On Economics: History and Moving Forward

The Merits of Reciprocism

The Merits of Reciprocism

Definition:

Reciprocism n.—a social and political system in which a cooperative interchange of favors, goods, or privileges, or labor is the foundation of human activity, and its economic order—rather than moneys, debt, or fiat. Citizenship, a chosen and then earned title through beneficial activity of any kind, represents the medium of exchange. Earning citizenship grants an individual the privileges of free food, clothing, shelter, transportation, information, medical care, and whatsoever shall be deemed deserving of a citizen by the people themselves. However, the more one contributes, the more resources they may be allocated. (More on citizenship later)
It follows concurrently that banking, debt, and the institutions of financial control, which have lorded over the earth with absolute authority for centuries, would have no place in the future under reciprocism. However, as it is framed, the function of capitalism would remain an integral premise in reciprocation, but would require amendments in order to function under reciprocism (those amendments are shown below).
Based on the principle of benefit reciprocation obligation (requiring an understanding of chaos theory—the agreement that one's work potentially benefits everyone, thus obliges everyone to reciprocate to each other with services or goods in exchange), a new economic system can be manifest in which taxation becomes unnecessary; and the question, “where will we get the money to pay for projects public or private,” becomes as nonsensical as, “where will we get the inches to erect a building?” both are but measurements of wealth, and not the actual source of the resource—and serve only to limit and confound the mind when not used properly.

[The new economy will be based on the necessity to heal the planet of its previous wasteful and senseless plundering and misuse of resources of the past century]

First, the redefinition of the profit motive from returns over expenditures to observable human or ecological benefit, would ensure that the motive of society is redirected into the positive, instead of a malign tendency to largess—which has been used by corporations to plunder and make ruin of the earth;

Second, the prohibition of all persons to invest in property or market shares, is a fundamentally important premise to limiting the destructive power of a corporation upon society; in fact the limiting of the corporation must be perceived with the same necessity as that of limiting government; because, indeed, the corporation of today has replaced the government as master of the realm, and become the lord of our society. However, investing resources in services and opportunities for the good of the community is favorable, and all persons should not be excluded access from the benefits thereof.

By the authority of a government whose powers are derived from the consent of the governed, a new version of citizenship requiring the chosen participation of the individual in society by contributing to society will be instituted—signified by a request sent by the individual to that government entity—obliging government to reciprocate to the individual; a representative of that entity will thereafter observe a person's benefits to an individual, society, or government itself, and document them for posterity bestowing the person with the title of citizenship thereafter.
With citizenship, the first half of the exchange process has already taken place. The means of economic exchange—along with the right to have free travel, free medical care, and free education for themselves and their children—is formally given through identification as a citizen. The degree of recognized services rendered to society or the government will determine the liberty with which items and services may be purchased. In other words: what you give is what you get.

Government must take on an attribute of society to reciprocate as if it were a patron of the individual. The act of “labor” replaces taxation under this premise, and is considered the first half of the exchange process between government and the individual. Any or all acts that can be observed and recognized as beneficial to society and government, under this premise, require an act of reciprocation by government and society independently, and in joint effort, to reward labor.

Reciprocating with civil privileges, society provides the opportunity to purchase goods, and the rewards of citizenship mentioned above—with the help of local government agency—formed out of the grass roots organization of the people. Thereafter, banking and the entire enterprise of monetary institutions shall be rendered obsolete, along with the fiat money system, and the deceitful game of debt.

Nonetheless, the capitalist model may still be utilized under reciprocism. By redefining the profit motive to observable human, or ecological, benefit; by reestablishing conservation and thrift as fundamental principles of resource distribution; the economy of reciprocist design will shame the present form, and cause a new industrial revolution, but one more creative and conservative compared to the negative effects of the present order of perpetual growth economics.

The more one contributes to society, the more they are rewarded by society for their actions—as long as society and government recognize those actions as profitable according the definition given above. Therefore it will require government and society working in concert to establish an office of oversight; such an office would act as an observer and reporter of individual and collective benefit to the society at large. (It is the belief that such an effort will make great strides in establishing an economic order that would most effect the prosperity of the individual and the whole simultaneously.)

Reciprocation, under reciprocism, is not limited to a government and its citizens; government would in fact be reflecting a fundamental urge in the hearts and minds of the individuals that constitute it, doing so with their participation; instituting, therefore, an economy facilitated by a government that is driven by the consent of the society who wields both. Society itself, under this premise, would be the foundation of government and the economy; finding the principle of motion resting in the hearts of We the People, and not by some authority telling them to do so. Community, therefore, is the most important resource, and the source from which this system derives power.

With reciprocism comes the immense potential of a truly great civilization, limited only by the activity of the community, and the interest of the individual to participate—in benefiting society through whatever means: government, law, art, education, entertainment, community service, farming, etc.

[Please note that this version of economic order is more congruent with the original constitution of the united States of America, than the present Federal Reserve monetary system in place today—as the constitution gives the power to coin and distribute money to the congress rather than any other institution.]

The incentive to contribute would be greater than the desire to be independent from civilized society under reciprocism, and virtually any government who wields it; for the benefits of citizenship are so great, and the act of reciprocation so fulfilling, that the individual will be compelled to choose citizenship over independent personage. However, for those who choose to opt out of citizenship, the world is open to them as agrarians, or whatever path may be most amiable to them, and would be encouraged to pursue a life of their own free will; for all human beings are people, with the inalienable rights of life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness.

Citizenship, under reciprocism, represents a status worthy of additional perquisites in the form of the free food, clothing, shelter etc., because one has earned it through labor. The mutual respect that citizenship implies transcends and includes natural law, rendering a just compensation, and ensuring a mutual respect, establishing the conditions for true equality to be manifest.

A community that recognizes the good deeds of others is more connected in gratitude than it ever could be in greed. The collective human will to contribute to society is the currency of reciprocism; and the incentive to contribute more is what makes this system similar to capitalism in that it rewards the individual based on the degree of their contributions, rather than distributing wealth to all parties equally like in socialism or any other -ism.

Nonetheless, it is the intent, and ultimate goal of reciprocism, to establish foundational principles that organize society towards moral and psychological sanity; doing so in such a way as to provide the people with the means to secure themselves, and render them independent from any authority, ultimately dissolving government altogether from society—leaving their potential unlimited, and our species unfettered forever.
It is therefore essential to establish that people who do not want to participate in this system are equally free, equally sovereign, and equally capable of having property as any other human being under reciprocism; in fact all people are created equal, and those rights expressed in the declaration of independence would still apply for all people. All citizens are people, but not all people will want to be citizens, and it is therefore imperative that people be given the just rights and legal jurisdiction of people under the bill of rights and constitution of America.

Political Changes

The structure of reciprocal government, most likely to affect the safety and happiness of its people, is a democratic republic similar to that of the American version. With the power of the executive held by Wisdom Councils (see Jim Rough Wisdom Councils), having an odd number of members, no lower than five and no greater than thirteen, and having among its obligations the coalescence of community; to establish reciprocity from the republic to the individual, and society to the individual, the establishment of an office of economic observation and oversight; to establish education systems that are thereafter given resources by the republic at the discretion of the people; to perform the legislative functions of the executive branch such as veto; and finally the council is responsible for holding local festivals and communal events to promote community where there is need of one.

In order to establish an effective check to this council, the people must play an active role as its negative counterbalance, preventing the inward or outward influence towards corruptions to surface; the council members are selected through lotto, and with enough votes can be impeached either individually or collectively to ensure that the people are in complete control of the council, and at the top of the political totem pole.

Given tremendous tasks, some councils must be composed of scholars of fields such as law, agriculture, sociology, education, energy, economics, etc. Rather than being politicians, the people of this speciation of office must be experts of their field, and willing to endure a public service that is tiresome as it is stimulating.

The office of economic observation and oversight regulated by Wisdom Councils would account for the economic structure of this system, and ensure the just compensation of individuals for their observed contributions to society; further, as a method of regulation and limitation to the risky, or dangerous practices of a business, this office would be given managerial authority of a business’s entire staff, and grade a business based on the quality of its overall contribution to society—in addition to its popularity and customer satisfaction.
Similarly, on the individual basis this office would hire representatives that, by request only, would observe and grade contributions of one individual to another, or to society, by personally monitoring and assessing those contributions, which the individual person must have requested in the first place—otherwise the contributions are a voluntary service.

The people, via the council, must then safeguard this office in order to ensure the economic structure is not unbalanced, prejudiced, or unjust. The office members must be given salary based on how generously, but justly they evaluate contributions to society, ensuring that all people are given abundance to thrive—and ideally reach self-actualization and self-improvement.

The reason it may be necessary for Wisdom Councils to facilitate community is as follows; community is the foundation and true constitution of any government and it stands to reason, therefore, that this system must regard reciprocation as a gift to a friend, rather than an obligation to an institution or idea. Reciprocism is founded in the roots, the interactions between individuals, and finds its power not in the halls of any government whatsoever, but rather in the good will towards humanity that this system engenders by its very nature.

The contamination of society into government, and this limited form of governance into society, is designed to cultivate the conditions necessary for government to become altogether unnecessary; and indeed for us to transcend the flaws which have plagued humanity for centuries; to inhabit the dignified station which we consider most capable of ensuring peace, freedom, happiness, and gratitude for this planet, its many species, and the life with which we are granted—by forces incomprehensible to us.

By design, this council will be in a reciprocal relationship to the people of its influence; it will receive recommendations and hear the grievances of the people, formally and informally, as well as disclose advice and establish educational forums, for adults and children alike; in order to accommodate for the people to ascend to whatever project they mutually decide is necessary and proper; and this relationship will engender a mutual respect, and even fondness in people for society; and consequentially, though this will not altogether prevent corruption, it will certainly lessen the frequency and likelihood of that tendency to manifest in the hearts and minds of the council members, and in the people for that matter.

Through this design, the people will be less likely to descend back into complacency, and more likely to protect and defend their rights from corrupt men; given a direct role in government, society has thus intruded upon government in such a way that they are a direct negative to the Wisdom Council, acting as an executive. The intrusion therefore is not government into society, as has been the case with the present American system, but rather the intrusion of society into government; and in fact a takeover of government by the people will surely take place; such a takeover, with time, will result in the gradual dissolvement of government altogether, and the ascendancy of society to its rightful status as free and independent.

So limited will the government come to be, that eventually nothing will stand but the council and the legislature, which eventually will become virtually powerless and incapable; the result will be a society completely freed, and a community totally pursuant of just causes; with the assurance of Wisdom Councils that such a society will be instituted, the noble pursuits of healing the planet, developing civilization, and protecting and maintaining the species will replace those of war for the sake of dominion, economic supremacy, and the plundering of this planet for profit.

Without the influence of financial institutions, and indeed without the influence of money, the votes of the people will stand as the only influence on government legislation and decision making. This too will affect the future security and happiness of the people; decent life too, under reciprocism, will be an effect most expediently inhabited by the people by way of liberty of transaction and trade--the ease of which could be comparable to the credit system of today, but without debt and taxation to indenture one to a life of perpetual servitude and subsistence.

The institutions of old must be gradually dissolved, replaced instead with community; it is the right and glorious inevitability of futurity promised by nature and nature’s god.

[If it is alright for the government to establish the CIA, FBI, DEA, IRS, Homeland Security, the TSA, and so on, why would it not be acceptable for such an office be established? The activity of the former institutions serve only to observe and punish the supposed wrong doings of individuals, whereas the latter is employed to observe and reward the contributions of individuals to society; it is no more an intrusion of government into society than those are, and for a far greater and more positive effect and affect upon society.]

[Further, this institution will thwart much of the problems, which are caused by having a paper money system, and the necessity of the IRS and the DEA to be obsolete and less necessary respectively.]

A New Independence: Reciprocism's Merits

Compared to the overall duration of mankind’s history, it has been but a moment since the spirit of Glorious Revolution ('76); nonetheless, an even greater imperative for independence faces not one colony, but one human race. We require independence not from one tyrant, but from a higher species: a species of super organism called the corporation, and their source of power called money; these entities are what really control, not just American government, but every modern nation and society, the nature of our laws, and the quality of our lives. At the seat of power, the international bank is tyrant King of the world, and with more power and less accountability than any nation’s government.

The imperative of becoming independent from these institutions and reclaiming sensible government from these interests, which are as distant from human interests metaphorically as Great Britain was from America literally, is as clear as day; yet how to do so is not so clear to the common man. Rather than working with the system which is inherently flawed—showing its volatility throughout history in the form of ups and downs that fluctuate erratically—it seems sensible to reshape the system of our future with a more solid ground, beginning first with the principles and foundation of society.

The parallels of today with that of 1776 are clear when we consider the financial institutions of the world as a Tyrant, lording over the world, plundering its resources and taxing its people for its doing so. Indeed it is a cruel king that blames the victim with such certainty, and goes about it in such a way as to convince the one harmed that they are indeed to blame.

If the financial institutions were but one man, the intense disdain for that man would be incomparable even to Hitler, because the corporation does not harm millions directly, but billions indirectly by enslaving them to menial labor in third world countries across the globe, and ruining a once pristine planet that belongs not to us, but to future generations.

Society, being an abstraction of a collection of relationships and interactions to the literal mind, is in simple reality you and me having an interaction or making a transaction. That being said, it is clear that society is not a concrete notion, and it is determined only by how we chose to interact with one another; by that rationalization, it is not difficult to conceive of a new system by which we can interact—all it takes is a little imagination.

Dissolving the powers present in monetary institutions, and their influence on society is the goal of the reciprocal system; once that is understood, the elimination of money—specifically fiat—is a clear necessity, which means that a new method of exchange must be established in order to keep societies functioning. However, due to the technology that is present today, the available options are as various as what is for dinner.

It stands to reason, nonetheless, that this new means of exchange, replacing money, must be as familiar to the present means as possible so that no one is confused. Therefore, the new means of exchange could be initially a card, which expressly entitles an individual to food, clothing, or shelter, transportation, education, medical care, and so on—and the liberty thereof based on the degree of their contribution to society.

This system has a striking similarity to the present system, yet it not only sets up a condition which wipes out the dubious influence of monetary institutions on government and corporations alike, it also eliminates the potential for a black market to exist unless through bartering or other contrived means.

The benefits of a system such as this could be seen in the music industry, in so far as the freedom of music can finally be realized because of reciprocism. In fact, industry itself would be radically transformed once the profit motive is redefined to observable human or ecological benefit. Without money, the dilemmas of the technological age are solved and transformed into more perfect usefulness.

The artist, independent from an industry that only abuses their talent, would be better served in reciprocism, and could better serve mankind without the imposed limitations of record labels—that are only for monetary gains rather than human happiness and the overall quality of music. Under this system, potentially anyone could be a recording artist, but the quality and likeability of the music would determine the degree of an artist’s compensation relative to others.

The illusion of sovereignty becomes immediately apparent in a world governed by the Global Corporate Empire, when considering the all-encompassing reach of industrialized slavery, which has become ubiquitous as an unwelcome condition to people living in an undeveloped colony of the world; indeed the unknowing victims of this empire fall prey to its promise of development and prosperity, ultimately falling to its true motive: plunder and prostration of those lands and its people.

Beyond causing governments to become destructive of their just ends, the Corporations decide what is most likely to affect their security and their happiness; the destruction of the environment by corporations has, therefore, caused an insecurity, paralleled and equal, to that of our sacred rights; life is no longer worth living when it is consumed by toil without just compensation; when the environment, once held sacred, is ravaged so voraciously for the purpose of hypothetical abundance. Moreover, how can we have abundance when the world we love, which in turn loves us, is being ripped away from us in the name of so called progress? The industrialists would have us believe that in order to cure the diseases caused by industry; we must lay waste to the forest that contains the resources necessary to heal us, which in turn exacerbates our already terrible condition.

Liberty is no longer worth having if I cannot do as I please in my own residence, explore the beauty of nature, or express myself in my own way without being in danger of incarceration—and for some illegal act that I nor any other can accurately define; indeed the pursuit of happiness is as lost as the pursuit of independence, not from national control, but by corporate control over our lives.

The lobby of corporations in every state of every country, of every continent of the world constitutes a great empire, one which cannot be denied or accurately declare—except in principle of its existence as a corporate entity—and may be categorized as a new species of predatory animal, or more accurately described as a sycophant, leaching off the resources and life energy of this earth and its people, providing them with entertainments and obsolescent wiggits in exchange. The nature of this creature is composed of the worst of mankind, and reflects a psychopathic misanthrope, yet has neither body to incarcerate nor a soul to save.

Therefore, if the lobby of corporations represents a hidden government, the official governments of our world are pejoratively under the dictate of a Global Corporate Empire, and not effective in representing the people or governing them justly; in fact governments are becoming destructive of these ends; the positive of both government and corporation have turned negative by government entrusting its powers to the corporation through the Central Banks of London, New York through the Federal Reserve, and the Vatican Bank. Indeed, it is money that has, for centuries, caused the necessity of war, and it is those whom seem most likely to seek money that have contrived events to stir the worst in mankind—ensuring that debt is king, and war the method of control under its hidden yet obvious empire.

Farmers, in countries fully under the control of the Global Corporate Empire, have little to no control over which crops they can afford due to the patenting of life, which was a method first employed by Monsanto corporation, and later upheld by the Supreme Court. The patenting of both a seed and a pesticide have been the cause of much consternation in conservation circles, and consequentially the destruction of natural and wholesome food; both the crop and the pesticide have negative effects such as evolution of insects immune to the pesticide anyway; and crops that have been modified to be immune to pesticide, which have been proven to sterilize rodents, have other ill effects on the body of animals; the use of steroids in livestock if studied will evince a destruction of the health of the animal and the human that ingests its products; the limitation of the farmer by government to allow his or her sons or daughters to help in the chores of farming is the final and greatest threat to the heart of this once great country.

Corporations have polluted the waters of the world, yet no one nation can claim sole abuse by the corporate empire, and no one nation can do anything about preventing any future abuses or usurpations by the Global Corporate Empire.

To quote the original Declaration of Independence, “He [King of Great Britain] has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.” And in every way, the much hidden governing power of our nation is as bad if not worse than the King of Great Britain, and must be stopped. Further, “He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitutions and unacknowledged by our laws…” The corporation has transformed this country from a once just nation with its few flaws, to an unjust nation with many flaws; it has affected to render the police and military independent of, and superior to, the civil power.

Thus the very nature of the all-effecting corporate predator impels the species of mankind to fight back by altering the forms to which we are accustomed and providing new guards for our future security; as a colony of regions abundant with resources, and capable of instituting new government, separate from the power of corporations, We the People of the World must declare separation from, and an end to the Global Corporate Empire.

Global Society and Universal, Individual Sovereignty

It stands to reason that a global society, incapable of resolving global problems, must unify and recognize the need for global democracy, or perish. The misfortunes of one region can have a global impact, and cause equal suffering for others thousands of miles away—as evidenced by the tragedy in Fukashima Japan. Further, the interests of every nation are so intrinsically unified economically, as compared to a hundred years ago—let alone a thousand—that a trend towards world unity must be recognized, and indeed that that apparent tendency evinces a greater design than humanity can imagine.

Humanity, acting as its elementary constitution, is a product of this planet, and the ever-changing condition of the environment. At present, our species has the capacity to manipulate the surface of this planet, and even eviscerate every square inch with our martial technology; with great power, such as this, comes an equally great responsibility and duty to take great care, and develop in such a way that is beneficial to this planet—showing gratitude for the opportunity to have life on a gem such as this. A planet that supports life is a rare thing in the universe, and it makes much more sense to be stewards of its resources, than to plunder them for temporary titillation now, while sacrificing all futurity.

As a product of this planet, and as beings capable of rational thought, it is only fair that we should be responsible for our actions, and try to heal the considerable damages we have made to the many ecosystems within the biosphere—something that no one nation can do while divided from all others by arbitrary lines in the sand. Only a global initiative, one that is agreed upon by the whole people of the world, can put such a cause as this into action; only love can bring the people into unity for such a glorious event.

Indeed, it is love that has generated the force of life into existence, and it is its opposite: fear, which has prevented the kind of unification that would otherwise seem natural and desirable from taking place. Humanity has an immense capacity for both emotions, and it is for this reason that we are gifted, for we have the choice of embracing either one: heaven or hell on earth—based upon the choices we make, and the perspectives we take.

If one has chosen fear, and perceives the world as a scary place, he or she has chosen to live in hell, but if one has chosen to love, and perceives the world as a beautiful and lovely place, he or she must live in paradise. However, because of the mixture of emotions that people can affect, the world is both a heaven and a hell simultaneously; the proportion of fearful and loving individuals thus determines the degree to which either fear or love is pronounced in a given area of influence.

The further one gets from humanity, the more one starts to perceive the world independent of society’s influence, and can clearly notice which emotional version of the world they inhabit. Because nature is neither loving nor hateful inherently, neither perspective is false and, in nature, both are healthy and a means to happiness.
The beauty of nature is only matched by its ferociousness; however, that ferociousness is not out of hatred, but rather out of necessity, and somewhat out of coincidence to the subject being destroyed and consumed; and it is due to this process that we have an evolutionary process at all, which in the long run causes the kind of spectacular life that is possible in the modern age. That being the case, however, does not imply that humanity is the sole purpose of evolution; rather, it implies that the process itself is the sole purpose, which means that when mankind puts itself on a pedestal it is behaving like a child, deceiving itself—inevitably causing suffering and needless destruction.

Developmental Education

Accordingly, the standard and practice of education must be radically changed. The present version of education is school, which is a perverse invention of the Prussian government during the nineteenth century in order to produce more dependable solders. Before this, the elementary education which children learned consisted of grammar, logic, and rhetoric, which together were called the Trivium (where we get the word trivial from), and when they were ready they learned math, geometry, music, and astronomy, which together was called the Quadrivium. The merits of the Trivium and Quadrivium speak for themselves, and are still used today in the highest forms of education.

The reintroduction of the Trivium and Quadrivium (combined with some basic understanding of the human brain) could help to produce a new renaissance of education. To do this, first it must be understood that a child’s brain is like a sponge the younger it is, and so it stands to reason that the more you teach them at a young age, the more intelligent they will be in maturity; and from this fact we can derive some basic ideas that could enhance the education system, essentially flipping it on its head, or rather onto its feet, because the current system is so flawed.

The outline for this system is as follows:

• First, educate the children with one subject per seven-hour day, and break that subject up with recesses spanning an hour in duration; the recesses themselves will not just be free time—although the last recess will indeed be free—but rather they will consist of things like martial arts, agriculture, art, meditation, culinary art or cooking, etc.; always learning, always stimulated, education is something fun and disciplinary at the same time, with so many possible subjects, the students will grow to appreciate their own particular interests.

• Second, the elementary school teachers will be professors of their field; without curriculum, without homework, and with minimal testing, the students will be put into a setting where memory consolidation, rather than memorization, as well as understanding, rather than regurgitation, is the primary focus; further, because it is one subject per day, the constraint of sinking in the subject will no longer be an issue; also, elementary teachers would have the help of a childhood psychologist to help them to explain the subject to the children in such a way that they can understand. Also, understandably, the teachers of early education, along with the other staff, will be the highest paid in the series K-12, and will be paid as well as professional athletes are today.

• And finally, the education process will gradually decompress until high school, where the teachers will act as librarians, and the students are left to self-research; they will also learn important, practical skills such as driving and car maintenance.

The capability of the future generations to cope with a vastly more complex world is imperative, and I believe this education system is the keystone in making that a reality. By instituting an education system of this kind, not only is critical thinking magnified in the individual, but the level of intelligence as well; and given that the future of society is headed into a world of vastly more compressed technology, and in a sense time, the individual must be capable of performing under great circumstances; this education system will pave the way.

A public that is properly educated will reflect that in their conduct, and concurrently, the government and the conduct of nations will reflect the state of its people. The trivium and quadrivium should not only be available to children, but to adults as well, setting up the conditions for a critical public, capable of giving its government and even its society it’s just scrutiny. This is not what the governments of today want, and that means that the governments of today are not right, but ruled by might, and must be overthrown not by might, but by right, for love is the only thing capable of thwarting hatred.

The purpose of this education system, unlike the present school system, is to enlighten the public—not training them into obedient workers. The purpose of this societal system is to liberate the public rather than condition them to be consumers. Therefore the system is radically different with a greatly different purpose, and accordingly must appear unfamiliar, but rest assured that this is what government and society should very well be about: agrarian, with culture in the pursuit of greater knowledge and meaning, and sensitive to the responsibilities of a modern world, capable of handling the duties of governmental and societal scrutiny, forming better conditions for them and their offspring independent of government nannyism.

By instituting a government that, under the condition of contributing to society, provides opportunities that can potentially self-actualize the individual, and free up their time in such a way as to grant them the liberty to handle, not only responsibility to their government, but to their family as well; the profound conditions for more decent life, independent from, and towards the scrutiny of government may come into being. The whole of society can exist in collaborations which are appropriate in the result of their ultimate freedom and independence from government in the long run. These are the conditions not of reciprocism inherently, but of the world citizen constitution, for which reciprocism is the foundational principle.

The Cloud Theory of Economics

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By Matthew P. Holbert
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Part 1: A Brief Summary of Economy

_What is happening to economy is what is happening to the nations and people of the world; the evolution of economy is such that money is gradually dissolving into a more implied trust. That is to say that the economies and governments of the world are democratizing, and decentralizing in such a way that a new phase in economic concepts is on the verge of emerging on the planetary scale.

Part 2: A New Story of Economics

_In order to clarify this theory, an explanation of the process, historically speaking, is necessary. However, recognizing that not everyone is an economist, to make this evolutionary process make more sense to the average reader the use of metaphor has been essential.

Part 3: A Brief History of Economy

Very briefly, the evolution of money has gone from barter, to coin, to gold-backed paper, to fiat, with a little bit of back-and-forth in between.

Barter acted as a kind of medium of exchange using tangible, but nonetheless liquid, assets in its direct trade between individals. At this stage, it could be said that our first economy was in a cloud of confusion and desperation. [We will return to this stage of economy as the theory suggests.]

With little trust between individuals, the use of barter acted as a surefire way to get what you wanted from someone else, and was, in that way, very secure in its medium of exchange, but it lacked convenience and universality. Because exchange was limited to what the other person desired, rather than what you had, the problem of barter necessitated the invention of money with the advent of civilization.

Once civilization came into existence, money became the masterstroke invention of the age, because it allowed the governing body to pay every citizen a wage, rather than provide commodities in the form of ox, grain, or other necessities to each individual, not to mention that it took the people one step out of the self sufficient commons and into the reliance and interdependence of the city. At this stage, money is still very solid, and somewhat a mystery to the general population, who work with, but may have misunderstandings about their currency and how it operates.

Roman law then expanded upon, and set virtually into stone, laws about money—granting money a greater trust between all people, rich and poor. The practices of monetary theory that we see today, particularly with regard to banking, are a result of these roman maxims. With the help of the Medici dynasty, the banking world also got its first experimentations and innovations with regards to lending. Money was on the ascent.

More recently, the invention of government bonds, hedge funds, and the expansion of money into the realm of speculation, have caused the immense confiscation of wealth from the many into the hands of the few. Further, feudal laws and their residual impacts and regulations have resulted in the real confiscation of land from the people into the hands of the state, and further into the hands of the private wealthy elite—all of which have resulted in rampant inequality and injustice ever since. On the other hand however, due in part to its long lasting permanence, money has become a more universal and globally understood medium of exchange, and unit of account.

With the advent of the mercantile philosophy of economy, war became a racket, and one most profitable to the warmongers and their cunning ability to, regardless of the risks involved, make massive profits off the conquests of empires. The Rothschild dynasty, mimicking the success of the Midici family, came out of the battle of waterloo and the following crisis's with immense wealth. The subsequent powers given to that family have resulted in their influence on the gold market to this day. Their contribution to the confidence and expansion of money markets cannot be exaggerated, and it is for this reason that it has been said by Heinrich Heine, “Money is the god of our times, and Rothschild is his prophet.” Further, in 1838 Amschel Mayer Rothschild said, “Let me issue and control a Nations money and I care not who makes its laws.”

Following the charges of inflexibility and injustice of mercantilism, the conception of utilitarianism came into being after the enlightenment, durring the industrial revolution. Believing that economics was to be used for the benefit of the human race, utilitarianism changed the script of economic practices from free market to government intervention (or meddling). This philosophy would be advocated by John Stuart Mill, John Dewey, and Jeremy Bentham. It is here that we will begin telling the new story of economics, based on these trends.

The trends expressed here are being from a cloud of confusion to a more and more liquid state of money, which slowly becomes cooled as the world becomes more and more industrial, and simultaneously more and more dependent on monetary institutions for their needs (both of the capitalist and the laborer). Following the ascent of money, and the resulting centralization, and further utilization and comprehension of its form, the people of the world are beginning to wise up to the inherent injustices and inequalities resulting therefrom. As we shall explain, money is on its decent, and with its decent, the people and their equal and full rights are on the rise, from a cloud of confusion to one of abundance and prosperity for all.

Part 4: From Solid Ice to Intangible Cloud

Imagine a sphere of ice, whole and unitary; it represents a utilitarian model of economics. This view is that cold monetary moneys, machines, and other raw materials represent value when they are of benefit to humanity; this can be clearly understood with a cursory examination of history--the iron and steel used to push us into the great industrial age may be considered the base value of our economy; and after all, however much we produce must be in as close to equal proportion to what we consume (which was still what they believed in the late nineteenth century).
The opposite can be true, that we consume in equal proportion to what we produce, and in fact consumption is the primary function of all economic activity according to most economists. However, this economic premise was eventually scrapped, due to its inflexibility, and incapability to adapt to changing markets, and was melted away to eventually form capitalism, a more globalist world through fiat money and fractional reserve banking.

By 1913, this ice-cold sphere of raw material then breaks up into a more globalist mass through centralized banking. The banks, acting as an engine of economic growth, also acted as a ministry of value, and an industry whose sole function it was to produce value, to create money, and in a sense to unleash the flood gates—by 1929, this flood of credit would drown the lower class, and stands to drown even the middle class in debt today. Consisting of fractional reserve liquidity (with many central banks and their corporations and nation states dictating the general environment of economics, both exteriorly, and interiorly, by way of capital investment and education respectively), this new stage is characterized by a more and more cash and credit based system than the previous utilitarian model. By doing so, this system relies less and less on cold, hard material for its basis of value (gold, silver, industrial capital), and the value of money begins to be more and more based on the arbitrary command of central banks.

As a consequence of uncertainty, due to inflated credit and debased education, the world is heating up--not just literally, but figuratively as well. As industry and information make the world more and more global, the tide of conflicts-- inspired by imperialism and corporate greed-- begin to rise past the water mark. The world is also feeling the birth pangs of a new global economy (one which must be furnished with a world society, more evolved than its current form, capable of handling the demands of democratic systems).

The character of this new economy, which will inevitably replace capitalism as an economic premise, will likely bare characteristics of an intangible cloud. Accordingly, as this evolution of our perception of wealth transpires, it appears to have become less solid, less rigid, and more flexible with its liquidity, but as our technology evolves, so too does our economic perception and therefore potentiality; like ice melting, economy has become far more liquid in recent times, and its abundance and uncertainty has reached a point where the liquid medium of cash has been replaced with more digital currencies, which have even been called cloud currencies. However, by my definition, this is only a vapor currency, as cloud “currency” is implied with citizenship as the reader will discover below.

[To sum up the above: where we started with a sphere of ice, we now have a glob of water. Slowly that waters is turning into a gas, which is the beginnings of a forming cloud. All of this is about perception, a game of manipulative agreement as to what is an appropriate measure or medium of exchange. What we are doing!? We must recognize and understand that to form a new economy, it merely takes thinking outside the box, and taking chances; creating a world where doing what is best for the livelihood of all is what is in your best interest as well.]

Part 4: Cloud Economy

_This cloud-like form of economy can only be cashless; and without restrictions such as taxation and the barriers of rent, loans, dividends, interest, banks, and other such methods of control and usury by financial institutions; in the cloud, the means of exchange is intangible, unquantifiable human will—exercised in the form of labor, goods, services, or ecological and human benefit, and not in the form of a liquidity: cash or money. When our work and respect is shared collectively, rather than horded individually, we can live without requiring proof or certification that our needs are worth fulfilling. The medium of exchange, therefore, is citizenship itself.

Within a cloud economy, the process of exchange can be instantaneous between individuals; because, in a democratic, council-based, fractal meritocracy, every contributing member is—by merit of their requested citizenship, and by virtue of their contribution to society—at varying degrees of their contribution, capable of simply walking into a store, and taking what they need such as food stuffs, simple clothing, and available shelter as an earned right. [However, luxury goods will be limited to a persons contributing value to society as a privilege.]

Depending upon how well renown you are for being a contributing member of society, or how much you are respected by others for being a contributing member of the culture and society, that is what makes up the medium of exchange between individuals. However, the necessities shall be forthcoming via whatever governmental structures people establish for themselves in the coming evolutionary transformations, which are already underway. And in a society and culture that could be considered collaboration-based, a new psychology of action can be cultivated in the less than distant future, where such a system sounds more rational and sane than the coercive capitalist growth model.

Further, the profit motive, by virtue of this new dimensionality to economy, must be reversed into the direction of getting in equal measure to what you give, rather than getting more than you give, which is the commonly understood impetus of the current definition of “profit motive.” The author calls this a reciprocal economy, because of the reciprocal nature of that economic driver, which is the essential foundation of all economy: human will.

Notice however, that a cloud-like economy has elements of both capitalism and socialism, but does have the potential for the top down approach of either; it can and must be a grass roots, bottom up approach, because as water or liquidity evaporates, so too the bonds that have kept the mass of human will together break down from monarchy, to republic, to democracy.

What we are experiencing with this kind of flow from rigid solidity to liquid flexibility to gaseous intangibility is the development of a broader consciousness that is far headier, and more evidently fractal in nature than the previous forms. Also, just as the cloud can more effectively allocate its liquidity to the surface of the earth than a ball of ice, or a glob of water, this new economic structure, transcending and including the previous forms, will have characteristics of holism, human scale economics, and economic self-sufficiency due to its inherent grass roots scale. That is not to say that many of these forms previously exhibited these traits, but that the new form shall exhibit them far more spectacularly. 

Part 5: Wisdom Councils
_Bear in mind, however, that this cloud cannot stay in the sky forever, it must be balanced by first condensing into globs, then falling, turning into ice, then globs of water again, and ultimately returning to the earth at semi-regular intervals for the cycle to be completed, and to keep the cycle of wealth and resources recirculating.

The following is an explanation of the process of how this cloud-like economy could function, but it must be understood that this is only a simple projection; because every local area must come up with their own model, I feel it should be left up to future democracies to better develop and organize this method, however, this is the authors considered method :

Starting as a cloud of individual droplets of human will (or the aggregate society or local community), and further condensing those individual droplets into globs of human will in the form of resource councils or test groups, the beginning of this cycle will occur in the form of stakeholder councils or wisdom councils (See Jim Rough) : where products, services, and acts of benefit will be evaluated, and (cold) capital resources will then be administered from that group of randomly selected people—much like product test groups—wherein the purpose of these groups is to evaluate and assign a value to products, goods, services, and certain ecological or human benefit created by a person. The products that fall under certain categories of goods will thereafter be evaluated by licensing corporations as they function today to simply make quality assurance, and finally the people themselves (to determine if they are worth investing in in the next quarter). Such groups will evaluate and expect to administer resources for products that they unanimously decide are fit for production—much like a product test group, or the trial phase of invention and production—and then after four months these groups will disperse and a new group will be randomly selected.

In the cycle mentioned above, the transfer of energy or currency or capital goes thus: collective society (cloud), differentiated group/wisdom council (glob of water), allocated capital (ice crystal), businesses, jobs, and labor working that capital into production (another glob of water), and once a product reaches consumers it has reached the collective society, and is left up to the collective will of that society, and therefore returns to the flow of the market.

In this way, each time a group is brought together, they are like a small glob of human will out of the cloud, which is the aggregate economy, composed only of the essence of all economic principles: human will. And with every drop of resources allocated, these wisdom councils are keeping the cycle of life, wealth, and the feedback loop between production and consumption in a human scale of economics. These do not have to be government sanctioned necessarily, as long as these councils are composed of citizens, and democratically elected by citizens, for citizens, an already existing council may recognize that council, thereby integrating that council into the network of councils.

It is possible that these groups or councils would become, themselves differentiated, in that they may become specific to a field, such as art, engineering, food, education, entertainment, news media, design, fashion, transportation, science, etc.. And by having people who are specifically interested in a field of evaluation, there is a greater potential for a more meritocratic forms of councils than simply random selection. However, this is a stipulation that can come about organically or by written constitution, what is most important is that the people have control over the value of their goods and services, rather than a Wall Street market that has gotten more and more out of control and more and more uncertain.

If wisdom is defined as “ seeing beyond immediate appearances and acting with a greater understanding to affirm the life and development of all.” as Tom Atlee describes it in the Tao of Democracy, then perspective offers wisdom. Therefore, communities have greater potential for wisdom than do individuals. “Communities are wise,” He explains further, “to the extent that they use diversity well in cooperative, creative interplay of viewpoints that allows the wisest, most
comprehensive and powerful truths to emerge.

Part 6: An Emerging Paradigm

_Using co-intelligence, described by Atlee as “integrating the diverse gifts of all for the benefit of all.”And a technique called Dynamic Facilitation to replace mutual stuckness with common wisdom, described by business consultant Jim Rough, author of Society's Breakthrough! Releasing Essential Wisdom and Virtue in All the People, we might have the tools necessary to evolve the founders revolutionary vision, and step into the twenty-first century with a collaboration-based system, rooted in interdependence and mutual respect. According to Rough, Dynamic Facilitation can provide “a nonjudgmental, heartfelt, energy-driven creative thinking process in which people seek to invent new options that work for everyone. Instead of negotiating agreement on particular points or discussing ideas back and forth, people seek breakthroughs everyone can support.

To quote Quote Bruce H. Lipton Ph.D, in his book Spontaneous Evolution in regards to such councils making governmental decisions and perhaps just as easily resource management decisions: “While such councils have the inferred power of moral authority and could recommend new solutions to the public, they do not possess coercive powers associated with the authority to pass legislation...” and further that, “Regardless of the level of government or community in which they are used, such councils and their evolutionary principles offer society a vision of what a healed body politic might look like...”

While I am sure that most economists reading this will fail to understand the implication, connection, and relevance of the above quotations, and names which I have invoked, seeing as how these men are not economists, and not members of the old boy network, it is for this very reason that these voices are so important, necessary in our time. It was Einstein who said “We cant solve problems by using the same kind of thinking when we created them.”