Economic Discrimination

June 19, 2024

When truth becomes the casualty, people need to stand up for what they want.

There is nothing wrong with our economic system, except that there is no defined and protected value placed on Humanity and Nature, making them easy targets for exploitation. What we are encouraged to identify as racial discrimination is simply economic discrimination, (made possible because human value and values assigned to nature are subjective and never constant). Economic discrimination is Worldwide, hiding like a wolf in sheep's clothing, limiting the conversation to them vs us, rich vs poor, my color vs yours, my lifestyle vs yours, my country vs yours. The real conversation should be much more insightful. We are all being influenced and formed by the economics that has evolved to this present age. A kind of bullying is taking advantage of the adverse effects of modern economic stresses, limiting our understanding. These bullys protect their elite status by asserting that social and economic stresses can all be traced to racism and nationalism. Making whole groups and countries into scapegoats for our frustrations and anger. We are all blended now and a part of the same conversations, thanks to the internet. There is no “them or us”. Division is enforced with lies, an old trick that distracts and confuses. It is important to keep in mind amidst all the talk, that the most powerful force affecting and influencing modern life is economics and economic discrimination keeps us apart.

What are we going to do about it? It doesn't take much convincing to persuade people that we are creatures of the money system and its advantages and disadvantages. Let's consider what money can buy: education, food, shelter, healthcare, power, influential jobs, etc. Then consider, lack of money: it causes starvation, no shelter, no healthcare, or educational opportunities, no living wage jobs. Economic discrimination is the most powerful kind of discrimination,(made possible through withholding the means to live), is much more effective than racial discrimination which comes after economic discrimination has done its work, weakening and enslaving whole masses of society.

How did we get here? What are we going to do about it? First, we need a general understanding about what money is. We are not meant to be its slaves, it is meant to be our slave, a way to efficiently exchange goods and services, not a tool for bullies to consolidate power and control populations. Racism and nationalism are the little brothers of economic discrimination. They are symptoms that arise from economic inequality.

A short history of money. Approx 1,173 years ago people were considering ideas of wealth and whether it should be held privately or shared… The refinement of those decisions, that we live with now, have evolved into a form of Worldwide Capitalism, which can be defined as industrial capitalism, (the development of the factory system of manufacturing and division of labor). This kind of money distribution system has created the very rich and the very poor and the middle class has slowly been eroding away. Multitudes are cut off from acquiring the most basic needs of survival.

What is money? It is a shared belief system that assigns value, subjectively.

It can be modified and added on to, as it has been historically. The strict division created by capitalism has been forming for more than 100 years. This is not a long time but it has influenced the lives of almost two generations. The institutional knowledge of times before has been lost to the general public and remains alive only for historians and in history books. The main thing to understand is that money systems evolve. There have been different systems before and there will be different systems in the future.

How do we want the money system of the future to function? What do we want its impact to look like? What is missing from the present economics? We can get answers by going back to what is not protected in the present dominant economic system, arguably the most important things, Humanity and Nature. A minority of countries that did include protections for people and nature in their societal/economic structure are still benefiting. But they cannot help being influenced and changed by the dominant economics.

How do we protect humanity and nature from economic exploitation? This can be done by making sure everyone has access to the basic needs that sustain life, from birth to death. The human possession of basic needs, food, shelter, education and healthcare must be the base equivalency of human value within economics. When the basic needs of dignified survival are met, nature benefits also. Exploitation of nature caused by human desperation will eventually end.

How do we proceed? We don't need to get rid of everything that we have already developed. We need to add to what we have and that addition will help the present system evolve. A parallel currency can be added to the existing currencies, Worldwide. A currency dedicated only to basic needs. It cannot be used for anything else and this currency cannot be saved or invested and is destroyed when it reaches a bank. I have described this parallel currency, (often referred to as Energy Currency), in detail in other blogs and will not go into it here. (Link to the blog, Why Energy Currency?)

We are a human collective and can be prophets of a future economic system. Governments will not propose a parallel currency for basic needs. They cannot innovate but they can respond. Each of us is an agent of change. Our conversations with each other can influence not only other individuals but governments. We are the ones that have the potential of applying our collective intelligence to creating a form of economics that makes possible new communities of living, preservation of human dignity and protection of nature.

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Chapter 6: Cruising Around the World

June 9, 2025

At Sea

Chapter 5: Cruising Around the World

June 2, 2025

Mexico, 5/5/25.

Making up for the sins of Capitalism

May 27, 2025

“It is soulless, exploitive, inequitable, unstable and destructive, yet also all- conquering and overwhelming.” Capitalism and its Critics: A History from the Industrial Revolution to AI By John Cassidy This is one of the best descriptions of Capitalism I have read recently. The only thing it leaves out is that Capitalism regularly destroys itself and has to be rescued with huge infusions of human labor (money). But Capitalism is so appealing to humans that it is allowed to continually transform and conform to new demands and circumstances, even though it is inherently unstable and destructive. Like the charming self destructive uncle who is so entertaining with his stories and wild money making schemes, no one wants him to stop. It is so much fun! For a few people. And all it takes is a few people to keep Capitalism going, approximately ten percent of the World population, the richest ten percent. That Capitalism has lasted and spread is testimony to its ability to keep adapting and improving on its main strengths: soullessness and exploitation. As a species we have become, over approximately 500 years, completely adapted to Capitalism. No matter what it distorts, destroys or lays waste to, it has captured our imaginations like a religion. We won't be saying goodbye to it anytime soon. But there is an antidote. We can make up for some of its most destructive symptoms with a Parallel Currency that is used only for basic human needs, food, shelter, education and healthcare, Worldwide. Some countries are already trying to do this with their tax structures and laws but a Parallel Currency would do this without taxation or inflation. It is a separate currency that can only be used to provide basic needs and is destroyed when it reaches a bank; it will not create inflation. It also will not inhibit the positive capabilities of existing currencies. They will continue to function as they usually do. The Parallel Currency is a closed loop created for the dignified survival of humanity. Freedom of speech, freedom of religion are not enough. A government by the people and for the people must also guarantee freedom from starvation, ignorance and curable illness, all things as a human species, over thousands of years, we have developed remedies.

Chapter 4: Cruising Around the World

May 20, 2025

Preface

Chapter 3: Cruising Around the World

May 13, 2025

Columbia, Cartegena, Columbia 4/21/25

A black and white pencil drawing of a little girl in a dress.

Chapter 2: Cruising Around the World

May 6, 2025

“The path of least resistance.” (The path of the most loot.) Bonarais 4/13/25 “Island of the giants,” was the name the Spanish gave to Bonarais in the 1400’s because the native people were so tall. The prehistoric people of southwest Florida, the Calusas, were exceptionally tall also. Maybe the earliest sailing explorers? We are watching as they are unloading a container ship on the finger dock near where we are tied on. Four people halt its sway as it dangles from a crane and approaches the ground. A flatbed truck is already there, the container is placed and driven away. Repeat, repeat, again, again. An island has to import most of its needs. Bonarais is like a village of beautiful doll houses. The Dutch who were historically of colonial dominance, after they drove the Spanish out, and still maintain significant influence, designed the buildings with color and form that reminds them of their homeland. Pastel orange, yellow, and turquoise structures with contrasting gingerbread eves, cafe's where locals sit outside with coffee and converse in Dutch. The children eat ice cream. Very civilized, unhurried, no garbage.

Chapter 1: Cruising Around the World

April 25, 2025

The question is not, “ How do you pay for it?” The question is, “ What do you want to pay for?” We finally boarded the ship in Barbados 4/7/25.

A woman is holding a baby and a little girl

The Role of Women in the Economy and the Need for a Parallel Currency

March 13, 2025

Explore women’s impact on the economy and the concept of a parallel currency. Learn how these ideas shape sustainability and equitable financial systems.

A Government is not a Business

March 7, 2025

The purpose of government is not to make profit, it is to protect and defend its citizens. Government is not a platform from which a business deal is made. It is carefully structured to sleuth out the most important needs of all its citizens and provide for them. When it operates as it is built to do, its citizens are generally content. When it is gamed, in bad faith, for personal power and wealth, things fall apart and the government and its citizens have to move to defend themselves. The necessity to do this should never have evolved. But a well functioning government depends on people working in good faith, who are honorable, who seek truth and have guiding morals. As we know, sometimes people get into positions of power who don't have these qualities. The unfortunate development of political positions being won by individuals who have the most money to spend has placed a significant number of people in Congress and some Presidents in the White House who have no moral compass. We see the influence of unimaginable amounts of money on campaigns. Made worse when corporations were found to be citizens. Let's dive down the rabbit hole of history. In 2010, when Obama was president, the Supreme Court found in the case called Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission that corporations have 1st amendment rights to free speech and political spending. They named this “ corporate personhood” which holds that corporations are associations of people and have certain constitutional rights. This allows, among many other things, corporations to make independent political expenditures and allows corporations to spend unlimited funds on elections. Also, a corporation is allowed to exist in perpetuity. Even Voldemort would have envied this! So, here we are. Both Democratic and Republican administrations have pushed more and more power and wealth into the hands of the few and in turn the recipients of this largesse have shown their gratitude by paying into more and more autocratic governments that will continue to protect their economic and business advantages. This is not hard to see. It is very hard to live through. And even harder to reverse. But this has been done before and can be done again. Good government is not a given. It has to be watched carefully (thank goodness for bureaucrats). But everyone needs to play a part and feel they can be effective. At Renew the Earth, renew the-earth.org, we have been developing over the past 20 years a concept that allows choice within our World Economic System. We call it a Parallel Currency. This separate currency can only be used to provide basic human needs, food, shelter, education and health care. It cannot be invested or hoarded and will not cause inflation because it is destroyed when it reaches a bank. Susan Caumont, President, Renew the Earth

Making the World safe for Gangsters

February 28, 2025

David Brooks made this statement in reference to recent events that may threaten the existence of our democracy. Is this where our country is going? Or are we going to stand up for our “inalienable rights”, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness? “To secure these rights, governments are instituted among men.” Governments guided by laws and run by Bureaucracies. When we look at our “inalienable rights” one at a time, we understand the profound intention of our Constitution. Life. All people are created equal and have the inalienable right to life. To have life, each person has to have the elements that sustain life; food, shelter, education and health care. Liberty. Freedom of movement. “Free from oppressive restrictions imposed by any authority on one's way of life, behavior or political view.” Pursuit of Happiness. Not just to try to be happy, but a guarantee of happiness. This is an “inalienable right” not just a quest or pass time. We negotiate the inevitable disappointments and tragedies of living but also experience the joys that keep us alive. And the resulting happiness, in its fullest reveal, is a good life. This good life also depends not just on the happiness of one person, but all citizens, including immigrants and refugees. We suffer and rejoice together. Government must ultimately guarantee basic needs to all citizens; food, shelter, education and healthcare. Most World Constitutions include these guarantees, but cannot afford them. There is a way to pay for all human basic needs without creating inflation and debt using a Worldwide Parallel Currency dedicated only to the basic human needs. You may ask, “How do we provide basic human needs to 8 billion people Worldwide?” “Is it possible?” If a majority of people agree that this is something that needs to happen in order to preserve our survival on Earth, it can be done. We already have invented all the tools necessary. We need more than a patchwork of aid that can be interrupted by a statement from the president. We must build a permanent infrastructure that conveys efficiently and consistently the human right to live in the form of basic food and shelter, education and healthcare. Efficient systems that get needs where they have to go can be designed by already existing computer intelligence. How much, where it needs to go, what kind of transportation is available, how long it will take per shipment, all these things are calculable and apply to food and medicine and building materials. Education needs shelter, and schools will be built where they are needed. We can do these things on a “small scale”. We know how to do it. We do this in our Military. Now, we must think Worldwide and ramp it up. This is where AI can become a hero! Ultimately, we do live in a “Small World”. As Bucky Fuller once put it, we are living together on “Spaceship Earth.” We glide through the dark in the company of stars, our orbit warmed by the sun and encouraging life. We are connected by visible and invisible strands, tracks and roads. A thread is plucked somewhere and reverberates Worldwide. Our fates depend on each other.