Some things are looking better this week . . . and some things are looking worse. The bottom line? The sooner we adopt the Economic Democracy Act, the better things might start getting with getting worse. In the meantime:
• An Empty War Chest? No, although Christian apologist C.S. Lewis spoke about “men without chests” in The Abolition of Man, that’s not what we’re talking about here. Members of the current administration certainly have chests; they’ve been thumping them constantly to show how manly, etc., they are. No, what we’re talking about is the amount of money being spent on the wars being started by someone who campaigned for the Nobel Peace Prize. As reported The Washington Post, “The Pentagon faces an urgent budget shortfall caused largely by the war in Iran, with some critical lines of funding set to run out within weeks even as President Donald Trump escalates the conflict with Tehran, according to lawmakers and current and former U.S. officials. The funding crunch is already leading the Pentagon to limit training and maintenance that help maintain military readiness, according to four current and former officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to candidly describe the budget constraints.” The quick answer here is to rebuild the tax base by adopting the Economic Democracy Act (EDA), but the real solution to an empty war chest is . . . why not stop going around starting wars?
• The Unhappiest Place on Earth. Despite the fact — contrary to what is actually going on in reality — many of the experts insist that AI and other technological advances “create jobs” (possibly . . . but they get rid of jobs at an even greater rate), Disney is laying off massive numbers of workers. As reported in TheWrap, the layoffs are coming at a time when profits are shooting through the roof with some mega movie hits filling the coffers of the entertainment giant. The problem, of course, is that if people don’t have an income, it’s not likely they are going to spend any of their non-income on entertainment. The answer, of course, is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act (EDA), so that consumers can produce, and producers can consume.
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| Jean-Baptiste Say |
• The Layoff Trap. According to the Business Insider, the frenzy to automate, especially with AI, could trigger a fatal breakdown of Say’s Law of Markets . . . although that is not how the experts are viewing it, exactly. As a recent article notes, “Gerry Tsoukalas and Brett Falk, authors of ‘The AI Layoff Trap,’ a research paper published by The Wharton School, said CEOs can become trapped in a race to automate that erodes consumer spending on which their businesses depend.” To explain, a misleading summary of Say’s Law states that production equals income, therefore supply generates its own demand, and demand its own supply. In other words, if you can’t produce you can’t consume, and if you can’t consume, there’s no reason to produce. There are more ramifications to Say’s Law than we care to go into right now, but the bottom line is that if people don’t have income, there is no reason for companies to produce anything, whether by AI or by other forms of magic or mystic divination. The more people laid off, the less demand, and the less profit, and finally no profit . . . so the CEOs laying off people then lose their jobs as well. The only solution is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act (EDA) so that people can gain income from ownership of the very capital (AI) that is displacing them from their labor jobs.
• Another Round of Trump’s Terrible Tariffs. It’s not entirely clear how President Trump views tariffs, although there appears to be a body of evidence that suggests he thinks people and companies in other countries pay them when they are a levy on imports paid by the people and companies of the importing countries. In other words, the people of the United States pay the tariffs imposed by the United States government. What harms the other countries is the fact that they sell fewer goods to the United States, and the people of the United States pay more for them, with the increase in price going into the pockets of the politicians. High tariffs contributed to the Great Depression of 1893-1898 and the Great Depression of the 1930s. Other economic anomalies contributed to the Japanese decision to attack Pearl Harbor, although tariffs were related to these, too. That is why, in addition to the efforts of the current administration to bring world peace by starting as many wars as possible, the new round of tariffs seems to be setting the stage for even more economic chaos. As reported in Yahoo! News, “The Trump administration announced new double-digit tariffs on about 60 trading partners on Thursday, just as the temporary 10% duty that President Trump previously imposed on nearly all global imports was set to expire. Together, the affected countries account for 99 percent of U.S. imports.” If we didn’t know better (but then, what do we know?), it’s as if there is a policy in place to plunge the world into utter chaos on every front. At this point, the only hope would seem to be adoption of the Economic Democracy Act (EDA) as soon as possible.
• The Sky is Falling. Or at least SpaceX shares are. As of this writing, the value per share (VPS) for “Space Exploration Technologies Corp.” is a little over $112.00, significantly down from its high of $225.64 and its original IPO price of $135.00. We hesitate to quantify the “loss” since it’s all paper loss, which could easily turn around into a gain, but it is a “cause for pause” to see such a highly hyped stock go down so drastically so soon; not even the experts expected it, although some rogue voices (such as ours) could be found issuing non-expert opinions and warnings. After all, it is a little bit worrying to invest in a company that not only doesn’t pass through full rights of ownership but also has never shown a profit. It starts to sound like the “South Sea Bubble” frenzy that gripped Great Britain in the 18th century as described by Charles MacKay in his 1841 tome, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds. This is the sort of thing (among others) the Economic Democracy Act (EDA), is intended to circumvent, if not render obsolete.
• 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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