As the world gets crazier, the news items each week bear a striking similarity, with most people completely oblivious to the possibilities inherent in the Economic Democracy Act would to solve many of the problems:
• Meeting With Biafran Independence Group. The CESJ core group met today with Dr. Black Uma and Mr. Joel Ogbonna of the Biafran independence movement, to discuss the applicability of the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism to the formation of an official “government in exile” and a sound plan for an independent Biafra prior to a conference in November, to which the CESJ core group was invited. Joel opened the meeting with a prayer and Dr. Omu gave a brief statement about the history of the independence movement, from the formation of Nigeria by the British as a colony forcing together disparate groups, religions, and cultures. A parallel was drawn between the 1967-1970 war when famine was used as a weapon of war, and the current situation in Ukraine where Russian President Putin is attempting to do the same thing, similar to what Stalin did with his “terror famine” of the 1930s. There was also a presentation on the terror tactics in use on an almost daily basis in the country against the predominantly Christian minority, such as the mass kidnappings from schools. It was suggested that perhaps Dr. Omu might find a meeting with Oxana Markarova, Ukraine’s ambassador to the United States to set up a meeting with President Zelenskyy to gain his support and also introduce him to the Just Third Way as a possibility for Ukraine as well as an independent Biafra.
• Annual Contribution Limits Announced. As part of the popular political mindset that people must be encouraged to save except when they are encouraged to spend, the government has announced the new “contribution limits” for qualified retirement plans for 2023. This puts a limit on the amount somebody can save out of current income on a tax-deferred basis. The game, of course, is that if people don’t save enough and reduce consumption now, they won’t have anything to consume with in the future because there will be no current investment. If, however, they don’t consume enough now to keep the economy going, there may not be a future. This paradox cannot be resolved in the current “past savings” (or Currency Principle) paradigm because it violates the first law of economics. As stated by Adam Smith in The Wealth of Nations, this is “Consumption is the sole end and purpose of all production.” The only way to solve the problem is to consume past or current income (past savings), and finance growth (and future consumption) out of “future income” (future savings). In other words, instead of saving for retirement and financing new capital investment by cutting consumption in the past, do both by increasing production in the future . . . as long as ownership of the new capital being financed in this way is broadly owned. One means for doing that is the Economic Democracy Act.
• New PM Says Britain Faces Economic Challenges. Great Britain has a new Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, who has made the astounding discovery that the country is in big economic trouble. How is this possible in the country that gave the world Keynesian economics and drifted back and forth between different incorrect and seriously flawed economic paradigms since the adoption of the British Bank Charter Act of 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. 32) that cemented the “Currency Principle” into political thought as the only “right” way to think economically . . . and that is the root cause and justification for both socialism and capitalism? Of course, adopting the Economic Democracy Act? would solve many of the problems Great Britain and other economies around the world are facing, but for some reason it never seems to occur to anyone. The problem, of course, is that what passes today for “conservatism” (which is actually a form of individualist and elitist liberalism0
• Russian Economy Dead by Winter. Due to mobilization of untrained cannon fodder for the Russian army in the war against Ukraine, and the escape of potential conscripts across the border — rumor hath it that Putler has sworn to conquer Ukraine if it costs the lives of 20 million Russian soldiers (just under 15% of the total population of Russia) — the Russian economy is accelerating its downward plunge and according to some may be comatose by winter. Of course, the obvious way out of this is to stop the war, get rid of Putler (or get rid of Putler and stop the war, we’re not particular which comes first) and adopt the Economic Democracy Act, but nobody in Russia seems to want to do the obvious.
• Ukraine War as a Cost Center. Evidently trying to be “practical,” Republicans are debating amongst themselves whether aid to Ukraine in the war Putler started is worth the cost. One imagines the same debate taking place in the U.S. prior to December 7, 1941, when the United States had pledged to Great Britain “all aid short of war.” Of course, had Germany and Japan won World War II, the possibility is very high that the first people on the purge list would have been those protesting any involvement in the war, but they never seem to consider that. They also seem to ignore the fact that Putler claims to be fighting the United States as well as aggression from NATO, and that he essentially wants to take over the world. Of course, they didn’t believe Hitler, either, except when he was lying. It’s no wonder that they don’t pay any attention to the Economic Democracy Act, but they do have a highly developed ability to avoid the obvious.
• Another Round of Interest Rate Hikes. As we’ve said many times in these news notes and on the blog, the idea that you can slow inflation by raising interest rates demonstrates only that you don’t understand inflation or interest, and probably not much of anything else. Still, the Federal Reserve is again miking the interest rate and doesn’t appear ready to stop any time soon. We won’t keep repeating that raising the price level is not the way to stop a rise in the price level, and if they really want to get rid of inflation and unemployment, they need to adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
• Economic Irony. President Biden says the Republicans are causing economic chaos. Of course, the Republicans say the Democrats are doing the same thing. We sy they’re both right, and should stop fooling around and adopt the Economic Democracy Act to stabilize the economy and put things back in order, and stop the government from trying to control the economy.
• California Reparations. The state of California is proposing to give descendants of slaves hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash to make up for their ancestors having been slaves. It’s not entirely clear how this will help overcome today’s systemic racism or anyone who comes along in the future who didn’t get in on the goodies.
• “Too Many Takers”? Senator Tommy Tuberville says that there are too many “takers” and not enough workers, and suggests the younger generation be taught the value of work. We suggest the better alternative would be to teach them the value of ownership, and to give them the opportunity and access to the means of becoming owners by adopting the Economic Democracy Act.
• Is the Russian Economy Dead in the Water? According to the experts, the Russian economy will be finished by this winter . . . but if the current situation is any indication, Putler will fight on to the bitter end of a situation that he created and will end up destroying Russia. Do we really need to say that the only real solution is to get rid of Putler, stop the war, and adopt the Economic Democracy Act,? Okay so we won’t.
• Greater Reset “Book Trailers”. We have produced two ninety-second “Book Trailers” for distribution (by whoever wants to distribute them), essentially a 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 new 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.
• Hortense and Her Whos. In case you’ve been wondering how you might advance the Just Third Way by introducing it to legislators at any and all levels of government, we’ve made it easy for you, with the “Hortense Hears Three Whos“ initiative. Visit the explanatory website, and consider downloading the postcard to send to people in government. Don’t worry if you think they won’t be open to it, as the postcard is intended to get them to open their eyes.
• 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.
• Shop online and support CESJ’s work! Did you know that by making your purchases through the Amazon Smile program, Amazon will make a contribution to CESJ? Here’s how: First, go to https://smile.amazon.com/. Next, sign in to your Amazon account. (If you don’t have an account with Amazon, you can create one by clicking on the tiny little link below the “Sign in using our secure server” button.) Once you have signed into your account, you need to select CESJ as your charity — and you have to be careful to do it exactly this way: in the space provided for “Or select your own charitable organization” type “Center for Economic and Social Justice Arlington.” If you type anything else, you will either get no results or more than you want to sift through. Once you’ve typed (or copied and pasted) “Center for Economic and Social Justice Arlington” into the space provided, hit “Select” — and you will be taken to the Amazon shopping site, all ready to go.
• Blog Readership. We have had visitors from 22 different countries and 30 states, provinces, and territories in the United States and Canada to this blog over the past week. Most visitors are from the United States, India, Spain, the United Kingdom, and Indonesia. The most popular postings this past week in descending order were “Social Justice, IV: The Characteristics of Social Justice,” “News from the Network, Vol. 15, No. 40,” “The Purpose of Production,” “How Fulton Sheen Viciously Attacked Msgr. John Ryan (Not)” and “R.M. Hutchins and J.J. Adler on the Great Books.”
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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