This week’s news items are more of the same only more so. It gets a little tiresome to see all the situations that could easily be solved by adopting the Economic Democracy Act:
• Meeting with UACU. This past Tuesday, members of the CESJ core group met with representatives of the Ukrainian-American Concordia University, a predominantly business-oriented institution of higher education currently focused on the needs of wounded and disabled Ukrainian soldiers and the task of reintegrating them into society as positive contributors. The UACU people expressed great interest in the potential of the Just Third Way of Economic Personalism, especially the economic and financial theories of Louis Kelso and their applications. They have suggested CESJ consider conducting a webinar about Kelso’s theory and our vision for its implementation for representatives of the Academy of Science of Ukraine and UACU students, a CESJ-sponsored scholarship for the best Bachelor’s/Master’s student essay/paper on Kelso’s theory, a CESJ-sponsored scholarship for a UACU Ph.D. student who will write thesis on Kelso’s theories, CESJ participation in the annual international UACU conference with a presentation about Kelso’s Theory and its implementation, and publication of article(s) in BESLI, UACU’s international academic journal.
• Russia’s Coming Demographic Disaster. According to the Atlantic Council, Russia’s population could be reduced by 2200. In response, Russian authorities have been urging women to have eight or more children for them to recruit into their Invincible Army of Conquest, trying to stop abortion (not because it’s wrong or evil, but because they need more slave soldiers and taxpayers), and so on. It also doesn’t help any that Russian men in a key demographic are being decimated at a horrifying rate, more than a thousand a day at current rates. What’s the solution? Get Russia out of Ukraine and adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
• Bitcoin Recovers! The World is Saved! The virtual monetary commodity known as “Bitcoin” (which has no intrinsic value, is backed by nothing, and is worth only what people will pay for it) has “recovered” and some experts predict the price of this imaginary commodity will go as high as $1 million. Of course, all that could mean is that the U.S. government will continue to print so much money that the value of the U.S. dollar will plunge to the point that everything is priced in millions, billions, and even mega-trillions of dollars. The only solution is get out of fantasyland and adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
• Candidate Harris Blames Price Gougers for Inflation. It’s always easy to blame “the corporations” and “big business” for higher prices and profit, as Democratic candidate for president, Kamala Harris has done. The possibility that it might have something to do with the government printing up megatons of new money backed only by government debt doesn’t seem to occur to anyone. What’s the solution? Create money only when backed by something with actual value, i.e., private sector hard assets instead of government debt, as proposed in the Economic Democracy Act.
• Imperial Castle for Sale. Italian government debt is so out of hand the state is selling off its historic heritage, viz., an imperial castle once owned by a Holy Roman Emperor. There is a better way than a one-time sale of assets (which could be turned into profit centers without changing their historical character). This is in the Economic Democracy Act and things would turn around very quickly.
• Rich Man’s War, Poor Man’s Fight. Ordinary Russian cannon fodder may be dying by the hundreds of thousands, but at least the Russian elite is living it up . . . while it can. It seems that this might not last long, however, and things will continue to go downhill until they adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
• Subversive Italian Air Conditioning. The picturesque Italian town of Portofino is having a problem with remaining picturesque as residents install illegal air conditioning units. As the reports say, “The mayor of Portofino says the units are unsightly and are being put up without permission. Residents hide them on terraces and rooftops – and some even paint them to blend in with their surroundings.” It sounds as if what is needed is not outlawing air conditioning, but installing air conditioning that fits in with the environment.
• It’s Up! It’s Down! It’s All Around! The latest news from the experts (subject to change at the next expert’s whim), is the Federal Reserve should drastically cut interest rates so that experts and their patrons can make tons of money on the arbitrage. Rather than trying to control the economy by manipulating money and credit, which hasn’t worked for nearly a century, they might try something that has been proven to work, such as the Economic Democracy Act.
• Why Does Food Cost So Much? The experts have come up with a whole bunch of reasons why the price of food has risen so rapidly over the past four years. The only reason they don’t mention is the massive money creation by governments that insist on spending money like a drunken sailor on leave under the illusion that printing money is creating wealth. Going by the Quantity Theory of Money Equation, if you create more money without at the same time increasing production of marketable goods and services, the price level rises. That’s all. What can be done about it? Adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
• Why is 2% Inflation the Target? Why does the Federal Reserve declare that 2% inflation is a target? It’s very simple . . . if you think such contradictory and paradoxical Keynesian nonsense is simple. As the story goes, “Inflation data has long been a precursor of Fed policy changes because of the central bank’s dual mandate to promote maximum employment and price stability. While the central bank has never explicitly defined a number for maximum employment, inflation expectations have been anchored to 2% since 2012. David Wilcox, an economist with the Peterson Institute for International Economics and Bloomberg Economics, said that the 2% target gives the central bank ample room to adjust policy to maintain the health of the economy.” All of this assumes, of course, the validity of Keynesian economics . . . which, from a Just Third Way perspective, is not valid. It would be much better to adopt the Economic Democracy Act and stop trying to control something by using bad theory proven wrong time and again.
• 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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