As usual, there is nothing new under the sun with the news affecting the effort to get legislators to adopt the Economic Democracy Act. Still, the effort goes on.
• Social Justice or Moral Ambition? There’s a 1936 photo from Germany that shows a single individual refusing to give the Nazi salute to Hitler during Der Führer’s visit to a shipyard. No one has ever identified the individual or found out if he lived to see the sun come up another day. Still, Rutger Bregman, a Dutch historian, uses the image in his new book to ask two questions. 1) What innate characteristic enabled him to resist the fear the Nazi state instilled in so many of its citizens? 2) What can people today learn from him, and others who are fighting new forms of state-sponsored fear? As reported by CNN, “the antidote to that fear is ‘moral ambition.’ It’s his term for people who blend the idealism of an activist with the ruthless pragmatism of an entrepreneur to make the world a better place. In his new book, “Moral Ambition: Stop Wasting Your Talent and Start Making a Difference,” Bregman uses the example of that German shipyard worker and other ordinary people to critique what he sees as a common failing of people on the left: They fall for the ‘illusion of awareness,’ a belief that simply exposing people to injustice will inspire them to act.” There is merit in that position, but individual action, regardless how courageous, is no substitute for acts of social justice as described by CESJ co-founder Fr. William Ferree in Introduction to Social Justice. The act of social justice is critical to getting legislators to adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
• Stocks are High “But”. Equity shares on the secondary market are once again pushing the ceiling for record highs, but cautious investors are holding back. Well, perhaps it might be more accurate to say that cautious speculators and gamblers are holding back, but it amounts to the same thing, at least until the passage of the Economic Democracy Act and getting true investment back on the table. Whichever way you want to put it, however, with the chaos spread throughout the global markets due to Putin’s attempted conquest of Ukraine and President Trump’s somewhat incoherent fiscal, monetary, and foreign policies, the fact is savvy investors/gamblers/speculators are holding off risking their money on something that doesn’t seem connected to rhyme or reason.
• Social Security and Medicare Bankruptcy Closer. The “official” date of the bankruptcy of the Social Security system has been moved up. Of course, for those of us “in the know,” the system is, in a sense, bankrupt now. Supporters point at the vast amount of wealth in the Social Security trust fund, but they omit one salient fact. That is, the assets in the Social Security trust fund consist exclusively of U.S. government debt. When the money came in that was not spent on benefit immediately, it was used to purchase government bonds, the proceeds of which were used for other government expenditures. In other words, the “assets” in the Social Security trust fund consist of promises to repay money the government borrowed from itself. It’s the same as if a friend gave you $1,000 to hold for him until he demanded it back, and you accepted the money. You then spent the money, replacing it with an IOU to yourself. When your friend asks you if you still have the money, you might say yes, but you don’t have the money. You have an IOU that says you owe the money to yourself. If your friend demands the money back, you can’t hand him the IUO. You have to hand him $1,000 . . . if you have it. The IOU is worthless to him. This is one reason for the recommended reform of the Social Security system contained in the Economic Democracy Act. There should be neither a separate tax nor a trust fund. The reasons for setting up the system that way were as dubious as they were political. In any event, the tax should be merged into general revenues, payments should be based on need, and as many as possible of the people should acquire self-funding income generating assets as their primary retirement income, as recommended in the Economic Democracy Act.
• Part-Time Italian. A significant number of Americans are semi-retiring to Italy and doing so in a rather creative way. They are buying houses to live in for a portion of the year and then renting them out to tourists and other retirees for the rest of the time. They can continue their lives in the U.S. very conveniently while having all the advantages of being able to get away from it all in their chosen retirement paradise . . . and eat authentic Italian food whenever they want. This is the sort of thing everyone could do who wanted to if Congress would adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
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| Peter Schiff |
• Irreparable Economic Disaster. We should be getting used to it by now, but yet another “top economist” is warning the United States is heading for economic disaster. According to Fax News, “Euro Pacific Asset Management Chief Economist Peter Schiff voiced some criticism of the Federal Reserve and sounded the alarm about the economy during an appearance Wednesday on ‘The Claman Countdown.’” According to Schiff, following an announcement by the Federal Reserve interest rates would remain at the present level, “Powell basically admitted that they have no idea what’s going to happen.” Well, frankly, neither does Schiff or any of the other usual suspects — President Trump is demanding lower interest rates. What’s the solution? Adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
• 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 (now with an imprimatur), 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., 52 or more copies) at the wholesale price, send an email to info@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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