Day 246: Green Economics – the Newest Fad?

Reading through a magazine, I came across an article on how traditional neoclassical economics is just not up to the task of providing an effective system of distribution for the world – with which I agree. 

At the bottom of the article, was a whole list to numerous websites promoting different forms of ‘alternative economics’. Being interested in exploring what’s out there on the internet in relation to new developments in economics, I copied the list eagerly to go through the various websites.

As I browsed my way through the 10 or so different websites, a communal theme started to make its appearance throughout the websites – they all looked ‘fresh’ and ‘green’ and we’re all about : reduce carbon emissions, shrink your ecological footprint – essentially: ‘save the planet’.

Something was just not right with this picture.

And then it hit me: this is just another fad.

Just as we have Spirituality within the realms of Religion, the Organic / Raw Food movement in terms of Food – we now have ‘Green Economics’ in the realm of Economy.

What all these movements have in common, is that they jump ahead of the issues that are relevant. Without first providing and ensuring dignified living conditions so all can have a life of delight on Earth, Spirituality immediately jumps to saving your ‘Beingness’ and ensuring that your Beingness can transcend to higher planes. But what is the value of such an objective if we can’t even manifest a sense of brotherhood and solidarity on Earth, within our societies and relations to one another? What is the point of ‘attaining our higher selves’ when we obsessively and compulsively wage War and destroy life?

What is the point of pushing and insisting on Organic Food when we have not even established basic Food Security for everyone on the globe?

What is the point of trying to save the planet through changing the way we do economics if we can’t even set our economic system up in a way that saves everyone from economic hardship? How can we expect to fulfill such a great responsibility as ‘saving the planet’ and ‘taking care of the Earth’, when we haven’t even proven our responsibility towards each other, towards one another as human beings? How can we expect people to support ‘Green Economics’ to ‘save the planet’ when every moment of the day is spent towards survival? How can we expect people to start treating the planet with dignity, respect and care when we haven’t shown that we can live these principles towards another?

If we can’t even actively secure Human Rights and treat one another as we would like to be treated – then we can’t engage ourselves towards saving the Planet. Our efforts towards ensuring that every human being on Earth in fact has a living standard that we would all deem acceptable – has been negligible to say the least. To at this stage demand everyone to treat the planet, nature, the Animal Kingdom with respect – would simply be a spit in the face of those who have never received any such kindness. When people are treated with disrespect and disregard, one is tacitly giving permission to those who receive such treatment, to transfer this treatment in kind to others. 

I’m not saying that nutritious food and ecologically balanced methods of producing and distributing goods is not important – as certainly these points would benefit ourselves, the planet and future generations; but the point is to acknowledge our track records, which is looking kind of dismal at the moment, and to not overreach in our objectives. Our race to ‘save the planet’ is currently one ran knee-deep in the mud, we may be spending a lot of energy on it but it’s not getting us far. So let us rather spend our energy towards getting the fundamentals right, towards getting in place the foundation that will ensure an effective campaign towards a harmonious management of our home, the Earth, by first establishing such a relationship towards one another – and then from there it will simply be a walk in the park, to extend this treatment to the Planet.   

The first step towards fostering an attitude and character conducive to the restoration of the Earth to a state of balance, is to first restore faith in humanity and our capacity to care, through implementing a system such as the Living Income Guaranteed by the Equal Life Foundation. This is a practical way to acknowledge our common humanity, our common Right to Life and to truly develop a sense of respect for Life on Earth, and Earth as Life. We cannot allow ourselves to ignore the impact human activity has on the Earth and the Environment. Only through equipping every human being with the necessary resources to sustain a dignified life, and equipping everyone with the tools of education, can we move as One towards caring for our Planet.

About the Living Income Guaranteed – from the LIG website livingincome.me

Why a L.I.G.?

The Living Income Guaranteed (“L.I.G.”) by the Equal Life Foundation is a Proposal geared towards addressing the most immediate Human Rights problems modern societies are faced with today. Current systems and approaches that have been implemented towards prosperity and well-being of the citizens within nations have been able to facilitate economic growth, but though the bounties of this growth have not yet been able to reach everyone.

The Living Income Guaranteed is aimed at assisting and supporting those individuals within society that find themselves in a disadvantaged position as a result from structural ineffectiveness and inadequacies, through providing Equality of Opportunity for all. The Living Income Guaranteed will function as the medium through which a state is able to remediate the most direct negative effects of a capitalistic system, while still being able to maintain some of the perks that such a system represents and embodies. The Living Income Guaranteed will thus aid in balancing Growth with Sustainability whilst effectively securing Human Rights.

What is L.I.G.?

Living Income Guaranteed stands for the provision of a Living Income for each citizen that is unable to sustain themselves financially to live a dignified life. Unlike the Basic Income Grant proposals, the Living Income Guaranteed is not invariably provided but distributed by a means-test. The Living Income Guaranteed is a social security net which everyone can apply to, when it is necessitated. This principle locks in with the Duties of the Government as laid out within most Bill of Rights, where the State is responsible to ensure the livelihood and well-being of its citizens when the citizen is unable to do so for him or herself.

For more information, visit:

http://livingincome.me

http://livingincomeguaranteed.wordpress.com

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Day 243: Living Income Guaranteed and Communism

Whenever a new way of organizing society and our economic system opens up, one of the comments that comes to the surface is :"But isn't that communism?"

Now, communism in itself as a word has become a word of Terror. It is used specifically to instigate fear reactions within people, where you do not want to be linked or involved in anything that may be deemed 'communistic'. But what is communism really? Nobody knows anymore. It's one of those terms -- just like the Inflation concept -- that has taken on a life of its own. In the case of communism, it's become a boogieman story. I mean, when people talk about communism and 'fighting communism' it is done from an assumption that communism is 'one clearly defined thing' and ‘it’s clearly evil’. Truth is, there were many various different concepts that developed that could be deemed 'communistic'. It's the same with Religion, you can talk about for instance 'Christianity' but then within that you have various variations and adaptations of Christianity. Forms of communism were adopted in Spain in the 1930s which were highly effective, yet you don’t hear about it anywhere.

So when you talk to people and ask why they are against anything that could closely be related to communism, they go "oh but just look at Russia, and all those people that died it was a total failure, it’s never going to work". What is not being done is putting communism that took place in Russia (or what actually would be more correct is to say 'the communism that DIDN'T take place in Russia) into context.

What must be understood is that Communism as an idea and Communism as ‘what happened in Russia’ are two different things. You see, people were angry, people then had an idea and then they went into a Revolution to try and implement that idea. The thing is that once they were in power – they had no practical plan or way of implementing their idea in a way that would actually work. They had no knowledge of things like politics and economics and were completely inadequate and incompetent to actually run a country. So, they tried things out, it failed, they went into fear and established a form of authoritarianism and all in all the story did not have a happy ending.

To go back to the Christianity example – the way Communism is treated is the same way the Jesus message and Christianity is being treated today. We have what Jesus said, being one thing – as principles of ‘Love thy neighbour’ and ‘Give as you would like to receive’, which is very much a principle of Equality and Harmonious Living. And then you have Christianity in all its various ways as what is ‘supposedly the Jesus message’ – but when you look at what is actually being lived out, is a message of fear, hate and inequality. So just like ‘what Jesus said’ and what ‘Christianity does’ are two completely different things – you can’t say that ‘Communism as an idea’ and ‘How communism took place’ are the exact same thing.

If you look at what happened in Russia, this is exactly one of the reasons why we never promoted any type of ‘Revolution’ to bring about change within any of our proposals, because they are impulsive and short-sighted. So yes, communism in Russia failed because there was no practical common sense reasoning or research that had gone into what they were doing. And because they failed big time, communism now has forevermore been branded by the mark of the Devil, and we should fight it in any way we can.

So now, each time something comes up that even in the slightest way could disturb the way things currently are and can in the slightest way be interpreted as ‘communistic': fear rises and it gets boxed away. All communism has been reduced to in this day and age is a form of fear induced superstition to keep people from actually thinking for themselves, kind of the same way Parents will tell their children that the boogieman’s gonna come for them if they don’t eat their veggies. Come up with any idea that will bring about a change in the way the current system works and people will come at you with the big C-Word to scare you into shutting up and conforming.

It’s come to a point that anything that doesn’t fit and support the status quo is labelled ‘communism’ and ‘socialism’ and anything that does support the current system is called ‘democratic’ and ‘free’. It’s just a word used as one pleases – if you don’t like it, call it communistic – if you do like something, call it ‘democratic and free’. I mean, you can have two countries who both to some extent operate within a form of Nationalization – but depending on how much they threaten the status quo the one will be called Communistic and the other one won’t. It’s just a word of convenience. Take Chile for instance whose economy is based on the nationalization of copper, copper being one of their main exports. They nationalized it and they did it effectively – and yet Chile is not deemed communistic. In fact, the World Bank will tell you that they are very proud of Chile and that Chile is an example for other South American countries in terms of adopting the Free Market System. But if you’re a different country and you nationalize say your oil and you adopt policies that are unfavorable to the United States = now you’re communistic = You are evil, your president is the Devil, you must be stopped.

It should actually become a rule that you can’t use the word ‘Communism’ in any form of argument or way to make a point, because the word has gotten abused so much that it’s just a joke. If you can’t make a point without resorting to terms like Communism as a form of Propaganda to terrorize people, then you just shouldn’t bother.

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Day 233: Can LIG provide us the punch to beat the recession?

Whenever the point of policies in relation recessions opens up in economy textbooks, we look at expansionary and monetary policies to help stimulate the economy. Within this government spending, taxation and interest rates play a major role. Here, we are pulling strings from a giant tapestry, hoping that a pull here and there will have an effect way down, on the other side of the tapestry, somewhere down the line… (if we allow enough time to pass by of course).

Yet, we can stimulate the economy a lot more effectively by boosting the aggregate demand in the economy, through the implementation of a Living Income Guaranteed
.
By granting everyone who does not have access to a stable income with a grant that allows them to live a decent life, we generate a greater level of disposable income. Those who were previously surviving and saving – now transfer more money towards spending and consumption.

As disposable income goes up, demand goes up, spending goes up and the wheels of the economy are greased up: economic activity goes up and economic growth is being promoted! As people want more things, more people need to be employed and the unemployment rate goes down. People get their needs taken care of, suppliers and producers are able to sell their things and jobs are being created.
As the economic capital grows, the social capital improves as well. As people’s living standards rise, people become more effective and efficient in their activities.

Implementing a Basic Income Grant System, is a win-win situation.

Check out the following blogs for more information:

Living Income and Nationalized Resources

Living Income Can Save Capitalism

Living Income and Minimum Wage

Living Income Guaranteed and the Nationalization of Banks

Living Income Guaranteed and Pensions

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Day 184: The Relationship between Ecology and Economics in Equal Money Capitalism

 The Problem

One of the major fundamental problems of the current economic system is its relationship to Ecology. What has been forgotten or not considered, is that both the words 'ecology' and 'economy' have their origins in the same word: the Greek word 'οἴκος' - which means 'house'. The ecology is the study of the house, or the environment - where ecology studies what conditions and principles require to be in place in an environment for species to flourish in it. Economy, then is the management of the house or the environment. Knowing this, we would expect that both work very closely together and that, economics is in service of ecology - because what's the use of managing the environment if it's not in service of making sure that the conditions and principles in place are those that provide optimal support?

Though - in today's world, the opposite happens - the economy is seen to be more important than ecology. It's okay to try to establish an optimal environment, but only in so far as it does not harm the economy. Whaaaaat?! That's, like, the world in reverse. And then the environment is attempted to be valued in economic terms by placing a price on it - instead of looking at the basic value of a forest in terms of what its role is within the ecosystem that we all benefit from.

The Solution

In EMC - we place everything back in its rightful place - where first the conditions and principles are studied in terms of what is required to be in place for the environment and in an environment for species to flourish together as part of the same ecosystem - the same house. In this, we look at all the different kinds of environments - like nature, like a family, like your human physical body, like a school, like a company like a community. Once those conditions and principles have been identified, we can look at how to manage the resources the Earth provides in a way to satisfy these conditions and principles. The same approach will be applied for all Life - not only the human species - because animals for instance form part of an ecosystem and a balanced ecosystem is the one that is most supportive.

So studies like ecology, physics, sociology, education, psychology will form the basis of economics and not the other way around - where today, economics determines science in terms of what is currently being researched as that which is the most profitable.

Rewards

The idea that humans are more than the environment will be disengaged, as we will realize that both require to support each other if we're going to attempt to effectively share the same planet. The human, then, will transform from a parasite to an expression of Life.

Living within supportive environments will allow us to flourish as individuals, as communities, as a species, able to explore and expand ourselves to reach our full potential as a part of Life on Earth.

We will no longer have to break our heads about how to mitigate all the damaging effects of our economy and feel guilty about passing on our mess to the next generation - because we will bring children into a world that is already effective, that is already balanced, that is already equipped to adequately support itself and them.

Most problems that are created as a consequence of inadequacies within environments will be eliminated. This means - an extensive reduction in health problems, an extensive reduction of stress and midlife crises as a result of counter-supportive work-environments, an extensive reduction of psychological problems, an extensive reduction of extinctions of animal species, an extensive reduction of abuse in families - because within correcting the foundational problems within all kinds of environments, we eliminate the root causes of much of the dysfunctional behaviors on a physical, social and psychological level that we are faced with today.

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Day 144: Airport Tender Sham Under the Auspices of NeoApartheid

The Msunduzi Municipality has the responsibility of handling the tender for the management of the Pietermaritzburg Airport. In 2010, the municipality advertised a contract for the management of the airport, for which there were 6 bidders. The contract was awarded to Joint Venture. Another bidder, Indiza logged an objection based on faulty scoring procedures. The chairman of the objection hearing ruled in Indiza's favor and said the tender had to go back to the bid evaluation and adjudication committees for correction. The Bid Evaluation Committee, subsequently, recommended that Indiza get the contract.

However, the acting municipal manager decided to cancel the contract with Indiza without giving proper reasons - only stating they had to cancel the contract due to 'unforseen circumstances'. The real reason is probably that they wanted to get pay-back for Indiza's logging of the objection. It's like a child saying: "You rat me out to the teacher - I hate you now!"

This story yet again reeks of political corruption - where those placed in power by democratic means have no other intention than to further the interest of the elite classes of society and completely ignore and sabotage the democratic processes that have been put in place to protect the citizens from the government abusing its power. Political decisions are made through mutual agreements between politicians and corporations that both wish to enhance their own self-interested agendas with no regard for the good of the community. And who ends up drawing the short end of the stick? The people - who have to deal with an economic environment to which they have less and less access and in which they have less and less opportunity to live a dignified life. While the elites as politicians and their corporatist friends create their own little utopia by means of the sweat and suffering of their citizens and clients.

NeoApartheid has got us by the balls - and this time it's not limited to South Africa - it's happening all over the world - read the newspapers, do your research - we live in a NeoApartheid world where some hold all the cards and others have nothing - no rights, no freedoms, no power - even if they don't know it yet.

The ANC which led the struggle for liberation from Apartheid in South Africa has become blinded by the bling of money - where they themselves are now the ones upholding NeoAprtheid through economic and political corruption - claiming all the rights and all the freedoms for the price of everyone else's. They keep on trying to manipulate public opinion through emotional reference to their role in the struggle for liberation and by continuously trying to link themselves with Nelson Mandela, who, himself, declared that the ANC is no longer what he created it to be.

It's time we design a new world based on True Equality and Right to Life - join us on the Equal Money Forum to discuss the creation of an Economic and Political system in which people rule for themselves, by themselves and where no position within the system can ever lead to a path of corruption and NeoApartheid. This is your world - take responsibility. Educate yourself and join those who are dedicated to create Real Solutions that work according to the Principle of what is Best for All!

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Day 118: Drop in Agricultural Farmland Threatens South African Food Security

The Agricultural sector in South Africa is suffering extensively.

Over the past 16 years, 20 000 agricultural farms have ceased production and is set to fall from 40 000 to 15 000 over the next 15 years

Why?

A number of reasons are given, being: farmers are no longer being subsidised for labourers' housing or farm schools, uncertainty about water usage rights, poor disease control, government incompetence and policies lacking the incentives for job creation.

But the main reason that is raised is the issue of land reforms. As part of South Africa's land reform policy as an attempt to correct the evictions that took place during the Apartheid regime, claims can be made to certain sites of land on the grounds that it is part of ancestral heritage. "A new law that has focused attention on land issues will allow the government to expropriate land for restitution where negotiations on a “willing buyer, willing seller” basis fail (Thomson, A.)."

The title deeds of the property, after it having been expropriated by the governments are then given to the claimants who then own the farm.

Why is this a problem? Very simplistically: many effective and efficient commercial farmers lose their land to another that is not necessarily a farmer - and in most cases, isn't. There are only very few examples of claimed farms that are actually being maintained or improved after the transfer. In most cases, the new owners will attempt to make as much profit from what the farm currently has to offer, but lack the desire or experience to actually manage and run the farm effectively over a long-term period in such a way that the farm contributes to the feeding of the South African population.

A simple example is a farm that was full of fruit trees, where instead of continuing to produce and sell the fruit - the new owners simply cut down all the trees and sold them for firewood, after which they didn't see any more value in the property and simply left - still holding the title deeds to the farm. The farm was the previous owner's life work and he saw it being destroyed in a matter of months.

Imagine the amount of agricultural farms dropping from 60 000 to 15 000 over a period of 30 years and then consider the implications this has on South Africa's food security!

The problem is not only that well-operating farms are being turned into wastelands after them being claimed - the simple possibity of one's farm being expropriated understandably creates extensive reluctance in farmers to invest in their farms and expand them, as there is no certainty that they will still own the farm in 1 or 2 years. So, not only a massive amount of farms that took years to be established are lost, but the remaining farms are not expanding their production capabilities to make up for the loss in numbers.

It should be understood that the past is the past, and yes, many mistakes were made. But to try and fix the mistakes of the past in the present is simply another big mistake if it means endangering the South African agricultural economy, which will affect everyone - whether one's ancestors had been evicted several decades ago or not.

In the name of 'doing good' and 'making good gestures' an ideological way, the practicality of the matter has been completely overlooked and the practical consequences are starting to rear their heads.

This is only considering one dimension of the problem. Consider the farmers losing their land - what is a farmer to do without a farm? Farming is a holistic profession and a life-long dedication - farmers generally do not possess the skills for other jobs, they simply excel at being a farmer - when this option has been stripped for them, what can they make of their life? And furthermore - why are they to pay for mistakes they didn't necessarily partake in, but happened many years ago?

We cannot correct the problems of the present by attempting to re-set time through land reform policies, there is simply no point to it. The reality of today's problems must be considered within today's context - in order to ensure the best solutions for the future.

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Day 112: Shame for Colonialist Past

I grew up in Belgium and was taught in school how King Leopold II of Belgium had colonised Congo during his rule. I remember that during the lesson they explained what colonising means and they were summing up which country had which colonies during that time. They first went through all the other countries and eventually said: "And Belgium also had one colony: Congo". And it was said as though it was something to be proud of - like 'we also owned another country'.

Other than that we were taught that in 1960 Congo became independent and stopped being a Belgian colony - and that was apparently all there was to say about it.

Now - while doing research on African politics, I've become aware of the absolute absolute chaos ruling Congo after independence.

When my sister was taught about Congo as Belgium's colony in school, she asked her teacher to tell her more about it and the teacher just stood there, not responding. She's not sure if this is because she simply didn't know or if she was just too ashamed to tell an inquiring child of Belgium's heritage.

The shame of abdicating responsibility within the problems that were created in Congo as a consequence of colonialism has led to the concealing of information in relation to it, where children in school are not informed of what Belgium had done and what it hadn't done in relaiton to Congo and what role it played in Congo's downfall.

This is the world we live in today - where we are so ashamed of who we are as a society, as a people, as a nation - that we cannot look a child in the eye and openly share about the country's history.

The topic of Congo is like a taboo, something we don't speak of, something we don't even think of - it is like it has been erased from our history books and as though, therefore, it never happened - yet, the Congolese are still suffering the bitter aftertaste to this day, hoping that Belgium will come and assist in sorting out the mess it left behind - not knowing that the current Belgian generations live in ignorant bliss of what is going on in its former colony and, really, couldn't care less.

It is easy to go and fuck up a country and then, once it is declared independent, wipe our hands clean as though 'our job is done now, we did the right thing' - but no responsibility was taken for the harm that had already been done.

How can rich nations like Belgium claim to be working towards creating a better world, when they are too ashamed of who they are and what they have done as a people, as a nation, to educate the next generations about it so that the young generations can learn from past mistakes?

How can rich nations like Belgium claim to be working towards creating a better world when they deliberately abdicate responsibility for the harm they have done unto other people - as though we can create a better world without the requirement of taking responsibility for our thoughts, words and deeds?

How can rich nations like Belgium claim to be working towards a better world when they are too ashamed to admit to their own mistakes - placing their own shame above what is best for all - an absolute act of self-interest?

How can rich nations like Belgium claim to be working towards creating a better world if they cannot look their children in the eye and speak straightforwardly about the world that they have created for them, the legacy they are leaving their children to sort out?

To be continued.

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