The Awakened Eco-nomy

The Awakened Eco-nomy








Or, The End of Communistic Corporationist-Capitalism (CCC)

U2’s latest album No Line on the Horizon has a catchphrase that appears through most of the songs – “Let me in the Sound”. But the phrase that may appear in this post regularly is: “When will people finally wake up?” Not as graceful as U2s one liner, but no doubt either Bono or a George Harrison could turn up a good song to go with it.

But to the task at hand. A little effort and thinking will show that what is termed as Capitalism, “free enterprise”, “free market”, and “competition” under the guise of Democracy is only an insidious subtle subterfuge that has bamboozled billions of people for a longer period of time than the so-called Communists of yesteryear.

For detailed background information behind the ideas in this post please check out:

Interdimensional Economics (Part 1)

Interdimensional Economics (Part 2)

As is the case with all things that are part of the natural order of this organic universe, world and life forms it contains anything that is imposed, false, mechanistic and full of skull-and-bones-duggery finally gets shown up for what it is. So the current economic unraveling and Great Financial Reckoning we are in the midst of is a sign of better things to come as we rid the planet of not only toxic assets by banks, but the toxicity of the greed and duplicity of Capitalism.

The irony is that now that Communism is to all intents and purposes dead, we can see just how much Corporationist-Capitalism is just the reverse side of the coin of Totalitarianism and Communism. Far fetched, you think?

Take a close look at the key characteristics of the erstwhile Soviet Union’s Communism and our Communistic Corporationist-Capitalism (CCC) today. The USSR was known (in the Cyrillic alphabet) as the CCCP, so our CCCs are just a 'P' short since they do not declare themselves a political party. The CCCs prefer to manipulate political parties and systems armed with the ideology of Capitalism

In the case of the USSR, its Constitution (the 1977 version) reads like the most democratic document of all time. It guarantees all kinds of rights from freedom of speech, to assembly and to the most democratic of activities. It claims to take its strengths from the proletariat citizens that make up the State. Yet we know how diametrically opposed the USSR actually was to any genuine democratic concerns.

The USSR had a system of Communist Party officials who were elected (there were hardly any other candidates offering a real choice) through the Party Congress, to the Supreme Soviet (highest legislative body) through to the Central Committee and its Secretariat from which the Politburo emerged. The Politburo was the inner sanctum of power and it had a Chairman/General Secretary heading it. Through a system of internal elections and bloodcurdling power struggles it decided who ran what and who had their fingers on the nuclear buttons of the military arsenal. The USSR called this a democratic system.

Look at our very own CCC. They have a group of shareholders (Central Committee) who apparently choose a Board of Directors (Politburo) who also have a Chairman. Sometimes it is an executive Chairman and you also have the CEO (either of whom can pass for the General Secretary) who is supposed to be the chief executive of the Corporate Apparatus. The Board can also co-opt other Apparatchiks from elsewhere if they can contribute to the money making ventures of the Board.

There is nothing democratic about this. Democracy is an operative term that denotes people power. The USSR had no people power but Apparatchik power that controlled the people in the most undemocratic manner possible all in the name of being ‘Democratic’. This is also known as a reductio ad absurdum.

The Communists claim to be a 'dictatorship of the proletariat', exactly the kind that would have made Marx wish he had been cremated as Engels was (so that there would not be anything left to roll around).

[Point of Clarification: The idea of a dictatorship of the proletariat was first mentioned by Marx and Engels. But their idea of it was as a transition phase from capitalism masquerading as democracy into Communism where there was a 'withering away of the state' and proper democratic freedoms settled for all without any state coercion.

Lenin's idea of such a 'dictatorship' and end of state coercion followed similar lines and he was short on details as to what a Communist system would ultimately be. Lenin argued eloquently for his vision of the transitional 'dictatorship of the proletariat' in his seminal What is to Be Done and State and Revolution.

As Lars T. Lih brilliantly points out in Lenin Rediscovered: What is to Be Done in Context, Lenin was in all probability genuine in having a system free from all coercion and one that was just and fair for all, which involved a dictatorship of the proletariat being set up as an interim to his ideal political system (which he thought coincided with Marx's vision).

But the problem is that Marx did not live long enough to outline his ideal Communist system, and Lenin allowed things to slip out of his control. So while Lenin deserves credit (with Trotsky) for offering dynamic and visionary leadership, the sad fact remains that they also have to answer for what went wrong in the USSR and for having blood stained hands in allowing for the execution of political opponents, 'reactionaries' and the convenient massacre of the Tsar and his family. They were thereby responsible for the monstrosity that followed in the wake of Stalin.

But as I have been trying to show in the earlier posts called Interdimensional Economics and as I hope to explore in subsequent posts: the ideas of those like Marx, Engels, and Lenin can be realised in their highest form of good if taken to a different paradigm. This would involve taking a metaphysical basis to things as well as looking at what a real democracy looks like without resorting to dictatorships of any kind. But these would be ideas that Marx and Lenin would have objected to because for the former it involved 'metaphysics', and for the latter it involved 'democracy' which was a distasteful ideology for Lenin (who in turn ironically resorted to ideology to put forward his views).

The point being made here is that the Communist verision of the 'dictatorship of the proleteriat' as was known to the world was one of the worst forms of totalitarianism in human history]

The lovable CCC creates a dictatorship of selfishness, greed and egomania (We will come to the profit motive soon). Now here comes the revealed sleight of hand of the CCC after the demise of the Soviet bloc. Once the latter had collapsed economically and politically, and the West no longer had the opportunity to contrast their product of so-called western democracy against the so-called non-MBA trained Communist bloc, the CCCs could sell and effectively market its own agenda of world domination of markets and human beings under the guise of “free enterprise”, “freedom” and “democracy”.

With the major Communist competitor out of the way, the western democracies formed an Oligopoly. It was now a matter of seeing who won the game between themselves in creating a Monopoly.

(China poses special problems here because it is anything but a Communist state these days).

So all the so-called free enterprise CCCs came out of the woodwork and before long embarked on merciless and blatant mergers and acquisitions that made anti-trust laws seem heaven sent. While heralding wealth and prosperity for all (meaning the CCC Nomenklatura), the drive for aggression and domination created a whole system that is skewered against any form of financial or economic stability. The CCC lust for power and money fosters not market equilibrium but disequilibrium for that is the only way to be a monopoly.

The USSR had their power elites who cornered the ‘market’ of privilege and showed us the truth of Orwell’s prescient “Four legs good, two legs better” dictum. These happy folk were known as the Nomenklatura.

The CCCs have their own elites with all their privileges and private jets and indecent bonuses at the expense of all honest working men and women who are usually honest taxpayers too. The CCC nomenklatura seek to unduly influence decision makers, legislators, the media (which they largely own) to keep their ruling class in sovereignty over everyone else preferably as unjustly and unfairly as possible.

Some years ago when Microsoft was starting to really earn its reputation as a bully in the market, Bill Gates actually admitted that he was interested in biographies and, at that time, was deeply immersed in one on Stalin. He was not reading about Stalin to learn about better business practices, but probably on monopolizing control of things. So Comrade Stalin would have been a good fellow to study.

Just as the USSR sought to spread its ideology and control over the globe, that is exactly what CCCs have done in infiltrating and destabilizing the world and national economies all in pursuit of its own blinkered ideology: the profit motive. And they quote misguided neo-classical economists and their practitioners today to come up with the right kind of mumbo-jumbo to support corporate takeovers wherever and whenever possible with ruthless removal of all competition. Apparently that is what competition means – liquidating the other guy whenever feasible (pun fully intended).

Think about it. In a so-called democracy today, how is it that the entire economy, politics and lives of people are subject to the dictates of CCCs, what they do, whom they hire and who are part of their Politburo and Central Committee of shareholders? Not to mention allowing the world’s economic fate to be affected by what their nomenklatura desires.

So much of what we see that has happened in the entire economic cycle of inevitable booms, busts, currency devaluations, mass unemployment, poverty, human abuse, wars and conflicts have been caused by unelected apparatchiks who’s goal is the profit motive. There is nothing democratic, free or fair in business apparatchiks claiming to serve “democracy” when all they do is serve their greed and interests of their shareholder central committee members.

CCC elements buy and corrupt politicians to ensure that legislation is produced to serve the interests of their structure and apparatus. We are talking their politicians at home and abroad.
All this to serve the ideological God of the Profit Motive (the new name for Mammon of old, you remember him, surely).

As most of humanity is plugged into a system where their material needs are dependent on selling their labour power (since that is virtually all anyone has to sell) to make a living, nobody really questions this worship of Mammon-Profit Motive. In fact, this is usually not just out of ignorance but out of fear from the perception of what the CCC apparatus might do to them in terms of leaving them out in the cold to starve.

But these very activities of the CCC are now what is causing all the economic instability in the world, not to mention coming to terms to the incalculable damage done to the environment and our beloved planet.

When will people finally wake up…?

All attempts by CCCs to pay lip service to protecting human dignity, or the environment, is done so as to continue serving Mammon-Profit Motive. Let’s not be fooled here. Every tax incentive that is sought, every CCC loophole that is gained via manipulation of the media and politicians and connivance of banks is done at the expense of human beings and national interests. What is so ‘free and fair’ or democratic about a system that allows tax loopholes and privileges to be wrangled out by CCCs at the expense of the average tax payer (that is, the mass majority of respectable citizens). Somebody has to pay for all nomenklatura privileges of the CCC, and for some reason it seems it has to be you and me.

So tax payers continue to pay taxes, take on heavy loans and work themselves to near death while the CCCs and their top honchos continue to evade taxes so as to gain even greater bonuses for themselves. In other words, you get to support the CCC worship of Mammon-Profit Motive and also get to call your society a ‘democracy’: now that sounds like a two-in-one offer that’s hard to resist.

Bear in mind that the entire advertising, marketing, and media industry (with few exceptions) are honed to titillate the senses, negativity, fear, anxiety or the ego in service of Mammon-Profit Motive. Virtually all such industries in the media are under CCC control in one form or another, so they DO NOT serve the interests of the people but that of the CCC Politburo and Central Committee and careerists within the industry who hope to rise as Apparatchik.


Then we have the high priests of Mammon-Profit Motive, the Banking industry. The major banks are in absolute cahoots with Big Business and play a part in creating the distinctive self centered nature of the CCC beast. Essentially, all profits made from paying working people lower than they deserve in the productive process of commodities, is stashed away/invested in banks by CCC elements. The stash is then loaned out to all of us which we then have to repay plus interest.

So we are loaned the money we helped make and for which we now pay back with interest. Is there any wonder why the whole world is in debt? This is the gift of the CCC structure – a debt based economy. And when the loans are called in due to ‘toxicity’ of banking assets or otherwise, we all have to pay the price. Those who are in lower income groups or at subsistence level living bear the brunt of the economic crashes created by the CCC apparatus.

Take a break and watch these clips:

Capitalism 101

Capitalism Primer

Full Version

Capitalism Hits the Fan


Next comes a term that is well used within the USSR system, that of the interlocking directorate. Heed these words by Charles Timberlake:


"THE PARTY CONTROLLED THE GOVERNMENT. In fact, it functioned as THE LEGISLATIVE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT. The “government” (described by the Constitution of 1936) functioned not as a legislative body the Constitution alleged, but merely as the EXECUTIVE AGENCY that implemented decisions made by some 12 to 13 people who composed the Political Bureau (Politburo) of the party. But, the people who held the most important government positions were also members of the party organ that made the decision. Having made a decision, party and government officials passed commands downward through parallel party and government hierarchies. At every administrative level, the party committee (which always included the head of government for the administrative region) met to discuss the command, and then passed the commands downward, through the same parallel party and government structures, to the party and government officials at the next administrative level below them. Thus, the Party Politburo adopted legislation. It then implemented those decisions through two parallel, hierarchical bureaucracies that had---at every administrative level—interlocking directorates. We may accurately refer to this relationship as 'the Bolshevik Party and its government.' ” (italics and highlights mine)


What this means is that CPSU members (Communist Party of the Soviet Union) who were in the Politburo, Central Committee and other organs of the party or state, had a wonderfully incestuous relationship via sitting in one another’s committees. So you would have members of the military who would be members of the CPSU, Central Committee, and Politburo, etc. This was a way to exert ideological thinking, control, as well as self-aggrandizement throughout the system. To say that this led to cronyism is to put it lightly.

Guess what? The CCC boasts of having an interlocking directorate system in which board members sit on other boards, which include politicians and people of influence. This is apparently in the interests of ‘democracy’, the ‘free market’ and ‘free enterprise’. While the rationale for such a notion was sold as being a way of maximizing synergy, it is really a way of cronyism, self aggrandizement and ideological control more than anything else. The CCC barons of today more than the dead Stalinists of yesterday, are the exemplars of Lenin’s dictum: “Who? Whom?”

This was an elegant expression for ‘who exercises power over whom’ in that the old school Communists, and the CCC exponents throughout history, are proponents of the master-slave set-up. Guess who fills in which roles? (When will people finally wake up…?)

The USSR had a system of summary executions (liquidation) of dissenters especially in its Stalinist heydays. The CCCs in the spirit of ‘free enterprise’ and ‘democracy’ summarily fire staff with only a day, or less, notice.

Many of us are aware, even as we read these lines, of layoffs by private firms that see to it that those relieved of work are sent down and out with their shoe box of personal items summarily in hand, and made to walk right through the front door without a chance to even say good bye to a single colleague (except the one who was laid off with you). The reason is that there is the fear that you may sabotage office equipment or cause dissatisfaction among staff etc if you are treated humanely and given a proper notice that you have been terminated. Worse, you may ‘steal’ stuff that can be used by a competitor!

And we do not even need to look into the arena of CCC politicking and backstabbing which may make some communist parties look anemic.

Mammon-Profit Motive serves self interest and involves the indubitable exploitation and theft of others’ effort and lifeblood to sustain untrammeled greed at the expense of all life forms and our planet itself. It promotes cynicism, doubt, and a nihilistic worldview.

If the state of humanity and the world as seen through events of the 20th century is insufficient testament to the effects of nihilism, just read any of the major novels by Dostoevsky to get an idea of what it is all about.

Incidentally, the nihilistic worldview of extremists like Nechayev had gone quite some way to evolving the kind of ruthlessness and brutality that stalked behind the likes of Lenin, Stalin and Trotsky.

So much for the Mammon-Profit Motive: if there ever was a system based on insecurity, fear, vindictiveness and sheer lack of integrity it is what we call capitalistic ‘private enterprise’ today.


Thought Experiment

Try this exercise. Imagine you have suddenly discovered, and see in the clear light of day, that you live in a world in which a group of people belonging to a set of ideological beliefs need to protect their interests above all else (try, perhaps it is difficult, but try).

It is a world in which technology has been used to control and influence your mind and that of others on the planet. Let’s say They can instill in you the desire for unbridled self indulgence, fear, anxiety, hatred, divisiveness, a sense of separateness from others, despair and anger so that you become a kind of automaton, a mechanized man, woman or youth subject to their manipulation.

This entire structure of control is created for the sole purpose of keeping the mass majority of people subservient to the dictates of a nomenklatura. And you either join the Controllers or you will be liquidated by them one way or another (or simply be worn out by ‘life’).

What would your reaction be? How long will you tolerate this subjugation of your loved ones, yourself, your friends or anyone for whom you had a shade of caring for?

Yet this is exactly the system of the CCC we have been connived into buying with the full and, in many cases, willing participation of the media. Communism ‘lost’ because something more subtle and soul destroying ‘won’. But like all mechanistic set-ups, it has run its course in an organic universe and world.

Nothing can beat the laws of Nature. The mechanized CCC clones are only finally realizing that the system they created is collapsing around their ears. There are NO laws in economics: it is one of the greatest frauds perpetuated on humanity.

There are only laws of Nature. There is not one theory of Mammon-Profit Motive that can beat the law of gravity. And the CCC tower of Babel is coming down, hard.

At the moment of this writing, the US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has said that unless insurance mega corporation AIG is bailed out via taxpayers $ a “global financial meltdown” may occur. Stop the press! Did he say “global financial meltdown”?

Now kind reader, please ask yourself how on earth did we get to a stage where some crummy firm holds the fate of the global economy? Is this kind of a situation a reflection of democracy and can it ever have been geared to protect the interests of the people? The CCC structure is so top heavy with the centre of gravity so stacked in an ungodly manner in favour of its nomenklatura that the toppling of this ungainly edifice causes the world economy to tumble as well.

If there are right thinking people left on the planet, they should be asking why does this situation exist at all.


A Social Kind of Economy

So where does that leave us? Actually, with good news all around if we choose to act on it. Where we need to go is towards a social kind of economy which is a community based one. This is not socialism or any other ‘-ism’. Do some research and you will find more than you imagined that is available out there on this. One such example of building sustainable communities is the Transition Town.

The key here is this – we move away from Mammon-Profit Motive to sustainability. So the basic rationalization of any commercial set up is one that is modeled like a social business in which its bottom line is sustainability, NOT profitability. It must be stated that the term "profit" when used in the context of a social business means "sustainability" not Mammon-Profit Motive.

But the difference between a social business and commercial venture of the Social Economy is that while a social business aims to cover costs and sustains itself and staff and can be perhaps seen as a welfare enterprise (e.g., eye clinics, providing basic food stuff, health and social insurance etc), a commercial enterprise in the Social Economy can aim for higher revenue as part of sustainability.

What this means is that it is not aiming for profit, but can aim for surplus sustainability. So such a firm would take whatever earnings it receives over and above its basic sustainability, that is, the bottom line of what would have qualified as a social business; and place that into a sustainability fund. This fund would be shared out equally or at a pre-arranged ratio (agreed to prior to setting up of the enterprise) among all those who work in the firm -- this means all workers/staff and managerial officers. The only owners in this firm are the workers, staff, executives and supervisors.

There is no need for bonuses or bizarrely high pay for anyone. Managers will earn as much as workers or perhaps more depending on the agreement by those who set up the firm. In the case of large firms the government, local governments and those who are part of the firm will be the shareholders. The entrepreneurial folk and banks are invited to join in and/or hired depending on how people want the set up to work.

There is voting at different levels of the community to ensure maximized democracy and a stake in the system and the commodities produced. This can be worked out according to each society to fit its needs and context so no gridlock of approval/voting need take place. What with the Internet, a lot of the choices made by people can be expressed via online procedures as well.

Please bear in mind that online voting procedures would refer to situations in developed democracies. In the case of poorer states, social businesses will take care of the needs of the underprivileged and those lacking in education etc.

All commodities and means of production will be aligned to what the country and its people determine as GPF solutions, that is, Green and People Friendly Solutions. The nature of the workweek, workday, relationship between colleagues and the relationship to what is produced for people within a country or for export, will be aligned towards respect for human dignity and the environment.

This is well within our reach if we put our hearts and minds into it.

Some of the changes that would be required would be:

• Overhaul of national and international laws pertaining to the banking industry
  


• Overhaul of national and international laws pertaining to firms and enterprises. No firms will be given the protection, loopholes or incentives that are currently in place which are manifestly against the interests of human dignity, lack all compassion, and desecrate the environment
  


• A detailed study of what aspects of Islamic financial principles can be used effectively here (e.g., such principles can be applied in creating the sustainability fund mentioned, its contractual basis, as well as its operative procedures). The reason for looking into such principles is because the whole commercial enterprise in Islam is meant to have a system balanced with Divine Law, justice, fairness and compassion. It is also an effective way to make the Islamic world part of a revamped global economic enterprise. Islamic economics is taught at a number of universities worldwide and material on it is readily available everywhere
  


• Removal of all interlocking directorates. There may be a situation that warrants, if at all, a person sitting in two firms holding an official post in each but it cannot go beyond that. This is to minimize cronyism, group think and corruption (to say the least)
  


• Removal of stock exchanges and any semblance of gambling in the economic growth of nations or their currencies
  


• When in doubt bring in members of the community etc to discuss and settle an issue through a vote. People who sit in on these groups are voted in by their communities as part of regular local elections. This allows for full accountability and transparency. It is also surprisingly democratic. This is what is meant by People Power: not that which is disruptive, but that which is constructive and aligned to the positive energy of GPF solutions
  


• Communities are empowered to ban all forms of advertising, marketing and media. They can allow them in or create their own based on what suits their values. Creation of citizen journalists who report fairly, well researched and boundary pushing news with the welfare of the community and society at heart. No more answering to egos and CCC type dictates
  

The role of government is one of synergy and one that not only provides national leadership, but also complements and supplements the feasible and viable efforts of citizens in whatever projects and enterprises the citizens ask the government to come on board.

Also needed is a political system, at least in developed democracies based on the principles of Justice as Fairness as proposed by Rawls. John Rawls’s ideas of political constructivism allow for people to use their interaction and lessons learnt from an overlapping consensus created by state or society from which is derived the political principles that will govern their society or community.

Similarly, we can now have something called economic constructivism which allows for a similar process in which a society and communities allow for social economy type enterprises to flourish to sustain and support the citizens of a country as well as take part in synergistic regional and international trade devoid of practices meant to undermine the ‘competition’. The new type of competition promoted here is a just, fair, and compassionate one that allows each state, society, or community to build on strengths and advantages which allow the import and export of commodities which create a win-win situation for all concerned.

So rather that comparative or competitive advantage, we have sustainable advantage which allows nations to have a system of trade that allows for social economy firms and businesses to maximize their potential while allowing fair and beneficial exchange of commodities. Returning to the societal and community level, some aspects of the process of economic constructivism would lead to maximized creative endeavours which should lead to the creation of necessary and meaningful work that sustains an economy and society.

This would entail initiatives involving

1. local/complementary currencies (e.g., Time Banks)


2. barter exchanges


3. the really really free market type activities


4. volunteer based set ups and organizations that involve schools, youth and social economy businesses/firms, governmental organizations, and NGOs

There is no reason why the four aspects above cannot be applied to regional and international trade in an extended sense. All it takes is political will. But to do that it takes people electing the right type of leaders and holding them accountable in public office. Which means there is not much room for a slacker citizenry; People Power involves a fully participatory democracy of people who are mature, tolerant, and willing to accept responsibility for their decisions.

And from that point on, any blame for things that don’t work must be leveled at the source for that which has allowed things to happen in each society: the image in the mirror when you look into it.


Eco-nomics

In order for any system to survive in a healthy, balanced and sustainable manner, it would do best to mimic or be one with the organic nature of the universe, world and life on it. This means ecological balance.

The social economy proposed here is one of creating an economic ecosystem or Eco-nomy that fits into the way the world actually works according to the law of nature, and not some bizarre mechanistic imposition serving the fallen angels of Mammon-Profit Motive.

A system of empowered people and a decentralized economic web of being will allow for communities to fit into the national organism of state, and allow the latter to grow and live in harmony and balance with its communities and citizens. This is the true nature of a synergistic, collaborative, synchronistic and symbiotic relationship which may be possible in a society. Recycle all those irrelevant management textbooks as they serve Mammon-Profit Motive and we do not need them anymore.

With an eco-nomic system, we no longer have the unnatural high centre of gravity of the CCC hierarchy which leads to silly statements that the world economy is in peril because some lousy firms show just how lousy they really are. An eco-nomic system has a well spread out centre of gravity that provides for stability all round.

Just watch the give and take of nature and how balance can be maintained for the benefit of all. But you do need gardeners, which is why we need leaders who are just that -- not those who compel others to do what is against their own interest, but gardeners who nurture, cultivate, strengthen and beautify the garden politic.

The leaders we need today for tomorrow and beyond will be the Good Gardeners who tend to the Garden of State and maintain its balance, harmony and well being. Community based leadership and economic growth is a reflection of the kind of eco-nomic system we need for a just, fair and compassionate way of doing things. That’s why the notion of political and economic constructivism fits in perfectly.

We should look to creating an organic system of self adjusting principles and ways of doing things that allows for social, economic and political osmosis of ideas and goodwill between all people in a society and between nations.

We need to be like water: flexible, all encompassing, have miscibility (able to mix freely with all things), and have that special ability miscalled an ‘anomaly’. Water’s so-called ‘anomaly’ is this: that it reaches its maximum density as it approaches 4 degrees Celsius. This characteristic allows for the surface of large bodies of waters like lakes etc to freeze, while keeping that below in liquid form circulating within its internal convection cycle of well within 4 degrees Celsius: this is why fish can live below frozen lakes.

How is this possible, indeed. This is natural and cosmic law, not mumbo-jumbo economic ones. These are natural ecological parameters that allow for the sustenance of life. So an eco-nomy is one that corresponds to cosmic law: as above, so below.

Similarly, we need to learn from the flexibility, suppleness and cleanliness of water in allowing for the type of parameters within our societies which foster balance, freedom, fairness and compassion. We need to move away from the narrow, imbalanced and destructive concerns of the ego and look to the whole, thereby looking after the interests of all within it. This calls for a self adjusting, self regulating natural system of government and an open hearted way of doing things.

But empowerment comes at a price. It comes with waking up, getting real and growing up.

Then we will have started to create an Awakened Eco-nomy.

Live Long and Prosper!

Darkness Visible

When Will People Finally Wake Up...?

Barack Obama is a good man, but his $250 billion bailout for banks is misguided. It is time for people to stop supporting such bailouts at their own expense. This comes in the wake of yet another announcement of yet another failed financial venture, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS). The RBS is reported to have loss an equivalent of $34 billion due to the unravelling debacle of the world financial crisis, and a badly timed takeover bid of Holland's ABN Amro.

But it gets better. Britain's government has, through an inspired move, decided to insure "toxic" assets worth about US$ 464 billion under its Asset Protection Scheme in order to cover 90 per cent of losses resulting from such deals.

Yet, the plot thickens, as there is no guarantee that banking moguls on both sides of the Atlantic or elsewhere will forego bonuses, or that the media will have the integrity to report and go after such robber barons (if they remember what investigative journalism means).

The famous banks of Switzerland have also agreed to go back to the age old formula of not disclosing clients' financial accounts lest the criminality and shenanigans that have been going on for decades will be made transparent. Apparently more secrecy in times like these is the best way to help the world.

But the Swiss banks have good reason to be secretive. Do some research to find out how the German government had created a 'secret' bank account for adorable Vladmir Ulyanov (a.k.a. Lenin) to help him finance the Bolshevik 'Revolution'. This was instrumental for the Financial Moguls who have tried repeatedly to control the world; they wanted to destabilise Russia and put in a puppet regime whom they could hold to economic and financial ransom. But they miscalculated badly with Stalin: this was before risk management became part of MBA programmes.

Check out how Adolph Hitler stashed away at least US$ 20 million (1930s value) in a 'secret' Swiss account from his runaway bestseller Mein Kampf which was faithfully translated into many languages. The Financial Moguls supported the Nazi's in Germany's takeover and probably thought that, because the guy looked like Charlie Chaplin, they could control Hitler. Another mistake.

Chaplin hit back with The Great Dictator (which Hitler reportedly watched in the final days in his bunker).

Yet, we have been brainwashed all these years to think that so much of what has happened has been the result of Democracy versus Totalitarianism and all that. Sure, there is truth to it. But this is the time for all those dark 'secrets' to come out on how the world's banks have been progenitors in creating the fiascoes that have caused this planet so much suffering right up to this very moment.

Imagine how many banks have had 'secret' accounts for war mongers, drug dealers and other sublime money laundering operations all in the name of the 'public good'...? Now the chickens have come home to roost, but they appear to be genetically engineered headless ones.

And the rest of the world's population for some perverse reason must pay the price for all this. That's the part that still doesn't make much sense.

How long will people sit down and moan and groan and watch how their future and that of their children continue to be mortgaged away through mammoth amounts of taxes that will have to be paid as a result of more bailouts of banks?

Perhaps banks do need to be controlled by communities and people and the government rather than capitalists intent on greed. The US Federal Reserve is not federal at all in that it is a private consortium that has long done damage to the US and the world through grasping men for whom the world is clearly not enough. They would colonize the moon for a theme park if they could.

What is to be Done?

It is time for people to sit down and form groups to create people power. There will be time enough when you are out of that job you're clinging on to and the banks shut down because another "toxic" account finally doesn't have more paper money to cover their unethical behaviour and 'secrecy'.

It is time to start writing to your governments and groups of influence to pressurise the start of removal of all such 'secrecy' to reveal the corruption that has held the world in captivity for centuries. It is better to act now than wait for the inevitable public disturbance that will happen when the whole system collapses on its head.

The best kind of revolution is still a bloodless one. And it is going to take a lot of strength to keep it peaceful.

Act now.

"But a usurer and money-glutton, such a one would have the world perish of hunger and thirst, misery and want, so far as in him lies, so that he may have all to himself, and every one may receive from him as from a God, and be his serf for ever more." Martin Luther, written in 1540

Capitalism 101

Capitalism Primer

The Full Version

Capitalism Hits the Fan

INTERDIMENSIONAL ECONOMICS (PART 1): THE ECONOMY OF 3D

The Overdue Sunrise


Bailouts are not the answer. It is time to go beyond economics as usual and look into the metaphysical ideas which can take us out of the current economic quagmire. And we can get out of this mess.

For now, there seems to be no end to it. There seems no end to attempted bailouts for industries and attempts to fix a tail spinning US and world economy through lowering interest rates, and pumping in more money. The solution for banks, big businesses and governments (3BG) seems to be that when there is a problem, throw money at it and maybe it will go away. The ideas in this piece will look at how we got into this mess and a possible scenario of getting out of the quagmire.

The first part looks at our three dimensional economy (3D), which reflects the world as we live it. This analysis will be done under the auspices of Karl Marx’s ideas. This is not an apologia but a use of Marx’s ideas as a platform to bring forth my own.

The second part will look at what is termed a fifth dimensional (5D) economy. The 3D economy is an ego based one which we have been weaned onto since birth and have been led by the nose to believe is the only way to live. The 5D economy is a heart based one, in which we go beyond the claptrap that has held back the species and the planet all these years. In the latter, basic spiritual and metaphysical ideas will be looked at to help give a different perspective to where we can be heading, if we so choose, in our economy and our lives.

Please read this piece in order of Part 1 first and then Part 2, as the 5D ideas will sound like they are the product of hallucinogens that Coleridge may have used when writing Kubla Khan -- which they are decidedly not -- unless the reasons for the collapse of the 3D model have been examined.

The point of this piece is that we are not due for an apocalypse if we choose to create the reality that reflects the better angels of our nature.

The Economics of the Third Dimension


Marx has been misunderstood. Seriously. And I am convinced that he, above all other political thinkers, had seen right through the veil of ignorance of what a capitalist system based on its foundation of scarcity finally leads us to. Neither the hardcore capitalists nor diehard communists (those who are still alive) have any notion of what the Big M was up to. Marx was a philosopher who turned a devastatingly critical and accurate eye on what was happening around him.

Watch these wonderful films by the great Charlie Chaplin, and have an idea from film what Marx was on about: Modern Times, The Great Dictator, Monsieur Verdoux, A King in New York. In the first one you see man becoming a cog in the whole system of the assembly line of industrialization. In the second you see how industry and the vast maximization of capitalism works hand-in-hand with fascism. In the other two, see how trying to stay alive in the capitalist system means you have to live off the life of others (literally at times), and how the system is a natural bedfellow for all forms of dishonesty and hypocrisy. (The films are also very funny and entertaining.)

But does the world have to be this way? Chaplin gives some of his responses in his films, whereas Marx hits you with a velvet gavel via his great work. Most of the ideas in this piece are based on a reading of Marx’s major works: his biography written, and selected works edited, by David McLellan; Marx’s Grundrisse ("Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy"); his ineluctable Vol. 1 of Capital (and parts of Vol. 2 and 3); An Outline of the History of Economic Thought by Screpanti and Zamagni, and all major works of George Orwell.

Basically, what Marx was on about was this: that the neo-classical economists who come up with dandy ideas of supply and demand, and all those wonderful little curves and bizarre calculations have perpetrated one of the greatest frauds of all time (that was a euphemistic paraphrase of Marx). That notions of land, labour and capital as economic entities and products that, if juggled right, would lead us to utopia are what has gotten us, in many ways, into the rut we are in. Rather than focus on the unrealistic assumptions and nature of neo-classical economics, let’s look at the real thing.

Marx essentially claims that anything to do with the world of a human being has to do with human nature and human interaction with one another and the environment. The economy is a purely human affair because it has man in the centre, at the beginning and at the end. The whole purpose of an economy is to serve as a means for humans to deal with one another in a balanced and meaningful manner so as to lead fulfilling lives. So any aspect of an economy must be examined by its human relational aspect. This seems like common sense.

So the economy is all about how we relate to one another. The system of economic production used and the products that come from it are the result of human interaction; and how we relate to one another impacts how we lead our lives; that in turn coupled with the way we perceive the world etc determines our existence and the way the world operates. So it starts with man and ends with man.

However, the capitalist system is a different animal altogether. This is a system which with the connivance of 3BG has created a mechanistic behemoth of using land, people (labour) and capital as that which is turned into the cog of an industry (which includes the service industry) which then churns out a product that is thrown out for people to consume. This is then regurgitated back via income earned into more spending so that the whole glorious cycle can be repeated.

Some call this life, Marx calls it Capitalism, the rest of us call it the disaster unraveling all around us.

But Marx’s point was that when people as workers/labour are treated as a means to an end, as is what capitalism prides itself in doing, then there are consequences in terms of our relations to one another. Because what happens is that women and men who are supposedly born free to fulfill their destiny are now here to fulfill the destiny of capitalist production.

When the economic perspective is framed by capitalism then this is what occurs: all aspects of production, including human beings, are mere instruments for production for that which is meant for consumption. But this is a process that allows for labour (people) to be treated as instruments and dehumanized by the bosses/superiors/capitalists as functional tools in an industry (media, food, cars, education, health, military, etc).

Taking a different tack: I have taught at tertiary/college level institutions where teachers/instructors are told that they are hired to produce a product for the consumer/client/customer, that is, the student. If this is the attitude of education in many places today, do we still wonder why the world is where it is at? Many of the students I have taught say they wanted to go into ‘business’ (the ‘business’ of ‘business’ being ‘business’), or the ‘medical business’, or the health and education ‘business’ or the media ‘business’. When asked why they chose these fields, most honestly said: to make a lot of money -- the kind that today you can use as a substitute currency in your Monopoly game.

And as Marx rightly points out, what happens is that as in the education ‘industry’ or ‘business’ the relations between students and teachers change due to their mode of production. So I was told by my superiors back then to deliver a product (lessons) to my customers (students), and fill in forms to satisfy bureaucratic structures and feedback mechanisms as to how the product delivery went. The only thing missing here was the Ford motor assembly line.

In other words put on the work apron, and to hell with the students, their welfare and whether they learn anything, much less if they become ‘educated’ (what on earth does that mean today?); just churn out the stuff, make sure it meets the industrial ISO standards, do and say the right things to get my capitalist-inspired bonus for churning out as many courses, lesson plans, extra school/curricula activities, and (if I can be popular with the students at the same time) perhaps get some good feedback from my customers.

This has led to teachers becoming indifferent to their students, and simply seeing them as a means to an end, that is, their salary or rather their wage. There is hardly any concern for what happens to the student than a guy doing the rivets for a car in an auto manufacturing plant (those that are still open) cares for who owns and drives the eventual vehicle made, or how it is used.

But it cuts both ways for I have heard many students in the past complain to me about their other teachers and say that they do their readings or assignments because they choose to do so and depending on whether they like a teacher (!). And that the teacher should adapt to them, and not them to whatever ideas (which may be demanding) the teacher is trying to bring across because they pay the teachers’ wage/salary via their tuition fees.

Look at your own workplace and environment and see how working conditions and attitudes from this capitalist system makes people unreasonably competitive, confrontational, unforgiving and egomaniacal. This is the price we pay for an ego based system of reality that Marx warned us about.

For the capitalist system, it is not about people, our societies or the world, it is about our egos. And what would 3BG do without it. The cornerstone of the capitalist system is the feeding of egos, creation of scarcity, fear mongering, and enslaving of labour (people) in order to create more and more capital. For further insight into this please see The Economy of Scarcity.

Capital begets capital and all human relations are force fed into this structure of production which creates havoc among people relating to themselves and others. This in turn creates class, in which people seek to belong to a controlling situation or position which allows them to exercise power over others. This has little to do with putting a good person in charge to does things competently, fairly and reasonably. For Marx, the need for capital accumulation and results can change a decent person into a megalomaniac.

But this does not mean that no good ever came out of capitalism. It has provided great material wealth, and in modern societies many have acquired this material wealth. But capitalism’s unending, unthinking, knee-jerk reaction of continuing to voraciously expand itself via greed and the need to sustain itself has reduced humans to being desensitized to acts of violence between themselves.

The Capitalist Grind Mill


How exactly is the worker/woman/man/child dehumanized by the process of capitalism. Marx shows that labour loses out twofold via unjustified surplus value extraction and theft of the product of labour. A person is paid a wage that is sufficient for him to live and reproduce himself (as in supporting a family).

This is a minimal or necessary wage. The wage system is a reminder to a person that he has sold his labour power to someone who gives him money in return. This is like being paid to lick stamps in that your bodily fluid (for Marx labour power) of saliva has been sold for a service provided. This is a process of alienation for the individual from his human essence when he parts with something that he was born with and is to all intents and purposes sacred, but has been de-sanctified because it can be purchased and traded for money.

And people have been led to believe that this is the only way to live. The capitalist system as Marx keenly points out is really a snazzy version of feudalism, which for us means some credit cards and mobile phones thrown in.

The feudal lord owns the land and he determines who does what for whom and how, for what it is worth. The serfs, peasants, tenants or what you will, serve at his pleasure. He in turn is supposed to ensure their welfare in that they have enough to get themselves and their family through the day and reproduce themselves; this is important because the class of serfs must be maintained and kept in their place to continue serving the ruling class of landlords.

Bring all this forward to the industrial and information revolution and see how the feudal system of production has been reproduced in the form of capitalism which we have been indoctrinated to believe from birth is how the world is. Marx’s point, and that of any clear thinking individual, is that it is not the way it is or has to be, but how we have been brainwashed into accepting to keep the status quo.

Remember, when you a born, you come into a flow of time and activity which has preceded you in this master-slave relationship and your parents, family, society, and government all take it as a natural progression of things mostly out of ignorance. But the manipulators of the world know that the only way to keep the master-slave class structure is to control the financial and banking industry and buy over support through coloured paper that is printed willy-nilly as fiat currency.

That is why we need a comic genius like Chaplin to show how funny and ridiculous we are in accepting the agenda of manipulators and dictators.

Democracy today by any name is largely a capitalist master-slave relationship. We have been conned into accepting it by the illusion of material wealth that provides us and the world anything but peace, security and happiness. Because as Marx points out, the capitalist mode of production of alienation of our labour and labour power through a system of wages, takes away most people’s creative drive and sacred core by making them serve capital accumulation so as to accelerate it even further. Can this really be living?

Now we can take a closer look at the two fold deception that capitalism has used on us as Marx would put it. A person is made to work long hours and over time, as far as possible, to squeeze the maximum out of his time and effort thereby allowing for maximum product creation that can then be sold for as much profit as possible. This has got nothing to do with leading a balanced and fulfilling life.

First, there is the profit made from the surplus value of labour as explained by Marx. After all the costs of production are deducted including the wage paid, the capitalist makes a profit based on value gained from labour power, that is, the surplus value of labour. This means the exploitation of what labour can produce via a minimal wage paid to abstract its profit creating output. This is the only way for the capitalist to make a profit through the exploitation of variable capital, that is, labour. Labour is variable because it is born, can grow sick, old and die and needs constant reproducing to keep the machinery of production humming.

Most people are also eminently suited for manipulation (variable) and can be made to do more for less. It is hard to make a profit if labour is paid fairly for what it is worth for it needs exploitation to ensure value from which profit can be drawn.

Another classic example of surplus value extraction is the use of domestic maids. Take a situation of a maid coming from a third world country who will be paid in a currency of a richer country for her services. She comes to a household and, depending on how she is treated, in effect comes under a master-slave relationship with her employers. The maid is caught in a 24 hour cycle of being at the beck and call of her employers.

She not only cleans the home, she markets for them, washes the car daily, waters the plants, does baby sitting, cooks, washes up, endures the baiting of badly brought up kids, looks after the family invalid, and is taken to the employer’s business or relative’s home to do even more work.

Hey, maximization of the buck.

Now if different people were hired to do all this work, imagine the cost: in other words the fair wages that would have to be paid. But for a fistful of dollars, and a few dollars more thrown in as an annual Christmas bonus, the master-slave relationship ensures that the surplus value of the maid is exploited to the hilt thereby making it a profitable enterprise for her bosses.

Rank capitalism in a nutshell.

Sure, more people today are enlightened in their treatment of maids, but only after human rights groups caused government intervention in many instances of abuse. [This does not in anyway exonerate maids/employees who themselves have been guilty of nefarious conduct while at work]

Also look at the busy executives of today. Many have the favour returned for the way they treat their subordinates. The person is on call a lot of the time via email or mobile phones. There is an almost 24 hour work cycle to produce things. All technology produced is but a tool to impinge on labour in producing products for capital, since the nature of capital is to keep growing insatiably until its own collapse -- as is happening now.

Virtually everyone is exploited in one way or another as it is the nature of the capitalist beast to do so. So time and effort of labour is stolen to maximize production, hence, surplus value. The so-called ‘market pay’ (not that of top CEOs) for most people are usually less than what they are worth, and if they get what they think they deserve, they are worked to the bone to get every drop of surplus value out of them to maximize their firm’s production and profit margin.

Second, the product made by labour is in effect stolen from it. Here Marx uses his concepts of use and exchange values to explain how this sleight-of-hand is pulled off. Anything manufactured under capitalism is considered a product if it has a use value. So widget X is a product because it can do Y number of things deemed useful.

Exchange value is what is given in return for something, namely, wages paid to labour are an exchange for its labour power in production. So when the capitalist pays the minimum amount it can get away with (a.k.a ‘market rates’) to labour to produce, it has bought labour power to produce something. This is the transfer of cause and effect -- you buy something in return for something.

But, Marx points out, earnings that come from the sale of the produce of labour is a separate thing altogether. The sale of widget X for profit is not only sloughing off from surplus value, but getting paid for something for its use value. So the product of/from labour has exchange and use value, but while the capitalist provides some compensation in terms of wages for labour’s time and effort via wages (exchange value), he steals the product of labour for widget X (use value) by selling it for his own gain and profit.

It is testament to the great propaganda and brainwashing that we have undergone that most people -- never mind the economists who justify and perpetrate this scam -- will say ‘Wait a minute, but that’s how it works. The boss pays you, you work the machines, computers, phones and paper to get widget X out and he sells it, and gets his keep from it.”

No, not at all, says Marx. And he is spot on. Widget X could not be created if not for labour. You can get all the machines, and capital together, throw in a few MBA types and then say “Wallah!” But guess what, no widget X! To get the latter you need people/human beings/homo sapiens to put in their power to create widget X by working the capital and resources. And in most cases, people have surrendered without blinking an eyelid their product to the capitalist, which is the direct result of their time and effort and slaving away. This is a consistently ego based good thing for the capitalist.

What this means is that while the capitalist is entitled to some form of remuneration for his so-called work in getting everything together to ‘make it happen’ so to speak, he no more owns the produce of labour which he sells (widget X), than does the line manager who supervises production. Only the people who put their shoulders to the wheel can rightly say that widget X is the product of the sweat of their brow, everyone else just played a supporting role.

It needs to be said again and again: Widget X cannot exist without labour power, and if the capitalist claims neither could it without his role thrown in, then he is welcome to put his shoulder to the wheel and see what widget comes out of it. The workers/people can always till the land and grow things to eat and sell and survive as was done since time immemorial, or form a cooperative venture of their own to create a just and equitable system of work, and profit sharing based on their own use of their surplus value for themselves without exploitation.

But the list goes on. Marx further explains that labour in this system becomes alienated (as discussed above) by the capitalist system of production which is simply designed for a utilitarian result oriented approach irrespective of the harm it does to the individual, families, societies, the environment or the world. It is about making and accumulating things never mind how and what the consequences are.

Marx makes the powerful but subtle point that people are born, live their lives and die based on the capitalist and industrial demands of how they should fit into the world, follow a wage system that inordinately rewards greed, and the excessive and wasteful bonuses of ‘managers’ who have not done an honest day’s work in their life in the sense someone says of his parent: ‘my mom or dad wasn’t very rich, but she/he was an honest hardworking nurse or postal worker’; as opposed to ‘my dad works the politicians, nightlife, golf course, stock markets and earns tons for making sure that everyone else who supports that fat cat life of his continues to live on a minimal amount’ (hey, someone’s got to make those profits to give back to shareholders, man!).

People are alienated in their work and their lives. They clock in, clock out, and pay their bills and wonder what it’s all about: welcome to capitalism.

Man’s alienation from his work, from his colleagues and the class structure set up in making him jump to everything the boss says is a sign of a human being who has abrogated his or her right to be just that, a human being. The capitalist system of production produces relations that denigrate a person’s dignity to living in subservience, and fear with an entire legal system and state structure supporting it, thus spake Marx.

Not only because the system may not know better, but it’s a means of controlling people. The capitalist system of scarcity mongering, unhealthy competition, confrontation and instilling the fear of losing work and being unable to survive unless you are cog in the machine earning a ‘market decided’ wage is the reductio ad absurdum of undermining what it was meant to serve – human interest.

And this is done, as Marx pointedly notes, by having a large reserve army of unemployed out there to ensure that the system can throw out those who demand what is fair, and hire those who are more accommodating and willing to accept a lower wage, produce more, create more surplus value from which to abstract more profit: look and behold the wonders of globalization!

But the more capitalism exploits people to keep wages low, profits high, and CEOs and shareholders’ returns stratospheric, the more it creates problems in having consumers who increasingly end up joining the ranks of the unemployed reserve; and people become ravaged by the system, and they soon can no longer afford the products they once made.

This in turn leads to more fiat currency churned out via low interest rates, sub-prime lending mortgages, and credit card promotions to increase borrowing and spending. And if industry needs a hand, just give a billion dollar bailout and add that to the taxpayers bill. So in addition to all this, labour/people are saddled with currencies that fluctuate in value and taxes that sooner or later have to be paid, all in the name of capitalism.

Which brings me to one of the final insults to all decent people -- that labour, after its shortchanging, gets paid in funny money that is debt based in which the currency is backed by nothing other than a dollar that is but an IOU for nothing (no gold backs it to give it any value). And you can tell its funny money because its value changes all the time. Please see New Money to End All Money: Part 1 and Part 2.

And it does not stop there.

The Formula that has Brought us to the Brink


With his characteristic trenchant insight Marx describes beautifully how the general formula for capital works. There is, first, the process of C-M-C in which commodities are produced in exchange for money which is in turn used to acquire more commodities. This is the natural process of a healthy economy in which, e.g., crops are grown which are then sold and the money gained from that is used to get seed, fertilizer, animal feed etc. It is a sustainable process that keeps the economic cycle going.

But the capitalists opt for M-C-M in which money is used to gain commodities so that their sale can generate more earnings in dollars. So the economic cycle in capitalism is one that ensures that what was a means of exchange – money -- is used to create commodities for the sole purpose of accumulating more money. The focus of an economy is no longer on the production of commodities that best suits people as much as a means of churning out goods and services to materialize more money out of thin air (and banks abet in this activity with alacrity), so as to lead to even more money being produced.

The sole purpose of an economy becomes one in which the financial markets, speculation, manipulation of interest rates, faulty and shady loan and investment schemes bubble up from the cauldron of greed which has thrown into it: human dignity, sanctity of life and respect for the environment stirred into a witch’s brew of capital accumulation and financial meltdown. If this sounds bewitchingly familiar, it is because that is exactly where we are at.

Marx was prescient in saying that why even bother with having the C in the M-C-M formula, one might as well as remove the C and just look for M being created to generate even more M. And this is, sadly, precisely what has happened with the capitalist system of interest rates and fiat currencies. If in doubt in a capitalist system:

a. lower interest rates

b. lower it even further

c. find if it’s possible to just print and give out money, don’t bother paying it back because we ‘need to jumpstart the economy’

d. cut taxes to increase spending (especially for corporations and high income earners)

e. multibillion dollar bailouts that mean injecting more money to chase more money around (somehow the idea of more effective and meaningful production of commodities seems secondary)

f. forget Gresham’s law of bad money chasing out good money, you now have money chasing its own tail until it collapses from fatigue-neurosis and results in massive currency devaluation (a.k.a. inflation)

g. if necessary start another war, a great way to ‘jumpstart’ spending and create bombs and, even better, employment for people by sending them out to fight; and a little population control from this would even make Malthus proud – keep excessive human growth in check, after all balance is everything.

Today the inversion of Marx's dictum holds: a capitalist is a miser gone mad and a miser is but a rational capitalist.

When will we start to wake up?

Interlude: Reverse Engineering


Let us still hold on to the idea of the ego based self-first-everyone-else-last-approach-of-capitalism’s 3D economy. Even within the 3D system, we can see a way to stem the downward spiral and turn things around. Look at the C-M-C formula again. This is the approach that is needed. This starts with a massive restructuring of the monetary system and cold-turkey cure out of the addiction caused by the M-C-M drug.

The C-M-C approach is one which promotes commodity generation as opposed to $ generation as the purpose of an economy is to provide things of use and value for people, not hoard money as a means of greed, domination and manipulation of others. So every monetary transaction, as Marx explains, is a circuit that starts with the sale of C and ends in the purchase of C. The M is given to one person who gives it to another. That is the end of the transaction.

In the C-M-C approach, money is part of a transactional process, it cannot be used as a basis to generate further fictitious amounts by lending institutions or banks that leads to hoarding and speculation of it on financial markets.

If $100 is out there for something, then it returns back as $100 and remains as such. It started out as $100, it remains $100. It does not become $1000 from the vagaries and shenanigans of fractional reserve banking.

What is recommended here is that any investment made should be dealt with in a green friendly and win-win manner which will be looked at in the later section. In other words, honesty is the policy of the day (and for every other one after that).

What does this mean in concrete terms. It means looking seriously at creating a four tiered monetary system and the use of local/complementary currencies as explained in New Money to End All Money: Part 3.

What else would follow from this:

a. establish a gold standard (or something similar) for national currencies

b. use international and regional currencies that involve the use of (a) but are convertible into a basket of natural resources and social commodities which bring wealth back to people, societies and the environment

c. local or complementary currencies (as explained in link on “New Money” above)

d. international and governmental policies that see to it that ideas, resources and effort are channeled into production to ensure Green and People Friendly (GPF) solutions (see Genuine Progress Indicators for details)

e. establishment of interest free-ethical banks (see JAK Bank of Sweden) and those that use innovative methods and ethical policies (see the UK Cooperative Bank for details). It is also useful to have a look at Islamic banking guidelines which disallow the charging of interest and insist on an ethical framework for doing business.

f. no more financial markets (essential in removing the M-C-M equation from the system) but have saving and investment opportunities involving GPF activities with yields in terms of gold backed national currencies or local currencies. The yields/rewards from these investments can also be in term of points that can be transferred or created into local currencies.

g. creation of local, community, national and international job banks and data centres (which will also create employment opportunities) to facilitate transnational job placements for people and families (where necessary). This would be in line with GPF solutions that will also ensure a smooth and legal fast track in clearing immigration matters for qualified people on the move. This is NOT globalization, but global realization of a fair and just system of employment (to be looked at in later section). Governments and people will have to grow up and get past paranoia and prejudice to get things rolling on this score.

This is well within our grasp. It is time for people to wake up, get real, take their lives into their own hands and pressurize their governments to start in this direction. There is really no need to wait till some ‘doomsday’ scenario kicks in before we kick ourselves into action.

INTERDIMENSIONAL ECONOMICS (PART 2): THE ECONOMY OF 5D

Metaphysical Interlude

What, you may ask, ever happened to the 4th dimension in all this? We shall leave that to dreamtime, astral projections and emotional energy and their stuff. The fifth dimension as used generically in spiritual terms is about the energy of the heart. So as we move from the Interlude above to where we are heading in after this section, a dash of metaphysics will come in handy.

If we are to leave the old paradigm of an ego based reality of 3D, then we have to look to creating and living in the new paradigm of a heart based reality of 5D. The confrontational mindset of me-and-mine-first attitude of 3D’s ego reality is sublimated by we-and-ours-first attitude of 5D.

One of the basic metaphysical principles of the universe in that all is mind, the universe is mental. Mind is indeed the forerunner of all things. Thinking makes it so. Marx, who tried to avoid metaphysics as best he could, may not agree with what follows but that is because he had his own ‘metaphysics’ known as the materialist conception of history in which the environment determined man and vice-versa. However, it must be said that Marx was far more spiritual in his ideas than many whom he criticized if only because he was a great humanist.

The reasons for Marx staying away from the term ‘metaphysics’ was because first, he was reacting against the ideas of the great philosopher Hegel (whose mode of thought he used anyway!); second, he had enough of institutionalized religion which supported the class and economic structure of the injustice of capitalism; third, he did not want people to rely on abstract ideas to save them when the problem was right in front of them, that is -- the machine, the capitalist and the way people were turned into machines, etc.

Marx’s ideas themselves seemed inherently contradictory at times not because they are inconsistent in themselves but because he was also using a kind of thinking in which something was either true or false, that is, a binary system of logic. The 3D reality seems suited for this. Anything that could be both true and false, or a variation of the two seems not to ‘make sense’ to most people. “You are either for me, or against me”, “It’s either Yes or No”, “Now or Never”, “If you do this, you can’t do that”. This is really a limitation imposed on the mind by a 3D way of thinking which involves structure, format, templates, a matrix, and way of thought that tends to aim for a mechanistic kind of certainty.

Marx’s idea of a Communist state was an ideal one but built on an ego based reality of what people should do that is good for all in order to benefit from a system free of abuse and manipulation. But that only begs the issue, in the end, of human nature. For as Marx well knew, the source of so many problems is precisely the ego and its clinging on to things out of fear and greed, and the need to assert itself over everything. Any attempts at Communism as history has shown us, inevitably ends up as the reverse side of Capitalism on the coin of human abuse – a currency that is fast falling in value.

Communism was not ever going to create the kind of future society Marx envisioned without bringing back the problems of greed and fear that are the basis of capitalism. And it is no surprise that Marx never gave a clear outline of what this future society was to be like because he would have been aware, that in order to have what he really envisioned he would have to dip into the dreaded area of ‘metaphysics’. Worse, he would have to say things that he criticized organized religion of saying/doing to hide the hypocrisy of its own self interest.

But his vision can be completed here even if The Man would not have quite approved of it. The way to get out of the 3D rut is to look at it from a larger, more inclusive perspective, and one that breaks though and transcends usual channels and structures of thought patterns.

Let's, first, take a look at how intention and the mental aspect of reality is implicit in Marx’s ideas. The fact that everything in an economy depends on human relations, means that it all depends on human perception and thinking. It is exactly because Marx says the mode of production determines how people act and think, and in turn determines how things continue to be done, that it goes to show mental acts shape our reality. Intention is everything.

Use value is there because people think a commodity has use. Exchange value is determined by human ideas and thought. Fear, hunger, greed and affection are realized and acted upon via the mind. The capitalist system shapes people into thinking that they can only exist and subsist in a modern feudal master-slave set up. But we all know that if you change your attitude and thinking, you change the way you see and experience the world and in effect create your own reality.

The man who walks away from an accident cursing the day he was born has a different world view from the man who walks away being thankful that he can still walk away from it. The first man’s reality, or that mental and virtual reality he lives in, is probably strikingly different from the guy who dusts off his shirt and tells his friends that he was really lucky that time. This is similar to the person who wonders how anyone could say “Good Morning” when in their minds it is “What the hell is so good about it?”, while there is another guy who says “I’ve seen worse mornings, and this one is a good one!”

Now imagine a situation where the mind of a person is centred on the heart, that is, the person’s world view, mindset and intentions are based on love, compassion, understanding, empathy and forgiveness. This changes everything. This changes the relations between people, the way they do things, and the entire setting of the home, friendship, work place and international relations. A change in this kind of mindset leads to radical changes in economic processes which then in turn react to change human thinking and so forth upwards in a virtuous cycle.

The universe is mental. If it can be thought and imagined, then it can be done. And as astrophysicists are apt to tell us there are dimensions beyond our 3D ego based linear form of thinking trapped in duality (separateness between ourselves and others). They say that the known universe (nevermind the unknown one/or parts) is composed of 4% matter, 23% dark matter, 73% dark energy: what is now known as ‘scientific’ is really more ‘metaphysics’. The scientists are beginning to grow up.

Dark energy, dark matter and light from stars and suns streaming in. Scientists use the term 'dark' simply because the human eye cannot perceive it nor can our current blunt instrumentation quite capture it; but its power and effect is inescapable. The term 'dark' here really means the absence of the 'light' of perception. It is no more 'dark' than the colours of the rainbow are dark just because the human eye cannot see them in 'white' light unless there is refraction. So what is 'dark' here may be mind-bogglingly full of light containing a spectrum of colours beyond the most hallucinatory of imaginations.

It is just that we have not got the right angle of refraction in which to produce that stunning vision. But that does not mean we cannot do so for we are aware of its influence and existence.

Which brings us to another great principle, that of polarity.

The cosmos is based on the polarity of dark and light, what we term ‘positive/negative’, ‘good/evil’, ‘life/death’, ‘male/female’, ‘up/down’, ‘depression/elation’, ‘bust/boom’. But there is a whole range in between. The 3D ego based mind sees duality of one extreme or the other, but fails to see that actually polarity can be transcended by balance and harmony into a state that puts it into a higher paradigm of light. The principle of Yin/Yang embodies this. Light prevails or there would be chaos. Light is the underlying reality of all (including mind) and we can bring ourselves to reside in that state of illumination.

Dark is the absence of light. You cannot get light from dark. Hate is the absence of Love. You cannot get love based on hate. But we certainly can reverse the polarity of any negative situation into a positive one. That is a mental act based on the heart. From there we can develop our progress into a natural state of balance if we choose to make it so. This is the sublimation of the dialectic that Hegel and Marx were on about but failed to push to its conclusion because they did not go beyond into the fifth dimension.

The 3D ego is stuck into thinking that duality and separation and multiplicity of identity is the truth. It thinks the physical world is all that there is, but Science now tells us that the physical is about 4% of the whole deal! There are dimensions and realities beyond limited 3D perceptions obscured by the ego's web of illusion. So imagine dimensions beyond the 3D body, imagine a dimension existing over and around the 3D heart (that somehow conveniently keeps pumping to keep us alive without any effort on our part). Think about it.

Imagine tapping into this dimension of the heart to go into 5D and create a reality that is heart based transcending the framework of what we perceive as the 3D world of matter and duality. We can create systems of thought and economic activities that emanate from this. We can move beyond the ego based illusion of separateness to the 5D one of Oneness. This is called the Law of One. The universe and all life in it is One, but it is perceived and experienced as being separate by the 3D ego. You cannot get One from multiplicity, you can get multiplicity from Oneness. You cannot get an Ocean from a wave, but you do get waves on an Ocean.

The Transition to the Heart


So let us take Marx’s ideas and where we were going in those interludes above to see where this goes from here. When a 5D reality exists, the economic relations of production change radically. You can be sure that in most cases any system of production, hiring, discharging from work, sharing of profits, treatment of the individual, welfare schemes, financial growth and banking will be based on a just, fair and equitable system of trust and understanding.

The quality of life will shoot up. Money is just a tool of exchange that will not keep people away from the enthusiasm of getting to work and being creative. When a product is made and exchanged based on 5D you know where it is coming from, and you want it to go where it can make a difference. An ethical approach to all commerce, societal and political relations will develop from this. It is no more about creating Widgets A to Z for profit maximization.

We now have a trickle up effect. The people make the difference. It slowly but surely becomes government of the people, by the people, for the people and will always remain so. It can finally and aptly be called Democracy.

With a situation like this there will be a trend towards global realization of Oneness. Whatever is done will reflect the justice and fairness in the life of the individual and community up towards national, regional and international issues. Individual interest is aligned to community interest which is aligned to national interest. National interest is aligned to regional interest. Regional interest is aligned to international interest. International interest is about the world's interest. And the whole chain works in reverse again.

Please see The Economy of Abundance.

Briefly, based on the proposals above a 5D reality would reflect:

a. A four tiered type of monetary system with the return to something similar to the gold standard

b. Active use of local/complementary currencies

c. Thereby more community based projects and economic activity which is modeled on C-M-C. This helps ensure that economic production is balanced into useful commodities being exchanged for M which is transacted for more useful commodities, because that’s what economic creation is about.

d. Abolition of the golem of money markets, or M-C-M, which has bedeviled us for eons.

e. To avoid surplus value exploitation, there must be a fair and reasonable share of profits that come from sale of products that are made from the combination of labour/people and capital. Example, a 50-50 split of profits so there are no stolen products by capital anymore. But if banks join in with interest free loans (using credit/reward ideas that stem from banking examples given above like the JAK Bank and Islamic financial practices) they can, with shareholder/investors, come out with a fair and equitable system of sharing between investors, labour and management in which labour gets the lion share everytime. This is no longer capitalism. This is a social economy founded on GPF (Green and People Friendly) solutions.

f. Shareholders are rewarded as above. No stock markets or speculation exists anymore as financial markets belong to virtual museums and libraries only. Gambling means gin rummy or mahjong, not the economic system of the world or a country.

g. No overproduction of commodities but reasonable amount of stockpiling is acceptable. Due to a more decentralized economic and political system that develops from this, accurate feedback loops that lead to sufficiency are created for what is needed to support the best interests of people. Where necessary, governments at home and abroad can cross boundaries to be of help to one another and their communities.

h. Mutual support, help and reciprocity is the driving force of nations and the world.

i. This in turns means that most ventures would be cooperative based including the financial organizations that grow and support this.

j. This entire system would work in tandem with Rawl’s idea of Justice as Fairness. This means that communities, societies, nations and the world work together on a political constructivist approach of reciprocity and overlapping consensus free from ideology. A heart based reality is a perfect fit for Rawl’s notion of justice as fairness.

k. The UN is there to ensure that just and fair practices exist and are sustained throughout the world. There will be less time for war and less resources needed for the military-industrial complex. The peacemakers will be the main guardians of the planet. About time too.

All these ideas formulated on a 5D system of heart based intentions also mean letting go of past hatreds, land grabs and whatnot. If a system of recompense for people and individuals for being exploited needs to be made through some system of finance or kind to get some form of redress and balance, then so be it. If the recompense is financial, then it would be done within the framework of money in a fixed exchange rate system, as no more fiat currencies would exist anymore.

This approach will also help the survival of and our balanced symbiosis with the environment. A heart based reality can only be real if there is respect for all life and that includes our obviously living and breathing planet. The earth is our home and it should be treated with unconditional love and respect and caring. We did not create it, but we certainly need to pass it on to other generations intact, richer and more beautiful: this is our duty as a species.

Not Endgame: the End of the Game


The ideas here are not, by the greatest stretch of any imagination, the be-all and end-all. They are only a platform on which people with better and sharper ideas and minds can take things to the next stage of formulation and, most importantly, implementation.

What we all need to do is to start speaking out, writing petitions and putting pressure on governments to start getting their act together to begin immediately on a new 5D paradigm of doing things. As I write this the IMF, and other such luminaries on the international scene, have announced that the world is headed towards a second great depression.

But this is really a phase of planetary detoxification that we are undergoing and any process of cleansing is uncomfortable at first. Yet we need to be clear on what this means and realize that we have to now start planning and working on ways of making a permanent change for a healthier and balanced lifestyle for all.

There is no going back and thank goodness for it. There is only a going forward to finally creating that reality which is the birthright of the human race and all beings on this planet. Switch off the mobile phones and TVs and try this exercise: do some deep breathing and centre yourself, and try to look at things as they really are.

a. We are a species on a planet with infinite life forms

b. There are dimensions and life forms beyond our current 3D knowledge

c. Time is not linear it is multidimensional. For instance, that is why we have wormholes in space and possible alternate realities/time lines which are fact rather than fiction.

d. We can shift our sense of time and thinking into many time frames at once and can live them simultaneously: we can have a conversation now, think of the past evoking emotions from that time, and anticipate the future and create a sense of excitement at the same time

e. So our reality is multidimensional if we choose to explore and realize it

f. We are on a planet hurtling around with other planets also going around the sun and miraculously not crashing into one another

g. There are infinite galaxies out in the ‘known’ universe, so just imagine the ‘unknown’ parts

h. Capitalism, greed, selfishness, excessive sensual indulgence, war and egomania is sort of out place in this expansive scheme of things. It is more like the attitudes of a spoilt and ridiculous kid who insists on playing with the toys of brathood when he has actually gone well past middle age

i. This is no longer a zero sum game of winners and losers, or of checkmate. This is the end of the ‘Endgame’ because it is the end of the game of polarity from which we have to awaken

j. We need to take the lessons from the game of polarity we have been playing and move on to the next phase of reality as a species

k. We need to start waking up to the reality that quite soon, we have to act like adults and take on the responsibilities of a galactic human race

l. We are not alone

m. We have never been alone

o. We will never be alone

p. The Light always prevails

Welcome to the (R)evolution

A new kind of economy: the economy of scarcity (part 1)

That's the Way it Goes

Things seem to fall apart, and the centre cannot hold. The economy is going into a shambles, exploitation in all fields of life still goes on, violence and mistrust among people and governments are rampant. Somehow, this is what we have come to create as we have come to believe what we have been indoctrinated to believe among many things, such as the ‘free market' and that Capitalism is God.

But Capitalism has turned out to be the God that has failed.

This piece will look at how we have come to be hoodwinked and have tragically bought into the myth of Scarcity and what this means as current economic events unfold inexorably before us. It will also look at a possible scenario for the future, if we so choose to take that route, which can be described as the path towards Abundance.

The first thing we need to do is take a look at the Triumvirate of Trouble, meaning interest rates, fiat currency, and a closer look at the surplus value of labor (henceforth, referred to as the Triumvirate).

The first two have been dealt with in these posts (as well as posts embedded within them) and for those who would like an in-depth look at those notions, these are good starting points.

The two links are:

GPI

Money the beginning of the End: Part 1

But a little should be said about the first two aspects of the Triumvirate before more is said on the third aspect: the surplus value of labor (SV).

It is the Triumvirate that has led us to believe in what the capitalist system has done for us: apparently great material wealth, money all around, high growth, military and political power, and well, what more could you ask for?

Yet not all is well. Throughout history and over the last century in particular, abuse and violence domestically and internationally has seemed the norm. Poverty has been the defining characteristic of many in so-called poorer states at the end of the last century and the beginning of the current one. Now, poverty and uncertainty are fast becoming the hallmarks of even more countries including some of the most developed ones.

What has gone wrong? Naturally, there will be numerous theories and reasons for this. But one aspect of the situation that cannot be ignored anymore is the abject failure of the capitalist system. The Triumvirate in seeking to carve up the known world into areas that it can govern indefinitely has inevitably led to creating the contradictions that are now coming home to roost, big time.

Some of the major culprits in this game of debt and deceit are Big Businesses, Banks and Governments affectionately known as BBB and G or more succinctly as 3BG. Through ignorance and willful manipulation, the Triumvirate has been the ruling façade for many 3BGs.

Interest rates on money loaned are usually nothing short of usury which has been frowned upon by virtually every major religion in the world. Simply making money out of lending money has been a traditional way of forcing people to compete among themselves for even more money to pay off the interest on loans. A useful story to look at on how this works is the one on "The Eleventh Round" here:

The parable of the Eleventh Round

As for fiat currencies (see link on A new kind of money to end Money above), they have been the bane of economies in creating currency devaluation, unstable money, and constant inflation. A useful example is one taken from Ellen Brown's The Web of Debt.

Here we have an example of how 30 cents can get you a dozen eggs, but due to the currency fluctuations of fiat currency, the next day your 30 cents is actually worth 5 cents in purchasing power. But, does it mean that a dozen eggs are now transformed into 2 eggs (worth what 5 cents should be able to buy)? This is the price of not having a type of fixed exchange rate, but one that moves wildly depending apparently on the ‘free market'.

Thirty cents should be worth 30 cents, not 5 cents the next day. Twelve eggs are just that, not two. Yet that is the system we have bought into. We have allowed the manipulation by the US Federal Reserve and many other banks to issue currency based on nothing more than double accounting and a pyramid scheme with interest to boot. This is a system in which we are taxed in every sense of the word to sustain the interests of 3BG.

Think about it, a game of Monopoly has more stability built into it than the fiat currency system which we have taken to be as ‘normal'. In a game like Monopoly you get the same $200 dollars when you pass Go, you know what the fee for getting out of jail is etc. But in the game world of our current lives, we have allowed 3BG to determine the impossible, that is, we allow them to morph 12 eggs into 2 eggs overnight via the fiat currency system of arbitrary finance.

Does this make sense? Does it accord with any sense of reality? Does this sound like a just and fair system? Does this sound like what capitalism promised? Is there even a vague semblance to what democracy is supposed to be about? Who actually gains and is enriched by this? Look at your current economic situation and bank accounts and see part of the answer there. Think about this for a moment.

Let us take a look at a concept that is regaining prominence and use as a means of analyzing what has been happening around us, the surplus value of labor.

The Economics of Scarcity

We have been led to believe by neo-classical economists that there are limited resources for which we have to compete to create a sound economy. We have been led to believe in things called ‘factors of production' and how income comes from these factors; and that via the use of money and productivity we create growth. But pause for a moment and ask ourselves how we have come to believe such myths, which in the end increasingly hold no more credence than the story of Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty in the minds of many.

Simply this, that there has been an unprecedented amount of material growth and so-called wealth created since the start of Industrialization from the late 19th century onwards. We have bought these products, and seen many of them on TV, and are convinced that they ought to be sought after by media, marketing and advertising. A system that can deliver all this stuff and then some, surely WORKS. Communism has also failed (meaning the USSR and its brand of ideology) and remaining Communists (e.g. China) seem quite capitalistic these days. And yet, the housing crash in the US and the upcoming demise of Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac, and all that this is symptomatic of this tells of a different narrative.

To the surprise of many, Marx is coming back into intellectual fashion. It is also worthwhile looking at his notion of surplus value of labor (SV). My interpretation is an extrapolation of the ideas from the key works of Marx, including some brilliant expositions of his ideas in the form of David Harvey's The Limits to Capital and Resnick and Wolff's New Departures in Marxian Theory.

Basically, one of Marx's many conceptual breakthroughs in understanding how the economy, and capitalism in particular, works is his idea of SV. What we term as profit is basically skimmed off the value gained from what is produced by labor or all the rest of us working stiffs (irrespective of whether you sit in front of a computer...).

To simplify, when we pay labor X amount and sell its product for X + n amount and after cost deductions we have P as profit. The reason for that P is due to the fact that we have paid labor less than what it should have been paid for in the first place. It is exploitation plain and simple that allows for profit and, thereby, capital to grow.

What we think of as income that comes from various ‘factors of production' like land, labor and capital is essentially skimmed off SV that is recycled back into the economic system. So that the wages we receive are also from SV taken not only off our backs, but the backs of others.

Marx, of course, has a whole body of work to show this in all its complex and myriad forms. And most frightening of all, he not only largely makes sense these days, he seems to be well on the way to being proven right about capitalism in the way we are experiencing it today with all the hindsight and bloodbath of history to support it.

The thing is Marx has captured the essence of the way we live our lives in a world of duality. Because we believe we are all separate and are not One, we naturally fall into economic belief systems that lend ourselves to support the system of belief of 3BGs that convince us we live in Scarcity. There is a need to scramble for things and fight even more to keep them, and keep on fighting even much more to get more of them. It is Us against Them. The whole class structure to Marx is predicated on SV.

As long as one group of people live off and profiteer from the SV of others, they are the class of capitalists. So you can have people who profit from SV in the common work place or offices, and you can see the class structure there immediately: in the form of conspicuous consumption - the larger office, the bigger PC (or newest mobile phone), the car, the private secretary, the jet, the etc, etc. And due to duality we have been ingrained into thinking that it is what we should be aiming for as well. So we need to compete more (thinking that means being more productive), to move up the scale (class) so that we can be on the higher end of the food chain (SV exploitation), and finally we can then be the ones others kow tow to (success).

And yet we are so unhappy about many things, and the economy is falling around our ears. The thing is this, as Marx wonderfully points out, the whole capitalist system of duality leads to contradictions. Capital takes on a life of its own. In order for the system to sustain itself, it must create more capital. This leads inevitably to devaluation and the destruction of capital.

Capital has to insist on more 'productivity', more innovation to increase 'productivity', more markets, lower salaries (meaning ‘competitive') for most in the work force so that SV can be increased, and this can also be recycled as big bonuses for corporate bosses and shareholders (rewards).

The workers in the firms and those who buy the products are mere cogs in the system: the whole purpose of the engine of capitalism is to create more capital ad infinitum.

Just talk to those you know in the corporate world and those who run large companies and they inevitably tell you about answering to the board of directors about growing markets and raising profits, and answering to shareholders. Where in all this is the welfare of their staff and the quality of products that they are churning out?

It is all about profit and SV (even if they are worried about the quality of their products). The more the drive for SV ratchets up, the greater the need for even more capital accumulation. Couple this with interest on loans and fiat currencies and you begin to see why most people seem to be working harder, and yet not knowing how they are going to afford to retire in peace (if at all).

But it gets better.

You see, there is a terrible price to pay for all this capital accumulation -- it devalues. This is part of the contradiction that sets in. And in order to prevent and counter the devaluation yet more capital must be produced, more people and markets must be squeezed as even more devaluation sets in.

Among the many aspects of the price of devaluation:

1. Currency devaluation (inflation) and collapses due to excess fiat money being created.
2. Economic bubbles start and burst as in the Asian currency crisis in the mid 90s and the current housing collapse in the US.
3. More manipulations of financial markets to counter devaluation which leads to more financial and banking problems (as in Europe). The current shocks to the banking industry are a prime example of capital devaluation of playing the SV game in an unbridled manner. And there will be more to follow.
4. Globalization and the discontent this seems to be bringing to many. Not only does capital need newer markets to expand in, but cheaper labor to skim SV from, or how else does capital sustain itself and pay CEOs their fat salaries and shareholders their ‘hard earned' bonuses? And many in the West are wondering why they are facing unemployment as jobs flow to other places where it is easier to gain the edge on SV through much lower wages there than in the capitalists' home countries.
5. The ultimate form of devaluation: war. This also comes from the need to grab more resources (which we are constantly told are scarce) and expand markets to keep Capital alive and kicking. Also, when you have that much capital there's nothing like expanding your military, testing its equipment and munitions, and doing some population control at the same time.
6. Devaluation of human life which has become a means to an end, because people become capital. An entire matrix of politics and economics is created through the mythology of ‘free markets', ‘democracy' and ‘freedom' to allow capital and the 3BGs to gain from this (and those who hope to gain from this by aligning themselves to this class structure). People are there to fit into GDP figures and fight wars.
7. Alienation of humanity from doing any form of meaningful work or leading their lives the way they think they should be able to lead it. To many people, work is ‘just a job', it ‘puts food on the table' and it doesn't have to mean much more than feeding the three headed hydra of the Triumvirate and trying to stay alive.

One of the things Marx also introduced, especially in the path breaking volume 1 of Capital is to show that there are three basic ways of placing values on things, that is, we have value, use value and exchange value. The question Marx was aiming at but never seemed to quite ask and answer (though he may have done so in a way that was not clear enough to me at least) is what exactly is the value of something, or a product?

Recently, I asked a friend of mine who is a CEO of a company that is part of a multinational conglomerate what he thought was the value of a glass tumbler on the table we were sitting at. I told him discount the water in it, just consider the value of the tumbler itself.

He answered, as we all have been trained, that depending on the market and where it was sold the value of it would vary. This would depend on how useful it was (use value), and what its value was ($ amount). So I asked him, what did he think the so-called $ value of it was. He said that it could range from $5 per piece to even $50 depending on how it was marketed and what kind of demand there was.

So here it is, the ‘free market' and so-called 'demand and supply' are quite arbitrary. It does seem that the whole field of neo-classical economics has grown from this mythology in working out fantastical realms of ‘perfect markets' with ‘perfect equilibriums' while all those wonderful marginalist theories and intricate calculations are there to show that you can just charge what you want for a product if someone wants to pay that amount. There is no value as such, it is an arbitrary amount we place just like our fiat currency, that is, today $10 is worth so much, tomorrow thanks to manipulation or poor policies emanating from 3BGs, it's worth something else, more or less.

What this proves is that there is no way to actually ascertain a value of a thing. Without being too metaphysical, its value is, in all honesty, immeasurable (or im0). If it was not the case, then how is it possible for such wildly fluctuating prices to be given to a glass tumbler depending on ‘the market' and ‘demand and supply'?

Unless we want to insist that it has no value: now that takes us into even deeper waters which we shall stay out of here.

Because everything is im0 we can assign whatever value we want to it, including the failing fiat currency money value based on mythical theories of economic equilibrium (when in reality we are in a constant state of Disequilibrium).

[In due course, a piece will be done on how faulty the neo-classical concepts of economics are and possible ways to work round it and undo the damage it has done to us all. Fortunately there are pioneers in this, and it is a matter of taking the trail up from them.]

But this is the point I am trying to make: if an inanimate object is im0 how much so a human being? Can value actually be placed on humans in terms of $ and their output etc? This is what I believe Marx and many others, who see the severe problems of neo-classical economics, are trying to point out in their own ways.

A slight detour on this: just take a look at the wage system that has been introduced. This is what we believe to be ‘normal' and which we all live by largely because ‘we have no choice', etc. Peter Linebaugh in his The London Hanged provides some interesting insights on how capital punishment in English history (specifically in the 18th century) was a means of punishment by Capital.

That the landed interests of capital introduced and supported the gory mass killings of those who stole and defied the authority of the ruling class as a means of keeping people in their places.

The wage system is a means of telling everyone to know their proper place and not rock the boat and the structure of 3BGs so that everyone gets what they are told they are worth, take it or leave it. If you challenge this, then there will be laws that will deal with you. That seems to be one of the messages from Linebaugh's book.

When you can put a price on a person's head, literally or otherwise, it is easy to take the next step in the commodification of a human being: which is killing them.

Of course, it can be argued by many that severe crime needs to be punished and that psychotic murderers should not be able to walk freely, and many would agree to that if only to preserve some sense of order and sanity.

But the subtle point being made by Linebaugh, for instance, is that many laws and punishment (especially of the capital variety) are a form of punishing many who have come to their ways of crime because of the way capital accumulation and its devaluating effects have shaped people. When you live in duality, it is easy to harm or steal from someone else because after all it is robbing someone else and it is for your 'own self interest and is that not what society teaches we have look out for first and foremost...?'

Coming back to the point on value: the moment we place $ value on a person and his output and relegate this to ‘market' forces which are subject to the dictatorial vagaries of the Triumvirate and the self interest of 3BG, we begin to see why we are to a large extent in the situations we are all currently in around the world.

The cornerstone to this is our sense of duality in which we live in fear of scarcity of products, and $ (even though there is a lot of it, it is just not distributed evenly enough), anxiety over health, family and many other issues. After all, the other guy is out to get us (not that there is never any truth in this). It is this paradigm of scarcity, doubt and fear that lends us to control by 3BG and others. Greed is not good, manipulation of others for personal gain is not the high point of existence.

So where do we go from here? Perhaps, as a form of a thought experiment, we can look at one of many different possibilities. One such modality I would term the new Economy of Abundance.

a new kind of economy: the economy of abundance (part 2)

The Economics of Abundance

If duality seems to be a central problem of human nature, how are we exactly going to change that? It seems that we may have little choice but to deal with changing it or at least making a serious effort at it. The current problems of the economy, apparent shortage of fossil fuels and environmental issues coming to the fore will necessitate, it does seems, an entire re-look at how we intend to lead our lives.

Some assumptions need to be made here. That the inability to squeeze more oil out of where we choose to squeeze it out from is going to lead to more scientific research on alternative energy sources, which is happening right now. For instance, perhaps the means will be found to harness not just solar and wind power, but the power that comes from the tides that rise and fall all the time. Turbines under seas and means of converting, storing and transferring such power could provide a serious alternative to fossil fuels.

Also let me further clarify what I mean by Scarcity and Abundance. The term scarcity was used in an economic sense earlier, but the mention of duality was meant to focus on a more esoteric sense of the term. With duality and a sense of mistrust we build among ourselves, we convince ourselves of lack and scarcity which is only reflected in our economics. This is not to say that fossil fuel is limitless and we can go on using it forever. This certainly doesn't seem to be the case. But when we live in a state of competition with everyone around us thanks to the Triumvirate among other things, we live in scarcity of what we can gain from life around us.

Abundance here means a mindset change that will lead to a change in the way we do economics which should lead to an economics that focuses on abundance. And that is looking at what is not only immeasurable in the im0 sense of the term, but what is truly Immeasurable or Im0.

Let's ask ourselves, what exactly is the value of the earth, the water, the plant and animal kingdom, and the human life on it? Is there really a $ value to this? Whose currency are we using? Is this a fiat currency whose value is less stable than that provided by the game money of a Monopoly set? Does this value vary? Can it ever be fixed? Who gave us this planet anyway? Are we just here by accident and so we can do whatever we want, to whomever we want, however we want? Does the concept of stewardship and passing on the world from one generation to another in better condition, or just as good a one, from when we inherited it make any sense?

What is being suggested is to look at one possible scenario. As more of these ideas come to the surface it is easier to interface with them and to put it this way: a more community driven approach is what is needed, and that is probably what we will be forced into anyway.

Part of this involves looking at a new currency system as mentioned in posts recommended above. It would also mean a way of looking after people and societies belonging to low income groups in a sustainable manner, as opposed to just giving aid or charity, or hoping they will die off with as little inconvenience as possible. One direct link to this concept of social businesses can be found here:

Social Business

This will also call for greater use of local/new/complementary currencies. Another direct link:

Complementary Currencies

This would take place within a broad political framework as envisioned by the great political philosopher John Rawls. His vision is for a political conception of justice in democratic societies. A link to help see more of Rawls's ideas in detail:

Justice as Fairness

What these ideas allow for is to try to lessen the view of duality of ourselves and to see ourselves as One. This is a hard call, but no less difficult than problems we are heading into. My point is, for those who don't believe in altruism and the like, learn to accept the fact that we may not have a choice but to work with one another closely, which may be bad news for the cynics out there.

It is interesting to note that a film like The Dark Knight addressed some of these issues. For those who saw the film, you will remember the ending when different boats of people (one full of convicts) had the choice to blow the other up so as to save themselves from all being blown up by the Joker (played magnificently by Heath Ledger).

Sorry for the spoiler here, but duality and the mentality of scarcity almost led each boat to blow the other up, yet somehow neither did so. And Batman, of all people given his issues and complexes, says that people are capable of much more than just survival instincts that have been ingrained into them.

But going beyond the movie, there needs mention of the ideas from a fascinating thinker -- Georges Battaile. In his masterpiece The Accursed Share, Battaile talks about how economies are driven by exuberance and waste. A rich economy or the very wealthy exemplify this by being wasteful and extravagant to show that they can afford to destroy surplus. The ultimate capital accumulation devaluation as Battaile himself concludes is the destruction of humans via war (for example), and that is because that ‘surplus' human being can be ‘wasted'; hence, that particular human is becomes the accursed share.

This resonates with Marx's notion of how capital leads to the contradiction of devaluation and destruction of itself and all that it requires to keep itself going. This in turn rests on the fundamental view of duality between us and others that engenders the exploitation of the world and one another.

Battailes raises another important point. If there is scarcity around, how is it that we have population explosions or life coming into being. There is, if anything, a great deal of energy and exuberance around the planet and in life forms. There is plenty. There is abundance.

We simply choose to believe otherwise and to live in duality from others. With the belief of scarcity and competition (reinforced by 3BGs) we exploit, abuse and waste resources as a result of following a system of capital accumulation and devaluation

What we need is balance.

If, as this thought experiment goes, we do see ourselves as One. Then in a community form of living within the context of our larger society, country, regional grouping, the world, we will start trying to build collaboration and trust. Some of these ideas are eloquently explained in Deep Economy: The Wealth of Communities and the Durable Future by Bill McKibben.

In terms of the new kind of money we can use, there are complementary currencies used in the form of time banks. For instance, people do services and give things to others in exchange for other services based on the time they log in which is generated into a form of points/currency. So some people may car pool and someone does the groceries for a neighbor, in return for someone doing their laundry or cooking a meal.

In terms of straight forward barter, a couple I know in England exchange the local produce from their backyard for produce from their local grocer.

As things in themselves are im0 and in the greater scheme of things Im0, barter exchanges, time banks, and complementary currencies as means of value, use value, and exchange value make complete sense, and are non-exploitative. There is no surplus value being skimmed off, as what is being done is largely from goodwill and cooperation.

But many have questioned this idea of goodwill, and one person told me that goodwill is not the answer because in the ‘Real World' that's not how things work.

Well, we are all still awaiting for someone who actually is the expert on the ‘Real World' to help solve the world's problems. My counter query to the ‘Real World' exponent was if he fell down on the street and needed help to get up because he was injured, would he ask for help? Or did he think that in the ‘Real World' no one would bother?

The answer was since it had not happened to him, he could not know but he knew many instances when people wouldn't bother to help others (presumably because they were answering to the dictates of the Triumvirate)...and that's in essence the ‘argument of the Real World'.

Yet, everyday, we manage to get by with our difficulties because many times people just decide to try and be decent about things. Amazing, but true. A community that sees itself as One, and a society and world that see itself that way, can slowly but surely edge past the Triumvirate which is in its state of final decline and move onto a new paradigm.

Perhaps, to the ‘Real World' enthusiasts they may grudgingly accept that if for no other reason than to survive, we will have to make a move towards community living and use different ways to measure progress.

This will make us see that if we do not rush and want MORE all the time, that there is such a thing as enough, that there is such a thing as balance; and that people who have had enough of the way 3BGs have been doing things will take advantage of the coming economic difficulties to demand from their leaders that things have to be done differently, and a new way of thinking can be brought into place if only it is given a chance.

It will be rightly pointed out that perhaps I have not given enough details here about what this Abundance really is and I would humbly agree to that. Perhaps we are still some way off from things like genuine trust, neighborliness, mutual respect and consensual agreements in deciding things; where people and the environment are given a priority and go beyond mere $ measurement, because the human species and the planet it lives on is Im0 in value. Pehaps that's because we are in the process of creating it and we haven't gotten there yet.

But I would also point out this parallel. Many never could have imagined the depths of suffering and horror that people could live and survive through. Yet the species has gone through innumerable wars, concentration camps of all types and tortures of the vilest sorts.

Is it so hard to imagine a human resilience in a reverse situation that goes onto a different paradigm where the horrors are a thing of the past and, while there will still be some fighting and differences among people over various issues, we start to live with a sense of justice and fairness, of balance, of community; and in the good that comes from this a mindset of Abundance, and an economy that finally reflects it.

To all the nay sayers I have only this to add for now.

Has it ever striked you as strange that we live on a planet, in a solar system, in a galaxy in constant motion in a Universe that is Im0 (which may be just one of multiverses as science now reluctantly admits), while many still think that the purpose of the human race is to make more Coca Cola and bombs?

It takes a certain kind of Ego to think the Universe revolves around us.

The Copernican revolution was meant to show us how wrong we have been, and we still are.

It is time for us to try something different.

First Contact

This is yet another thought experiment.

We keep wondering about how things will change for the better given the current state of affairs we live in. The answer many of us give is that what we need is a change of paradigm. That the current way of doing things just does not work anymore. But we have had changes of paradigm and not many of us throughout history, and as a species, have accepted them sometimes because they offer a means for more violence and disturbance.

The dropping of the atomic and hydrogen bombs on Japan in World War 2 was an example of a change in paradigm. The landing of man on the moon was a sure change of paradigm. The advent of the Internet and where much of our discourse takes place, is perhaps the most recent shift in paradigm. And many of us are expecting more in the years ahead. Hopefully they will be even more benign and advanced in nature.

But let’s just backtrack a little.

There have been other changes in paradigms that have knocked us off balance only for us to create a different form equilibrium. The rise of major religions throughout the world have caused paradigmatic shifts in our thought and way of life.

The existence of Christianity, for example, and the idea of forgiveness for trespasses against us was quite a shift in thinking from the ‘eye for an eye’ concept that still reigns supreme today.

Yet, most people still hope for and want another change in paradigm, but this time they say, for the better. Whatever that means.

Let’s take something that is not foreign to our psyche and recast it here as a possible scenario. Take a real jump in paradigm. Just because most of us have not seen other entities or been in contact with beings beyond this planet, we take any suggestions of such as outlandish, sci-fi nonsense, or shout ‘watch out they are gonna have us for breakfast!’

Right. But what if, say around the middle of October this year for a period of about three days or so a large craft manned by ascended beings (those superior to us as a species in that, for instance, they can travel intergalactic space) appears in a certain part of the world and is witnessed by the thousands…?

No, it’s not “here we go again :)”, it’s just think about it.

How will we react? What will cynics and skeptics say, what will Governments say? Whose power and control over people and resources will be threatened then? Would we choose to live in fear and apprehension and trust what those in power say on how we should view such a ‘threat’, or do we decide for ourselves?

Do we network on our own, bypass the media much of which is controlled by vested interests, and keep one another informed?

The icing on the cake is that these ascended beings radiate love and peace and are here to disarm the various bellicose factions that are running the world and us into the ground via disastrous economic and political policies. They are here to let us get our act together, for us to force our leaders (and elect the right ones) to come up with harmonious policies for our societies, and dovetail them with the rest of the world’s interest as well. A revamp of the UN also takes place to say the least.

How will we respond to this kind of a paradigm shift?

Now let’s take the ascended beings out of the picture.

Let’s now assume that events come by that lead to crises all around starting with a form of economic meltdown and environmental disasters like severe floods, hurricanes, and earthquakes and our secular structures of power seem to collapse like sand castles before a tsunami. We will have to resort to community living like never before.

Assuming something like this may be in the works, what we should start looking for are as many ways to connect and share ideas and help one another not just within our communities, but throughout the world. We should be forming groups based on P2P concepts and other virtual communities, for example, to be in a position to keep things together while the next paradigm shift goes into motion.

This is a chance for people to take back their sovereignty and reclaim their right as decent human beings and not be subject to lies and manipulation anymore.

But of course, this is just another thought experiment.

And then again, history keeps showing us that we are only wiser in hindsight. But it does not always have to be this way.

Maybe first contact is when we start for the first time to truly see and contact one another as One.