The global economic and political situation remains such that we could pretty much just run the News from the Network from the previous week, and some people wouldn’t even notice. If you want to see something different, then, get Congress to adopt the Economic Democracy Act:
• Microsoft Rewards. It might be worth a shot. Recently we heard from J.A., one of our faithful readers and CESJ members who had a suggestion for the CESJ core group. As one individual commented, “I thought J.A.’s suggestion for people to donate their Microsoft points from purchases to CESJ was a nice little blurb for your weekly News Notes. We want to highlight any initiative from people in or network to help CESJ and the cause. Here’s my slightly edited version of J.A.’s note:” “Without effort (almost like the Economic Democracy Act), I’ve been earning Microsoft Rewards. It’s not much but every little bit helps. And imagine 100 people each donating their rewards. If only $5.00 a month, that’s a nice piece of change: office supplies and the electric bill. Or maybe a bagel. J.A.”
• President Trump a World Class Danger? According to Business Insider, President Trump’s policies in regard to the Federal Reserve are a serious danger to the financial stability of the world. According to the article, “Europe’s top central banker [Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank] has warned that Trump’s Fed interference risks US and global stability.” The financial powers-that-be believe that “Trump’s push to oust the Fed governor Lisa Cook and undermine Jerome Powell has sparked global concern.” In a rather flabby extenuation of the U.S. president’s policies, “Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Fed should remain independent but has ‘made a lot of mistakes’.” We’re not sure how or why any mistakes made by the Federal Reserve justify taking away its purported independence, but if that was the case, using the central bank to monetize government deficits would have precluded every single central bank in the world from being independent . . . which would mean all governments could then monetize their deficits without constraint — ironic, isn’t it? From the perspective of the Just Third Way, the central bank should be limited to monetizing and dealing in qualified private sector industrial, commercial, and agricultural paper, and NO government securities whatsoever. Dealing in government securities in the United States Federal Reserve is an accident of history and the power to do so was intended to eliminate monetizing government debt, not expand it beyond belief. This is described in the Economic Democracy Act.
• Social Security Reality Check. According to the Motley Fool, there are many misconceptions floating around about Social Security, “It's important to be realistic about what Social Security will pay you in retirement. If you expect to be able to live on your benefits alone, you may need a reality check. Aim to get the bulk of your retirement income from savings and use your Social Security as extra.” This, however, is a sort of Catch-22 situation. Assuming you have wage income (Social Security benefits apply only to wage earners), you are faced with a choice: either spend your income on consumption now and don’t save for the future (and most people’s incomes are inadequate to meet consumption demands and needs, so they go into debt to make up the difference), or cut consumption and save, forgoing things like a social life, marriage, children, vacations, adequate food, clothing, and shelter (and go into debt anyway to make up the difference while inflation eats away the value of your savings). Either way, you end up relying on Social Security for the sole or primary retirement income source. Is there a solution? Yes: open up a way for people to save and invest without cutting consumption. That is the program embodied in the Economic Democracy Act.
• Executive Branch vs. Legislative Branch. In the U.S. Constitution — which is a grant of rights from the people to the state, not the other way around — only Congress, the “Legislative Branch” of government, has the right to levy taxes. This presumably keeps the Executive Branch (the President) and the Judicial Branch (the Supreme Court) in check and amenable to the will of the people as represented in Congress. The idea is the people control Congress by getting rid of representatives who vote for unwanted or unnecessary taxes and Congress controls the Executive and Legislative branches by controlling the purse strings. After all, when the Constitution was framed, the beheading of King Charles I was still a vivid memory for many (and the Jacobite cause still very much alive), and Parliament, rightly or wrongly, had executed the King for ruling without the consent of the governed and finding ways to finance his “direct rule” without relying on the taxation powers of Parliament. That is why the lawsuit(s) brought to contest President Trump’s tariffs are about more than whether they are effective or their real purpose, e.g., for revenue or revenge? The real issue at stake is who is sovereign and the foundation of the United States itself. Does the president of the United States work for the people of the United States, or do the people work for the president? Does the Preamble of the Constitution state “We, the People,” or “I, the President”? Of course, the question wouldn’t even arise if ordinary people had property, and therefore power, and the way to get property into the hands of ordinary people is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
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| Ray Dalio |
• Gaps in Wealth and Values. It seems that not all billionaires are enamored of the new world order ushered in by people like Trump and Putin. In an interview in the Financial Times, “Billionaire hedge fund boss Ray Dalio has a dire warning about President Donald Trump. Dalio, the founder of Bridgewater Associates, told the Financial Times in an interview released early Tuesday that the United States is moving toward autocratic-style politics, pointing to how a decline in trust, ‘gaps in wealth’ and ‘gaps in values’ are pushing ‘more extreme’ policies. ‘What is happening now politically and socially is analogous to what happened around the world in the 1930-40 period,’ Dalio said.” The only answer, of course, is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
• Bond Bombshell Coming (Maybe). According to Fortune magazine, “The canary in the coal mine is singing as global bond selloff raises national debt concerns.” This is because people are worried that mounting public debt is eroding even the best rated government bonds: “Global long-term bond yields are surging, with U.S. 30-year Treasuries near 5% and U.K. gilts above 5.7%, as investors grow wary of mounting debt and political pressure on central banks. Safe-haven gold has hit a record $3,537, while economists told Fortune the bond market ‘can’t be primaried,’ underscoring that investors will pull back if fiscal credibility deteriorates.” In other words, because governments are spending too much and monetizing their deficits by misusing their central banks, the debt they are issuing is in danger of becoming seriously devalued. The answer? Stop monetizing government debt, as is a pillar of the Economic Democracy Act.
• More Workers Than Jobs. The employment problem in a sound developed economy is usually there are many jobs available, but they aren’t the sort of jobs that most people want to fill. Whether it’s picking cotton or asking people if they want fries with that, some people would rather go on welfare or starve before stooping to such depths of what they regard as the ultimate in degradation. This was the rationale for slavery — just read David Christy’s Cotton Is King from 1855, which argued white folks were physically incapable of picking cotton and black folks wouldn’t pick cotton voluntarily, so black slavery was essential to the economic survival of the United States and the British Empire. “Low” tier jobs are also the key economic niche filled by part time workers, students, and immigrants — and the reason for semi-ignoring illegal immigration. Unfortunately, when a developed country decides to have “zero tolerance” for illegal immigration instead of just concentrating on egregious violations, key jobs go unfilled . . . and there is a ripple effect throughout the economy, as “higher” tier jobs start to disappear because the “lower” tier jobs aren’t getting done. It is, after all, difficult for a five-star restaurant to serve a green salad if lettuce isn’t harvested, and restaurants and grocery stores start closing. It should come as no surprise, then, that for the first time in years, there are more Americans out of work than there are jobs — even “lower” tier jobs — available. Evidently, those immigrants, both legal and il, weren’t so much “stealing” jobs that American citizens refused to do anyway, as “creating” jobs for everyone. Take away the lower level of the “job chain” and the structure begins to fall apart and finally implodes. The solution? Stop focusing on “jobs” and start focusing on ownership by adopting the Economic Democracy Act. There may not be enough “jobs” to go around, but there is always enough ownership.
• Breaking Up Is Fund to Do. An article in Yahoo! Finance explains at some length why the gamblers on Wall Street are all agog about the accelerating rate of corporate break ups and business failures. “Whether by offloading a business unit, spinning out a corporate arm through an IPO, or carving up a Fortune 500 company, that means more fees for bankers and potentially improved returns for investors.” It seems that whether a business is thriving and needs financial experts to raise funds or is going down the toilet and the vultures gather to pick the bones, the gamblers and financial experts are going to get their pound of flesh. The only solution is to put the primary market back in control of the economy by adopting the Economic Democracy Act.
• Horticultural Hypocrisy. As related in an article in Moneywise, “Arkansas farmers are sounding the alarm claiming that a deteriorating global economy and soaring costs are pushing them to the brink of disaster. As tariffs begin to bite, the state’s farmers are pleading for emergency funding as they stare down bankruptcy and foreclosure. . . . Farmer input costs are through the roof, caused by a mixture of weather and economic conditions — namely, rising inflation and the impact of President Donald Trump’s tariff policy.” At the same time, “Despite the uncertainty caused by the tariffs, American farmers still see the president’s flagship policy as a long-term win. A May survey by Purdue University of American producers found that 70% believe the tariffs will ultimately strengthen their industry.” In other words, Arkansas farmers want to have their cake and eat it, too. They like the promises Trump hands out but seem a bit uncomfortable about the fact that those same policies are among the primary reasons they are in serious financial trouble. 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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