Conspiracy theorists are generally hasty third rate intellects. People who swallow whole either right wing or left wing propaganda are second rate intellects. The objective and serious intellect seeks the particles of truth in opposing perspectives and carefully tries to integrate those truths in a rational and more wholistic fashion. So far as conspiracies are concerned, especially broad, global conspiracies, this process almost always ends showing that such “conspiracies” are actually better explained as anger and fear generated by frustrations with the mostly unconscious mentally entrapping effects of the present paradigm that has gone on too long without resolving the problems that have built up around it.

The point is the best thing to do is to develope a truth integrative mindset. As a new paradigm itself is a phenomenon that integrates the truths in apparently opposing perspectives, that is, it is a (singular) concept that mentally expresses and temporally transforms an entirely new (pluralistic) pattern, we could call it developing paradigm perception.

The ancients had debt jubilees, but the problem of debt build up always came back. We need to be smarter than the ancients and finally drive a stake through the 5000 year old rule of the paradigm of Debt Only over our lives. That solution is the twin policies of a 50% discount/rebate price and monetary policy at the point of retail sale and a second 50% discount/debt jubilee policy at the point of note signing for big ticket items and green consumer products. These policies and regulations to deter anti-social gaming of the new paradigm will reverse the build up of debt and make it wither away so that monetary abundance for all economic agents becomes the new norm.

EB:  Yes 97% of the currency is already digital. They can freeze your bank account whenever they want. The danger isn’t going digital; it’s banning cash. Like it or not, we’re in a digital age. What we need is a Bill of Rights that is actually enforceable.

Me:  Yes, that’s a good non-reactionary, non-hysterical, non-conspiratorial analysis, and the way to make sure the money system is not morphed into some diabolical or even just biased instrument for social and economic control is to make damned good and sure that its purposes and policies are logically aligned with the highest of possible ethics, namely love in action/systemic policy, in other words grace…and any attempt to water down or game such policies is met with no uncertain punishment to individuals or commercial entities via taxation and threat of loss of benefits that those policies obviously bring to BOTH individuals and commercial agents.

Steve Keen is inching slowly toward realizing that double entry bookkeeping/Accounting is the infrastructure that the entirety of the economy is embedded in and that hence a strategically implemented accounting operation at a paradigmatically powerful point in the economic/productive process could solve our economic, monetary and ecological problems.

That operation is a 50% discount-credit/rebate-debit price and monetary policy at the point of retail sale (and an additional 50% discount/debt jubilee at the point of loan creation for big ticket and green consumer items as well)…and I have been advocating it for over 4 years.

Copernicus was made whole by Kepler and Galileo provided the temporal universe observations and empirical evidence to confirm the new paradigm. It’s the normal process of historical paradigm changes.

The current paradigm for inquiry is Science Only. The new paradigm is Wisdom which of course includes but also completes science.

The current zeitgeist is Power-Knowledge as in Data. The new zeitgeist is Grace as in Love In Action/Systemic Policy-Knowingness as in self actualization.

Douglas: The economy is individual income scarce and thus unstable, and Gifting is new monetary paradigm

Keen: Classical/New Classical concept of General Equilibrium is false and the economy is monetarily/financially unstable

Hummel:  Because he studied the signatures of historical paradigm changes and recognized that:

1. their mental and temporal expression was always one or more of the various aspects of the philosophical concept of grace and that
2. Douglas’ realization that double entry bookkeeping was the infrastructure within which the entirety of the economy and money system were embedded but was caught in the classical concepts of equilibrium and scarcity when abundance was a primary aspect of grace and
3. Keen’s de-bunking of DSGE was correct but still caught in the old scientific paradigm of dualism instead of the dynamically integrated duality within a trinity-unity-oneness-process aspect of grace
4. He was able to step outside of the current monetary and economic paradigms of scarcity and embrace grace as in abundance and to create workable policies aligned with it; and also step outside of the current scientific paradigm of rigid dualism and embrace grace as in Wisdom (the cosmic code of an integrated duality within an integrative trinity-unity-oneness-process, i.e. the integrative mindset and process itself)

MH:   Even before the novel coronavirus appeared, many American families were falling behind on student loans, auto loans, credit cards and other payments. America’s debt overhead was pricing its labor and industry out of world markets. A debt crisis was inevitable eventually, but covid-19 has made it immediate.

Massive social distancing, with its accompanying job losses, stock dives and huge bailouts to corporations, raises the threat of a depression. But it doesn’t have to be this way. History offers us another alternative in such situations: a debt jubilee. This slate-cleaning, balance-restoring step recognizes the fundamental truth that when debts grow too large to be paid without reducing debtors to poverty, the way to hold society together and restore balance is simply to cancel the bad debts.

The word “Jubilee” comes from the Hebrew word for “trumpet” — yobel. In Mosaic Law, it was blown every 50 years to signal the Year of the Lord, in which personal debts were to be canceled. The alternative, the prophet Isaiah warned, was for smallholders to forfeit their lands to creditors: “Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field till no space is left and you live alone in the land.” When Jesus delivered his first sermon, the Gospel of Luke describes him as unrolling the scroll of Isaiah and announcing that he had come to proclaim the Year of the Lord, the Jubilee Year.

. . . . .

The U.S. economy has polarized sharply since the 2008 crash. For far too many, their debts leave little income available for consumer spending or spending in the national interest. In a crashing economy, any demand that newly massive debts be paid to a financial class that has already absorbed most of the wealth gained since 2008 will only split our society further.

This has happened before in recent history — after World War I, the burden of war debts and reparations bankrupted Germany, contributing to the global financial collapse of 1929-1931. Most of Germany was insolvent, and its politics polarized between the Nazis and communists. We all know how that ended.

America’s 2008 bank crash offered a great opportunity to write down the often fraudulent junk mortgages that burdened many lower-income families, especially minorities. But this was not done, and millions of American families were evicted. The way to restore normalcy today is a debt write-down. The debts in deepest arrears and most likely to default are student debts, medical debts, general consumer debts and purely speculative debts. They block spending on goods and services, shrinking the “real” economy. A write-down would be pragmatic, not merely moral sympathy with the less affluent.

. . . . .

Critics warn of a creditor collapse and ruinous costs to government. But if the U.S. government can finance $4.5 trillion in quantitative easing, it can absorb the cost of forgoing student and other debt. And for private lenders, only bad loans need be wiped out. Much of what would be written off are accruals, late charges and penalties on loans gone bad. It actually subsidizes bad lending to leave them in place.

In the past, the politically powerful financial sector has blocked a write-down. Until now, the basic ethic of most of us has been that debts must be repaid. But it is time to recognize that most debts now cannot be paid — through no real fault of the debtors in the face of today’s economic disaster.

The coronavirus outbreak is serving as a mind-expansion exercise, making hitherto unthinkable solutions thinkable. Debts that can’t be paid won’t be. A debt jubilee may be the best way out.

Me:  100% agree. Except we need to be smarter than the ancients. Monetary Gifting IS the answer, and Direct and Reciprocal Monetary Gifting with a 50% discount/rebate price and monetary policy at the point of retail utilizes one of mankind’s greatest tools which the ancients had only a relatively rudimentary knowledge of.

Debt crises kept happening in ancient history and they’ll keep on happening now even if we have a debt jubilee now. Jubilees are palliative reforms. Direct and reciprocal monetary gifting is the policy and very expression of the new paradigm concept. Look at it. Don’t be an erudite dunce.

On a scale of consciousness graciousness as in love in action is at the top. Knowingness is right below it and right below that is unknowingness. Master the art of alternating the second and third states with the universal solvent of graciousness and you have time and the experience of freedom, enslavement, science, religion and with diligence every other dualism potentially resolved.

“Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven.”

Bliss is atunement to and finally union with the cosmos as it is.

Steve Hummel 04/19/2020

Me:   You’re absolutely spot on about the need to inject more money into the economy. The best way to do that would be a 50% discount to every consumer product from a package of chewing gum to autos and homes.

Then mandate that the FED or any other monetary authority like the US Treasury rebate every cent of the 50% discount back to the merchant giving the discount. This would simultaneously double every working individual’s purchasing power (and the purchasing power of a universal dividend as well) and forever end inflation as normal garden variety inflation is never more than 1-3% and the highest it has ever (temporarily) been was 14.5% during a war and or a huge cost increase like the oil embargo in the 70’s.

You could also prevent anti-social business decision makers from raising their prices higher than normal by taxing any income they may (or may not) garner from doing so at a rate of 100%.

I like your persistence and focus on these matters. Hopefully the present crisis awakens people to the efficacy and necessity of monetary sovereignty and the new monetary paradigm of Abundantly Direct and Reciprocal Monetary Grace as in Gifting.

RMM:   I’m not sure how the mechanics would work, but it’s an interesting concept. I’m more in the “helicopter money” school.

Me:  It would actually be a rather simple debit/credit accounting procedure where retailers would open a sales account labeled total discounts with a debit balance for all sales and the monetary authority would credit them that amount.

It doubles the purchasing power of both “helicopter money” and earned income. Plus, again it will utterly end inflation.

Economists worry about “monetary” inflation which is a misnomer actually because the money is at best a tertiary cause of inflation. It’s actually as you have observed scarcity, a chronic systemic scarcity of money that tempts corporate decision-makers to commit the economic sin of price inflation. Why?

Because they are aware of the chronic system-wide scarcity of demand so that when they perceive more money coming into the economy they inflate in order to attempt to garner more business revenue.

The 50% retail discount/rebate ends the scarcity reality and ironically stabilizes the economy with twice the demand and yet actual price deflation.

RMM:   I misunderstood to think your suggestion was that the money first would go to the buyer. But, I see you meant the money first would go to the seller. True?

You might wish to examine motivation. That is, if the money goes directly to the seller, what is his price motivation and compared to the buyer’s motivation if the money goes directly to him.

In the latter case, we have mini-versions in case of coupons and credit card rebates. There, I suspect the motivation is to spend.

But in the former case, where the dollars go first to the seller, what is he motivated to do?

I would be interested in your thoughts on this.

Me:   My thinking is that the 50% discount is “an offer that the retailers cannot refuse” and hence means you’d get virtually 100% participation in the policy because if they opt out they’d have to get 100% of their best competitive price while their competition only would need to get 50% so it’s a no brainer to opt in.

The universal dividend is a necessary direct gift to the individual and its purchasing power is doubled by the 50% discount. I’m not that concerned with over production so much because doubling purchasing power doesn’t automatically translate into a doubling of economic throughput. In other words everyone is not going to go out and buy twice as many socks and underwear or eat twice as much food as they did before.

The 50% discount/rebate is good for enterprise and for the individual, for management and labor. That means it would be politically integrative of traditionally opposed political constituencies. It’s not so much legitimate business models that are the problem, but the illegitimate business model of finance as money creator and monopolistic paradigm enforcer of Debt Only as the sole form and vehicle for the distribution of credit/money.

And as I said in my other post if anti-social business decision-makers want to inflate or game a universally beneficial system then tax the shit out of them. Also, in my book I suggest a new department of Innovation, Competition, Boycotting and The Bully Pulpit that would encourage the first two economic virtues, help to organize the third against recalcitrant gamers and have its department head get up and expose those who arbitrarily inflating by saying: The new system more than doubled your purchasing power and corporation x, y and z are trying to erode it. What are you going to do about that?

The beauty of the 50% discount policy is that it could be used to finally get us off the dime toward sane ecological/industrial policies. In my book, I suggest a second 50% discount/jubilee policy for all green consumer products and big-ticket items at the point of loan closing. So $40k worth of solar panels would become $20k at retail sale and $10k at loan closing. Likewise, a $300k home with the best energy-efficient options becomes $150k at sale and $75k at loan closing. A $50k electric vehicle becomes $25k at sale and $12.5k at loan closing. Finally, if we don’t have to worry about inflation because of the 50% discount at retail we could also be free to do huge top-down fiscal deficits for infrastructure and the mega projects that will be necessary to survive climate change.

RMM:   Perhaps your thinking already has gelled on this idea, but if not, let me assist you:

Why 50% rather than some other %?
How long would you maintain this program? Forever? Just to cure recessions?
Only for 100% domestic retailers? What about importers? Exporters? Assemblers? Wholesalers? Distributors? (Think new and used automobiles. Who gets paid?)
Any limits on what can be done with the money? (i.e. buy stock vs. pay salaries? Invest domestically vs. overseas?)

Me:   “Why 50% rather than some other %?”

It’s a nice round number that the general populace can understand, and immediately makes up for the erosion of purchasing power the 95% have experienced over the last 40 years. I’m maleable on the percentage (mostly on the upper side, for instance, even if we have “normal” inflation of 1-3% with the regulations I suggest then we just make the discount 51-53% and so no erosion of purchasing power)

“How long would you maintain this program? Forever? Just to cure recessions?”

Basically yes. Eventually, if it started to contribute to excessive consumption or proflicacy concerning price you could call a temporary moratorium on it. The concept behind the new paradigm is grace as in love in action/policy. The natural philosophical concept of grace in all of its universally applicable to life and living aspects is the key concept behind all of the world’s major wisdom traditions, and self actualizing them would be a giant step forward toward the maturation of humanity.

“Only for 100% domestic retailers? What about importers? Exporters? Assemblers? Wholesalers? Distributors? (Think new and used automobiles. Who gets paid?)

There would be no discount to exporters. They would have to hope for the discount/rebate policy to be implemented in whatever country they export to. For the moment importers would enjoy the discount/rebate, but the universal dividend and the cost cutting and tax savings aspect enabled by the discount/rebate would enable us to re-industrialize the nation in the most efficient and ecologically sane way possible.

And that would push export platform countries like China and Germany toward the same policies and the kind of robust subsidiarity a national economy needs….instead of the uber financialized wet nightmare we presently are moving toward.

Business models prior to retail will benefit from the both the additional demand which would translate into greater revenue and the cost savings these policies would bring (for instance, with a sufficient universal dividend and 50% discount/rebate insuring a relatively abundant and dignified income for life all transfer taxes paid by both employees and employers for welfare, unemployment insurance and even social security would become redundant and could be eliminated. You could either phase social security out or give people the option of getting a bulk distribution of what they have paid into it.

I believe that private for-profit banking must be resigned to the dust bin of history. A publicly administered non-profit national banking system would replace it.

Speculation on actually productive purposes and to ensure innovation and competition would still be allowed although firmly regulated (no more derivative nonsense and other purely financialized casino capitalist idiocies like naked shorting of currencies).

There would be no discount for hardcore pornography. The discount would apply to pump prices but could be phased out as the second 50% discount/jubilee policy at note signing for EVs and solar panels etc. reduced much of the market for petroleum.

The non-profit national banking system would still be on the lookout for malinvestment, and again while reasonable speculative leveraging would be possible if it was for actually productive purposes and aligned with the new paradigm concept there would craziness like the present. Let the gamblers/speculators use their own money to invest without leverage.

That way there’s no question about who’s on the hook when a bet goes bad.

RMM:   You might consider taking the arbitrary or moral considerations out of it. (” . . . actually productive purposes . . . “, ” . . . hardcore pornography,” ” . . . reasonable speculative leveraging . . .” ” . . . actually productive purposes . . .”) Consider what a dictator would do with those options.

Before the crash, GDP was about $22 Trillion. Your program would invest about $10 Trillion a year in federal deficit spending. What about education and healthcare? How would they fit in?

Me:  Yes, there’s always the possibility that a demagogue like Trump would corupt such phrases even though by “actualy productive” I meant simply non-financial, but such stupidity is a posibility anyway. There would be no atempt to ban hardcore pornography, but it wouldn’t be subsidized either. The same for alcohol, tobacco products and marijuana. They’re all fine as consumer products, but subsidized, I don’t think so.

The human world is by nature of human self-awareness an ethical world. (Ethical as in ethics is the rational consideration of morals.) Pre-scientific dogmas will remain, but hopefully, they increasingly are looked at as mandalas to facilitate self-actualization of virtues and the many applicable aspects of grace as in love in action/policy.

The discount/rebate policy would reduce the retail cost of premiums for all forms of insurance and the dividend would make paying for those premiums easier. I have no doubt that a publicly administered single-payer system would be cheaper and better than the mess we have now, but paying for it with re-distributive taxation when a fiat monetary system that increases everyone’s income and transforms chronic price inflation into beneficial price deflation is available is stupid IMO.

Having said this it’s obvious that the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries have been exceptionally inflationary price gougers for decades and that truth would be addressed co-equally and co-immediately with that of private for-profit finance’s illegitimate money creation and monopoly paradigm powers. And if they do not “grok” the new paradigm concept of monetary gifting and both do not honestly confront their history of inflation and continue to inflate they are obvious candidates for a national non-profit system.

Higher education has become a large source of inflation ever since the government-guaranteed student loans and that would have to end even if some academics and institutions have to take pay cuts. As tuition is the retail product of education the 50% discount would go a long way toward making education affordable for students, and it would increase academics’ purchasing power even if they needed to take a pay cut.

99 times out of a hundred Pols left to themselves will either cop out with wishy washy compromise which accomplishes nothing or try to ram through some orthodoxy which will always be opposed by the opposite party and which contains an amalgam of truths and untruths any way. The only way to accomplish real change is to find an integration of monetary and economic truths that has strong ethical content that people can relate to and start a mass socio-economic movement with it that benefits everyone in obvious ways. That is how Gandhi moved the entire political apparatus. That’s how MLK, Jr, did it.

Another four years of Trump’s dis-integrationist idiocy is likely to be difficult to recover from. If Biden wins and just does a tweak of the same old, same old the dis-integrationists will be back with a passion and some other demagogue that may be the end of our democracy. Pols are stupid, economists are stupid, intellectuals are way too often erudite dummies. Wisdom and heeding the signs of paradigm changes are not.