THE Global Justice Movement Website

THE Global Justice Movement Website
This is the "Global Justice Movement" (dot org) we refer to in the title of this blog.

Friday, August 30, 2024

News from the Network, Vol. 17, No. 35

Were you among the elite group expecting to benefit from whatever comes out of meetings at, say, Jackson Hole, or were a normal person trying to get by as the elites and the central banks of the world continue to manage the global economy into more chaos?  If the latter, you might want to consider promoting the Economic Democracy Act:, and bringing a halt to some of this nonsense:


 

• Maybe It’s the System?  The “experts have been arguing for decades whether or not we’re in a recession (we mustn’t use the word “depression”), and at least a few are starting to think it’s because they can’t decide which economic indicators to use.  Of course, there is also the slight problem that especially under Keynesian economics as well as Monetarist/Chicago, and Austrian to some degree, is that the experts keep changing definitions of terms.  They are forced to do this because their most fundamental assumptions are off base, so they cannot possibly reflect reality.  Most accepted is the “Currency Principle,” the idea the quantity of money determines the level of economic activity, whereas in reality, it is the “Banking Principle,” the realization the level of economic activity determines the quantity of money.  Since the Currency Principle does not reflect reality, economic analysis based on the Currency Principle cannot reflect reality.  A system based on reality is the Economic Democracy Act.


 

• Russian Economy Booming?  Evidently, it is not only the U.S. the so-called experts are having trouble with.  They are reporting the Russian economy “shows solid growth.”  There’s just one problem.  The “growth” is due exclusively to war production, that is, production destined for destruction and consumption not by producers, but by the military.  As was pointed out more than a year ago, Russia therefore has a huge problem.  It cannot continue to wage its unprovoked war against Ukraine, especially losing more soldiers and more equipment every two weeks than they lost in Afghanistan in ten years . . . and they cannot afford not to, as war is the only thing keeping the Russian economy afloat.  What’s the answer?  Stop the war, get rid of Putin (not necessarily in that order), and adopt the Economic Democracy Act.


 

• Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics?  With the hourly rate for fast-food workers in California now at $20, apologists are loudly trumpeting that fast-food jobs have increased in number, e.g., “California’s fast-food industry has added jobs every month this year — including 11,000 new jobs since the wage increase officially went into effect in April.”  There are some complicated exemptions to the new law and there are also ways to hire new people and reduce hours all around so that total pay is less than before, but these are never mentioned in the laudatory articles “proving” raising costs does not mean fewer jobs or higher prices.  Frankly, the only real answer is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act., and let the market set wage rates without harming overall income.

Fastest rising prices

 

• British Minimum Wage Rise Shock.  The head of Great Britain’s “Iceland” supermarkets shifted from liberal to conservative not too long ago and has started warning not to keep raising the minimum wage so fast as it will send shocks through the system.  Great Britain has been raising its minimum wage at a steady rate and it has gone up 10% this year alone, and people can’t understand why things don’t get better.  Nobody ever stops to think it might be the fact that human labor is not what it was in the market, and income should be shifted from jobs to capital ownership.  If they want to start solving problems instead of kicking the can down the road, they should adopt the Economic Democracy Act.


 

• How Much Will the Federal Reserve Reduce Rates?  The so-called experts are “weighing in” on how much the Federal Reserve reduce interest rates.  This, of course, raises the question as to what the Federal Reserve is doing screwing around with interest rates in the first place.  The next question is what should the Federal Reserve be doing?  To answer that, take a look at the proposed changes contained in the Economic Democracy Act.


 

• How to Survive a Downturn.  “Renowned investor Jim Rogers” has come up with a brilliant idea for people to survive an economic downturn.  It’s sheer genius!  All you have to do is be rich and have tons of cash.  As he says, “I have a lot of cash. The reason I have a lot of cash is because I expect the next sell-off to be the worst in my lifetime because the debt has gone up by so very, very much everywhere. . . . I am not spending my cash yet. I would like to have more cash because, to repeat, when the next market collapse comes, it’s going to be the worst in my lifetime.”  So, if you want to survive, be sure you have a lot of the green stuff to begin with.  Of course, if we want to make it possible for people not only to survive, but thrive, we should adopt the Economic Democracy Act.


 

• Jackson Whole News.  If you doubted that the people in charge of the world’s central banks have any idea whatsoever is going on, the news coming out of the meeting at Jackson Hole will correct any such misimpression.  Here’s an actual quote: “While major central banks are veering towards rate cuts, it remains too soon to say whether the moves could be categorized as a ‘normalization’ of restrictive policy or first steps to prevent growth from faltering further.”  If you can figure out what that means, please keep it to yourself if you want others not to doubt your sanity.  Of course, if central banks were used properly in connection with the Economic Democracy Act, the so-called experts wouldn’t have to use their magic incantations to try and make things work.


 

• Parents are Overstressed.  According to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, U.S. parents are so stressed they cannot function adequately or in some cases at all.  The main problem seems to be money.  Thus, according to Murthy, “government aid, in the form of child tax credits, universal preschool, early childhood education programs, paid family and medical leave, paid sick time and investments in social infrastructure, can help.”  In cruder terms, the solution of both parties for the upcoming election seems to be to bail out American families by making them even more dependent on government than they already are . . . which caused the problem in the first place.  What’s a better answer?  Adopt the Economic Democracy Act.  That way, families can be financially independent of government — and the government will be dependent on the citizens for its money instead of the other way around.

• 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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