This week we did something a little unusual, at least for us. Generally, we try to report news consistently, but this past week the news about Federal Reserve Follies was so contradictory that we decided to report the stories as they appeared, even those that contradicted themselves and each other. After all, if the people in charge of the financial system wanted to make sense, they would adopt the Economic Democracy Act:
Robert Kiyosaki
• Biggest Bubble in History? According to Robert Kiyosaki, author of Rich Dad, Poor Dad, the economy is heading for a giant crackup soon. This is hardly news to those of us in the Just Third Way, but it’s nice to have yet another independent corroboration that the Economic Democracy Act at may be the only realistic hoe for a decent future for the world.
• FU Russian Economy! It appears that thanks to Russian dictator Putin’s war, the Russian economy is (as the title of this video has it) F***ed. No, we don’t really talk like that (at least in public), but that was the actual title of the video and it caught our eye. The video relates some obvious fact and observations but it’s still well worth watching if only to see the application of what has been called “the political mind” that refuses to see facts right in front of one’s nose if it contradicts what someone desperately wants to believe. Of course, if Russia (or anywhere else) adopted the Economic Democracy Act, they might not be in such a position, but that would mean Putin letting go a little of his power, and it’s very difficult for sociopaths to do that.
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| How the U.S. looks to Europeans? |
• Is the United States a War Profiteer? According to some European officials, the United States with its arms shipments to Ukraine and the Inflation Reduction Act is using Ukraine’s (and Europe’s) difficulties as its opportunity and stands to make a lot of money at everyone else’s expense. Of course, this comes at a time when a lot of people in the U.S. are complaining that the money spent on Ukraine is a complete waste and it should be cut back or stopped entirely. The only real solution to this apparently dilemma is for Ukraine to adopt the Economic Democracy Act, and it will be the Ukrainians themselves spending the money and reaping the profits (if any).
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| Dr. Harold G. Moulton |
• U.S. Wage Slaves Living Beyond Their Means. According to recent reports, more than half of Americans earning more than $100,000 a year are living “paycheck to paycheck” and not saving enough. Of course, if they stopped spending and started saving, then they would be chastised for not keeping the economy running — what Dr. Harold G. Moulton called “the economic dilemma” in his 1935 classic, The Formation of Capital. It seems that if you spend you don’t have enough money to pay for new capital to produce what you want to buy, but if you save, there’s no need to invest in new capital since no one is buying what the new capital would produce. What’s the answer? Finance consumption out of past reductions in consumption, and future production out of future increases in production. Makes sense, doesn’t it? That’s why we recommend adoption of the Economic Democracy Act.
• Another Recession on the Way? According to the experts (and we do get a little tired of saying that, since they never seem to be able to solve problems, just point out that we have them), the U.S. is heading for another recession like we had in the late sixties and early seventies. Of course, we could get off the whole quasi boom and almost bust cycle that Keynesian economics promised to eliminate by adopting the Economic Democracy Act, but for some reason they’re not considering it.
• Deutsche Bank Says Markets Will Fall. According to the German central bank, stock mrkets can expect a major decline on the order of 25% or more from current levels if current trends continue . . . and of course they will, as no one is contemplating adoption of the Economic Democracy Act., which would allow shares to reach their true value instead of their speculative value, which is what is driving the markets today.
• Federal Reserve to Slash Interest Rates. Evidently taking the Jack the Ripper approach to central banking, the Federal Reserve announced it was planning to lower interest rates by 200 points, at least according to Deutsche Bank, the central bank of Germany. Of course, if we had a truly free market — which includes being free of Keynesian economics and state control of money and credit — fiddling with interest rates would not be an issue, as the economy would itself create money as needed, and not rely on economic voodoo (not quite the same as “voodoo economics”) interest rates would be set by the market, not by the central bank, as we advocate in the Economic Democracy Act.
• Quantitative Tightening. Apparently, the Federal Reserve is using “quantitative tightening” to fight inflation, which means decreasing the amount of money in circulation, what they used to call “deflation.” Of course, the experts say it’s a big mistake, and of course they’re right . . . but not for the reasons they think. The fact is that increasing or decreasing the money supply except by economic activity and not artificially by manipulation is a big mistake whichever way it goes. The only reasonable thing to do is to create money as needed, not before it is needed, or reduce as needed, not to try and force a result. The only way to do this is by adopting the Economic Democracy Act.
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| Same error, same image |
• Old Mistakes in New Ways. According to “the experts,” the Federal Reserve is making the same old mistake in fighting inflation but in a new way. That’s not entirely true, of course, since the Federal Reserve is making the same old mistake in the same old way, and will continue to do so as long as it avoids adopting the Economic Democracy Act.
• Federal Reserve Contradicts Itself Again. Are rates going up or down? Nobody knows, as it seems to depend on what time of day it is or whatever weird economic theory they read in the morning paper . . . or whether they got the latest batch of orders from Wall Street to keep the markets volatile so that the gamblers can make more money. This also explains the resistance to the Economic Democracy Act, as it would eliminate most gambling opportunities.
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| Rich bankers, poor banks? |
• Banks are Running Out of Money. Proving that even bankers have no idea what they’re doing, the word on the Street (Wall Street) is that the commercial banking system is running short of funds. This would be a ludicrous statement if it were not so tragic. Evidently the so-called experts are completely in the dark about how a commercial bank operates and what it does. As a combination bank of issue and bank of discount, a commercial (or mercantile) bank “creates” money out of existing and future savings, i.e., past decreases in production and future increases in production.
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| The new V for Victory? |
• Wanting Ukraine to Win . . .Sort Of. Current jabber among those who are doing everything they can to stop Putin’s war of world conquest except doing what it takes is that they want Ukraine to win, but not to the point that it embarrasses Russian dictator Putin. Evidently sending tens of thousands of your own people to die in a pointless war that you are clearly losing putting your own economy back forty years, committing genocide and assorted war crimes and crimes against humanity isn’t embarrassing, but having to give back Crimea would be.
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| The Dutch government has what in its head? |
• Dutch Farmers in Dutch. In a drastic move to cut nitrogen emissions, the Dutch government is considering forced sales and takeover of over 3,000 farms. This is not only an egregious violation of private property but has the potential to harm the national economy as agriculture is a significant part of Dutch GDP. It seems a little counterproductive when the world is facing a food shortage that a government would mandate cuts in food production, but that’s what happens when people may have nominal ownership but not control of their capital.
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| Oh, them again. . . . |
• More Federal Reserve Follies. Almost as if they knew what they were doing (and contradicting themselves about whether they are or are not raising or lowering rates), the Federal Reserve continues to play with interest rates in the weird belief that raising costs of doing business will reduce costs of doing business and thus combat inflation.
• 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 33 different countries and 35 states, provinces, and territories in the United States and Canada to this blog over the past week. Most visitors are from the United States, the Philippines, India, Bangladesh, and Nepal. The most popular postings this past week in descending order were “Reflections on Biafra,” “Social Justice, IV: The Characteristics of Social Justice,” “Book Review: A Filed Guide for the Hero’s Journey,” “Activism versus Leadership,” and “The Principles of Economic Justice.”
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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