Have you Ever been Swept Off Your Feet?

In both cases – whether the bubble was inflated with positive or negative energy – the participants in the bubble are being swept away further and further away from actual physical reality and start to see everything either ‘extremely negatively’ or ‘extremely positively’ – neither experience is grounded in reality – because the physical is neither positive or negative – it just is what it is.

And Then You Crash – Meconomics

In this little series, we’ve been investigating the phenomenon of inflation, how we in our daily lives participate in ‘inflating our reality’ and so, how we are on a personal level participating in the same principles/dynamics that we see playing out on a bigger scale when it comes to inflation, speculative bubbles and financial market crashes.

Welcoming New Life with Living Income Guaranteed

Comfort, security and nurturing are all things we wish are present when a baby comes into this world. Yet, these conditions are not a reality for many babies, as parents themselves like these things in their lives. In Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu Natal province in South Africa, 3 to 5 babies are…

Humanity Washed Ashore

This was an excerpt of just one of the stories about the boy. Over the last few days, dozens have been written and published on various major news sites. What is more striking than the content of the posts, is the comments that are left on these articles. What is humanity’s response to such images, to such news?

Voting Fun – What does it Feel Like to Have a Say?

Now – before such increased direct political participation is a reality – let’s do a little test to see what it feels like. So – here are some mock-questions where you’re asked to give your input. Imagine that this relates to your direct reality (eg. your town) – and your answer has a weight that influences the outcome of the decision. Of course, in reality…

14 February 2013

Day 191: Entertainment and Equal Money Capitalism

This blog post is in relation to a comment placed on one of our previous blog-posts.

“I think I read somewhere that entertainment is not a business in EMC, so it's not handled by corporations? I suppose all people who currently work (and are possibly educated in) in entertainment need to re-educate themselves then. Entertainment as a product or service that needs material resources of any kind is such a boring subject and so far from the priority of providing necessities and basic human rights (with a new definition) for all, that I wouldn't even include it in EMC - not in the system itself. If people want to have fun, they can play with sticks and stones. As long as they won't begin to whack each other with them. There was no need for entertainment
industry in Eden. on Day 175: The Economic Problem and Equal Money Capitalism


There will still be space for Entertainment within Equal Money Capitalism. In terms of Entertainment not being a ‘corporate’ point anymore – this is laid out within Day 171: Life-Force and Expression in Equal Money Capitalism. Entertainment will form part of the greater field of expression and whoever has a passion in writing, filming, acting, music, dancing, performance, etc. – will still be able to do so within the framework of a Cultural Centre which will provide the resources and support to make such things happen.

A lot of people are into entertainment and music at this stage because they all try and become famous and all try to become rich. That’s the real reason they’re all trying it – they hope to hit it big, which is just like gambling. So, at the moment we can’t even really speak about an ‘entertainment industry’ it’s actually just a casino. Everyone is trying to get rich, hoping for the big one. That’s not authentic. That’s why we don’t really have any Music or Movies developing in the world now that is actual Self-Expression

So within Equal Money Capitalism, the whole face of entertainment within this will obviously change once the profit-motive has been removed – and real Self-Expression will finally be able to emerge and be explored.
Enhanced by Zemanta

11 February 2013

Day 190: Fairness in the Work Place and Equal Money Capitalism

This blog post is in relation to a comment placed on one of our previous blog-posts.

"There must be a way to make sure that no job becomes one of paid idleness. Every job has to consist of activity or at least presence like working at reception desk which might be necessary even if there isn't much people coming and going at times, and this needs constant re-evaluation so that certain jobs don't become paid idleness because of variations like daily customer amount variation or something else.

Even if a company makes a lot of profit and there are partly or totally useless people employed at any given time, they must not be paid then."

How we deal with unemployment at the moment, is indeed to create unnecessary jobs. Here in South Africa, you'll find, for instance, that there are people in a shop who will place your groceries in bags and tie the bags for you - and that is their job. Or, in a gas station, you can just stay sitting in your car and the personnel of the gas station will do everything for you. In countries in Europe, such jobs do not exist. Each one bags their own groceries and fills up their own car at a gas station. It's often even uncomfortable for Europeans to have someone pack their groceries for them, because it really feels like you are treating this person as a slave - because you're very aware of how you can just do this simple task yourself.

What is not considered is that there are many important jobs to be done, which aren't being done at the moment. We can herein simply look at the environment and how little we actually interact with nature to identify where it requires support and to intervene where required. Environmental problems have escalated as companies have not taken responsibility for their polluting activities. Within EMC, each company will have an Environmental Department that ensures that what is taken from the Earth, either in the use of resources, or in terms of pollution, is given back or rectified as much as possible. These departments will create a large amount of meaningful jobs.

So - when we speak of Full Employment in EMC it is not to simply give a person a meaningless task or a job that barely requires any actual contribution, where the person is mostly spinning their thumbs - but to take on meaningful tasks, which the profit motive has not encouraged firms and individuals to address. The principles and regulations that will outline a company's responsibility within providing meaningful jobs will be aligned to the Equality Constitution where a company must perform these tasks within the consideration of what is best for all. Therefore, to create meaningless job and pay a person for not really contributing in any significant way, when there are meaningful jobs to be done - would be in conflict with the company's own principles and regulations as well as in conflict with the Constitution in general.

A company will thus be responsible to, indeed, regularly evaluate that all jobs are still meaningful and to restructure tasks where seen necessary. For instance, if two people in a firm doing two different tasks, no longer have much work to do and half the time sit around doing nothing, then one of the two can take on both tasks and the other can be given an entirely new job or can be assigned to a department that requires more assistance.

Herein - understand, that it will not be an option to simply no longer pay one's employees. A person's income is a person's lifeline and to simply take away a person's income is not acceptable, as it means to take away their access to everything they require to live a dignified life. So, where cases of 'paid idleness' are identified, it is the company's responsibility to employ labor in a meaningful way and to re-assign individuals where necessary. It is not the employees' 'fault' for which they now have to bear the consequences of not being paid.

"A company may not have the isolated right to decide whether a person is active and productive enough - there must be global standards on defining a sufficient amount of activity per day or hour, and those change with the times (because of technology etc.) and with the types of jobs. For Equality."

Possibly, we'll have guidelines in terms of how long a person should preferably work. However, we cannot set these things in stone. The reason is that every person is different. Every person has different abilities and capabilities. Where possible, assistance will be given to enhance a person's skills, abilities and capabilities, however, certain points are genetically defined or are the result of behavioral or physical patterns that are not easy to break through. Consideration and understanding is required therefore, for each one's individual strengths and weaknesses. Every person's contribution will stand in relation to that persons' capabilities. Therefore, fairness doesn't stand in relation to everyone doing the same or doing the same amount of work - it stands in relation to everyone equally contributing what they can contribute. 

Enhanced by Zemanta

10 February 2013

Day 189: Will your Level of Education Determine your Income in EMC?

This blog post is in relation to a comment placed on one of our previous blog-posts - you can check out the full comment at http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot.com/2013/02/day-188-simple-solutions-in-equal-money.html

~ Since I am the one who made the comment, I will rebuttal your response also.
First you are comparing green apples to red and saying they are worth the same at the register, which I tend to agree with. But, my comment was based more on someone that had 4 yrs of college or previous experience to someone who dropped out of high school.

We can not dismiss the expense of a higher education, or the value of years of previous experience, by paying say a gas station attendant of fast food server the same as the doctor or technician you spoke of. Indeed a doctor or technician, and even a plumber, electrician, or carpenter are needed just as much in today’s society.

Understand that within Equal Money Capitalism – education will no longer be a point of ‘investment’ from which you are expecting ‘returns’. This is one’s approach currently as the result of our environment which promotes competition and profit for the sake of self-interest where it’s ‘each one on his own’ – and is in essence an approach based within survivalism. There’s not enough jobs for everyone to go around with, and so people chose an education and career according to the prospect of money linked to that education/career. This is not a real decision/choice made within the consideration of one’s passions and interest – but based on a fear of not making it within this world and ending up with nothing. People who’ve currently  gone through a process of education and spent a lot of money and work getting there experience a sense of entitlement towards ‘getting a good pay’ – but only because they have experienced the process they went through as being an unpleasant one. If it wasn’t for the reward as ‘a good pay’ – these people wouldn’t have made the same education and career choices. Studying and working for an extended period of time to do a job you love and care about will be the reward itself. Within that, you are not going to be comparing yourself with what other people are doing and what process they went through – because what you are doing and the decisions you have made are merely the common sense outflows/results of your passion and what it is you like to do within Life. So, you’re not going to receive extra compensation for your perceived suffering, because you will not be going through a process of suffering. One’s approach towards education and careers will thus change completely.

In terms of financial investment, education is a basic human right, and thus will be provided by the government through tax-monies. In other words – you won’t have to pay for it specifically, because it is part of the ‘package’ you receive as part of your basic rights within developing yourself to your utmost potential. So – here, again, you will not be spending more money on an education for a doctor or any other type of education – so, here, again – there will not be a sense of ‘deserving’ a higher pay because one spent more money on study fees or study loans.

But there again we can very well pay someone who just started in the trade and has little knowledge or skills, the same as someone who as invested several years into learning and refining their trade. There are different values to ones experience within their chosen specialty, A company cannot afford to pay the unskilled as much because they aren’t capable of doing the job themselves.

Within Equal Money Capitalism the only value worth valuing is Life. It’s not about who can do what job or who went through what process of Education – it’s merely a point of you are here, you are alive and thus you will be supported to remain Life. The idea that a company cannot afford to pay the unskilled is merely the outflow of having polarized wages. Where those who are considered having a ‘special position’ receive way larger sums of income than those who are considered to be within an ‘average’ work position. Once this polarization is out of the way – there will be enough money to go around to reach everyone. Realise also that within the context of an Equal Money Capitalistic System – there will be no such thing as ‘an unskilled worker’.  Once one has completed one’s primary education,  a person will be multi-skilled and capable of a multitude of tasks due to the broad spectrum of education that will be in place.

If you start demanding that all employees and people are paid the same, then what happens is the less experienced workers begin to loose there jobs and their job opportunities as employers begin to limit their hiring to only skilled and experienced candidates. This creating a less people with experience because they can’t get any, and higher demands on the fortunate few who are working. Not to mention higher costs and shorter supplies of said products.

This will not be the case because in terms of equalizing wages – you will still end up with the same amount of costs in terms of paying out wages (if not less) – and as such there should be no reason why one would hire someone whose “overqualified” so to speak to do a job that someone who is less skilled can do at the same level of effectiveness. In addition, the labour market will not operate according to supply and demand. Providing employment forms part of a company’s social corporate responsibility. And decision-making such as you’ve outlined above would be considered unethical. Whenever a person no longer requires to perform a particular job within a company, the company is responsible to provide it with a different task. For companies to just take away a person’s income, which is a person’s lifeline is unacceptable. With such principles in place, it will be in the company’s best interest to ensure that each worker is trained to the best of their ability and to make appropriate matches between a person’s skill-set and their role in the company.

09 February 2013

Day 188: Simple Solutions in Equal Money Capitalism

This blog post is in relation to a comment placed on one of our previous blog-posts - you can check out the full comment at http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot.com/2013/02/day-186-invisible-hand-is-invisible.html#.URaxbvJBnTo.

"We can’t have equal pay because of the variable levels of experience, skill, and education. People should earn what they deserve, based on their education and skills."

The problem within remunerating individuals based on their level of experience, skill and education is that we're judging certain levels of experience, skill and education as good and others as bad. Herein, take the example of paying a technician more than a doctor - both are equally valuable contributions to society, yet we'll pay the one more because of a higher education level. In creating such divisions, you're giving people incentives in terms of what jobs to do based on money - where people will become lawyers and doctors and engineers because there's money in it - and not necessarily because that's what they would really love to do. And obviously, when you're passionate about your job, you'll push yourself to be great at it - not because of someone else's expectation, but because of one's own self-integrity. And a doctor who actually cares about his patients will be a better doctor than one who did it because he could and it would give him a nice personal life.

Also consider that not everyone has the same capacities. Some are naturally skilled in managerial tasks, others are really good with their hands - but again, both are equally valuable - so we can't remunerate one person more than another based on skill either.

In terms of level of experience - each one requires the time to grow in their profession, but that doesn't mean that we don't require the same amount of financial support in the meantime.

For more perspective on this point - please read one of our previous posts: Day 181: Applied Equality in Equal Money Capitalism

"However, if we reduced the over inflated costs of crappy products, removed the fees for electronic services that don’t need manual labor, and diverted 50% of our national defense budget back into improving our infrastructure and economy. We would see new jobs, more tax income for the cause, and a happier, more productive community and labor force."

What we suggest in terms of pricing is to have prices determined through only considering the people who were involved in the production process. From a previous blog:

"Profit is not to be understood in the same way as it is now. At the moment - profit is what is left after wages have been paid and production costs are covered. Within EMC - there will be no wages - your profit will be your wage.

So - every time a product is scanned when it is bought - the computer sees what percentage of the price is allocated to whom - and immediately the money-allocation happens accordingly. So - there's no need to wait a year to calculate profits - it will be immediate.

So - understand - that within EMC - you only ever pay for added value - added value is the value you add to a resource through labour - that - and then of course your tax. So - you're not paying for your resources. When value is given by a person - the person receives in return through profit. When resources are used by companies - they must give back as much as they can. So if a company uses wood within their production process, there will be a department within the company that plants trees. The same with using water - if clean water is taken - the dirty water after the production process is complete, must be purified and go back to the Earth. So - resources won't be owned - it will be a matter of take what you need and give back as you received."

And:

"It makes no sense to claim that one can 'own' a part of nature or the Earth - as physical resources - outside of oneself. Why? Because the Earth and nature were here long before us and they will remain here after we are gone - so how can we say that any of it is 'ours' - it's not ours."

To pay for resources, would imply giving money to the owner of the resource. But with the Earth being the owner, it makes to sense to give money to the Earth, because it means nothing to the Earth - money is only relevant in a human society. So - rather - we 'pay back' the Earth through supporting it in a physical manner. Each company will have an Environmental Department that is in charge of giving back what was received from the Earth insofar as this is possible.

Prices will thus be determined only considering that with the sales of the product, each one involved in the production process, ends up with an equal wage and this wage must be adequate to be able to live a meaningful life- which is a mathematical equation that can be worked out for each product and for each company. On these prices, taxes will be raised as government will still play a role within providing each one with their basic rights.

One of these basic rights will be employment. As you say - with technology able to replace menial tasks, we'll be able to create jobs where they are necessary - tasks that require to be done but aren't. The environmental departments of companies is one example. When unemployment is seen to arise - government requires to identify where further jobs can be created - or, another option is to reduce working hours or lower the pension age.

And yes - the role and magnitude of the defense forces must be reconsidered. If an EMC were implemented world-wide, they will likely no more exist as most wars are waged over economic reasons. When everyone is equally taken care of - there is no need to traumatize another country with physical violence to get it to comply to one's wishes.

"Unfortunately because people are elected into government based on their popularity. The politicians and powers that be are paid more than the average home, even though they have no special skills or experience. This leads to commerce and community decisions being made based entirely on the personal expectations, desires, and motives of the elected and now privileged group. With hardly any control from the people who elected them. Once they get there, they play a game of give and take with the community so they can keep their positions as long as they can. Serving in congress or the senate should be thought of as a privilege, there pay should be limited to that of an average household, to insure that they remain concerned for the welfare and health of the majority which they are still part of. In humanities quest for material items, fame, and fortune."

Totally agree. For politics, we suggest direct democracy where politicians are in essence merely administrators and not decision-makers and yes, where their wages are equal to those of everyone else. For more info on this, read: www.equalmoney.org/wiki/Politics

"We seem to have forgotten about the value of checks and balances. Anytime a system is out of balance, it is doomed to eventually fall apart and fail. Thus the proper individual course, is always one that leads to beneficial results for the community. Which then logically leads us to the success of our entire society. As it sits now, life is great if your above or near the fulcrum of our economy. But it can be grand or desperate depending on where you are on the arms, and that in itself is a sign of inequality and unbalance."

Yep, totally agree!



Enhanced by Zemanta

07 February 2013

Day 187: Why is Art so Expensive?

In one of the Afrikaans newspapers was an article on "Now everyone wants to have a Tretchi".

In the article, the author asks questions regarding the price of art - and why some art pieces are suddenly more expensive (though he's more talking about one artist in contrast to other artists - while from my perspective the same questions can apply to ALL Art).

The first thing that comes up when you ask people why Art is so expensive is the principle of Supply and Demand. There's only the one art piece which is unique in itself, only one person can have it and so in order to compete and exclude others from gaining access to it the price goes up.

But then the question of demand is not answered. Where does this demand come from? Where is this high willingness to pay for a physical object which may or may not even be aesthetically pleasant. I mean, Piero Manzoni canned his shit and it's called art.

It's all just based on consensus. A bunch of people agree that something is Art and now it's Art and now apparently it is 'valuable'. And if you want to be 'in' and you want to be part of this alternate reality called 'the art world' -- you want that painting/art piece that everyone agrees one is more worthy than other art pieces. I mean how ridiculous is that -- it's completely subjective. It's based on what other people agreed before them 'is art' and filter/interpret art through what they think they know about art. So they're not even looking at the actual piece for what it is, it first has to be filtered through someone's entire art knowledge before they have something to say about it.

Yes, art can be cool. I did art at some point and it's a fun medium to explore to express yourself and communicate in a different language where the art world has its own established 'symbolism' that you can use to convey a message.

But selling a painting like The card Players from Paul Cezanne for $267 million dollars? That's not what arts about, that's just a mind game. Especially if you consider that Paul Cezanne is looong dead and is never going to see any of the money -- so it's not supporting him in any way whatsover. If you look at Van Gogh, he had a terrible life -- what's in it for him when Portrait of Dr. Gachet was sold for $147.8 million. Surely, there's more important things you can do with your money? The person who actually deserved to get some money for the labour he put into the piece is long gone and you have a world where half of the population lives in misery -- so deciding to spend that amount of money on a piece of canvas with paint which together forms a picture over deciding to use your money to change the world for the better = it sounds kind of psychopathic to me.

The documentary "Exist through the Giftshop" by Banksy shows the whole Art scam quite clearly. In it, they follow around Thierry Guetta whose really into street art and basically a street art-wannabe and he ends up with his own exhibition selling pieces. And it's not like he put tons of work in the pieces because he mostly hired people to do the work for him and there's also not really a profound meaning behind any of his work. But because he's able to simulate art and 'make it look like art' = people believe it's art and make it art in their head. People come to his show and ask him questions and give their insight into what they are seeing and they're just making profound shit up and he just agrees with whatever they say = now it's art.

So art is all in the mind of the beholder and really has no other value than the time spent working on it and the money spent on acquiring the materials.

In Equal Money Capitalism Art will be valued as an expression -- not as an object to create an obsession about which leads to mental disorder like throwing tons of money away to get a piece while millions suffer.

You will also no longer be limited by people having to buy your art so you can survive and make more art -- your will be supported within developing and exploring your expression.

Expression and Creative Licensing

This will be more a ‘hobby’ point. For those people whose only income is derived from such activities, they’d have to be part of a greater collective like a Cultural Centre where many points of expression are explored and presented, where the general public can come and check it out and participate in community projects. It will be a place of coming together, having fun events, meeting people – socialising, which are all things people really enjoy.

In essence it’s about self-expression. You want the freedom to express. You will have the freedom to express and you will have the support that will give you the freedom to express. The concept of ‘ownership’ is only relevant to those points that are necessary to make your life function, like a house, a car – things like that. The other things are not really an ownership, because there’s nothing new. You’re simply expressing something that already exists. You are using notes in a particular sequence -- which forms a melody. The melody already existed - it’s just a coincidence that you’re the one that came up with that particular melody. The same goes for the lyrics of a song: the words you use for a song already exist, it’s just coincidence that you come up with it or another person comes up with it – it’s equally possible.

So it’s not about ownership there, or about having a copyright, or controlling it. That’s exactly the point we want to move away from – control. So that people can express themselves, if they like it.

http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot.com/2013/01/day-171-life-force-and-expression-in.html

This will allow a lot more people to enjoy and explore art as a point of Expression without the money constraints being in place -- while more people will also be able to enjoy appreciate one another's art. This will allow for Art to take on a whole new dimensions as there will be actual freedom to express.
Enhanced by Zemanta

06 February 2013

Day 186: The Invisible Hand is Invisible because it Doesn't Exist - Equal Money Capitalism and Providing Results that are Best for All

Another fascinating point that is backwards in our Capitalistic System today is the philosophy that if each one acts in a way to satisfy their own self-interest, these self-interest acts will kind of balance each other out in a way that generates results that our beneficial to society as a whole. This is what economists refer to as 'the Invisible Hand'.

When then confronted with the obvious failures of the current economic system, where so many are living below the poverty line (which by the way doesn't mean that only those people are poor), where crime runs rampant, where half the population can't even read or write - if we point those things out to economists, they'll point fingers at the government - saying - well, yes - that's because the market isn't allowed to freely operate. You have the government officials who fuck things up.

So - what's the deal with the government? Where the economic principles impulse individuals to act in their own self-interest, government officials are supposed to act in a way that is best for society as a whole. What needs to be understood, though - is that politicians form part of the very same economic system - they don't stand 'outside' of it - and so, they as well are being impulsed to act in their own self-interest - in fact, they are following the rules of the game of capitalism as it currently exists - the rules that free market economists like to defend so much. So - how can you point fingers at the government for not doing their job effectively, when they are actually doing exactly what you ask of them.

What free market economists will argue is that the free market must be allowed to just reign freely - and that the government really has no business interfering. But, I mean - isn't the very purpose of the government to correct market failures? There really is no other function for government - AT ALL. The origin of government is the realization that there's people who suffer if the market has free reign.

So - the entire philosophy - which is really just a belief - is completely debunked by practical reality. You can't argue your way out of this. So - having tried the idea that if you act in your own self-interest, you manifest a world that's best for all and seeing how it just doesn't work - the common sensical thing to do is to stop an economic system that is build on this philosophy - and to, instead, develop an economy that is based on the principle of: If you act in a way that is best for all, you automatically manifest the best solution for yourself as well. Considering that the world is a closed system and that we are not separate from the environment we live in - it makes sense to support the system as a whole in the most effective way - as this will ensure that we live in the healthiest and most supportive environment on an individual level. It is the most simplest common sensical  truth that if you lift up society as a whole - you lift up each one that is part of society as well.

Equal Money Capitalism is the proposed economic system that is built upon and aligned with the principle of doing what's best for all, from which flows what is best for each one individually. To read more about this economic system, consult the blog-posts on the Equal Money Capitalism page of this blog: http://economistjourneytolife.blogspot.com/p/emc.html#.URKuI_JBnTo.


Enhanced by Zemanta