“May you live in interesting times” is allegedly an ancient Chinese curse. It’s not really, but an expression in English used ironically, but that’s neither here nor there, given the events of the past week. Clearly, we need the Economic Democracy Act as soon as possible.
• Trump’s Tariffs, Redux. Now, if you are familiar with binary economics, you know the Keynesian presumed trade-off between inflation and employment and the idea that you can combat inflation (that Keynes said wasn’t really inflation until full employment is reached, no, don’t try to figure it out) by raising interest rates is a steaming load of . . . hooey. Still, if you’re a Keynesian, it makes sense to try and be a consistent Keynesian, if that is even possible, a problem on which we’ve commented previously. Anyway, President Trump has declared he wants lower interest rates (no doubt like his bro Putin has achieved in Russia, tipping the scales at a low, low, low 21% . . . officially) and high tariffs . . . which are purely inflationary, and intended as such. The idea of tariffs, after all, is to raise (i.e., “inflate”) the prices of foreign goods to make domestic goods more attractively priced and stimulate or protect domestic jobs . . . assuming, of course, that advancing technology hasn’t taken the jobs away in the first place — but Trump’s tariffs are also taking away the machines’ jobs by cutting capital investment. This is “cost-push” inflation, as opposed to the “demand-pull” inflation caused by creating money backed by nothing or government debt. Thus, at least within the Keynesian framework, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell has quite rightly pointed out that Trump has “shot himself in the foot” by demanding high tariffs and low interest rates. This is impossible in the Keynesian framework, and highly unlikely in the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism. Why? Because cost-push inflation lowers demand “naturally” (i.e., decreases supply instead of increasing demand), resulting in less money in an economy operating under Banking Principle assumptions. Less money means the “price” of existing money (the interest rate — interest is not really the price of money, but in certain circumstances it acts as if it were) goes up as the supply goes down and borrowers must offer lenders a higher interest rate to obtain loans. What’s the solution? As we have mentioned before, Trump should stop all this nonsense of trying to institute a command free market economy and ask Congress to adopt the Economic Democracy Act. Problem solved.
• The REAL Post-Holiday Letdown. In the early 1980s we heard a clerk telling a co-worker right after Christmas she and her husband had overspent so much for the holiday they weren’t going to be out of debt until May. Nowadays, just the cost of living without adding the “ordinary” cost of the holidays is so high that many people have ended up in effective debt slavery and find themselves not living “paycheck to paycheck,” but “paycheck from paycheck,” i.e., borrowing from the future to meet today’s expenses. The solution is not to raise wages and benefits unilaterally or create jobs, however, but to adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
• I Never Drink . . . Wine. In an article about food from The Takeout, Moriah House asks the burning question, Why aren’t Americans cooking with blood? After all, most of the world uses it in various ways . . . although drinking it is usually regarded as somewhat de trop, a wee bit over the top. Really stretching a point, if we adopted the Economic Democracy Act, perhaps more people would be cooking with this ingredient.
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| Recession can be very profitable if you're rich |
• The Musk Recession. A leading economist has warned that presidential advisor Elon Musk’s activities may drive the U.S. economy into a “deep recession,” which is Keynesian-speak for “depression.” This is on top of what President Trump wants to do with tariffs, interest rates, and inflation (above). A Keynesian economy — which is what the world has now — runs on two things: 1) jobs and 2) government spending. Trump’s policies are working to reduce both. When the government has such a large share of the economy, reducing or eliminating government’s role in the economy cold turkey as Musk is doing, the result is potentially disastrous. This could not only to slow or stop economic growth, but as the article points out, slow or even stop economic activity itself, a “deep recession.” What’s the solution? Adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
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| Larry Fink |
• Too Much Saving? Billionaire Larry Fink says Americans are saving too much and not investing enough . . . which is a little weird when you consider the fact that savings is typically expected to equal investment. What he means is that some people are saving so others can use their money; people need to put their savings to work for themselves by investing wisely. We have a slightly better recommendation: adopt the Economic Democracy Act so that people don’t have to save to invest (past savings), but they can save by investing (future savings).
• 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 (now with an imprimatur), 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., 52 or more copies) at the wholesale price, send an email to info@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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