Re: What are the issues?

["John Gelles" <johng@xxxxxxxxxx>]

        Raising again the question--what are the issues--
        I repeat, below this message, yesterday's list of
        possibilities.

        Mason Clark asked a similar question. James
        Cumes has implied the issues are those that
        VOW"s Commissions will address--see the
        website if you do not recall them all.

        Tonight President Bush will announce the issues.
        I, for one, expect his list to be a good start.
        And the World Economic Forum will keep its
        list of  issues going--see their website and the
        news if you do not recall them all.

        The WEF list is similar to our list except
        that we mean it and they are suspect.
        Representing wealth and power they may be
        less anxious for change than world security
        demands--less anxious for change than
        world equity cries out for.

        One monster sits blocking  the path to progress.
        He blocks President Bush. He blocks Davos-in-
        New York. His name is "SHOW ME THE
        MONEY!"

        We with little money like most of us, or great
        money like Davos, or still more money like Bush,
        have "nothing" relative to the need if we do not
        heed the lesson of World War II.

        Professor James Galbraith explained, and
        World War II illustrated, where the money is.
        But the Galbraith prescription is ignored,
        (except in part, by Bush, for homeland defense
        and more for the Pentagon--about 100 billion
        in all--as far as an increase over what we were
        spending).

        In a ten trillion dollar economy, at risk from
        terrorist action, where one madman can
        anthrax a city, and at risk from grossly
        inadequate income for one-third of earth's
        population and seriously inadequate income
        for all but a few of the rest, the need for
        more money here and now is ten times what
        the President will ask for.

        We can imagine tomorrow a gold rush that
        quickly found and marketed a trillion dollars
        in gold. Would that make a difference?

        What is needed is weapons for the war on
        terrorists and weapons for defense against
        possibilities. What is needed, too, is food,
        water, homes, schools and jobs for the one
        third in desperate straits. And needed, as
        well, is economic security for all. None of
        these things is made of gold--although
        economic security is made of something
        like it.

        Now the monster blocking success wants
        to see the money. And we know where it is.
        It is a by product of production.

        My friend Mason Clark recently wrote how
        uninteresting a lecture from me really is. Well
        that is only partly my fault.  I wish the lecture
        had come from him. Better lectures come from
        Galbraith--especially the one on mobilizing
        nations and worlds to produce the needs
        that stare us in the face. The abiding principle
        is, "a nation can afford whatever it can
        produce". That's what wartime financing
        proves.

        We who know this, are hung up on in-fighting
        to see whose fiat money system is the prettiest.
        They, who speak tonight to all of us, and speak
        in NYC-Davos till the end of the week, may
        know that war-money is there but they refuse
        to let us have it!

        Thus the monster and the issue (show-me-
        the-money) hangs over all we think and do.
        We can let it hang there and hope that "protest
        as usual" can get a second wind and run
        the race better this time. I suppose we all
        see Enron as an object lesson in favor of
        national responsibility to regulate markets.
        And we may see Afghanistan as an
        object lesson is defense preparedness.

        I see WEF as an object lesson in reform:
        It's not just the power to confer that counts--
        you must have a lever to pry open the
        money-matched-to-output machine. Only
        then will our program to end want and
        poverty have legs.

 === Again from Yesterday: What are the issues?==

        What are issues as seen from a Victory over Want
        (VOW) perspective?

        1.  Democratic procedures that make it possible for
             people with little wealth, office or celebrity to
             raise their issues for public attention and debate.

            [This issue seems the weakest to me. There may
              be no way or need to hear from people in
              ways other than what we have. The little time
              we each have to listen means only a few can
              ever be heard.]

        2.  Safety net, full employment, less disparity in
             conspicuous and real consumption, and similar
             bread and butter issues, all aimed to raise the
             worldwide minimum standard of living.

        3.  Environmentalism.

        4.  Money-crankism       [Here is where we must
                  unlock the means to advance a democratic
                  agenda]

        ...
       Voters with sympathy for the poor ought to be
        able to visit our website and know what we have
        in mind to accomplish our objectives -- how we
        would use their time and money if they chose to
        join our effort.