When I fired up my
computer this morning, this piece jumped off the screen. How interesting. It is
as timely today as when I wrote it on 3/18/2009.
The
impending economic conditions
will
not be so dire
IF WE ESTABLISH
Local
Interdependence Funds in each one of our communities
AND IF EACH ONE OF OUR
COMMUNITIES
passes a Concord Resolution
uses the Functional Integration of Management Tasks (the FIMT model) to organize its economic base
uses the Functional Integration of Management Tasks (the FIMT model) to organize its economic base
gradually shifts its taxes from buildings onto
land
AND IF THE NATION WILL GRADUALLY IMPLEMENT
the Right of access to land and natural resources in
correspondence with the Responsibility to
pay taxes on such land and natural resources
the Right of access to
national credit in correspondence with the Responsibility to repay the loans received on the basis of national credit
the Right to the fruits of
one's labor in correspondence with the Responsibility to
perform tasks commensurate with the compensation received
the Right to the full
enjoyment of one's property in correspondence with the Responsibility to respect the wealth of others.
These nine steps (+Plus
One)* are explained in some detail in this collection of essays published by
and about the writer in a variety of sources over nearly thirty years of work. The collection is also available at www.createspace.com/3350635.
* For Gloucester, MA, also included is a rather
comprehensive plan of urban restoration (PUR).
***
The book can also be read from the top down, so
to speak. Thus, in addition to these practical suggestions that are ready to be
put into action, the book contains the seeds of a new political science
theory (beyond individualism and collectivism -- aren't you tired of both
ideologies!?!), a new economic
theory (away from the abstractions of "The Market" and into the
actual production, distribution, and consumption of wealth -- aren't you tired
of being shut off from a discourse that deeply affects our life???), and a new
economic policy (that creates economic freedom and justice for all
-- not only for the few).
Yes, the wealthy need economic justice and economic
freedom just as much as the poor!
As a bonus, the reader will acquire a new
language in economics and politics. The logic of economics and the logic of
politics become in tune with common logic and common sense. We can read
economics again. Isn't that a relief!?
And all this is acquired, not through whim and
personal ideological preferences, but through a relentless application of
age-old principles of logic.
I studied economics under Professor Robert
A. Mundell and was assisted in the development of my work for 27 years by
Professor Franco Modigliani. Both are Nobel laureates in economics.
Tucked in as unobtrusively as possible throughout the book (a book that I did not "write" but found written by me over the years), and especially in the Acknowledgments, there is the filigree of a paean to the cultural life and history of Gloucester, an immensely rich tradition that is currently on the endangered list due to the unholy alliance of a troika of scared bureaucrats, extreme environmentalists, and privatizing economists—destroyers of the commons them all.
The book is designed to help the reader BECOME
A LOCALIST
AND A CONCORDIAN.
My polis, my community, is Gloucester. I have
been blessed to be here for forty years now. You may wish to tailor these
programs to your polis.
***
The above are a few Silver Bullets to guard us
against our next economic crisis.
My book suggests many
things we can do at the local and national level. Anyone ready to discuss these
suggestions? Anyone ready to add other suggestions?
***
During the last seven
years I have been involved in publishing a host of theoretical papers—as well
as much work concerning the defense of the fishing industry. From a practical point
of view, I have focused my energy on the preparation of these four petitions that are currently circulating on the Internet:
Mend the Fed
Defuse
the Bomb
Stop NOAA Now
Give NOAA Feasible
Tasks
Please, study them; sign them; circulate them among friends and relatives. Thank you. Together we shall get rid of many intolerable situations. We do not need to earn a living; we need to live a life filled with dignity.
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