In the technolized world a productivity increase is often the
result of replacing one or more human workers with a machine. In the
natural, non technolized world, productivity increases when people find
productive work. Which productivity is superior is strictly a matter of
viewpoint. In both cases the unemployed and under employed are likely to
become a burden to the employed, whether through taxes or other thefts
of production.
I have heard some talk of the need for micro banks
to assist the unemployed to become self employed in poor nations. While
self employment is anathema to the corporate mindset, corporations are
in a good position to gobble up little family operated businesses after
they reach some point of profitability. The family business takes its
capital gain and invests in some new endeavor.
The natural world
will be far better off if typical corporate banking is shut out by
making it non competitive and illegal. What is needed for the natural
world is non profit, community credit unions, modeled on Islamic banking
practices. In fact, it is a biblical and Christian system as well. One
that has been hidden from Christians by biblical ignorance and corporate
dominance in banking. The technolized world would be far ahead if it
adopted these principles leading to full employment, reduced crime and
perhaps, honest politics.
In an economy where large numbers of
people earn only a few dollars per day, a fifty dollar bankroll is
nearly impossible to obtain. This is roughly analogous to a Western
minimum wage worker trying to obtain a $50,000 start up loan for a new
business. The evidence in micro banking shows a very low incidence of
default. Credit is precious when money and paid work is scarce.
My
vision is perhaps overly simple, but workable. Let us say we make a
$100 loan to a fisherman. He has the use of the entire amount for one
full year. No payments, no interest. The full amount comes due in one
year. If he has been successful enough to repay on schedule, he
qualifies to renew the loan for another year. If he repays the loan with
a five per cent dividend, he qualifies for an expansion loan, double
the original amount. If he repays with a ten per cent dividend, he
qualifies for an expansion loan three times the initial amount, whether
he takes it or not. He has created future credit. With every five
percent increase in the dividend paid, the line of credit is extended by
its original amount. This frees the borrower from proving his
profitability and credit worthiness by invading his privacy. He can
either repay the loan with dividends or he cannot.
In the event of
some misfortune that precludes the repayment of the original loan, the
person who defaults must supply an explanation to the elected credit
union board. The board considers the reasons given and can authorize a
new loan of an equal amount or simply extend the original loan for
another year. Every default is considered on a case by case basis. If
the loan is not repaid in two years, the borrower can receive no more
funds for seven years from this particular credit union. There should be
two competing credit unions in each locality.
It is not necessary
for any credit union to operate from a building. The business is simple
enough to be run from a home. The activities of each credit union are
reported on a regular basis to a regional oversight board to prevent
theft and fraud by local administrators. Elected board members are not
paid. The chief administrator is paid commensurate with the time
required for his or her services. This keeps operational costs so low
that dividends not only cover them but allow for expansion in only a few
years.
Initial capitalization of such credit unions comes from
charity. Needed expansions over the early years can be financed the same
way. The great incentive for the borrower is to repay on the due date
with dividends that will increase his or her credit line. The self
interest is one with the community interest. Usury banking, or interest
on debt is made illegal, so commercial banks cannot buy up the credit
unions. Loan sharks are prosecuted and punished. It is legal loan
sharking in the technolized nations that slows economic growth and
parasitically feeds upon the foolish, including government. Commercial
banks are social parasites and always have been. The big sharks gobble
up the small and the entire scam grows more costly for everyone trying
to get ahead.
Micro credit works in the natural world because the
people who live in the natural world are not committed to a lifestyle
based on waste and consumerism. The technolized societies that are based
upon waste and over consumption will soon need all the help they can
get from the natural world. Charitable investments today will pay off
handsomely in ten years or less, both for those who give, and for those
who receive. It is a win - win proposition.
We look at rising
levels of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere and note a greenhouse effect.
What does a rational person do with a greenhouse? She fills it with
plants, edible plants to feed herself and a few neighbors. But then,
growing plants is the dominion of global agribusiness. The one that cuts
down rain forests to grow grass for beef, so Americans can suffer
obesity because they have forgotten what a garden fresh fruit or
vegetable tastes like.
The most empowering thing a human being can
do is to produce the food they require. If not all of it, then most of
it. If not most of it, then some of it. It's like exercise. Make food
production a personal habit and we need not go to war for oil or any
other political objective. But no we say, food is a problem for the
natural world. We have technology. No problem! I say look again.
Americans are disempowered by a near total dependency on corporate
profits. All their politics and leadership trumpet the fact to the
world.
In the technolized world, clean water for drinking has
become such a problem, there is a huge industry in bottled water. Who
thinks this is a sign of a healthy society? The technology is there to
process water to drinking standards everywhere in the world, but only
for those willing to pay. Instead of countertop and whole house water
purification, Americans invest billions in the industries that sell them
the processed product in plastic, throw away bottles. Of course we
can't give our full support to worthy charities. We are busy squandering
our birthright, inheritance, and economic resources on convenience.
Every
community on this planet needs to secure and insure a clean water
supply before decentralized agriculture can be implemented. Water is the
most critical resource we have, in spite of its ready availability. It
is entirely undervalued. Will we understand this only as a result of
global disasters or will we see the water that cleanses our bodies
(inside and out) and homes, is also the fuel of the New Age and more
valuable than oil or natural gas?
How is it when some people only
want more, others must go entirely without? The answer is the profit
god. If it doesn't make a clear and immediate profit for someone, it can
wait. What say we cleanse the earth of its profiteers? We need not
raise a hand against them. We need only withdraw our immoral economic
support. Together we can transform greedonomics into humanomics. It only
requires a personal desire and commitment.
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