below a letter of mine published earlier in the year in a local news paper.

Reports say that unemployment in the US is now almost 10 per cent, but rather than just rely on others to do things for us all the time it is time for people to organize and get their acts and ideas together.

But new ideas and initiatives are needed which have to go beyond the old collapsing paradigms. We are not alone in this and we have to act together.

"NOW and again, there are calls to set a minimum wage, which will not solve anything.

Businesses will likely transfer any increase in wages to the consumer via higher prices of products. This in turn will lead to another round of higher minimum wages. Forced higher wages all round will lead to increased liquidity and inflationary pressure on prices.

One of the ideas behind the minimum wage is to ensure that the minimum income is higher than welfare benefits, or other assistance, so as to wean people off welfare dependency. But large private sector industries must answer to shareholders with hefty profits and pay bonuses to top executives.

How will a minimum wage system work around this? It will be manipulated to hire fewer people so a company's wage costs do not rise. And it will mean inflated prices for everyone.

Perhaps we should consider the idea of a fair wage. That would mean looking at new ways to start businesses with government support as well. This can help ensure that people earn enough and the earnings are distributed in a fair manner.

This would involve paradigm-changing approaches such as:

• Collective ownership of a business where all who work in it are shareholders; the Government could have a stake too.
• Apart from regular wages, a system of profit sharing is set up for all who work in the business. 
• There should be no astronomical wages for anyone, and reasonable wages should depend on the nature of the job performed. Perhaps a higher ratio of profits can be given to those whose functions ensure high-end aspects of the profitability and sustainability of the business.
• Apart from regular Central Provident Fund [national savings schemes in some countries] contributions and the like, a certain amount should be retained to be reinvested in the firm and set aside for additional health care, education and welfare benefits. This also prevents excess liquidity from flooding the economy.

This is just a set  of general ideas that need to be extrapolated, improved and tweaked where necessary. But the old thinking that economic issues can be solved with the same system of stock market swings, inequitable incomes for a handful, and sudden unemployment due to so-called 'market forces' will not get us anywhere."

(Please see http://www.inafj.org)

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:

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.

Part of changing mindsets of people for the better is to change the way the economy works, and how we view and live in it.

We can do this when each of us does our part in spreading some form of good work.

There are new ways to measure and view economic growth beyond GDP. What's missing are things like GPI (Genuine Progress Indicator) and even GNH (Gross National Happiness).

This is not to say that GDP does not have its uses. But it is a highly inaccurate and misleading way to capture growth and success in an economy.

A GDP valuation includes all money generated by a country including for eg, the cost of a war, car accidents, oil spillage etc.

This means that rather than reflect what is a 'plus' in the ledger, the GDP includes all 'minuses' as well (ie, money lost and spent on wasteful and harmful activites).

For eg, if you have your own firm and you factor in all the money you earn at the end of the month. Then you minus all the debits you have from it, like maintenance costs, cost of education and food for your children etc,

Whatever's then left from your earnings is your profit. That's common sense.

But a GDP, believe it or not, takes all your earnings and expenditure including your minuses and rolls that up to a grand figure and says thats what an economy has made. It's counterintuitive because you shouldn't add your losses as growth, but economies do that. Which is why most growth indicators are misleading.

Expenditure is not equal to growth. Growth is much more than dollars spent/generated.

That is why you can have GDP growth but unemployment/or marginal employment (because you can grow a GDP by expensive govt projects which is not the same as getting people decent jobs that allow them to lead a decent life).

Web searches on this and on "Green Economy" will help put many of these things in context. Many of these ideas can also be gleaned from Economia by Geoff Davies and The Economics of Happiness by Mark Anielski

Check out: http://www.anielski.com/

Countries like Bhutan use the GNH, and local and even the federal govt. in Canada now use GPIs.

The GPI captures the quality of life. That is what economies are really about.

How it is done is basically to have a plus and debit system for an economy and you do the right thing by subtracting the negative effects of losses to the economy and their negative impact: like building more cars, and creating larger roads to contain them, or demolishing green spaces and community areas for larger shopping malls and more $ banks, or a greater armament industry.

The GPI can be used together with the current GDP as a better and fair basis of capturing economic growth.

One of the measurements used in GPI, and not in GDP calculations, are activities that are not given monetary value but are nonetheless of great value.

For eg, a value is given to what a stay home parent contributes, to social and volunteer workers' contributions, to social and community contributions by companies, or activities by civil and civic society.

If a person takes time off work to look after an ailing parent or family member, or even a good friend, this may be added or captured by GPI.

This is part of the pluses added to the GPI calculation.

If a society becomes less gracious due to rapid urbanisation and harmful economic competition, this would be captured as a minus under GPI.

Studies have shown that since the end of WW2, while the GDP has grown greatly in the US (for instance) its GPI has eroded drastically.

Which explains why material wealth doesn't equate in many people's view to genuine wealth and what gives meaning to their lives.

And on the innovative use of cooperatives in this scheme of things check out Emilia-Romagna in Italy which also produces apart from fine food, wine, the automative industries of Ferrari, Ducati, Lamborghini, and Maserati (perhaps they might go Green...?).

Part of the need for a new economy is due to the failure, increasingly evident, of our current debt based monetary system that is now reeling from corporate malfeasance, priorities given to the banking industry and a near collapse of financial loan institutions: the fallout of which the US and many other countries are starting to face now.

Witness the recent desperate rate cuts by the US Fed and the buying of stakes by Singapore's sovereign wealth funds into international banking organisations -- all a result of a failing debt based economic system.

This impacts all of us: that's why mainly middle class people find that they all have to work harder, longer, get more depressed and stressed and still find that the genuinely rich get only richer, as everyone else slides into more debt, poverty and frustration.

Never mind the lower income groups who are desperately trying to find just breathing space.

The imbalance of things, and unacceptable level of inequity that the current debt based economic system generates is ruining our quality of life.

Part of this has to do with the monetary system we have: eg, a debt based system in which banks issue paper money based quite literally on nothing. They actually do create money out of thin air.

The monetary system of debts and interest rates only create the economic slavery that all hard working people (and increasingly unemployed people) find themselves in.

One of the things we need are interest free banks.

Check out: Anielski Report

Another way is to also start a split barter system where money is used but in a limited form. These ideas can be read up on and I believe Emilia-Romagna uses some form of this system.

Many thanks for your time.