WE ARE MISSING THE POINT OF ECONOMICS & FINANCE
Are we going to repeat the same tired routine of fixing and rebuilding a financial system that keeps going through endless cycles of growth, recession, depression, bubbles, crashes and frauds, etc.? There are programs to bail out the banks, builders and homeowners, make loans to car companies, create more jobs, cut taxes, raise taxes, rebuild infrastructure, cut social welfare programs, privatize government functions, re-regulate the financial industry and give another taxpayer rebate. And, NO ONE can say for sure if or when any of it is going to work.
We don’t know what will work because we don’t: recognize basic facts; understand basic definitions; know how to appropriately measure economic activity; stand and act from the highest ideals.
We are in a new paradigm. We need to look from a different perspective on the entire matter. And as is true with all paradigm shifts, issues that were unsolvable, unrecognized, unconnected and contradictory are suddenly simpler, capable of resolution, and it all, taken as a whole, makes sense. People are starving now, it takes time to let the stimulus plan work, climate change verses development, extremes of wealth and poverty, working just to pay the bills no matter how unsatisfying the job, "saving money is good for the consumer, but might not be good for the economy", terrorism, piracy, illegal immigration, jobs for everyone and free trade are some examples.
The Industrial Revolution began the rapid development of machines that can do what human beings can not do: concentrate large amounts of power, perform precise and delicate tasks tirelessly, produce great quantities of an item, and produce pieces that are identical from one to the next. Another thing it is doing is to produce machines to do what human beings can do: wash clothes, do math calculations, assemble parts and perform repetitive functions.
The purpose of these machines is to increase the standard of living and to enable people to spend less time doing it. However, the standard of living is being reduced almost everywhere, now. Also the time that people spend working is not going down in many places, but in fact is rising. If we are not going to reduce the time that we all spend working, why did we bother to invent these machines?
In his book "Critical Path" Buckminster Fuller states: "...60% of all the jobs in the U.S.A. are not producing any real wealth - i.e., real life support". In this situation, it is quite clear that simply "putting people back to work" is not a truly feasible strategy, in fact, it is a strategy guaranteed to fail.
In the United States we: get training; to do a job; to make money; to buy health insurance; to pay for health care. What we really want, and can actually provide if we so choose, is to simply have health care available when needed. The complex, wasteful and dehumanizing monetary systems that we currently use are not the only systems with which we can manage the economy. Monetary systems provide a "medium of exchange" that has become largely detached from the production, distribution & consumption of goods and services. Making money with money is an example of this detachment. A Direct-Access economic management system is now technically possible and desirable.
We have a financial and economic crisis in large part because we don’t understand the actual problem. The actual problem in this new paradigm is: How do we produce and make available to every human being the highest standard of life support, in the shortest time, while reversing environmental damage?
We are in the midst of an unprecedented opportunity for human beings and this planet. We can produce a very high standard of living for every human being without severely damaging the environment. The technical hard part is complete. The single fact that we are sending people and machines into space to live on a full time basis is proof of that. The stage we are now in is a matter of education and choice, both individually and collectively.
(This is an introduction. More to come.)
William Daniels Copyright. Please distribute this freely for non-commercial purposes.
503-314-6902 I am available to speak, write on specific topics, etc.
wdinpdx@yahoo.com see: BillionsofBillionaires.blogspot.com; BFI.org; "Critical Path" by
R. Buckminster Fuller