conditions. Financially speaking, the main question is where the money is to come from to rebuild and repair infrastructure. The usual answers are clearly not feasible, but no one seems to be considering the possibilities inherent in the Citizens Land Development Cooperative, which would apply corporate financing techniques in a creative way. It is one feature of the Economic Democracy Act, which should also be considered.
• Russia Facing Economic Slowdown. As the sanctions continue to have an effect on the Russian economy and the country continues to pour scarce resources into the effort to conquer Ukraine, the experts are predicting a “slowdown.” This is what happens when an entire economy is directed to carrying out the vision of a single individual who does not necessarily have anyone else’s good at heart. In the current past savings paradigm, you must make the decision whether you want “guns” or “butter.” Russia has chosen guns, and the experts are wondering why the economy is going to slowdown. The answer, of course, is to get rid of the leadership which is leading the country to disaster and adopt the Economic Democracy Act so the economy works for everyone.
• The Federal Reserve and Employment. Another Keynesian innovation is the goal of “full employment” foisted on the Fed in the ’forties. Of course, the definition of “full employment” gets adjusted for political purposes, and the whole bogus “inflation versus employment” dogma is far too much to explain and debunk here, but whatever it says or the politicians’ plans are, the employment figures are upsetting the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee (which should not even exist) to such an extent that even the so-called “conservative” members are starting to call for cutting the interest rate so Wall Street speculators can have more money to gamble with and inflation will drive up prices. This is “economic growth,” and is supposed to “create jobs” in the mystical, magical Keynesian universe. Of course, the Fed could get itself out of the whole Keynesian game by pushing for adoption of the Economic Democracy Act.
• What is the Open Market Committee? This week “Yahoo! Finance” published an article purporting to describe the function and purpose of the Federal Reserve Open Market Committee. As an explanation of how the Open Market Committee actually works today, the piece is very good. Unfortunately, the Open Market Committee is a Keynesian innovation with virtually no relation to what the Federal Reserve was designed and intended to do. The Fed was never intended to finance government, but to provide “accommodation” for the private sector. Open market operations were never intended to deal in government securities as a usual thing, just retire government debt and get rid of the deficit backing the reserve currency. After that, the sole function of open market operations was to deal in the money market to ensure there was sufficient money in the economy for day-to-day transactions. The discount window was intended to provide longer-term adjustments to the money supply by rediscounting qualified agricultural, commercial, and industrial securities. All this is explained in 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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