Admittedly, there is a depressing sameness in the news items this week and the previous weeks, but a lot of that is due to the extreme uncertainty of economic and monetary policy under political regimes existing in the world. That being the case, we still present some of the more important or at least the least repetitive news items affecting the Just Third Way, many of which could be solved or at least ameliorated by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:
Adam Smith
• Tariffs Don’t Create Jobs. Contrary to President Trump’s rhetoric, imposing tariffs doesn’t “create jobs.” Of course, most of the financial services industry aren’t on the mark, either, since massive investment doesn’t create jobs, either — but they are closer than Mr. Trump’s nebulous concepts. What “creates jobs”? Consumer demand. There is absolutely no reason for producers to produce — and hire workers to do the producing — if no one is going to buy what is produced. As Adam Smith pointed out in 1776 in The Wealth of Nations, “Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production.” Creating jobs when there is no consumer demand (and tariffs lower consumer demand) is a waste of money. What’s the solution? Adopt the Economic Democracy Act. Economic growth can be built on a solid foundation of consumer empowerment — true empowerment, not government handouts.
• Home Prices Expected to Fall this Year. According to the experts, house prices are about to start falling. This is good for people who want to buy but bad news for those who want to sell, especially those who have been thinking of a house as an investment instead of a consumption expense. What would help both buyers and sellers is something that would stabilize housing prices. This can be found in the Homeowners Equity Corporation, a way people can “rent to buy” at a much lower cost than with a conventional mortgaged, and sellers can realize the true market price for their property. To stabilize the rest of the economy, making it possible for more people to purchase homes, the solution is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
• A Social Security “Increase”? It might seem like a cheap way of buying votes (which, in company with other cheap things in politics usually ends up being far more expensive than doing nothing), but President Trump wants to eliminate taxing Social Security benefits as well as cutting other taxes, making up the shortfall by cutting government costs. Of course, although the rhetoric has kept changing, the tsunami of cash to fund all of Trump’s giveaways is supposed to come from increasing tariffs . . . which means despite Trump’s semi-fixed idea that foreign importers pay tariffs, any tax revenue increase would come from the U.S. consumer paying higher prices. The only real solution to inadequate retirement income is the proposal contained in the Economic Democracy Act.
• Harvard Now, But Who’s Next? Harvard may be the university you love to hate, but that’s the trouble. A true just system isn’t one that protects you from others but protects others from you. Whatever the reason President Trump is targeting Harvard (the rumor is his son failed to get in), his actions raise serious questions regarding government involvement in education. Education, however, is “domestic society” coming under the family, not “civil society” coming under the government. When government gets involved, education becomes what some politician thinks it should be, not what the student wants, or what the family thinks it should be. It’s bad enough when they turned a college education into a job requirement, but it was disastrous when higher education (or education of any kind) became dependent on government and its (meaning our) money. What’s the solution? How about making it possible for people to afford the education they want rather than something they need to get a job or anything else? And that can be achieved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act.
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| Claude Rains |
• China Violated Trade Agreement. In a Claude Rains I’m shocked, shocked moment, President Trump is astonished that — according to him — China has violated its trade agreement with the United States. Of course, that assumes that anybody can figure out what the trade agreement means and is completely unaware that China views agreements the same way Trump does, as something that is always renegotiable so long as you hold all the cards despite what you agreed to. Frankly, the only real solution to all the tariff issues and the multitude of other problems that people have invented to make themselves and everyone else miserable is to adopt 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 (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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