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May 2, 2009

Santiago Fort Barberá: let’s liberate people of the need for money to survive: Alternative or Utopia?

 

 

As always, it is our choice. You, I, us. Moment by moment and breath upon breath.

Today, Santiago Fort Barberá, from Barcelona, Spain,  wrote me saying: “Hi, Help me to spread this idea.” As it turned out, it is not a bad idea at all. What do you think?

“Let’s imagine the Earth, or country by country, as a safety box containing the certificates of life of all its inhabitants. When we all agree that “life has a value,” we could think of a metaphorical capital equivalent to gold, which circulates as currency.

To this end, the state creates the Bank of Lives and gives all citizens an electronic card, of limited use, for a life long period, which allows them to buy products and services of first necessity (food, housing, health, education). The capital is issued at the moment of the purchase by a transfer payment, guaranteed by the certificates of life of all citizens, that is to say: us, the supporters of the metaphorical capital.

The electronic payment system is the means to control and distribute the wealth that is injected into the market. The beneficial relief that this means for the global economy and for people is historical and transcendental.

Having covered the basic needs of subsistence would not get us rid of work. The work would be necessary to cover the rest of needs. If you want a car, appliances, housing, etc …  you will have to buy them on account of profits from work or personal capital.

The fact that there was no work for everyone would not be a serious problem for survival, neither a problem of consumption. Those products that are not considered basic necessities can not be purchased with the card of life. Each citizen can use this card to buy basic products and services. With their own money, obtained from work or investment capital, citizens may buy the rest of goods and services.

We could say that this is a “Dual Capitalist System.” On the one hand there is capitalism swap (Classic and modern), and on the other, the metaphorical Capitalism (Transcendental and humanitarian). Both go hand in hand. Metaphorical Capitalism comes to fill the shortcomings of capitalism exchange. It aims at ending with the miseries of men in poverty. To dignify the lives of those who fail to have a place in the system, or are unemployed or disabled, without affecting those citizens who contribute  with their work to create wealth.  We are all alive and we can enjoy the card payment for commodities that are necessities (limited spending per person per day).

The capitalist system would not be affected in their basic principles, on the contrary, it would be strengthened. Employment would still be necessary in order to enjoy the benefits of working in the society of the well-being. The principles of the law of supply and demand would not be affected. The wealth generated would revert on the benefit of all.

Dual capitalism is beyond the contradiction; wealth-poverty. It means a little to the rich and a lot to the poor. Yet, it means the same cost for both. We agree that life has a value, something that we do not need to ask anymore, because “we all agree.”

It must be said that so far, countries that have state aids for survival, get the money from the taxes, that is to say from citizens. The state will go on collecting taxes to cover its needs. The fact that the Bank of Lives  would cover the basic needs of citizens, would allow the State to lower taxes, or to redirect capital from taxes towards other requirements. This would be a free choice of each country.

The system I propose would create lasting wealth. We could imagine that we have found a vein of gold, endless but limited in its extraction. We have found the vein of life.

It is a new richness that adds up to the existing ones. A capital to pay for needs and utilities that would not come from the taxes, but from this metaphorical vein of life. The capital would not be in the safety box of the Bank of Lives. What this box would contain are the certificates of life of citizens. As they make use of their life card, the capital would be drawn from the Bank of Lives the moment the transfer of capital becomes effective to pay the expenditure incurred by the use of these cards.

Demand forecasting is the key in this “dual system” to have it working properly. One point that might be critical about this idea is that it may generate inflation. It must be predicted and controlled by adjusting supply to demand.

Card use is limited to a range of first necessity products and services. These may be inflationary, but the reality is that the number of people who would want to buy bread would remain the same, and the origin of money would not influence this effect. Moreover, to avoid inflation, before implementing this system, the means of production necessary to meet demand should be created. Increasing the supply according to the demand would prevent inflation. The  control mechanisms of the state would be the same, but reinforced now.

A little more concrete:

Food: A number of goods of first necessity may be paid with the card. This feature of the card would be limited to a daily amount of food to feed one person. At the moment of the purchase with the card of life, the amount is paid into the account of the shop in the Bank of Lives. The shop would then go to the personal bank with the  proof of the purchase. The bank will verify that everything is correct and notify the Bank of Lives anomalies, if any.

To facilitate the family purchase, in the case of a family with two or more members, the limited amount of individual cards of each member of the family will be joint into one card, considering the use of these cards as a single card, with a unique balance.

In this field, when coming to age, the adult would take control of his card. The adult may choose any time between the family mode, if his daily limited amount is summed into the family core or the individual mode and thus, go on to have the individual limit of his card.

Workers in the Health and Education fields would have their salary from the Bank of Lives and would withdraw the money from their banks, as always. The users will also have the same rights they have had up to date in their countries. If this system is adopted, the rights to both health and education could become widespread in all countries.

Housing is viewed as an essential necessity. The State, through the Bank the Lives would get  the capital (for now) – this is an option – to enable niche-like spaces technologically prepared in a Japanese style, for those people who do not have a place to sleep and leave their belongings. Any citizen in need could use these services for free. Civil workers of the housing service will also get their salaries from the Bank of Lives. There may be other possibilities. My proposal is minimalist.

It’s that simple. If we all agree that life has a value, we can do it. The important thing now is to spread this idea among as many people as possible.

This crisis will be over again. Let’s seize the moment to improve the system.

One more step in the transition of history. ”

As always, it is our choice. You, I, us. Moment by moment and breath upon breath.

For his complete view visit:

http://valordevidautopiadeseadalametafora.blogspot.com/2009/04/valorvida.html#comments

May all beings be happy,

yeye

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