This is not Socialism, because there is no common property. Just because an idea is similar to a Marxist one doesn't make it Marxist. The new definition of property in a money-less society would not revolve around "Can you afford it?", but rather "Can you accept responsibility for it." I'm not interested in hearing how it won't work. We're going to have to drop the cynicism and make it work if we want to survive. The situation is much more dire than anyone imagines right now, and it's not going to be solved by people pushing numbers around in some computer. What is needed is an evolutionary leap, and it going to have to happen soon, otherwise we are going to be in the absurd situation of people starving to death outside food stores with shelves stocked with food that nobody can afford to buy.
The whole concept of money is based on scarcity and making sure that everybody gets his or her "fair share". Perhaps that worked in small prehistoric communities, but it's easy to see that it has not scaled up well, give the vast disparity between the haves and the have-nots.
The objection has been raised that people want to be led. Yes, people want to be led, and the mistake that is being made at present is that it's all being done by power. Power creates fear and resistance to power, neither of which is conducive to the change of perspective that's needed here. Most of history, especially in the 20th Century bears that out. If the 99% movement is to succeed, it will have to be led by imitation. A case can be easily made that the most profound changes in the 20th Century were led by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. If we are to avoid cataclysm, it stands to reason that this new Renaissance (widely predicted by diverse members of the spiritual and religious communities) is much more likely to succeed if it emerges from the heart.
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Monday, November 7, 2011
The 99% Solution
Well, friends, I stopped talking about this world economic situation for over a year while I looked for a different solution. I'm sorry to admit that I didn't find one. Given the way things are shaping up in the EU and the speed that things are approaching meltdown around the world, my guess is that one big default is all it's going to take to trigger a collapse that cannot be controlled. It's possible that the EU can survive if Germany bails out Greece, but Italy is very close to default as well, and there isn't enough money in the EU's coffers to bail them out.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. So here's what we will have to do. The first thing that has to happen is that we have to simultaneously, worldwide, realize that money is a FICTION. It's a representation of value, not value itself. Value is not the same thing as cost. Cost is value measured, traditionally in money. We've been doing that since the Babylonians, so long that we have forgotten that cost and value are different, Value is only what a thing can be used for, even if that is merely to find pleasure in it or in its beauty. So here's the solution. It's very simple--only three steps.
Obviously the financial institutions and those who work in them will have nothing to do. Great! Volunteer somewhere. Everyone else should continue on as if nothing had happened. At the grocery, people will still come for food and leave with it. But nothing will be exchanged for it. Everything is free. Trucks will arrive with more food. Gasoline will be pumped into the trucks' tanks. Refineries will still make the gas, oil companies will pick it up and deliver it where it is needed.
Farmers will still grow food and deliver it to the markets through whatever distribution networks exist. Hospitals will continue to deliver health care. Everything will continue as before, except that everyone will be giving away their labor, and everyone will receive what they need.
Whatever you have or live in or wear or drive will be yours to keep or give away as you see fit. If you need a new car, refrigerator, suit, pair of shoes, or house, it will be given to you. BUT...
The most important thing to understand is that we are all in this together, and it is your responsibility to receive only what you need and no more than you need! Hoarding makes no sense anyway unless something is no longer being produced.
The word "afford" has to simply vanish. It especially means that we all need to take responsibility for those who previously were in need because they could not "afford" what they needed. We must all see to it that everybody gets what they need.
But with this great shift there is great responsibility. People must work just as they did before if this new economy is going to succeed. Your value as a person will be measured by the extent to which you contribute, not the amount of "stuff" you have piled up around you.
Much will have to be negotiated; we understand that. But the world cannot simply grind to a halt because we won't exchange the value of our labor for the value of goods and services we need (and want) because currency isn't involved in that exchange.
We can turn crisis into opportunity and opportunity into Utopia, if we just realize what we are actually dealing with.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. So here's what we will have to do. The first thing that has to happen is that we have to simultaneously, worldwide, realize that money is a FICTION. It's a representation of value, not value itself. Value is not the same thing as cost. Cost is value measured, traditionally in money. We've been doing that since the Babylonians, so long that we have forgotten that cost and value are different, Value is only what a thing can be used for, even if that is merely to find pleasure in it or in its beauty. So here's the solution. It's very simple--only three steps.
- Abolish all currencies and all debt.
- Keep doing the work you have been doing.
- Take care of everyone who needs it.
Obviously the financial institutions and those who work in them will have nothing to do. Great! Volunteer somewhere. Everyone else should continue on as if nothing had happened. At the grocery, people will still come for food and leave with it. But nothing will be exchanged for it. Everything is free. Trucks will arrive with more food. Gasoline will be pumped into the trucks' tanks. Refineries will still make the gas, oil companies will pick it up and deliver it where it is needed.
Farmers will still grow food and deliver it to the markets through whatever distribution networks exist. Hospitals will continue to deliver health care. Everything will continue as before, except that everyone will be giving away their labor, and everyone will receive what they need.
Whatever you have or live in or wear or drive will be yours to keep or give away as you see fit. If you need a new car, refrigerator, suit, pair of shoes, or house, it will be given to you. BUT...
The most important thing to understand is that we are all in this together, and it is your responsibility to receive only what you need and no more than you need! Hoarding makes no sense anyway unless something is no longer being produced.
The word "afford" has to simply vanish. It especially means that we all need to take responsibility for those who previously were in need because they could not "afford" what they needed. We must all see to it that everybody gets what they need.
But with this great shift there is great responsibility. People must work just as they did before if this new economy is going to succeed. Your value as a person will be measured by the extent to which you contribute, not the amount of "stuff" you have piled up around you.
Much will have to be negotiated; we understand that. But the world cannot simply grind to a halt because we won't exchange the value of our labor for the value of goods and services we need (and want) because currency isn't involved in that exchange.
We can turn crisis into opportunity and opportunity into Utopia, if we just realize what we are actually dealing with.
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