As the United States gets closer to the upcoming election, it becomes increasingly obvious from this week’s news items none of the candidates are looking at the economy in any realistic way. What is a realistic way? The program in the Economic Democracy Act:
Walter Reuther
• The End of Careers. According to this article, it started with the pandemic, and many workers’ realization they didn’t really like working in an office, taking orders, blah, blah, blah. That is a factor, of course, but none of the so-called experts are taking into consideration the possibility the pandemic only triggered what was already there, and surfaced the realization that human labor has become increasingly disposable as technology advances. Ironically, as labor has become less valuable as an input to production, it has increased its demands and raised its cost . . . which the pandemic simply made obvious. Admittedly, as human labor is replaced by technology, consumer demand falls because unemployed workers consume less than employed workers. A Ford Executive once joked with Walter Reuther he’d have a hard time collecting union dues from the automated machinery in a new Ford factory, to which Reuther replied, “You’ll have an even harder time selling them automobiles. What’s the answer? What Reuther recommended when he testified before a Joint Session of Congress: share ownership with full rights to earnings and voting, not raising fixed wages and benefits. This is found in the Economic Democracy Act.
• Yet Another Reason for Social Security Reform. Survivors’ benefits are an important aspect of Social Security, but there are a few catches. We won’t go into them as they are somewhat technical, but it doesn’t matter. The underlying problem is stated in the opening of the article itself: many people depend on Social Security for their retirement income when it was designed as a social safety net, not the way of life it has become. Everyone who is dependent on Social Security is someone who has no other income option, such as savings or income-generating capital assets. What is the answer? A program that can make every child, woman, and man a capital owner by purchasing self-liquidating (i.e., pays for itself) capital . . . a program such as the Economic Democracy Act.
 |
| Get on the Gold Rocket! |
• Gold Hits Record High! It seems to have surprised some of the so-called experts, but the price of gold is (again) going through the roof. Evidently (at least according to the so-called experts) gold is a “great investment.” Well . . . that depends a great deal on how you define investment, doesn’t it? To us here, investment means something that generates an income by producing a marketable good or service. A speculation is something that makes you a profit (or loss, depending on how lucky or how good a gambler you are) based on a change in the value of the asset itself. Rising gold price and other speculations is actually a sign of a shaky economy, not a good one. What’s the answer? You’ll never guess: adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
• They Want a Defined Benefit Plan! Boeing workers on strike are demanding a restoration of their old defined benefit pension plan . . . which was bankrupting the sponsoring company. This sets up something of a doomsday scenario or a “be careful what you pray for” situation, for if the company goes bankrupt, the pension plan is worthless, and it gets turned over to the Pension Benefits Guarantee Corporation . . . which itself faces bankruptcy if too many companies go bankrupt from being saddled with defined benefit pension plans. Believe it or not, once upon a time, it was up to the individual to prepare for retirement, not the employer or the government. This could be the case again by adopting the Economic Democracy Act.
• Dogecoin As an Investment. A cryptocurrency known as “Dogecoin” has experienced “great” returns, at least according to the so-called experts. Of course, we have a few questions. What backs a “Dogecoin” (or any other cryptocurrency)? What does it taste like? How do you wear it? Does it come with one and a half baths? In other words, what is the marketable good or service which stands behind the currency? Nothing? You mean it’s nothing but a virtual commodity that stands for nothing? Not even government debt? Like . . . wow. Why not reform the monetary system so the currency is actually backed by something other than an electronic impulse and a gambler’s gut feeling? That could easily be done by adopting the Economic Democracy Act.
• Stock Market Soars, Manufacturing & Employment Drops. According to a Reuters news report, on the very day the stock market is soaring in response to a “bad” jobs report (?????), American manufacturing has also fallen to a 15-month low. Nothing illustrates better the lunacy of the modern global economy: the stock market is going through the roof, while that part of the economy dealing with the production, distribution, and consumption of marketable goods and services goes to the dogs. No offense to dogs. What is needed is something that links share values, production, distribution, and consumption together so that the stock market actually has a chance to reflect reality. That can be found 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.
#30#