Re: What we actually produce we can afford

["Schulte-baeuminghaus" <schulte.baeuminghaus@xxxxxxxxx>]

John,

Schumpeter wrote, as I recall, of a process of "creative destruction."
I would be happy for anyone to write a "VOW for dummies."
However, it must be accurate and it must not introduce other exotic or
esoteric terms to confuse the multitudes.
We don't need any terribly clever or mysterious devices to finance VOW.
The members of ICE (Institute for Creditary Economics) are solid,
down-to-earth citizens, as well as being (except for myself) people with
brilliant minds and long professional training and experience. They know how
to finance VOW. Given half a chance, they will do it for you in a flash.
The real problem lies with the way financial policies have been devised in
the past and the way in which they have been sold to "dummies."
Those "dummies" include the media, the students of economics as well as most
of their teachers and, of course, the long-suffering general public.
Almost every day, events move us closer to the brink of a comprehensive
financial and economic breakdown worldwide.
It is sad that this will probably be the only way - short of the even
greater catastrophe of world war - in which the fecklessness, the futility,
the injustice, the criminality of the past thirty years of monetary policies
will be revealed in any adequately convincing way and, too late to avoid
widespread distress, new policies set in their place.
While I appreciate what you are trying to do, the time for comma-pushing -
such as new drafts of websites, "VOW for dummies", etc - has passed.
Let's leave the commas where they are and get out on a campaign to have
people all around the world start the process to rescue us, if not
completely, at least from the worst of the distress that awaits us.



James Cumes
http://VictoryOverWant.org

----- Original Message -----
From: "John Gelles" <johng@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Victory Over Want" <VOW@xxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Monday, June 17, 2002 6:59 AM
Subject: What we actually produce we can afford


>     In his message on VOW and Keynes today
>     James asks us to read and digest the insight
>     Keynes had while he lived:
>
>         "Anything we can ACTUALLY do we
>     can [financially] afford.
>         "Once done, it is there.  Nothing can take
>     it from us.  We are ... richer than [before we
>     did it (produced it)]...
>         "Is it not evident that some sophistry,
>     some fallacy, governs our collective action
>     if we are forced to be [financially too poor
>     to benefit from our work]? "
>
>     The great dissent from Keynes was by
>     Shumpeter who promoted the fallacy of
>     relying on too little money created by
>     loans and government bonds to cover
>     necessary purchasing power, wages,
>     future investment and interest, with the
>     bromide that the short fall was part of
>     a system of  "constructive destruction".
>
>     That bromide is used to wait out a
>     destructive business cycle everyone
>     knows has gone too far and can easily
>     lead to war.
>
>     Now what must VOW recommend to
>     convert Keynes' insight to cash -- to
>     ensure that we can financially afford
>     what we actually produce?
>         We must ADD purchasing power
>     (money) to the macroeconomy up to
>     the limit of its ability to motivate MORE
>     productive work.
>
>     How do we know that limit?  We can
>     use price as a leading indicator.
>
>     If prices rise too fast, threatening to spiral
>     out of control, we can reduce ordinary and
>     ADDED purchasing power effects by all
>     of the following controls to avoid higher
>     prices:
>             unlendable savings; more automa-
>             tion; slowing the rate of government
>             spending; higher human productivity;
>             outright recall of private money via
>             taxes and capital levies (obviously
>             a last resort by government needing
>             the consent of the people).
>
>     Keynes is not readable by voters. We
>     must not follow his example and write
>     unreadable text.
>
>     "VOW for dummies" is called for --
>     in even clearer terms that those popular
>     books on how to write for the WEB
>     and other technical feats.
>
>     John
>
>
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