| Building the future |
February 6, 2009 - February 10, 2012
Author: Bart klein Ikink
| Introduction |
The challenges we face
The core problem is exponential growth and it is not difficult to understand. Assume there is a lake. On the surface of the lake a plant is growing that suffocates all life in the lake. The plant is already there for a thousand days and it grows at a rate of 100% each day. Assume that the lake is already covered for 50%. How many days are still left to save the lake? The correct answer is: one day. You can replace the lake by the Earth and the suffocating plant by humans. Make no mistake. We are in the last day.
The depletion of natural resources is by far the most serious challenge humans as a group are facing. If the challenge is not addressed then billions of humans will die of hunger, resource wars and ecological disasters in the course of the 21st century. The primary cause is overpopulation, but killing billions of people to solve the problem, or let them simply die off, is not an attractive solution. Therefore a more sophisticated approach is needed.
Many people already live in poverty and the number of poor people is about to rise significantly in the near future because of the decline in availability of natural resources and the rising demand for them. If the current trends in resource consumption do not change, we need nearly three planets equivalent to the Earth to sustain our lifestyle by 2050 [+]. Mass starvation is imminent if we continue on our current path.
The current political and economic system
In eight slideshows Jay Hanson, the maker of the website Dieoff.org, reveals the reasons why the current political and economic system is failing. Limits to growth are now politically incorrect and banned from the public discourse but they still exist [+]. Capitalism constantly needs more-and-more natural resources to fuel economic growth. In order to supply those natural resources, more-and-more energy is needed. Humans are social animals and their social instincts block rational solutions. Therefore humans must become aware of their social nature to solve the problems their behaviour is causing. Resource wars are the most likely alternative [+].
Economics does not solve problems because economists are often paid for by interest groups such as the FED [+]. Economics is often political propaganda with agendas hidden in the assumptions. Science consists of causal reasoning based on assumptions. Causal reasoning based on assumptions has its limitiations [+] but in the field of economics the assumptions are often political [+].
Economic theory is defective because it ignores human nature and the finiteness of the Earth's resources. All economic activity uses energy and natural resources [+]. Therefore more economic growth equals to more poverty as natural resources are assets [+]. Energy conservation will not help because in the current economic system any increased energy efficiency of a product will increase demand for the product, thus offsetting the effect of the increased energy efficiency [+].
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Human rights and rights of sovereignty have been transferred from people, communities and governments to corporations. The notion of the people as a sovereign body has practically been abolished. According to the inferior role they play in the proto-despotic "New World Order". Democracy appears outdated. After all, it "hinders business." |
Blaming the corporations does not help as they provide every otiose item many people think they need. Socialising often involves consuming products in order to be accepted in a group. Some do everything to get that new $200 limited edition Nike Air Jordan 11 Concords sneakers [+] made by slaves in sweat shops [+]. Humans are genetically programmed to socialise [+]. Human social behaviour is political and humans have evolved to deceive other people and to deceive themselves about their true motives [+].
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Human social behaviour must be seen within its natural context where it is adequate. This is the small group or the village with limited connections to the outside world. In a small group or a village human social behaviour will often regulate affairs efficiently without becoming problematic. Now the world has become a village of 7 billion people so the dynamic has become entirely different. The role models are often billionaires, celebrities and sports heroes. People in poor countries see the affluence of people in rich countries. The strong interconnectedness of the global village may affect human judgement in a negative way, as crowd wisdom requires independence and decentralisation [+]. Some social networks such as the Bilderberg Group did get a global reach, which may lead to a concentration of power into the hands of a few.
For humanity to survive in a civilised manner, it will be imperative to see achievement in a different way. Living off government welfare can be a burden to others, but working hard and achieving a high standard of living can also be harmful, especially when the process of achievement or the consequences of it consume natural resources and energy. Rationalising operations so that labour is replaced by fossil fuel consumption may also harm others, as they may end up living off government welfare. A display of wealth that takes unneccesary amounts natural resources is now considered to be a token of success, but such behaviour deprives our children from a future and it makes more resource wars inevitable. When achievement is at the expense of other people, it does not differ much from crimes like armed robbery. A robber can be clearly identified as a criminal, but it is more difficult to see the link between the actions of an achiever and the misery of others.
We are on the path to collective suicide
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Capitalism as we know it equals to collective suicide. Capitalists call our roadmap to destruction freedom of choice. Within the Capitalist economy we are free to choose which products to consume, but we are not free to choose for our own survival. Those who take measures to save the Earth will be outcompeted by others who do not take these measures. Money dictates our choices and this can be labeled as a dictatorship of money. According to Prof. Claudia von Werlhof [+]:
The abstract wealth created for accumulation implies the destruction of nature as concrete wealth. The result is a "hole in the ground" and next to it a garbage dump with used commodities, outdated machinery and money without value. The nihilism of our economic system is evident. The whole world will be transformed into money – and then it will disappear. After all, money cannot be eaten. What no one seems to consider is the fact that it is impossible to re-transform commodities, money, capital and machinery into nature or concrete wealth. It seems that underlying all “economic development” is the assumption that “resources”, the “sources of wealth”, are renewable and everlasting – just like the “growth” they create. |
People who accept the current economic and political system are either ignorant or suicidal. Mother Nature is not kind to those who destroy their own living conditions. Their demise will be caused by their own unfitness for survival. The Club of Rome already warned in 1972 with its report The Limits to Growth that the current economic system will end in disaster. Many prominent economists, scientists and political figures criticised The Limits to Growth. They attacked the methodology, the computer, the conclusions, the rhetoric and the people behind the project [+].
The Club of Rome incorporates a number of globalist elite members. In policy documents of the Club of Rome it has been suggested that some kind of global dictatorship may be needed because democracy appears not to take into acount the limits of the Earth. The critics focused on research details and a possible hidden agenda behind the club, but not on the core message and the overall picture. It is beyond any doubt that exponential growth within a limited sphere will end in disaster. People who reject the core message of The Limits to Growth appear to be immature nihilists like Beavis and Butthead. They facilitate humanity in its progress towards a mass die off.
Ending the dictatorship of money
As long as there is usury, which is the charging of interest on money, there will be no civilised future for humanity. Squattered human settlements like in the film Mad Max may still exist in the future [+], but human civilisation as we know it is about to end. Usury is the root cause of many structural problems we face today. Interest makes an amount of money in the future of less value than the same amount of money in the present. Therefore an economy based on usury has a short term bias. This is the reason why the planet Earth is destroyed.
Usury is also one of the main causes of poverty and mass migration. As long a usury exists, poverty cannot be effectively combated. This does not mean that poverty will disappear when usury is ended, but ending usury will give more people the opportunity to take their destiny into their own hands. Interest on money is also the main driver behind centralisation and concentration of wealth in specific areas. The perceived need for cheap labour in wealthy areas is another driver for mass migration.
The Natural Economy will be focussed on a longer time horizon so resources will be saved and recycled. When using Natural Money with local currencies, people will prefer to buy locally produced products, so the local economies and communities will be strengthened. Producers can sell at better prices and consumers can buy at better prices because trade is eliminated. In this way the worldwide competion of everybody against everybody will be ended and humans will be able to live in conditions that are more natural.
In the Natural Economy less resources are spent on activities that do not contribute to wealth. In this way the economy will become more efficient and it will be possible to address the needs of people better. The aging population of the West needs care and attention, the quality of education may need improvement and more police may be needed in neighbourhoods that are ruled by gangs and criminals. Currently a large part of the workforce is unemployed or locked up in unproductive jobs in government, management, consultancy, law, financial services and technology [+]. Natural Money can help to restructure the economy in such a way that the workforce can be directed to the needs of society, such as caring for the elderly, education and policing.
Changing the direction
Currently money seems to be the only measurement of value. Because money in itself is worthless, everything has become worthless, and so has the meaning of our existence. Our culture has become suicidal because it attaches so much value to money. Our future existence cannot be expressed in terms of money. It is rational to plan for the future and currently world leaders do not have a complete and realistic plan for the future. Food supplies are practically non-existent, nature is destroyed and social structures are unraveling. Politicians and corporate interests block effective solutions.
Because the situation has become critical, unconventional measures are needed. The resources of humanity must be diverted away from financial activity, unnecessary production and senseless consumption to useful purposes such as preservation of nature, solving social problems, fighting poverty and preventing famine. The introduction of Natural Money can help to achieve those goals.
The Natural Financial System will provide a better future than the current financial system based on usury. Natural Money may even generate the resources to turn deserts into forests and gardens. However in the short run survival is more important and therefore the following types of measures should be taken to ward of imminent threats:
- measures to safeguard food supplies;
- measures to safeguard energy supplies;
- social reform measures.
| Food supplies |
Introduction
Many people starve while there could be enough food for everyone. In developed countries the number of farms declined over the years as more and more farmers could not make a living. This also happened in the United States [+]. The same applies for developing nations where more and more people could not make a living on the countryside. They migrated to the cities where they ended up in slums. The following causes for this situation can be identified:
- competition of everybody against everybody on a world wide scale for farm products, resulting in low food prices;
- usury favouring large scale operations and short term thinking.
For years food prices have been low and farming was a difficult business. The competition of everybody against everybody on a world wide scale for farm products resulted in low food prices. Low food prices also made meat affordable for more people but producing meat requires foodstocks that can be used to feed humans. As a consequence poor people starved because rich people could afford meat. Crops are even used for biofuels because rich people can afford to buy them.
Usury works to the advantage of large scale operations [+]. This made farming less labour intensive and more capital intensive. Farmers had to lend money to make the neccesary investments. Consequently a large part of the farming income ends up in the hands of money lenders, so the land is able to support even less farmers. Animals are now kept in large factory farms and have to live under miserable conditions, creating manure surpluses on the locations of the factory farms and depletion of the soil on the locations where the animal food is produced. This fostered the need for using fertilisers and pesticides.
Because of this and the low food prices, only a few large scale farmers were able to survive. The efficiency considerations related to interest charges in the current economic environment resulted in short term thinking [+]. Investments in sustainable farming were not profitable and now we start to pay the price.
According to most economists low food prices are good because in this way more people can afford food. As most people currently live in cities, this appears to be true. However low food prices were an inportant driver behind the depopulation of the countryside and the concentration of people in cities. In cities many people end up unemployed or in superfluous jobs in the service sector. In developing nations most of those people live in abject poverty.
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The agricultural reform requires the following:
- ending the competition of everybody against everybody on a world wide scale;
- ending usury favouring large scale operations;
- land reform to break up large scale farm operations and to bring the land into the hands of small scale farmers;
- reducing legislation on food safety.
Currently the following problems with our food supply exist:
- there is only food stored to feed humanity for a few months;
- the possibility of bees going extinct poses a imminent threat of famine and mass starvation;
- our food is not produced in an efficient way;
- our food is not produced in harmony with nature;
- some people have moral objections against hunting;
- the keeping of pets consumes food resources;
- humans keep animals that spread dangerous diseases.
Only food stored is stored to feed humanity for a few months
In 2007/2008 the stock to consumption ratio went below 20%, which means that less than 20% of the yearly consumption of the most important foods is in stock. Humanity has a food supply stocked for two months of consumption (see figure below).
 Source: FAO |
Because interest is charged on money, only minimal food supplies are stored. Saving food for the future is economically not rational. People with money to spend on food are inclined to put it on a savings account that earns interest. If the charging of interest had been forbidden, and if there was a holding tax on money, then it would be attractive to buy food supplies in advance to evade the holding tax. Therefore interest on money is the underlying systemic cause for the low food stocks.
It makes sense to store food supplies for bad times, just like the Egyptians did after the advice Joseph has given them. If there was a holding tax on money, people would be inclined to store as much food as possible to avoid the tax. Food shortage is a serious threat. If harvests are disappointing, famine is imminent [+]. Because of bees going extinct and climate change, this is a realistic possibility. Some countries already take desperate measures to avert disaster [+]. As food is becoming more expensive, social unrest spreads [+].
Land in developing nations is often bought up by investors and corporations of rich countries. Local people are driven of their land and this threatens the food supply of people in developing nations [+], for example in Kenya [+]. The land is often used for non essential items like biofuels and feeding the lifestock in rich countries. In the Amazon rainforest of Brazil local tribes are also driven from their land [+]. People who try to save the remaining rainforest are sometimes killed by landowners and logging companies.
Abolishing corporate ownership of land and limiting land ownership of individuals, while making land ownership hereditary within the family, may solve many problems. It should not be possible to mortgage or sell land. Only harvests can be sold in advance. It may also be a good idea to have public lands that can be leased from the community. The community can decide who is eglible for leasing land. The manage,emt of rainforests will become easier as soon as usury is abolised and there is a holding tax on money, because future revenues from the wood will then be valued higher than current revenues. As there is a high demand for tropical wood, this probably will imply an expansion of the rainforests.
Honeybees are going extinct
Honeybees are going extinct due to the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) which annihilates bee colonies rapidly on a massive scale [+]. If honeybees are extinct, then there will be a worldwide famine [+]. The use of pesticides is the most significant cause of CCD.
Other possible causes contributing to CCD are:
- the use of pesticides and antibiotics;
- genetically modified crops with pest control characteristics;
- parasites like the Varroa mites and the Israel Acute Paralysis virus;
- climate change;
- monocultures on large areas of land;
- the practice of breeding bee queens and introducing them into a colony;
- bee rentals and migratory beekeeping resulting in environmental change related stress;
- the use of cell phones [+].
Waiting for science to come with a definite answer regarding the causes of CCD can be a serious mistake. The practices that are the most probable causes for bees going extinct can better be ended. Apart from that, more effort may be needed to research the possible causes of CCD.
Our food is not produced in an efficient way
If there is a threat of a worldwide famine then food production should be as efficient as possible to build food supplies. In that case inefficient food production methods can better be abandoned or restrained until sufficient food supplies are available to ensure the survival of mankind. The following types of food production are inefficient:
- the production of meat;
- dairy produce;
- the production of crops needing large amounts of irrigation or fertilisers.
To produce 1 kilogram of meat, 7 kilograms of corn are needed. The production of meat is the most inefficient of all, using food supplies that could otherwise be used to feed humans [+]. A rising consumption of meat will lead to food scarcety. Because the Natural Financial System will spread wealth more evenly, more people will be able to buy meat.
The keeping of cows and goats for producing milk is also inefficient, using land that could otherwise be used for growing crops. Sometimes the land will not allow the production of crops because of the climate. Those locations may be suited for the keeping of goats and cows. In other places the keeping of cows and goats for producing milk can better be reduced when there is a threat of famine, because milk and cheese are not necessities.
Crops needing large amounts of irrigation or fertilisers are also not efficient. Furthermore those fertilisers contain phosphorus and supplies of phosphorus are running out in the coming decades [+]. The production of those crops can better be reduced as much as possible. Also the production of wine can better be curtailed on places that could be used for other crops.
Our food is not produced in harmony with nature
Introduction
The following practices in our food production are not in harmony with nature:
- genetic modification of crops and animals;
- factory farming;
- the use of pesticides;
- monocultures on large areas of land;
- the use of fertilisers;
- intensive land use that degrades the soil;
- industrial fishing methods.
Genetic modification of crops and animals
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The Day of the Triffids is a novel about what can go wrong with genetic engineering [+]. The disease myxomatosis is a real life example of how humans can cause a lethal plague [+]. Another problem may be that the release of transgenic species will damage native populations even to the point of extinction [+]. Rogue scientists already have begun experimenting in the wild by introducing a new breed of genetically modified mosquitoes with a gene that cripples its own offspring [+]. The motive may laudable as the act was perpetrated to crush native mosquito populations and to wipe out dengue fever, one of the world’s most troublesome, aggressive diseases.
There are serious issues with genetically modified crops. Farmers become dependent on corporations and economies have been destroyed. An example of this is the way Monsanto changed the cotton economy of India [+]. Poor peasants have to buy seed for every planting season. Seed, which was once free, has become a commodity which farmers were forced to buy every year, leading to increased poverty and indebtedness to moneylenders. As debts became unpayable, farmers were forced to sell kidneys or even commit suicide. Since 1997 more than 200,000 Indian farmers have committed suicide and the numbers continue to rise. Only in Europe resistance against genetically modified crops has been effective, making a type of corn produced by Monsanto the only biotech crop grown in Europe [+].
In cables released by Wikileaks, US diplomats around the world are found to have pushed GM crops as a strategic government and commercial imperative. The US embassy in Paris even advised Washington to start a military-style trade war against any European Union country which opposed genetically modified crops. In addition, the cables show US diplomats working directly for GM companies such as Monsanto. It also emerges that Spain and the US have worked closely together to persuade the EU not to strengthen biotechnology laws [+]. Monsanto spends around $2 million per quarter to lobby the federal government on issues including regulations for genetically engineered crops and patent reforms [+].
Even organic foods are not safe for the contamination with genetically engineered material. Natural food companies like Whole Foods Market, Organic Valley, and Stonyfield Farm, have decided to stop combating the spread of genetically engineered crops and to end their support for food labeling efforts. The main reason may be that approximately 2/3 of the products sold by Whole Foods Market and their main distributor, United Natural Foods (UNFI) are not certified organic, but rather are conventional (chemical-intensive and GMO-tainted) foods and products disguised as natural [+].
Genetically modified crops can pose a health risk to consumers. A review of 19 studies announced that consumption of GMO corn or soybeans may lead to significant organ disruptions in rats and mice – particularly in the liver and kidneys [+]. Genetic engineering is out of control. Scientists are already trying to breed humanimals, which are humans with animal genes or animals with human genes [+]. It is not an exageration to assert that a genetic genocide or genetic armageddon is in the making as Aaron Dykes and Alex Jones do [+]. Humans playing God by recreating Creation cannot end well.
At a Dutch university researchers turned the deadly but relatively difficult-to-catch bird-flu virus into a highly infectious airborne super strain [+]. In the wrong hands, it could be turned to inconceivably devastating effect, dwarfing even the threat of a nuclear bomb as sixty percent of the human population on Earth could be killed. Genetic modification poses a threat to all life on Earth. It should be abandoned immediately and completely. Genetically altered crops and animals should be destroyed. The corporations producing them should be outlawed and their labatories be dismantled.
Factory farming
Keeping animals on an industrial scale is not in harmony with nature. Factory farm animals often are not kept in a situation that resembles their natural habitat. This affects the psyche of most animals in an unfavourable way. Often farm animals are kept in small spaces and are mutilated by castration or the amputation of tails. Birth control of animals can better be done as it is done with humans so they can still enjoy the pleasures of life.
Food for factory farm animals often is transported over long distances. There is a manure surplus at the site where the factory farms are located. This will degrade the soil at the site where the animal food is produced and poison the ground where the meat is produced. To keep animals in harmony with nature means that the food for the animals is produced locally and the manure is used locally. In this way the manure is fertilising the soil and not poisoning it. Factory farming may also be the main reason for the recent outbreaks of avian flu and swine flu [+].
The use of pesticides and fertilisers
The use of pesticides is not in harmony with nature, even though pesticides used today may not be as harmful as the pesticides used in the past. Pesticides may play a role in Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) which annihilates bee colonies. A number of pesticides also constitute a health risk for humans. Many agricultural pesticides, including some commonly found in food, disrupt male hormones, according to tests conducted by British scientists [+]. It is likely that many health risks of pesticides are still unknown.
The use of fertilisers is harmful because the application of fertilisers is generally not done in harmony with nature. Fertilisers are introduced because the soil is degraded by factory farming and animal keeping which deprives the soil from nutrients. Because the manure is produced at another location than the soil that produces food crops, manure is often not used as a fertiliser. The introduction of local Natural Money currencies will help to solve this problem because food will be produced locally where possible.
Unsustainable land use
Some 40% of the world's agricultural land is seriously degraded by flooding or poor irrigation. Farming practices such as ploughing also damage soil, as does repeated planting in fields, which depletes the soil of nutrients [+]. According to the FAO the scarcity and degradation of land and water is a growing threat to food security.
The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture (SOLAW) noted in 2011 that while the last 50 years witnessed a notable increase in food production, achievements have often been associated with management practices that have degraded the land and water systems upon which food production depends. Currently a number of those systems face the risk of progressive breakdown of their productive capacity under a combination of excessive demographic pressure and unsustainable agriculture use and practices [+].
Monocultures on large areas of land may lead to catastrophic crop failures because parasites and diseases can spread more easily. Also this may harm the bees. Therefore the parcels of land can better be made smaller. If needed, humans should work the land instead of machines. The introduction of local Natural Money currencies will facilitate this because food will be produced locally as much as possible.
Industrial fishing methods
Industrial fishing methods such as bottom trawling destroy sea life. Bottom trawling not only decimates stocks of popular fish, such as sole and plaice, but it also results in a large amount of bycatch, which is thrown back into the sea either dead or dying [+].
Bottom trawling in particular demolishes the sea beds. The fish resources in the North Sea have been serious depleted while rests of fishing nets containing toxic metals such as lead remain on the bottom of the sea. Bottom trawling is also fuel inefficient because the fishing nets are towed over the seabed. Far more environmental friendly fishing methods do exist.
Hunting
Hunting is a method of obtaining food that is in harmony with nature, if it is done in a sustainable way. Many animals in nature can be eaten by humans. Animals in nature have a better life than animals in a factory farm, so substituting meat produced in factory farms for meat obtained by hunting, will improve the life of animals in general. It will also improve the food situation. The reduction of the number of animals kept in farms will reduce the consumption of food supplies that could otherwise be used to feed humans.
Danger of diseases spreading from animals to humans
Humans keep animals that may hold dangerous diseases. Especially large scale factory farms pose a health risk. As GRAIN, an agricultural organization reports, the rise of large-scale factory farms in North America has created a breeding ground for new highly-virulent strains of influenza. The pig faecal waste is at the centre of the problem. The GRAIN study noted that, because concentrated animal feeding operations tend to concentrate large numbers of animals close together, they are ideal breeding grounds for toxins and virulent pathogens [+].
In 2003 Science magazine warned that swine flu was on a new evolutionary fast track due to the increasing size of factory farms and the widespread use of vaccines in these operations. The same applies for bird flu. Huge industrial factory farms with tens of thousands of chickens were the breeding ground for this disease. Furthermore the bird droppings create a toxic waste problem. Another highly infectious disease that is spread by the keeping of animals is Q-fever, which can be found in cattle, sheep and goats.
Especially the keeping of pigs is risky because pigs have much in common with humans. This makes it possible for diseases to spread from pigs to humans more easily than from any other type of animal. The similarity between humans and pigs makes scientists even consider to use pig organs for transplantation into humans [+]. Transplanting pig organs into humans is not safe because the spread from diseases from pigs to humans would become more easy. Because pigs and humans have many common characteristics, the keeping of pigs should be considered a greater health risk than the keeping of other animals.
| Energy supplies |
Introduction
There is an ongoing debate about the necessity for using alternative energy sources, such as solar power and wind energy. The perceived need for alternative energy is based on the following assumptions that are still under debate:
- the supply of fossil fuels is limited and energy shortages will emerge;
- the existence of climate change caused by humans burning fossil fuels.
Higher oil prices and new techniques make new oilfields available for production [+], but the production of cheap oil is will decline in the near future [+]. Furthermore, there are strong indications for climate change caused by humans burning fossil fuels, but there is no absolute proof for this assumption. Within a few years the production of cheap oil will decline significantly, and the current way of life will slowly end. There is still time to prepare and to give future generations a good chance. The available information at least suggests that a humbler way of life built around sustainability and alternative energy is the best option.
Climate debate
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Heat waves, sinking cities, droughts and disappearing polar ice caps -- the effects of climate change are catastrophic. Despite the consequences, human activity continues to belch greenhouse gases, while a rising tide of activists questions the science behind prevailing data. |
Climate science has become politically charged because of the disastrous potential of climate change and the financial interests involved. Carbon emissions trading may generate huge profits for some at the expense of the general public. A number of climate scientists have exagerated their findings [+]. Business interests try to influence the debate by funding climate change sceptic groups that spread misleading and inaccurate information [+].
The consequence is a propaganda war [+]. Climategate revealed emails suggesting that some climate scientists may have manipulated data. They also discussed tactics to avoid responding to Freedom of Information requests from climate change sceptics [+]. It appears that Climategate has been planned by climate sceptics to derail the climate conference at Copenhagen. Climategate has similarities with a smear campaign as words are taken out of context to create the impression that climate scientists were doing something nefarious [+].
The climate debate has evolved into propaganda with political agendas hidden in the assumptions. The scientific consensus is that climate change most likely is caused by human emissions of carbon dioxide, but there is no definite proof for this. There is also no proof that climate change is caused by solar activity as many climate sceptics assert. Only correlations between phenomena such as temperatures, solar activity and carbon dioxide levels can be established. Carbon dioxide levels are only one of many variables determining climate. Most climate scientists are therefore cautious in their predictions. Climate is also extremely delicate, so small changes in carbon dioxide levels can have significant effects.
The climate scientists may be too cautious as other developments can escalate the temperature change. The melting of the arctic shelf causes the release of methane stored in the seabed, which is a greenhouse gas thirty times more potent than carbon dioxide. This can heat up the planet and make many areas uninhabitable for humans [+]. Climate change may cause mass starvation because of water shortages and disappointing harvests. Low countries like the Netherlands may be flooded. The Maldives are already facing submergence. A forebode of what will be coming may be Australia, where rivers are drying up, reefs are dying, and fires and floods are ravaging the continent [+]. The failure of the climate conference in Durban demonstrates the dismal capability of the current political and economic system to handle the issue. According to Der Spiegel:
The climate talks in Durban ended with an agreement to agree on a new agreement on emissions cuts in coming years. The outcome was hailed as historic by the organisers, but German commentators say the pledges remain too vague and the progress too slow -- while global warming is accelerating. |
Investment choices
Regarding the truth and falseness of climate change and fossil fuel shortages there are four possible situations:
| situation | climate change | energy shortage |
| 1 | false | false |
| 2 | false | true |
| 3 | true | false |
| 4 | true | true |
Only in situation 1 the investments in sustainable energy resources will be a waste of money. In situation 2, 3 and 4 investments in sustainable energy resources are useful. The risk of investing in sustainable energy sources is wasting lots of money but the risk of not investing in sustainable energy resources is mass starvation when climate change or energy shortages take their toll. It is better not to wait with making decisions until definitive answers are found. Therefore it is wise to pursue sustainable energy resources.
The question remains whether governments should promote investments in sustainable energy resources with legislation, emission restrictions and government subsidies. Emission restrictions create opportunities for fraud [+] and people are driven of their land because of carbon emissions trading [+]. Government subsidies for sustainable energy developments did not produce the desired results as a number of government subsidised green companies have failed [+]. Blocking the building of new coal fired energy plants outright may cause energy shortages.
It is often argued that taxes on energy will increase poverty as people have to pay more for fuel [+]. In reality cheap energy results in labour being substituted by energy use, causing people to become unemployed or being employed in unproductive but energy consuming service sector and government jobs. Energy consumption produces negative trade balances for Western nations, and the apparent need for costly wars in the Middle East to control oil resources, causing unsustainable government deficits in the warring nations. The need for fossil fuels itself is an important cause of poverty, so higher fossil fuel costs will reduce poverty. If the money spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan had been spent on alternative energy resources, this may have significantly reduced fuel poverty in the United States and Great Britain.
It is therefore a good idea to transfer taxes from labour to fossil fuels and nuclear energy. In this way labour will become more often cheaper than machines that consume energy. If renewable energy sources are not taxed, this will also stimulate development of alternative energy resources, while leaving the choice of which projects to invest in to the markets. It will also stimulate people to install their own solar panels and windmills and become less dependent on utility companies. The introduction of the Natural Financial System with local currencies will also reduce energy consumption. At the same time it will make investments in sustainable energy resources more attractive [+]. Therefore the government energy policy can best be limited to taxing fossil fuels and banning nuclear power.
Saving energy
The production of cheap oil is peaking or has peaked [+]. Energy will most likely be less abundantly available in the future as there are no attractive new energy sources available [+]. Therefore it is better to curb the use of energy for non essential purposes. Energy preservation can best be stimulated by raising taxes on fossil fuels while lowering taxes on labour.
This will create a growing incentive to save energy, resulting in:
- the substitution of energy consuming machines by human labour;
- the saving of energy by traveling less and heating houses less;
- ending of energy intensive industries and services that are not essential;
- localising of production that can be done efficiently on a small scale;
- recycling of products.
When Natural Money is introduced, local trade will be strengthened and the economy will reorganise itself in such a way that the average distance between production and consumption and the average distance between living and working will be reduced [+]. Cars tend to become more energy efficient when fuel prices are higher. Therefore it may be better to tax fossil fuels than to subsidise the development and production of electric cars and hybrids.
Storage
It is possible to switch over to suistainable energy resources within a few decades. According to Dr. Gerhard Knies, the Earth's deserts receive more energy from the sun in six hours than humankind consumes within year [+]. A complete switchover to sustainable energy sources may proof to be troublesome. The energy output of windmills and solar panels is not stable. As long as produced energy cannot be stored, the introduction of renewable energy sources introduces the need for backup power plants.
It also creates challenges for utility companties to operate at a profit [+]. With smart meters it may become possible to make the price of electricity for consumers dependent on the available renewable power, inducing people to use energy when renewable energy sources are available. Local initiatives to achieve energy indepence may reduce the importance of the power grid [+]. To achieve energy independence, local initiatives may need to use a mix of renewable energy sources.
The only options for the storage of energy available are batteries, fuel cells and water reservoirs. However in the future new technologies may come available, such as new types of batteries that can charge and discharge energy faster [+]. Batteries use toxic materials but recently introduced lithium-ion batteries are made from less toxic materials than previous battery types [+].
Driving less
The car is an intensely emotional object. Human rational thinking is switched completely off as soon as the car enters the picture. In the Netherlands the car is sometimes called the Holy Cow. In India people had to step aside for the cows in the streets and paid tribute to them by accepting that they demolished things. Now people have to step aside for the cars and pay tribute to them by maintaining an extensive road system and accepting that they are killing people.
Sacrificing humans to gods is deemed reprehensible but more than a million people are killed worldwide each year in road accidents. Many more are injured. Because people think that they need cars. Cars can turn men into beasts. This happens not only on the roads. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are fought because people want to drive cars. Car driving depletes natual resources and contributes to global warming so it may kill billions more in the future.
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Many people feel that they need a car and they see it as an instrument of personal freedom. But this is not true. Often people have to work one day per week to pay for their car. If their job was close to their home and if there was a reasonable alternative in the form of public transport or shared cars for other trips, then it may be possible to save time and money by getting rid of the car.
The extra time needed for the use of public transport can be less than the time needed to work for the car. If less people drive cars then less roads are needed so taxes can be lowered. If public transport becomes profitable then taxes can be lowered even more because governments do not have to subsidise public transport. Fuel prices probably will rise dramatically in the coming decades and it is better to get prepared.
Some governments subsidise the development of electric cars and hybrids because electric cars are considered to be more environmentally friendly. Electricity is often generated at coal fired power plants so there may be less reduction in greenhouse gas output by introducing electric cars than most people think. Furthermore the production of cars consumes energy and the batteries of electric cars must be deposed of. Therefore people driving electric cars and hybrids are still destroying the planet, albeit in a slower pace.
Biofuels
To produce biofuels, rainforests are burned down. Also land is used for the production of biofuels that could otherwise be used for the production of food supplies. Food prices are rising because of this, leaving the poorest people without food [+]. The production of biofuels can better be stopped.
The cultivation of algae does not have the disadvantages other biofuels have. Many strains of algae grow in sites otherwise uninhabited, from salt-water marshland to deserts. They can grow 20 to 30 times faster than food crops. Algae may reduce climate change by binding CO2 [+]. The algae probably can also be used to fertilise depleted soils and deserts, restoring nature and farmland.
Nuclear power
Nuclear power does not produce greenhouse gasses that are supposed to contribute to climate change but nuclear power has other disadvantages. First there is the risk of nuclear accidents happening, such has been the case in the Three Mile Island accident, the Chernobyl disaster and the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant meltdown. It is certain that new accidents will happen in the future if the use of nuclear power by fission is continued [+].
There is a the risk of radio active contamination of the environment. For example, radioactive tritium has leaked from three-quarters of U.S. commercial nuclear power sites, often into groundwater from corroded, buried piping. The number and severity of the leaks has been escalating, as federal regulators extend the licenses of more and more reactors across the nation [+]. Also the nuclear waste material will be dangerous for more than 10,000 years. The problem of nuclear waste is far bigger than most people think [+].
Therefore the use of nuclear power by fission should be stopped. The research into nuclear fusion may at some point in the future result in a clean energy source. Fusion produces less problematic waste. Any radioactive waste generated through fusion will be small in volume, with radioactive decay occurring over several decades. Like fission, fusion does not emit greenhouse gases. Continued research may lead to a usable product in the future.
| Social reform |
Introduction
The fabric of Western societies is unraveling. This process is going on for decades but the problem may become acute when the economic system collapses. Most people do not have the survival skills needed to cope with this. The United States may be the first Western society that will cease to function in a normal way [+]. A number of societies in Europe will suffer the same fate in the not too distant future. Natural Money will be a central component in any solution. Therefore it is wise to consider measures to cope with a potential social breakdown. The following types of measures can be considered:
- handling the social consequences of Natural Money;
- methods to handle cultural differences;
- measures to reduce poverty and extreme wealth;
- measures to handle migration problems;
- measures to prevent overpopulation.
Often certain countries already have found a good solution for a specific problem. Therefore reform process itself can be executed using the principle of adopting best practices. In this way errors that have been made in the past can be avoided as much as possible while at the same time considerable progress can be made in a relatively short timeframe.
Best practices
Introduction
Because the political debate is often not concentrated on essential issues [+], the political system has been unable to realise essential social reforms. It may be a good idea to implement social reform based on existing best practices. In many cases there already is a country that has a good educational system, a good public health care system, a good police force, a good political system, a good method to treat drugs addicts or a good method to integrate immigrants into society.
It is a waste of time and resources to reinvent good principles that already have been discovered. It is far more effective to copy laws, information systems, procedures and practices of countries that have found a good solution for a specific problem. It is often not wise to pick parts of a solution only because solutions are integrated within a complex of laws, software systems, procedures and attitudes. Copying best practices can also become part of aid to developing nations.
Referendum
In a democracy citizens should have a final say about everything a government is planning or doing. Often the government has become an oppressive force that is not working in the interest of the people. Therefore a country can only be called democratic when there is an option for a referendum like there is in Switzerland, in which the people can overrule any decision mady by politicians. If sufficient people support a referendum proposal then the referendum should be held. The government of Switzerland is obliged to act according to outcome of the referendum. In a referendum the people of Iceland voted against repaying international debts incurred by banks and bankers [+]. The people of Iceland, like the people of the United States, did not ask questions when the banking business was booming, as they enjoyed a high standard of living because of financial engineering.
In general referendums will not make countries less stable or less governable. Switzerland has a long history of fiscal prudence. In most cases a referendum will lead to the best possible outcome as it makes use of the wisdom of crowds [+]. It may be a good idea to build in safeguards against small minorities starting a referendum about insignificant issues or issues being decided by insignificant turnouts. This may be done by combining referendums, which increases turnout, and introducing a minimum turnout to make the referendum decisive.
A referendum may sometimes lead to outcomes that are undesirable to the political, intellectual and business elites. It has been proven many times in the past that the political, intellectual and business elites have misguided people. The following two examples will demonstrate this:
- The Euro was a project of the business and political elites of Europe. The Euro would never have been introduced in many European countries if the people of those countries had a choice. Now those people realise that they have lost a part of their freedom because of the Euro.
- In the United States the Neoconservatives used the relativist philosophies of Leo Strauss as a basis for their own political theories. The Neoconservatives deceived the ordinary people for their own political ends. As a consequence the United States are fighting wars that are impoverishing the people and accelerating the nation's decline.
Only with a binding referendum the people of a country can be sure that they are master of their own destiny and that they are not ruled by an elite. A referendum may even make a country more stable as there is no perceived need for strong men to correct an elite gone out-of-control. Referendums should also be introduced at the state and local level because politicians tend to spend taxpayer's money on their own pet projects.
Dutch police force example
The Dutch police force is ineffective in serving the citizens because of the way it is organised. Bureaucracy and procedures are one of the causes. As a consequence priorities have to be set and those priorities are not always in line with the priorities the citizens think the police should have. Much of the Dutch police force is busy fining people for traffic offenses while small crimes like swindle, threats, vandalism, stealing bikes and burglaring are often not investigated. As a consequence much crime in The Netherlands remains unreported because people think that reporting crime does not help [+]. Many Dutch have the impression that the police are not protecting them.
There is a rationale behind the priorities of the Dutch police force. Improving traffic safety saves far more lives than going after small criminals. From 1970 to 2010 the number of people killed in traffic accidents went down 70% from 3,000 to 900 each year, while the number of cars tripled. This could mean that all traffic safety measures together save around 8,000 lifes each year. However those numbers do not impress people who feel unsafe in their own neighbourhood. It is the primary task of the police force to provide security and neglecting this task erodes the authority of the police.
The Dutch police have been reorganised a number of times. Currently new efforts are made to reduce bureaucracy. Probably the Dutch police can work more efficient if the police and justice system are reorganised in a comprehensive way. If the Germans are more pleased with their police force and justice system then it may be a good idea to set national pride aside and to reorganise the Dutch police force and justice system to German standards. The reorganisation must then include the copying of the procedures, the software and the police ethics and rules of engagement. It may be good idea to ask the Germans to implement their model and to train the Dutch police as a kind of development aid.
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Many countries offer basic government healthcare insurance and governments interfere with prices of healthcare and medication. In the United States there is strong resistance to public healthcare. The influence of Randism on the collective spirit of the United States creates a strong dogmatic resistance to public healthcare [+]. Furthermore state health care programs Medicare and Medicaid are riddled with fraud and that politicians do nothing about it [+]. It does not have to be this way. In the United States heathcare costs amount for 15% of GDP while this is around 9% of GDP in most European countries. In Europe the Swiss pay the most on health care while in Switzerland healthcare is privatised the most.
Healthcare service in Western European countries is considered to be equal to the US, while in Western Europe everybody is insured. The documentary film Sicko of filmmaker Michael Moore investigates health care in the United States, focusing on its health insurance and the pharmaceutical industry. The film compares the for-profit, non-universal U.S. system with the non-profit universal health care systems of Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba. In the film Michael Moore claims that health care in the United States is not adequate for large groups of people [+]. Life expectancy in the United States equals that of Cuba. The United States spends more per capita on health care than any other country. Cuba spends only a fraction of the money the US is spending, but achieves the same life expectancy. Therefore the Cuban health care system is far more efficient, and possibly the most efficient in the world.
Privatised health care does not work because optimal health care is based on a bureaucratic procedure. A physician makes an assessment, which is a procedure with decisions. Then the doctor prescribes a treatment, which is also procedure with decisions. The optimal solution is devoid of commercial interests. As soon as the profit motive enters the picture, the solution tends to become less optimal. It may lead to unnecessary treatments for people with money to spend, while on the other hand poor people may not be treated at all. Overtreatment can reduce life expectancy as prescription drugs may kill some 200,000 Americans every year. Doctors may raise prices until there is an economic equilibrium, which most likely is not a social optimum as many people may stop seeing the physician because it is too expensive. In the Netherlands dentist fees rose significanly after the government ended price controls [+].
Often there is an optimal solution for major issues like health care and often certain countries already have found a good model [+]. If the United States wants an overhaul of its health care system, then it may be better to copy a health care insurance system of another country completely and propose it to the people in a referendum, instead of going through a political bargaining process that results in public money being directed to the corporations represented by special interest groups [+]. As a consequence of lobbying and political bargaining Americans may end up paying even more for their health care after the proposals of the Obama Administration have been implemented. The United States may be too large for a federal public health care system, and it may be better to organise public health care in the states.
If a good model is chosen then the effort can be concentrated on determining the items covered and eliminating schemes to abuse the health care system. European public health care systems are not perfect. Also in the Netherlands lobbyists spend large amounts of money [+], so massive amounts of money are spent on unnessecary items. Health care reform in the United States cannot be considered without reform of the legal system, because the high cost of health care in the United States is partly caused by legal issues [+] and corruption in the medical profession and the FDA [+].
Pharmaceuticals
Prescription drugs in the United States are often more expensive than in European countries and Canada because the government of the United States has been reluctant to interfere with the market. Patents are also to blame for this. Another reason for the high cost of American health care is the attitude of Americans towards death [+]. The American way is never giving up and hoping for a miracle while it may be better to accept death as an inevitable part of life. Most health care costs are made in the final months before death but in many cases treatment does not help and makes people suffer unnecessarily.
Curiously Canadians and Western Europeans life longer than Americans. Life expectancy in the United States is the same as in Cuba. Pharmaceuticals have improved the lives of many people but pharmaceutical companies are also pushing pharmaceuticals and treatments that are not helpful and even harmful. Prescription drugs may kill some 200,000 Americans every year while the FDA, the federal agency charged with oversight of the food and drugs that Americans consume, has conflicts of interest within its approval process [+]. Deaths caused by FDA-approved prescription drugs vastly outstrip the number of people killed by street drugs such as cocaine and heroin.
Development of new pharmaceuticals is extremely costly and risky. To bring a new drug to the market often costs hundreds of millions of Euros. The drugs that are successful however can bring in billions. It appears that the development of new pharmaceuticals is now killing more people than it is saving so the law of diminishing marginal usefulness of innovation may apply here [+]. The profit motive of pharmaceutical companies has been a driver for innovation but as long as health care research is done with a profit motive and patents are protected, it may be difficult to combat abuse.
If research is done in the public interest, and financed via charities, while patents are not protected, pharmaceuticals will become cheaper and harmful treatments will stop. For example, there may be a cheap treatment for cancer, but pharmaceutical corporations are not researching it as there is no profit in it [+]. In such a situation money will be directed to the research people prefer to pay for, regardless of profitability. There will be less interest in selling pharmaceuticals that do not work, as there is little profit in it. Consequently the bureaucracy that is needed to approve new treatments could be reduced. In this way new helpful treatments may be introduced faster.
Handling the social consequences of Natural Money
Introduction
The introduction of the Natural Financial System with local currencies will localise production, trade and consumption [+] and reorder social and economic structures. As a consequence centralised structures like large cities, the Federal Government and multinational corporations cannot survive in their current form.
Local governments are more in direct contact with their communities than central governments and therefore they are better equipped to service their citizens. Small municipalities often provide a better service to their citizens than larger municipalities. Therefore civil services can better be localised as much as possible, while it may also be a good idea to split up larger municipalities.
In the following areas measures may be needed:
- relocation of people;
- people and the land; - government regulation;
- corporations and labour;
- police and law;
- defence;
- gun ownership.
Relocation of people
The introducion of the Natural Financial System with local currencies will make the relocation of people from the cities to the countryside unavoidable. It will turn out to be a brutal and unstoppable force that makes many cities obsolete. It probably will not be possible to stop the introduction of the Natural Financial system because it is more efficient than the current economic system. Therefore it is better to have a plan to handle the development. City people may not like to be relocated to the countryside, but this is what happens when civilisations die. There will be a return towards a subsistence level agrarian society with reduced long-distance trade. An example in England has shown that it is possible to reeducate people in a short time to become more self dependent [+].
Cities will have a less meaningful economic purpose in the future. Less people can make a living there and cities will become smaller. Businesses like financial services, lawyers, IT services, restaurants and shopping malls will be needed less. Some cities in the United States like Detroit are already falling apart because sources of income have disappeared [+]. It may be a good idea to dissolve large pockets of underprivileged people and distribute them evenly over the country. It may create more opportunities for those people to get ahead but it may also produce adaptation problems.
Relocating people to the countryside will turn out to be a wise move in the long term. At first it will cause stress and displacement, but conditions will improve over time. Humans are designed to live in small groups and therefore the living conditions in small villages are more natural for humans. Studies suggest that living in a city increases the risk of psychological disorders like depression and anxiety, and that schizophrenia rates are higher for people born and brought up in cities [+]. One in five American adults is already prescription drugs for conditions like anxiety and depression [+]. Humans are social animals but there is little social cohesion in cities. People in cities often have little or no survival skills and may starve when society disintegrates [+].
Land reform
The relocation of people to the countryside makes the distribution of land an important issue. Currently much of the land is in the hands of agricultural corporations and large scale farmers. Over time this land should become available to small scale farmers. This will mean that land must be redistributed and that that there should be no corporate ownership of land. Instead there should be small patches of heredetary farmlands and community farmlands.
Private ownership and free trade of land create problems like the need for personal debt to buy land and people acquiring large stakes of land, which deprives others of a means of living. There should be a bond between people and land as the land feeds the people. Therefore land should not be sold or mortgaged. However the use of land can be leased so that more efficient farmers can use the land of less efficient farmers.
According to research land reform can work. Success stories of land reform include Taiwan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and China. Their agricultural sectors are all predominantly based on owner-operated small-scale family farms. In the cases of Taiwan and China, the smallholder-based agrarian structures werecreated by land reform, transforming tenants into owners. In the case of Thailand, 19th Century legislation set a four-hectare limit on freely acquirable agricultural land and constrained the emergence of large estates. Japan had very successful comprehensive land reform that also included strict ceilings land ownership [+].
A number of land reforms, such as in the former Soviet Union, have been a failure. A situation where a few large scale farmers provide suffient food is preferrable to land reform if it results in a food shortage. In South Africa transfer of land as part of land reform has created government sponsored pockets of poverty in the countryside due to a lack of expertise and skills [+]. In Zimbabwe, the implementation of fast-track land reforms since 2000 resulted in a tremendous drop in total farm output. Before 2000 the gradual transfer of land in Zimbabwe had been a success [+].
The most important problem with many land reforms in the past was that political factors drove land reform while economics were ignored. This time it will be different as Natural Money and local currencies will favour small scale farming. Furthermore the future energy constraint will make energy intensive farming more costly relative to labour intensive farming. Large scale farming and farming for exports will therefore become largely obsolete. The transfer of land should be gradual, so errors in the process can be corrected, and based on economic considerations, otherwise another failure will be in the making.
Land may need be subjected to a tax to finance land redistribution. Community farmlands may be leased to generate tax income for public works, such as roads and irrigation systems, to improve farming.
Government regulation
Many people do not want the government to interfere with their lives but they also do not like the consequences of a government not interfering. This applies for all kinds of consumer protection laws and safety regulations, like food safety, safety at work and safety of buildings. The service a government provides is often taken for granted or ignored by libertarians. In most cases government regulations are there for good reason. As government regulations decreases, health risks will increase as will the risk of accidents.
In the Netherlands many playgrounds have disappeared because of safety regulations. Those regulations have been introduced because in a playground accident a child has died. Other playgrounds have been downsized or have become less attractive for children. Reducing the regulations on playgrounds, in order to make it economically feasible to keep them, will increase the risks of children having accidents. Regulations may have become too strict if children cannot play outside any more.
The same applies for government regulation on food safety. If people accept less regulation, the production and consumption of locally produced foods will be facilitated. Some towns and states are considering abolishing federal laws on food safety [+]. When Natural Money is introduced, and affairs are settled locally, then government regulation is often not needed.
The Natural Economy will arrange many affairs automatically. This also will reduce the need for regulation in many areas, especially in the fields of employment, environment and finance. Because there will be full employment in the Natural Economy, there will be less need to protect labour from exploitation by employers. Because there is no interest on money, the Natural Economy will be sustainable. In the Natural Economy finance will be more straightforward and there are less opportunities for fraud. Local currencies will strengthen local communities, reducing the need for a central government bureaucracy.
If decision making is to be localised, and laws are to be simplified, then people have to accept the consequences. They should weigh the risk of bad things happening against the legislation and bureaucracy needed to prevent those things from happening. A practical solution to enforce simplification of law is making transactions in local currencies exempt from many national laws or to treat them as a legal equivalent of neighbours helping each other.
Corporations and labour
In the Natural Economy with local currencies many large multinational corporations will cease to exist. Multinational corporations undermine democracy as they can evade national laws and often evade taxes [+] so they pay very little taxes or no taxes at all [+]. Small businesses have less opportunities to evade taxes, while large multinational corporations do benefit from education and infrastructure that are paid for by taxes. Therefore multinational corporations in general do not contribute in a positive way to a society. They should be abolished.
In the Natural Economy there will be full employment so the relationship between employers and employees will change drastically. In the Natural Economy with local currencies the power between employers and labourers will be more equally divided. As there is always full employment in the Natural Economy, while corporations are relatively small, the market can do its work. Employers have to treat employees in a fair way, otherwise they will lose them. As a consequence there will be no need for labour unions.
Labour unions have sometimes succeeded in organising lofty salaries and benefits for government employees [+]. As salaries of government employees are paid from taxes, this may anger taxpayers. A referendum will be helpful in keeping government salaries in check. Keeping government salaries too low in a situation of full employment will automatically lead to people leaving the ranks of the government. Therefore a referendum combined with market forces will assure reasonable salaries for government employees.
Police and law
Law enforcement has difficulty in handling specific problems such as intimidation and small crimes. The offenses are often insignificant and it is difficult to send the perpetrators to jail. In rural communities the locals deal with nuisances themselves and this is one of the reasons why most rural communities need relatively small police forces. In rural areas crime rates are lower.
In the United States judges are often elected and in Europe they are often appointed for life. In European countries it is difficult to replace incompetent judges. In the United States judicial candidates often raise campaign funds and this opens the door for corruption [+]. Appointing judges may be a better solution in combination with the option to dismiss a judge or by a referendum.
Drugs related crime is taking up much of the resources of law enforcement in many countries. There is essentially no difference between the mechanics behind prohibition of alcohol and the prohibition of drugs. Prohibition of alcohol did not work because prices rose and markets kept functioning. Criminal gangs became very rich because of this. Combating drug gangs is ineffective and undercover agents have laundered and smuggled millions of dollars in drug proceeds [+]. The War on Drugs had been unwinnable from the beginning and became extremely violent in recent years. In Mexico alone the death toll is more than 40,000 people since 2006 [+].
Most policymakers in the Netherlands believe that if a problem has proved to be unsolvable, it is better to try controlling it and reducing harm instead of continuing to enforce laws with mixed results. Because other countries do not share the same view, this causes friction and the emergence of drugs tourists in the Netherlands. The reported number of deaths linked to the use of drugs in the Netherlands, as a proportion of the entire population is one of the lowest of the EU. The Dutch also government supports approximately 90% of help-seeking addicts with detoxification programs [+].
Political parties
In a democracy the people should be in control of the government. It is better to have the option to organise a referendum on every possible item. In this way the people can introduce legislation or reject legislation, appoint judges and remove judges from their position. A referendum can solve issues far more efficiently than the political debate does. For example, the health care debate in the United States became heated, while opponents of the reform claimed to have a majority [+]. A referendum may take the issue of the table so the country can move on.
A two party system has its disadvantages. It may be better to have a representative democracy where the number of seats a party fetches reflects the number of votes the party did get. In this way it will be more easy to start a new political party. Furthermore in the United States political parties often try to obstruct the political agenda of the other party. A US President that faces a majority of the opposing party, is considered to be a lame duck. It may be better to compromise, or even better to take the best of both approaches. This is only going to happen when there is a coalition government.
A representative democracy may also increase voter turnout as people feel better represented in parliament. Currently the United States has one of the lowest turnout rates in the Western world, which is less than 50%. In Western Europe voter turnout rates are often in the 70-90% range. This indicates that people in the United States feel less represented by politicians than people in Europe. Remarkably Swiss voter turnout rates are slightly below 70%, but this may be caused by the fact that Switzerland has binding referendums, so voters can always assert their power, regardless of who is in office.
Another reason for the low voter turnout in the United States is that politicians are bought by special interest groups and corporations. Once the politicians are in office, they will start to represent the special interest groups and corporations that funded their campaings. In Western Europe the practice of buying politians is less prevalent. In Western Europe candidates do not spend much on political campaigns. It is better that money does not play an important role in political campaigns. Political parties can better be funded by fixed membership contributions as the only source of income.
Elections can only be democratic when the voting process is verifiable. Voting machines can be fraudulently manipulated [+]. Therefore elections should be done without the use of voting machines or using machines that are verifiable by leaving a paper trail. Every case of elections fraud should be investigated. In many countries there is a population register that is used to send eligible voters a card in the mail. This method is far less prone to fraud than registering voters before every election.
Often a small group of politically active people and lobyists have a large influence on political decisions. A referendum can also be helpful to reduce the influence of activists and lobyists. Lobbying itself may be needed because politicians do not have inside knowledge of an industry and may otherwise impose regulation that is not practical. Lobbying should therefore be done openly and meetings of politicians and lobbyists should be open to the public and they should be recorded on tapes available to the public.
Defence
The United States is highly dependent on a high tech army which is costly to maintain. The United States has military bases all over the world. Like Great Britain in the past, the United States will not be able to sustain the current military presence in the future [+]. A high tech army is vulnerable because of human error [+] but also because of hackers or moles [+]. Recently Iran captured a US drone probably by hacking its software.
Investments in high tech militaries are rendered ineffective because a potential enemy only has to copy the technology [+] or look for a weak spot in order to make the investments in high tech worthless [+]. High tech armies have proven to be ineffective against motivated low tech armies of people that defend their home country. Countries like Afghanistan, Iraq and Vietnam are difficult to control by a foreign power. Therefore it is better to be less dependent on high tech solutions and give the citizens a greater role in the defence of their country.
It may be possible to cut back on military expenses significantly, as they only subsidise the military industrial complex and do not improve the security of the United States. Even when the United States has not the most technological advanced military, it will be able to defend itself more effectively, as high tech equipment poses an additional security risk. If all countries only spy on others and copy newly developed weapons, weapons development would effectively come to a halt. This would be a great development as it reduces cost and increases security.
The United States may choose to remodel their defences in the way the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire did when the empire lost its rich provinces to the Arabs in the 7th century. The structure of the Byzantine army was fundamentally changed to deal with the new circumstances. As the traditional units, largely familiar from the 5th century, fell back from the collapsing frontiers, they were settled in the homeland and became local militia, to be paid directly from local revenues instead of from the treasury. The military districts of Byzantine were named themes. The remained the military bedrock the Byzantine Empire until the end of the 11th century. Should a conflict arise, the armies of the themes and the small central army of the empire could be assembled to create a large army [+].
If local militia are used to defend the country then the militia members must have access to weapons. It may be better that those weapons are locked away at safe locations and are not stored in the homes of the militia members.
Gun ownership
In the United States gun ownership is more widespread than in Western Europe. In 2004 there were approximately 44 million gun owners in the United States. Gun ownership is mainly intended for self defence and sometimes people can save their life because they own a gun [+]. Despite that it is questionable whether widespread gun ownership makes the lives of Americans safer. Some 30,000 people are killed by guns each year in the United States. 17,352 (55.6%) of the total 31,224 firearm-related deaths in 2007 are due to suicide, while 12,632 (40.5%) were homicide deaths [+].
In the Netherlands where gun ownership is restricted, homicide rates are around 0.9 per 100,000 population. In the United States they are around 4.8 per 100,000 population. If the number of homicides were to be reduced to Dutch levels, this would mean 10,000 less people killed each year. Unlike Western Europe, the United States also has a history of assassinations and assassination attempts on presidents [+]. Gun ownership in the United States appears to be related to American culture, which is more violent than Western European culture. Restricting gun ownership without addressing the culture of violence will probably not bring homicide rates down to Western European levels.
The cowboy heritage may still have an influence on the subconcious of many Americans. The Wild West was rude and violent. Black style icons like the violent gangstra rappers are also part of American culture. In Hollywood movies killings are often displayed in gruesome detail, while sexual intercourse and nudeness are banned from the screens. European movies on average are less violent. Even though it is difficult to prove that display of violence engenders violence, it probably does.
Consequently the United States see terrorism as a war while European countries tend to see it as a security issue. Starting two wars that killed at least 200,000 (possibly over 1,000,000) and costed at least 1 trillion dollars [+] (possibly 4 trillion [+]) because 3,000 people were killed in a terrorist attack that could have been prevented by better intelligence is irrational. The culture of violence also affects the police in the United States and may cause police brutality. Furthermore, as many people carry guns, police offices in the United States are more on the edge compared to their counterparts in Europe as their lives are more at risk. Sometimes this leads to accidents [+].
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Cultural differences
Introduction
People from different cultures have to live together in peace because the world has become a global village. It is unavoidable that people with different cultural backgrounds will be living together more often in the future. The multicultural societies of Western Europe and the United States may turn out to be valuable experiments for the future. In those societies the problems surfaced that have to be solved in order to achieve a peaceful world order. In the Netherlands anti-Islamic feelings strongly rose in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. As the Netherlands was one of the most liberal countries in the world, this development could not only be blamed on the Dutch.
People that deviate from the average often suffer from discriminatory practices. This does not only apply to minorities, but also to homosexuals, people that behave differently and people that look differently. Discrimination can be a problem in multicultural societies where people from different cultures live together. Discrimination keeps doors shut and it limits the freedom of movement. The world will be a better place without discrimination, but ending it is not easy. Racism is still a problem [+], but discrimination does not always stem from racism. Discrimination is often the consequence cultural differences. Misdefining cultural tensions as racism is a serious error as the underlying causes for discrimination will not be addressed in this way.
Many people do not like people from other cultures because they are different but cultural differences become problematic when the behaviour of people with a specific cultural background harms others. A group as a whole can become a nuisance or sometimes a threat, even when the majority of the group is harmless. Even more threatening is allegiance as minorities can become a fifth column that undermines a nation. Nations are tribes and migrating to another nation means changing tribal allegiance and adapting one's behaviour to the new environment. Disloyalty is a more serious threat to peaceful coexistence than being different. Such issues can lead to war or genocide. The extermination of the Jews by the Nazis and the mass killing of the Armenians by the Ottoman Turks have both been committed because they allegedly were disloyal.
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Malboro Red and defamation
They can be found on the steet pavements in the Netherlands, and possibly they can also be found in other countries: empty boxes of Malboro Red. There are many other brands of cigarettes, but hardly ever you will find empty boxes of those brands on the pavement. People smoking Malboro Red seem not to care. They throw away the boxes whenever they are empty. They must be disrespectful people that care little for the environment. The world will be a better place without people smoking Malboro Red.
Malboro is an icon of Western consumerism. Westenr consumers seem not to care about the future and throw their garbage away whenever it is not needed any more. The world would be a better place without those people. There is no problem in saying this, because people smoking Malboro Red or people living in the West do not have a specific religion or culture. It is no problem to call bankers scum, thieves and fraudsters.
Naming the Dutch blunt or stingy does not raise an eyebrow either. The Dutch seem not to care. However there are certain groups of people with a high level of sensitivity whose feelings are easily hurt. Calling those people, their culture or their religion something nasty is often labeled defamation. But is there a real diffence between a group defined by culture or a religion or a group defined by a profession or a habit?
Western culture may be superior in material wealth, democracy and scientific achievements but this is of no use with a suicidal economic system. Resources are wasted because people are being convinced that they should buy products and services they do not need. If the rest of the world adopts the same way of living then the resources of the planet Earth will not be sufficient. Western culture may allow self criticism while other cultures do not, but this is of no use if self criticism remains without consequences. Fundamental changes in the economy and society are needed, otherwise there will be a few decades left to the utmost, before famines and wars will take their toll.
If one tries to think in good points and bad points, and also assumes that differences in behaviour are often cultural, it may be possible to rationally discuss those issues. For example, it is no problem to say that black people are relaxed but to say that they are lazy will often be seen as a racist remark. When taking into account that the hard working people are the ones that are destroying our planet, it becomes possible to see that there is a good point in a more relaxed attitude. Furthermore there are many hard working black people and many lazy white people. Culture and upbringing only makes people more inclined to certain behavior. Race probably has little to do with potential. In 2012 a black woman won the national IQ test for celebrities the Netherlands with the highest score ever [+].
Migration
Migration can be an enrichment for a society. Societies that took in large numbers of immigrants have often benefited from the immigrants. On the other hand immigration can lead to stress and adaptation problems for both the immigrants and the indigenous people. In the current economic system, based on the neo liberal principles like freedom of movement for capital and people, there is a world wide competition of everybody against everybody. Many people feel insecure about their job and income, so immigrants are often perceived as a threat.
Furthermore the behavior and ethics of different groups of people can lead to conflicts. Immigrants can become alienated from the society they live in, while indigenous people can become alienated from their neighbourhood if there are too many immigrants. Large numbers of immigrants can cause anxiety because of their numbers [+].
If migration could be reduced, then most problems will disappear over time, because people living together will adapt to each other. Reducing migration requires first and foremost a more even distribution of wealth accross the globe. Also the economic rat race, where everybody competes against everybody, should be ended. This may require less freedom of movement of people and money and consequently more closed borders and more national and local currencies.
A nation is defined by the people currently living in it and not by the forefathers that once founded the nation. To define a culture as the heritage of indigenous inhabitants will lead to cultural tensions when large numbers of immigrants enter the country. Islam has become part of nations where large numbers of Islamic immigrants live. This requires that the Islamic immigrants mingle with the rest of the population, adapt and accept the country they are living in as their own.
Switzerland is seen as a model state in some right-wing circles because of its wealth combined with strong stance against immigration. Recently the Swiss banned the building of new minarets on mosques after a referendum on the issue. People in those right-wing circles often argue that the example of Switzerland demonstrates that a country is better off with less immigrants. However Switzerland itself became rich, at least partially, not by hard labour, but by banking at the expense of others. For years the country has been a popular safe haven for tax evaders and dictators because of its bank secrecy and neutrality.
Ethics and cultural differences
The behavior of one group of people can harm the interests other groups of the people of a country. People from different cultures differ in their morality, behavior and vices. In nations where groups of different cultural backgrounds live together, people with certain cultural backgrounds dominate the crime and welfare statistics. It is even true that specific ethnic groups dominate specific types of crimes. For example, most sex tourists in Thailand and Morocco are whites. This will unavoidably lead to fingerpointing. In the groups that have a bad name, often a minority behaves badly, which has negative consequences for all people of the group. What goes around comes around applies here, as culture can be identified as a cause the harmful conduct.
A welfare state can be sustained by the work ethic within a population. If immigrants with another work ethic help to make a welfare system unsustainable, then the immigrants will be blamed for this. For example, if blacks live in a white dominated society, they often end up receiving benefits as their culture makes them less fit to live in a white dominated society. In Africa there are no benefits and people manage themselves. The availability of benefits is a result of a decision made within the white dominated culture that it is better to have benefits than to let poor people manage themselves. It is more difficult for poor people to manage themselves, as modern societies are complex than traditional societies. It is here where the reproaches start. Who is to blame for this?
Does it really matter who is to blame? History cannot be undone. Those issues can be resolved if one analyses cultures in relation to specific goals for the future and relates cultural qualities to those goals. A balanced society offers fair opportunities for everybody to make a living. This probably means that multicultural societies of the future should become less based on traditionally white values, in order to become sustainable and provide a fair living standard for as many people as possible without being dependent on hand outs.
Stereotypes and prejudices can be helpful in identifying cultural tensions and resolving them. Insofar they are based on real experiences, and not on malicious hearsay, stereotypes and prejudices are a form of crowd wisdom [+]. They are the consolidated experience of large groups of people and therefore stereotypes and prejudices can be helpful for groups to reflect on their own culture.
Laws
Discrimination and racism are not the same. Racism is having the opinion that a specific race is genetically superior to other races. In many respects cultural superiority thinking resembles racism and has become the theoretical foundation for right wing populism in recent years. As Western culture is committing suicide, it is a mistake to consider it to be superior. Some people may not like people from other cultures because they have had negative experiences with people from those cultural backgrounds, but this is not racism and it is not cultural superiority thinking either.
Discrimination is often a mutual exclusion. In many cases the people who feel discriminated do not accept the people that discriminate them either. It is often a consequence of cultural differences that result in misunderstandings and distrust amongst people from different cultural backgrounds. Distrust towards Islam is one of the reasons why right wing populists in Europe try to suppress the rights of Muslims. As long as such feelings are the consequence of cultural conflicts, it is difficult to end those feelings. Those feelings can reside by living together in harmony for generations. Roman Catholics and Protestants have demonstrated that this is possible.
Anti discrimination laws may be helpful against institutionalised discrimination but they do not solve the issue of preferences caused by cultural differences. Most people tend to favour people of their own race, religion or political viewpoints. Most people will find other excuses to exclude a person of another religion, race or political conviction. Therefore anti discrimination laws can foster hypocrisy and have the potential of creating a police state if they are enforced too strictly [+].
In the United States poor people, and especially poor black men are overrepresented in the prison system. Anti-discrimination laws did not prevent this from happening. Living conditions in prisons are bad [+] and there are now more people under correctional supervision in the United States than were in the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin at its height. The prison business has become influential. Political action committees assembled by private correctional corporations have lobbied over 3.3 million dollars to the political establishment since 2001 in order to increase the prison population [+]. Imprisoning people may reduce crime rates, but violent crime rates in the United States are higher than those of similar countries in Western Europe, where prison rates are lower and conditions in prisons are better.
Closed groups pose problems
Minorities are often closed groups. When a specific group causes more problems than others then it is difficult for outsiders to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys within those groups. Often members of groups are loyal to each other. They often do not inform the police or the authorities about criminal and illegal activities they are aware of. They may provide false alibis for group members when the police are investigating their crimes. In many cases there is an atmosphere of intimidation in which it is difficult to bring criminals to justice. Closed groups of people are difficult to handle for the societies they live in.
An example may illustrate this. From time to time there is a crackdown on criminal activities in trailer camps of nomadic people in the Netherlands like the one in Eindhoven on March 29, 2011 [+]. Those crackdowns often involve a large police force and sometimes military vehicles have to be used, because police and other officials are often intimidated and harassed when they enter those camps. In this specific raid participated more than one hundred police officers and staff of the Royal Military Police, while the trailer camp had only nine addresses.
The Dutch government is not planning to create a special policy for the Roma, which is the largest tribe of nomadic people in Europe. The emphasis of the Dutch policy lies on combating crime and the enforcement of school attendance. This made the Roma angry as they expect the government to take into account their culture and background [+]. The Roma and some other minorities seem to think that the Dutch should accommodate their culture that is a source of trouble. The Roma have been in Europe for centuries and still have not integrated into Dutch society. Consequently they are not popular among the native population [+].
There is no legal basis for expelling citizens of a country. There is no moral basis for expelling people that live for many years in a country, even if they do not have the proper legal titles. There is also no legal or moral basis for punishing people for the deeds of others. Still these things have happened and do still happen. The flip side of the coin is that there is also no legal or moral basis for criminal and illegal activities or keeping authorities uninformed about criminal and illegal activities. To put it more bluntly, living conditions for the rest of the population would improve if certain groups suddenly vanished or changed their ways.
The individualistic morality of Western culture makes it difficult to hold people responsible for the actions of other people of the group. Whether the group is cultural, professional or occasional does not really matter. Society as a whole has been made responsible for dealing with criminals. Minorities should realise that the actions of other people in their group can have consequences for themselves, as others may start to perceive the minority group as a burden to society. If the problem persists or grows out of control, then democratic nations may elect leaders that will strip the minorities of their rights. Luckily the minorities themselves have a great influence on their own future. Peers have a stonger influence on people in closed groups than outsiders, so peer pressure from people within the group itself is often more effective than policing.
A failure of the multicultural society will harm the minorities the most, and minorities will gain the most from a success. Many activities that give minorities a bad name are difficult to prosecute by the authorities. Those activities may harm minorities if they do not distance themselves more openly from them. An example are the activities of the extremist group Sharia4Belgium. On December 17, 2011, the radical Muslim group Sharia4Belgium made a web video in which it threatened to demolish the Atomium, which is a Belgian hallmark. In the video the helmsman of Sharia4Belgium called Muslims to free themselves from idols such as the Atomium. He was dressed in military attire but he did not propose the use of violence, so legally he did nothing wrong. Despite that Sharia4Belgium gives Muslims a bad name.
Solving the problem
Discrimination can only be effectively combated when there is no valid reason to discriminate. The behavioral characteristics of people from different cultural backgrounds may be different, but should not conflict. As minorities are often closed groups, they can better deal with the people that give them a bad name themselves. This is not because they should be held responsible for the behaviour of others, but because this way of working will solve the problem better. The minorities will also benefit from this approach. In this way the multicultural society can become a success. Based on practical experiences, someone wrote the following on a Dutch message board:
At work we have no immigrants, Italians, Indonesians, Jamaicans, Chinese, etc, etc. Actually I am a foreigner of Dutch descent. I know how it is to work as a minority. Discrimination or aggression of any kind are severely prohibited at our work. If you do routinely express such things, you are finished. The company will tell you to go. |
Not only the cultures of minorities are to blame. The appreciation of money and achievement in Western culture, and most notably in the United States, adds to the difficulties. Asians on average are good achievers and cause little trouble in the multicultural society, while blacks and Muslims on average are less good achievers. They have the most problems with adapting to the achievement society. As achievement and wealth often result in the consumption of energy and natural resources, there is much to gain if achievement and wealth were valued less.
The fierce competition for money in the usury financial system helps to foster crime as many people have no access to money otherwise. It does not help that the rich plunder the nation by bribing politicians. Real unemployment figures in the United States are around 20%, while welfare is not sufficient to live on. Furthermore, perceived poverty is related to the wealth of other people, so poor people tend to think that they need items others have. A reduction in wealth inequality will reduce perceived poverty, even when the general level of wealth reduces, and this may help to reduce crime rates.
Poverty and extreme wealth
Introduction
The main causes of poverty are usury, financial crime, globalisation, lack of education and attitudes. The greatest external obstacle to prosperity for developing nations is the usury financial system that blocks local development. The money earned by people in a local community often leaves the community to buy products that are produced elsewhere. Without money to invest or to buy locally produced goods, the local community cannot develop itself.
The extreme wealth of some individuals, families and groups conflicts with democratic principles. Extremely wealthy people tend to use their money to buy influence. Therefore it is a good idea to confiscate the assets controlled by extremely wealthy people, including their foundations that are often used for political activities. This money can be used to reduce public debts and reduce tax levels for ordinary citizens. To avoid the accumulation of extreme wealth in the future, estate tax laws should be revised.
Corruption can best be reduced by reducing government assistance. Giving money to governments in developing nations is not effective. Non governmental organisations that are run by volunteers often do a far better job than governments. Reducing corruption by reducing government assistance can create a better investment climate in developing nations. The people living in developing nations can best be assisted by investments in their businesses using micro finance without usury.
Peakcock Syndrome: humanity's fatal disease
Researchers at the University of Texas published a study about why men buy or lease flashy, extravagant, expensive cars like a gold plated Porsche Carrera GT. There conclusion was:
Although showy spending is often perceived as wasteful, frivolous and even narcissistic, an evolutionary perspective suggests that blatant displays of resources may serve an important function, namely as a communication strategy designed to gain reproductive rewards. |
To put that in laymen’s terms, guys drive flashy expensive cars so they can get laid. Researcher Dr Vladas Griskevicius said: “The studies show that some men are like peacocks. They’re the ones driving the bright colored sports car.” [+]. The problem is not only men but also women and the choices of men they make.
Until a few decades ago rich people in the Netherlands did not show off their wealth as this was considered to be ostentatious. This Dutch value had a good reason as poverty is often a relative phenomenon. People feel more poor when others are richer, even if they have enough themselves. This is called envy. They then will try to keep up with others and buy things they do not need or even cannot afford. The envy also drives up crime rates.
A a rise in the general of level of wealth can therefore be problematic if it distributed unevenly. This may be one of the reasons why crime rates have risen while at the same time the average level of wealth also rose. Consequently if the general level of wealth drops, this does not have to be a problem as long as everybody has enough and the differences in wealth are relatively small. It may even improve the general well being and crime rates may drop.
It is the underlying problem of many issues related to saving the planet. If some people countries do not cut back on pollution, then others will also not be willing to do this as it makes them poorer in a relative sense. Only when everybody accepts the same measures, the planet may be saved. Earth cannot support billions of human peakocks with their designer clothes, sports cars, luxury yachts, swimming pools and big houses. The Chinese Communist leader Mao already solved the problem: everybody had to wear the same type of suit. More recently the Chinese Communist Party started a crackdown on advertisements for luxury items most people cannot afford to buy.
Usury
Usury, which is the charging of interest on money, creates a flow of money from the poor to the rich. Historically the rich had money to lend and the poor needed money to make a living. Therefore the poor had to pay interest to the rich. In this way the rich became richer because they already were rich and the poor became poorer because they already were poor.
Currently everybody with a loan is paying interest on money that was created by financial institutions. Financial institutions have become powerful and in recent decades they have amassed even more power because of the deregulation of financial markets.
Ending the usury financial system and assisting communities to introduce Natural Money currencies is a prerequisite to end poverty because poverty is partly a systemic problem caused by usury. Without usury people may still be poor because of their own choices and attitudes, but poverty will then not be the result of the mechanics of the financial system working against them.
Financial crime
Financial crimes such as fraud and corruption are difficult to combat because the profits can be huge while legal systems often are ineffective in bringing white collar criminals to justice. As is the case with usury, there is no direct link between the crimes themselves and the resulting destruction and killing. Therefore many people are inclined to be lenient towards white collar criminals who have killed thousands and even millions by their actions. Because of their insidious nature and far reaching consequences, financial crimes are crimes against humanity.
Corruption and fraud break down the fabric of a society. At the individual level the harm done is often not large, but on a larger scale fraud and corruption are destructive. Once corruption takes hold in a society, it pervades the political and the legal system, undermining democracy and justice. Corruption impoverishes developing nations as well as the West. Several leaders of developing nations have amassed personal fortunes even as the governments they head have incurred large debts. Corruption has also pervaded societies in the West [+] and most politicians in the United States have been bribed [+]. The US Dollar based usury financial system is intertwined with the financial oligarchy, which has also penetrated United States government agencies, the IMF and the World Bank.
The IMF and World Bank are used by US security agencies to look after the interests of the financial oligarchy. The security agencies are accused of performing operations that include collusion, kidnapping and murder for the benefit of the financial and business oligarchy. These espionage accusations are documented in the book "Confessions of an Economic Hit Man" written by John Perkins (2004). In his book he provides an account of his career that included his hire by an alleged NSA liaison to become a self-described economic hit man [+].
Financial criminals tend to corrupt politicians and judges and this may explain why their crimes remain unpunished [+]. Severe punishment is the only solution to combat corruption and fraud effectively. In China financial criminals are often executed. A popular Indian yoga guru has been on hunger strike demanding a death penalty for corrupt officials [+]. A death penalty for the severest cases may be needed to effectively combat corruption and fraud.
There is a large area of shady practices that are more or less corrupt but difficult to avoid. For example, contractors often do business with officials and there is a level of trust between them. Often officials and contractors meet in clubs or restaurants and sometimes gifts are exchanged. It would be more efficient if the level of trust depended solely on the quality of work and not on social issues. However if contracts were distributed in a public tender then price becomes the main determinant, which will often will result in inferior jobs done. A solution for this may be the following:
- Small projects should be done by the local community that hires local contractors. Local businesspeople will less likely let their own community down. Should a contractor abuse the trust of the local community, social control can correct the issue. Citizens are expected to actively oversee the affairs of the local community.
- Larger projects should be done in public tenders that comprise the complete life cycle of the project outcome, which may be a road or a building. A good product will result in lower maintenance costs, so there will be an incentive for contractors to do a good job for the best price.
Development aid
The end of usury in the Natural Financial System will stimulate local development, which gives developing nations more opportunities to develop themselves, without the need for producing goods for international markets. Developing nations would also be better off when agricultural subsidies are ended and tax havens are eliminated [+]. If those measures are taken, most development aid by governments can be ended in most cases.
Microfinance can help but the possibilities of microfinance have been overestimated [+]. Often microfinance did not fulfill its promise and many borrowers remained poor. High interest rates and overcrediting are the most common causes of failure. Politicians were eager to exploit the situation by blaming the microcredit institutions. This does not help as banks have become more reluctant to loan money to microfinance institutions. Ending usury however will solve the problem of high interest rates and overcrediting.
In many countries poverty is the consequence of local customs with respect to education, work ethics or corruption. This is a cultural problem. Abolishing usury, agricultural subsidies and tax havens may not help those countries. It may be difficult for those countries to reorganise themselves in a short timeframe. Haiti is often seen as an example of a country that is unable to solve its own problems. Wikileaks cables show that the United States interfered in Haitian politics on behalf of corporate interests [+].
Globalisation
Using our current industrialised production methods, less than 5% of the workforce produces all the needed food and products. The result is wage competition. Jobs are shipped to the places with the lowest wages. Factory workers in those countries often work under poor conditions remniscent of those in the nineteenth century, thus annulling one century of struggle of organised labour to achieve better working conditions. Because of low wages people in the West could enjoy higher living standards for some time but many industrial jobs were shipped to low wage countries. Exports decreased while imports increased and people in the West went into debt to sustain their standard of living.
Because money can be transmitted over the globe in an instant, globalisation leads to a competition of everybody against everybody. It would be better that labour good work under good working conditions while at the same time being competitive. It would also be better that labour of the working people in poor countries would be redirected at local improvements, instead of producing needless items for spoiled Western consumers. If Natural Money with local currencies are introduced, this will be possible. There will be no world wide competition for a local currency. Natural Money local currencies will create stronger communities. Those currencies will stimulate cooperation in stead of competition. This will also improve the economic conditions in local communities of developing nations.
It may be a good idea to give transactions in local currencies the legal status of neighbours helping each other just like the transactions in a LETS system and not the legal status of a business transaction. Current legislation favours large scale centralised production because of the risk of litigation and the large investments that are needed to comply with legislation. The community issuing the currency may be able to determine which regulation applies on transactions in their local currency. The central government may only set the minimal legal requirements.
Education
Education gives opportunities to people and therefore people lacking the money for education may remain in poverty. Therefore education is one of the main areas in which help can be given. Making information freely available on the internet is a great step forward in making education available for everyone. Succes in education is also a cultural phenomenon. People from different cultural backgrounds differ in their school results even when they go to school in the same country and use the same facilities. Not aknowledging culture as important in educational success, deprives many talented children from success in education.
Attitudes
People make choices based on their culture and upbringing. Those choices impact their future quality of life. The following types of attitudes may affect their future quality of life:
- Work attitudes: Some people want to work harder to get a higher standard of living than others. In many developing countries people accept a lower standard of living and stop working as soon as they have enough money to live on. This is not bad in itself because living in this way does take less of Earth's resources. However people with an indolent attitude will also accept unfavourable living conditions like poverty, corruption and pollution more often and do nothing about it.
- Financial attitudes: People going into debt for unnecessary expenses may find out after some time that they have become poor. In Western economies, governments and banks try to lure people into adding more debt to keep the economy going. People in the West have become accustomed to high levels of debt.
- Herd mentality: People that do not think for themselves and follow the advice of others may find out that they have been robbed. The financial industry is full of fraud. The following types of fraud are common: manipulating stock prices [+], investment banks advising people to buy stocks they want to sell and pyramid schemes such as the Madoff fraud. Many people lost their savings because of Bernard Madoffs fraud [+]. The perceived need for investment advice and investment bankers stems from the instability of financial markets which is caused by usury and credit [+].
People should take more interest in their own affairs and take matters in their own hands because governments will not always bring solutions. Workers should become actively engaged in planning the future of the companies they work for. In the US it is not common for workers to do this. Capitalist propaganda of the corporate media made Americans believe that it them and not the system that is to blame when they are poor or without work. This makes it possible for financial interests to run their lives more than needed. In Europe workers often try to influence the decision making of their employers. An example of this is the strike at the Dutch auto factory NedCar in Born, the Netherlands in 2006 [+]. The involvement of the workers resulted in a new car model being produced at NedCar and the continuation of the plant.
Migration
Introduction
Migration may destabilise civilisations because the influx of people from different backgrounds brings problems of adaptation for both the migrants and the inhabitants already living in the country. Migration issues combined with economic uncertainty revive right-wing and nationalist feelings, especially in Europe. Some people are affraid that Western Europe will become Islamic due to demographic factors such as a low birth rate of the existing population and the higher birthrate of Islamic immigrants. However right-wing nationalists do not have real solutions for the situation because the root cause of migration is ignored.
The main cause for migration is poverty and lack of prospects in the home countries of the immigrants. Immigrants often live in a desparate situation. In many cases the families of immigrants have saved all the money they could spare to enable them to go to Europe or the US. Some immigrants die on their way to Europe and still they take the risk. They are strongly motivated not to let their family down. Sending immigrants back or other harsh measures will not bring a solution. If the difference in wealth remains as it is, the EU and the US may become overwhelmed by immigrants.
Root causes
The migration problem has a supply side and a demand side. The supply of migrants is the result of poor living conditions in third world countries. The demand for migrants is the result of economic inefficiencies in the EU and the US. Those inefficiencies are the following:
- Inhabitants of rich countries do not want to do dirty jobs for a low pay.
- Rich countries see the need for constant economic growth because of interest payments on debt. To enable economies to grow, additional labour is often needed.
- Because of the existence of interest and credit, economic cycles with booms and busts exist. When the economy is in a boom phase, there is a shortage of labour. Employers then try to attract workers from foreign countries. When the economy turns to bust, many immigrants do not return to their home countries.
- Especially in the EU the population is aging. An aging population needs care while the workforce is reduced. This will lead to a structural shortage of labour.
Solutions
Solutions for poverty have already been discussed [+]. The need for immigrants in the EU and the US can be reduced using Natural Money in the following ways:
- When using Natural Money, there is no need for constant economic growth to pay interest on debt.
- When using Natural Money, there will be no economic booms and busts. The demand for labour will be more stable.
- Because less people will be working in inproductive sectors such as government, financial services, law and consultancy, labour becomes available for the care of the aging population, reducing the need for immigrants.
Population reduction
Currently the planet Earth is crowded with humans [+]. Population growth is becoming a serious problem because of the limitations on energy, raw materials and food supply. In order to give all humans a reasonable standard of living, the number of humans must decline. In most Western nations, the decline has already set in, but in most other nations populations are still growing. If this trend continues, it will end in a major calamity and mass starvation.
In many developing nations children are seen as retirement providers. In most situations pension systems are not feasible, and therefore it may be a good idea that caring for the elderly also becomes not only a family affair, but also a community affair.
The number of humans the planet can support depends on resource consumption per human [+], so if people accept a lower standard of living, it is possible to sustain more humans on Earth. Often population growth is stimulated by governments because of the supposed need for economic growth. Many religious leaders also reject birth control.
To reduce overpopulation, governments must stop stimulating population growth and policies should be introduced, like the one-child policy in China, to reduce population to sustainable levels. The population reduction can better be done with great care, as some cultures prefer boys to girls, which could lead to an unbalanced population composition and social dislocations.