Alas, all we have this week is more of the same, which will almost certainly be the case until and unless the Economic Democracy Act is adopted:
Real Quality TV
• Real Quality Television. Television was once described as a “vast wasteland” (and has only gotten worse), but at least it isn’t usually too dangerous to life and limb . . . unless you happen to live in North Korea . . . if you want to call that living. North Korea (meaning North Korea’s government, meaning North Korea’s God-King Kim Jong Un, a.k.a. Slung Dung Poo) is accused of executing “dozens” of teenagers for watching South Korean television shows. Part of us wants to say that no television show is worth dying for, but the issue might be a bit bigger than what entertainment you choose to watch. One of the advantages of having control over your own life is the ability to make stupid choices that help you make better choices in the future. It’s called “learning.” Ownership of capital allows you to make dumb choices that go contrary to what somebody else thinks you should do, so long as you don’t harm anyone else. That’s one reason the Economic Democracy Act is so important.
• Russia Forecasts Bad Harvest. Although Putin seeks to control food and fuel for the bulk of humanity as part of his campaign of world domination (see “Evil Overlord.Com”), Nature isn’t playing along with it. A key Russian agricultural region is forecasting a poor harvest, which is sending waves of panic throughout the Soviet . . . sorry, the Russian Empire . . . or Federation, to use a less descriptive term. No one seems to be worrying about the actual farmers taking a hit, just the effect it will have on Putin’s imperial delusions. One way to reorient things in a more sane manner is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act that takes the needs of ordinary people into consideration.
• Bill Gates and Why He is Buying the Farm. Bill Gates has been buying massive amounts of America’s farmland, and it’s purely altruistic. He wants to increase food production so he can ensure people have enough to eat . . . and only he is qualified to do that. If it were left to family farms or cooperates or worker-owned agricultural endeavors, there might not be enough food produced . . . and Bill Gates wouldn’t control it. People might be able to make their own decisions and control their own lives, and then what would happen to the world? Of course, if Gates really wanted to increase production, he would push for the Economic Democracy Act, as worker- and family-owned enterprises tend to be 150% more productive than otherwise comparable enterprises, but what would be the fun of that?
• Power to the OTHER People. The Baltic states — Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia — have announced they are getting off the Moscow-controlled power grid and going with the rest of Europe. Now they need to get away from dependence on fossil fuels and cut the legs entirely out from under Russia and its ability to manipulate others by controlling food, fiber, or fuel. While not explicit in the Economic Democracy Act., a country’s control over basic necessities is an essential component of economic, and thus political democracy.
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| Walter Reuther |
• Dump Taiwan. Former President Trump has announced he would like to abandon Taiwan to the mainland Chinese. After all, the Taiwanese stole 90% of the world’s advanced semiconductor chip business from American workers. It had nothing to do with being able to deliver a high-quality product at a cheaper price, you know, the art of the deal? And the communist Chinese are really our friends and have never stolen any secrets from American business. Of course, if Trump wanted the easy way to Make America Great Again, he’d push for the Economic Democracy Act, which would spread out ownership in a way to keep America competitive just as Walter Reuther said more than half a century ago before everything began to be not-so-great.
• “Labor Market” is Cooling . . . Disaster! Jobless claims increased over the last week to a high not seen since a year ago. According to conventional political and economic wisdom, this is a disaster, because the only alternative to JAWB (Joining the American Wageworkers Brotherhood) is welfare. The American taxpayer gets stuck either way. There is a way out of the problem, however, and that is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act., and make it possible for ordinary people to gain income from capital ownership instead of JAWB or government a handout.
• Can Money Really Buy Happiness? A new study has shown (yes, yet another study that proves what the researchers decided in advance) that money can, in fact, buy happiness. It seems people with adequate income are on the whole happier than those without adequate income. This is taken as proof money buys happiness. We submit for consideration the possibility that what money really buys is removal of misery that inhibits or prevents someone from being happy. All things being equal, if A and B have the same income, but A is working on becoming virtuous while B is trying to be happy, A will be happy, and B will be miserable. As philosophers though the ages have noted, virtue is true happiness, while self-gratification may lead to good feelings for a while, but then to discontent and, yes, unhappiness. What’s the real answer? Adopt the Economic Democracy Act, and educate people in the task of becoming more fully human, that is, virtuous and thus truly happy.
• 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, 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.
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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