It’s astonishing how each week’s news items resemble those of the previous week . . . Not. The simple fact is that this is going to keep up until the powers-that-be adopt the Economic Democracy Act:
• What Do You Mean “We”? According to conventional thinking, we might not really want lower prices as much as we say we do . . . according to the experts. Of course, these so-called experts are operating within a Keynesian framework which treats inflation as a policy tool for increasing government power and that of the wealthy elite over the rest of us . . . and that means if you eliminate inflation, government power and the ability of the wealthy elite to control the rest of us is greatly diminished. Still, they have to do a balancing act because if inflation gets out of control, government and the wealthy elite lose control anyway. As the Washington Post reports, “Americans keep saying it: They want lower prices. . . . Inflation was a defining issue of the 2024 election and helped propel Donald Trump’s return to the White House after he promised to bring down consumer prices the day he took office. But a year later, it’s a drag on his approval ratings: 59 percent of Americans give Trump either a great deal or a good amount of blame for the current rate of inflation, according to a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll. In an attempt to reduce grocery prices, Trump just rolled back some of his own tariffs on certain foods, including bananas and coffee. The problem is, there’s generally no going back once prices rise. And for good reason. Retailers don’t reduce prices unless there’s a significant drop in demand, such as during periods of high unemployment. “As terrible as inflation is, that is really undesirable,” said Matt Colyar, an economist at Moody’s Analytics.” Reality check: if people become more productive and the currency becomes worth more by backing it with real assets instead of government debt, retailers sell MORE at lower prices, not less . . . and people have a lot more money to spend. How can this be done? By adopting the Economic Democracy Act.
• Trump Tariff Turnoff. Much to the surprise of people who have no idea how a tariff works, the rosy predictions of how much money would flood into the United States have not panned out. First, there is a slight reality check. News flash: how much money have Trump’s tariffs raised from foreign countries and non-U.S. shippers of foreign goods? Answer: $-0-. That’s right. $-0-. The simple fact is that foreigners don’t pay for tariffs. Domestic consumers and producers pay tariffs. Every cent a tariff raises for government comes out of the pockets of its own consumers and producers. That means a tariff is what is called a “hidden tax” just like inflation. A tariff, in fact, is a form of inflation called “cost-push inflation.” Keynesian economics relies on “demand-pull inflation” which is caused in Keynesian theory by printing money, i.e., “creating demand” which raises prices and shifts purchasing power from poor consumers to rich producers. Cost-push inflation raises prices and shifts purchasing power from poor consumers and rich producers to government. Thus, tariffs don’t really raise money but just shift money around in an economy to the benefit of government and not anyone else. It comes as no surprise that Trump’s tariffs are not raising as much money as anticipated. As reported in Fortune magazine, “Tariff revenues are dramatically falling short of initial White House expectations, generating roughly $100 billion less than projected, according to a recent analysis from Pantheon Macroeconomics. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent predicted in August that tariffs would raise “well over half a trillion, maybe toward a trillion-dollar number,” but data compiled through Nov. 25 implies that customs and excise taxes annualize to only $400 billion.” What’s the answer? Adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
• Elon and the Terrible Trump Tariffs. He might not be the smartest man in the world (unless Grok is pulling the wool over your eyes in the alleged “practical joke” it allegedly played), but Elon Musk purportedly (according to him) warned Trump about the horrifyingly bad effects of relying on tariffs to raise significant revenue (see below). As reported in Fortune magazine, “In an interview with investor and entrepreneur Nikhil Kamath released on Sunday, Musk said he warned Trump against tariffs, arguing they “create distortions in markets.” The Tesla CEO has previously expressed concern that import taxes would cause a recession and drive up the prices of goods. In April, the EV maker stopped taking orders for some models in China, which then faced a retaliatory 125% tariff. ‘The president has made it clear he loves tariffs,’ Musk said in the interview. ‘I’ve tried to dissuade him from this point of view, but unsuccessfully.’” Maybe Musk figured out that where demand-pull inflation shifts purchasing power from the poor to the government and the rich, the cost-push inflation of tariffs shifts purchasing power from both the poor and the rich to the government. The solution? We bet you can’t guess: adopt the Economic Democracy Act.
• Muscle Car Mania. Don’t get us wrong. We like cars big enough to get in and out of and to be able to do some moderate cargo hauling. We also like some of the great classic cars of the past. What we don’t like is someone trying to bring back a past that never really existed and uses up limited resources in a futile effort to make America or anything else great again. That’s why we look a trifle askance at a recent report from Yahoo! Finance: “President Trump rolled back fuel economy rules that he claims created an ‘EV mandate’ after former President Joe Biden imposed stricter fuel economy standards last year. Trump said the administration was officially terminating Biden’s ‘ridiculous’ CAFE (corporate average fuel economy) rules, claiming car prices would come down in response to today’s action. Automakers are now required to meet an average of 34.5 mpg across their model fleet by 2031, a dramatic drop from the average of 50.4 mpg across 2031 that the Biden administration had proposed. Trump said the action would allow automakers to produce cheaper cars, saving consumers ‘[at] least $1,000’ off the price of a car.” Yeah . . . just like the tariffs have raised more money than we know what to do with. We predict that the move will be in the direction of higher cost vehicles AND higher priced fuel as demand goes up. Of course, we have personally been in favor of hydrogen fuel, hydrogen being the most common element in the universe. And afraid of hydrogen because of the Hindenburg? Thirty-six people died, thirty-five passengers and one ground crew member. How many people die each year from gasoline fuel vehicle fires? At least six hundred each year. Ironically, you are far more likely to survive a vehicle fire involving hydrogen fuel because the flames and explosion go straight up and are quickly dispelled, while in a gasoline fire the explosion goes everywhere, and the gasoline spreads out and burns. If Trump is serious about wanting to bring down prices, he should push for adoption of the Economic Democracy Act.
• AI, AI, AI! Is It a Bubble? What’s the word about AI among “savvy investors”? According to Yahoo! Finance, “BlackRock and Bank of America say this cycle is being driven by real corporate investment, earnings, and productivity gains — not the kind of irrational exuberance that defined the dot-com bubble of the early 2000s. ‘We don't think the bubble framing is that useful at this stage for investors,’ Jean Boivin, head of the BlackRock Investment Institute, said at a media roundtable on Tuesday. We want to avoid just putting everything on a backward-looking kind of metric or assessment,’ he continued, noting it's ‘incomplete’ to describe the AI boom as a bubble given the build-out continues to unfold at an ‘unprecedented’ scale and pace.” Uh, yeah, uh Kingfish. Why is nobody wondering who is going to buy whatever it is AI is producing? According to Say’s Law of Markets, aggregate production and consumption must be in balance; consumers must produce, and producers must consume . . . except that AI doesn’t consume. Keynesian economics relies on producers not consuming at all if they can help it, while AI fits this perfectly. What is needed is a way to rebalance consumption and production, and that can be done by adopting the Economic Democracy Act.
• The Scary K for Investors. This “K-shaped economy” isn’t going away . . . and it’s starting to worry “investors” (you know, people who gamble on the stock market). As reported in Yahoo! Finance, “A growing chorus on Wall Street is warning that the US economy is becoming increasingly K-shaped, with higher-income households powering spending while lower-income consumers struggle with affordability. It mirrors what investors have seen in the stock market, where Big Tech continues to drive major the major indexes even as other sectors lag behind. The concern: How long can those two realities coexist before something breaks? ‘I don't think they're going to coexist forever,’ Bank of America senior US economist Aditya Bhave told Yahoo Finance during the firm’s 2026 outlook call this week. ‘Our view is that the bottom of the K will stabilize before the top of the K collapses. That's underpinning our more optimistic view of the economy.’” Yeah, few people with money and a lot of people without it is not a good mix for an economy or any kind of political stability. The solution is to adopt the Economic Democracy Act as soon as possible.
• Forward Into the Past. Old Bay Seasoning (it’s an east coast thing) is going retro, at least with respect to their packaging; the product hasn’t changed regardless of the package. They are going back to a tin (probably tin coated iron) package from the current plastic. We are all in favor of this, and hope Old Bay (okay, McCormick & Company, the parent company) sets a precedent and companies start going back to old-style packaging such as wood and glass — the latter being probably the world’s least polluting and most easily recyclable materials . . . and also reusable. Wood, after all, is renewable, and the supply of used glass and sand to make new glass is virtually endless. Many things just do NOT need to use plastic. Yes, many things do, but not as many as are being used. Once we adopt the Economic Democracy Act, there will be probably many more uses for metal and glass than anyone ever thought of . . . and start getting rid of those microplastics at the source.
• 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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