I in no way mean to imply that there is a coming doom or that a horrible catastrophe will occur; I do mean to say that something has already occurred. But I do not believe it to be a disaster, but the beginning of a new stage in history. Now, it is always absurd to try to predict the future which is why I will not do this. What I will do is talk about what has already happened that may not be obvious and what we can possibly do about it.
The mechanisms that orchestrate and regulate our current form of capitalism have been largely removed. This has resulted in an out of control, greed-centered, pyramid scheme type of capitalism that I like to call Mafia Capitalism. Some organizations have taken advantage of the current Wild West-like situation to purposely crash economies to reap profit. Goldman Sachs, for instance, was instrumental in crashing the American economy - and almost solely responsible for crashing the Greek economy which has led to a depression of the entire European economy. Earlier in the decade Wall Street bankers used derivatives to crash the Japanese land and market bubbles so they could profit. This Mafia Capitalism has now gone so far that it may have permanently damaged the world economy to such a point that it is unlikely it can ever be repaired. According to Wikipedia, “The total world derivatives market has been estimated at about $791 trillion face or nominal value, 11 times the size of the entire world economy.” And this is just the derivatives market. This does not include the inflated value of other stocks and securities.
If one thinks about it for a minute, how can an economy survive when a very small number of people possess wealth that is many times the value of everything on earth? This is the very definition of unstable. To make the situation even more dire, the rules of the game have not changed - and are not slated to change - so this imbalance will continue to grow rapidly; it is only reasonable to assume that at some point it will become no longer viable.
It is up to the people of the world to stop this from happening. At this point, it is a foregone conclusion that in not too long a period of time the current system will cease to function. The question is: what are we going to do about it? We have two obvious choices: one, try to repair the old system by instituting strict regulations and removing the thousands of people who work at the responsible Wall Street firms from the industry permanently. This may also require the elimination of both the derivatives market and the stock market as entities. But even this seemingly radical step may not be enough. What if the amount of capital that is out there is too great? Can balance be restored to this system with even the most radical actions? It is anyone’s guess - maybe, maybe not. Which brings us to obvious solution number two: try to build a different type of system since the old one cannot be repaired.
In the end, currency is simply a unit of measure. It is not wealth itself, but a measurement of wealth. The philosopher Alan Watts gives us a wonderful example of a depression when he describes it in this way: it is as if you went to build a house and the people there tell you it cannot be built because they have run out of inches – there is plenty of wood, nails and supplies, and plenty of people and time. We just have no inches. In the end this is all that money is: a unit of measure, like an inch.
If we decide to measure wealth in another way, then we are free to do so. And it would be fairly simple to do. There is no reason to be married to the idea of currency. The author Corey Doctorow in his book "Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom" has an idea for an alternative measurement of wealth called Wuffie. In this book, people are given points by others, online, for acts considered to be worthy of praise.
It would be quite simple to set up a system where everything is paid for by points (that could have any name). The points could be given by friends and strangers on Facebook and other sites for worthy acts. People could create points for people others with a daily limit. There would, of course, be limitations so that two people could not just give each other an enormous number of points. It could work very much like FB and even be done on Facebook in place of the “like” button. Every time you get a “like,” you get five points. Save a child from a burning building, and people across the world would give you “likes.” Commit an act of violence or greed and people can take away your points. There are details to work out but this system could be set up pretty quickly as an alternative to capitalism.
Let me be clear: I am not proposing this alternative to capitalism because I think it would be an improvement but because very soon we may have to come up with an alternative whether we want to or not.
Along with a new economy are naturally going to come new forms of social organization. Our government, for example, is going to need to be structured in a different way than it currently is. It has proven that the current configuration is not to the benefit of most of us. The Occupy movement has come up with a way to organize ourselves for decision-making that may be something we can institute world wide in the near future.
Each Occupy contingent operates a little differently to its own needs but needs but to the best of my knowledge all have a general assembly structure where small groups meet and report to the larger group. All vote and most groups have a 90% consensus rule (which means that 90% of the people have to agree to something before it can pass). This is much better than a simple majority where 49% of the people can be overruled consistently. As this type of decision making process is implemented, it would most likely be possible to up this percentage to 95% or even higher. This type of near consensus is close to the model of direct democracy. In direct democracy, the people vote on decisions themselves with no need for representatives. This could also be done pretty easily online. When you think of it, why don’t we have this already? Why do we have politicians at all when we do not need them anymore? They are a leftover from the past. We can make all the decisions ourselves through online voting. Of course, strict protocols a meticulous oversight with complete transparency would be required but this is fairly simple as well.
The thing that the people of the world have forgotten and are just now starting to remember is that we are in control. This is what the 1% is afraid of right now: that people will think about it and say, “Hey, wait a minute. We don’t need leaders or governments. We can run the world ourselves.” We certainly could not do any worse job of it than they have.
Imagine this: a world where the unit of measure for wealth (points, Wuffie, whatever) is distributed to all according to merit - and none of it is squirreled away by a few people who can never use most of what they have. There would be a lot more to go around. We would ALL have more wealth and a more comfortable life. If we work too much now, we could work less and take a deserved and needed rest. If do not work, we would now have the opportunity to work. Things that are now not valued would be under a better system. Currently, if you work raising children, you receive no wealth because this task is not valued. If you work cleaning the environment or volunteering at a homeless shelter, you are not given any wealth because this is not valued. If you teach children, you are given very little wealth because the people in charge of the wealth do not value education - even though most of the rest of us do. If you help others in a myriad of different ways, you receive no wealth because helping others is not valued. What is most important in life is given little or no value in the current business-centered system. If recent events have shown us anything, it is that we need a more human centered system. The classic “A Christmas Carol” by Charles Dickens contains the following lines:
Scrooge: But it was only that you were a good man of business, Jacob!
Ghost of Jacob Marley: BUSINESS? Mankind was my business! Their common welfare was my business!
The current obsession with business and profit has led us perhaps to the brink, perhaps over it. We may be forced to consider something different. Imagine the implementation of a system where our values are reflected in the distribution of wealth and not just the values of the 1%. I think we would all live much happier and more fulfilling lives. We would certainly be more comfortable - and have better healthcare.
This current and pending crisis could be the greatest opportunity that humans have ever had. We are most likely going to have the chance to set up a system that reflects who we really are and what our values really are. We need to start talking about it and planning it now so that when the time comes we are ready to implement it. We all should at least have some idea of where we are going and what the possibilities are because they are incredible indeed. Let us begin the discussion.
“I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.”
-- The Road Not Taken, Robert Frost
References
Stock Market: http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Goldman Sachs: http://www.alternet.org/...
Hedge Funds: http://www.ied.info/...