We have some very sad news this week, the loss of a CESJ founding member and one who made continuing input into supporting the Just Third Way and the Economic Democracy Act:
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| Rabbi Herzl Kranz |
• Rabbi Herzl Kranz, R.I.P. We were saddened early this week to learn of the death of long-time key CESJ member Rabbi Herzl Kranz. Rabbi was a member of the CESJ advisory board, the “Board of Counselors,” and was instrumental in ensuring that both meetings with His Holiness Pope John Paul II came off. An Orthodox Rabbi in Silver Spring, Maryland, he was a member, co-founder and Counselor of CESJ. He was the Founder and Rabbi of the Silver Spring Jewish Center with 300 members, as well as the Founder and Dean of the Hebrew Day School of Montgomery County. Rabbi Kranz was instrumental in the formation of the 1986 Presidential Task Force on Project Economic Justice, helping to bring together Representatives Mike Barnes and Phil Crane, and Senators Russell Long, Chris Dodd, Paul Laxalt, Richard Lugar, and Steve Symms, to co-sponsor the legislation mandating the Task Force. He was appointed Counselor to the Task Force which presented its report to President Reagan, Pope John Paul II in 1987. In CESJ’s 1987 delegation to the Vatican, Rabbi Kranz used “the power of the yarmulke” to persuade then-Archbishop Achille Silvestrini to arrange for the delegation a private audience with the Pope. Rabbi Kranz had strong ties to the Orthodox Jewish community in the U.S. and Israel and was a major mover in the American branch of the Likud Party. He will be greatly missed.
• Price of Gold Soars. The price of gold keeps climbing. Since most of us don’t own any gold, who cares? You can’t eat gold, although depending on your fashion sense you might be able to wear it. The main reason anyone wants gold these days is as a “hedge” against inflation, which is a perennial problem because Keynesian economics assumes you need inflation and shouldn’t own gold. All this would be moot if people could invest in productive assets instead of buying something “sterile.” This is the whole point of the Economic Democracy Act, which promotes investment and income instead of speculation and hoarding.
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| Fantasy Retirement |
• Running Out of Retirement Money. According to a financial news story, nearly half of Americans are going to run out of money in retirement. Stop and think about that. The whole idea of “saving for retirement” is, frankly, wrong-headed. What people should be doing is investing for retirement. After all, in economics, it is an aphorism that “savings equals investment.” The difference is that where you spend savings, you spend the income generated by investments. The former leaves you with nothing, while the latter leaves you with what you started plus the income. What’s the answer? Adopt the Economic Democracy Act, and reorient retirement thinking from saving to investment.
• That Certain Feeling. Sinking feeling, that is. Two of the largest and most aggressive countries in the world are having a few problems with their naval strength. Russia’s only aircraft carrier, for example, has experienced such problems becoming seaworthy (which is a pipedream at this point) it has released its crew to form a naval brigade to be sacrificed in the Ukrainian meat grinder. That’s how much faith the Russians have the vessel will ever be anything than a money pit. Now China’s prize nuclear submarine has sunk without ever leaving the dock. They must be taking lessons from the Russians. What does this have to do with the Economic Democracy Act? Well, it’s a bit of a stretch, but if ordinary people had power and could tell the politicians what to do instead of the other way around, and that would include spending tons of money on weaponry instead of what R. Buckminster Fuller called livingry.
• How to Cut Off a Puppy’s Tail. Experts agree the sanctions imposed on Russia have had some effect, but not enough. Why? Because — according to the experts — they were imposed piecemeal and partially. This has allowed Russia to adjust and accommodate to the sanctions over time. Had they been imposed as a total package without equivocation, they would have had a much more effective impact. Effective, but not total. The other half of the program has not yet been considered: strengthen Ukraine’s economy while that of Russia is weakened by adopting the Economic Democracy Act for Ukraine to support the war effort and then finance the rebuilding of the country without relying on foreign grants or investment.
• The Cost of Inflation. According to Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden’s economic policies have cost Americans $28,000 over the past four years . . . which is sort of, kind of, maybe in a way a bit true . . . if you don’t understand money. Or economics. Or politics. Which none of the current crop of candidates for public office in the United States or any other country appear to do. Yes, the average cost of living in objective terms has risen a touch under $28,000 over the last four years, but incomes have also gone up. In real terms, prices have gone up, but not a “pure” $28,000. Yes, prices have gone up during the Biden Administration . . . but they also went up during Trump’s . . . and every administration since Herbert Hoover’s. Why? We blame Keynesian economics with its assumption that full employment is essential to ensure a sound economy and there is an essential trade-off between employment and inflation. Both assumptions are completely bogus, but that hasn’t stopped politicians and academics from acting as if they are true from screwing up the global economy for nearly a century. What’s the real solution? Elect Trump? Elect Harris? News flash: neither one. Adopt the Economic Democracy Act, return power to people instead of increasing that of the politicians, and it won’t matter who is elected because we will be giving orders to the politicians instead of them controlling us.
• Getting Priorities Straight. Given the economic and financial condition of many ordinary people today, it is astonishing how so many people can’t get their priorities straight. For example, one of the obvious problems today is the fixed idea many people have that when they are in difficulties, it is someone else’s responsibility to take care of them. This doesn’t refer to people who try to do what they can and yet fail, then try to get help and fail at that, too. Sometimes you just need someone to step in and give you a hand up. Unfortunately, self-reliance is not much in evidence these days, at least in the media. The “entitlement mentality” is the attitude it is always someone else’s fault, responsibility, or whatever, and you don’t have to do anything — as in this weird story about an entitled bride. What’s the solution? There are always going to be people who think the world owes them a giving, but the Economic Democracy Act would at least provide the opportunity and means for the rest of us to make our own way through our own efforts, with helping hands reserved for genuinely needy cases.
• 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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