Wisdom is the elegant problem resolving insights behind the grasping stumbling block habituation of dogmas. It’s the essence and experience of truths within the dross of the stepping stones that hopefully show the way toward such.

Wisdom is self actualizing love and its active form grace/graciousness, and I couldn’t care less whether people get there by worshipping the great god mugjub that lives up the yap-yap river or by swearing that religion is total bunk….because love and grace are everything of value and the understanding that the concept of grace is the literal integration of everything and its opposite as well.

Way more important than recognizing the new monetary paradigm of monetary grace as in gifting is recognizing that an aspect or aspects of grace has been the central and operant concept behind every genuine paradigm change, and beyond even that is the awakening realization that the natural philosophical concept of grace, properly understood, is the nature and the secret of the cosmos/everything itself, that is, the integration of both consciousness and the physical/temporal universe.

Steve Hummel 08/12/2019

The only government or religion one can trust is one based and focused on grace as in love in action. It is the same with economies and money systems. In fact one might say that the natural philosophical concept of grace as in love in action/systemic policy is the deepest, most causitive and operant/primary concept in every truly progressive occurence/paradigm change. (examples)

Indeed grace is the concept behind every paradigm change because it is the only concept that is both thoroughly mentally and temporally/physically integrative and applicable. Grace is hence also a thirdness greater oneness and hence reflective of the cosmic code of an integrated duality within an integrative trinity-unity.

KZ:  Robert, I believe Chandler and I are on sort of the same page. The statement of the judge in my comment above is a good starting point. “In this favored land of law and liberty, the road to advancement is open to all. . . . Every American knows that or ought to know that he has no better friend than the laws and that he needs no artificial combination for his protection. They are of foreign origin and I am led to believe mainly upheld by foreigners.” The important section is the first eight words, “In this favored land of law and liberty…” It isn’t the invisible hand of markets or the visible hand of middle management that is the impetus in America. But rather that America is a favored land of law and liberty. America’s businesses and economy are successful due to this. This teleology has been and is used to justify and explain most parts of American history. Sometimes with full commitment to the truth of it. Sometimes as merely a political expedient. I assess the judge’s statement as more the former than the latter. Applied in the fullest sense this mythology leaves no room for management of any sort. Used cynically, the mythology merely hides overriding greed and the pursuit of absolute political control, particularly regarding the working class. Thus, we see use of favored land of liberty and law to oscillate America between progressive democracy, fearful nationalist state, and greedy capitalist dreadnought. Shows an interesting picture of American culture. The central core belief in America as a favored nation blessed with law and liberty, around which are hung institutions and activities for each of the three modes listed above.

Me:  Genuine and lasting change, i.e. actual human progress never occurs unless or until a NEW concept is recognized and is generally applicable/applied to a body of knowledge/area of human endeavor BECAUSE that concept IS a PATTERN change. It isn’t just a needed and perhaps superior structural change WITHIN the body of knowledge it’s a change in the ENTIRE pattern.

Now having said this there are paradigms and then there are Paradigms. In fact you could say there are at least three forms of paradigms. A structural paradigm (paradigm of reform) , a body of knowledge/conceptual paradigm change and finally a mega human paradigm change.

The last time we had the latter was the change from nomadic hunting and gathering to agriculture/homesteading and city dwelling and the new monetary paradigm is precisely that kind of paradigm change because it is a fundamentally deep and general problem resolving pattern change for ALL of humanity in ways that PERSONALLY/INTIMATELY effect them CONTINUALLY in the PRESENT moment.

RL:  How, growing up in America did I escape all that. It’s Babbit pure and simple, which no working person standing in soup or hiring lines in the 1930s would swallow. Not my father, not the workers in our community. You are leaving out a big part of the story, which the New Deal tried to bridge, but could’t. That story, not law and liberty, gives me hope.

Me:  Probably because you had a better moral compass than most Americans and an intellect as well. Ken’s analysis is accurate alright except America has always come up short philosophically. That’s the problem with resources, opportunity and geographical isolation the last of which Europe has never had, it inhibits depth of thought and hence palliation of problems.

Americans fell for Marx’s theft of one of Germany’s greatest, Hegel, whose dialectic was wisdom, and fell again for the right’s proclivity to smear anything it perceived as alloying its power and control. The result? The non-progress of obsessive dualism and mere reform at best.

Better to have taken Hegel’s integrated duality within an integrative trinity-unity and then studied Kuhn (although Kuhn being an American ultimately opted for scientism and philosophically chickened out as well) and they might have accomplished real wisdom which actually solves problems instead of wallowing in them and calling that progress.

Even though macro-economics has garnered a few insights since its inception shortly before the end of WW II it has largely become a plaything discipline to obsess over and obscure the real problem with modern economies, namely the money system and its problematic and dominating paradigm of Debt ONLY. That paradigm has been holding humanity and civilization down for over 5000 years. Again macro-economics was born into that fact less than a century ago and hence its analysis is very shallow and its cultural horizon is short and largely unconscious of the larger problem.

When one analyzes from the paradigmatic level and has even an inkling of the historical signatures of imminent and accomplished paradigm changes the hunt becomes not for the complexities of problems nearly as much as for the singular paradigm concept and how its simplicity of operation and yet breadth and depth of problem resolving policies will be optimally integrated into the economy.

Economics has become increasingly useless and has come to reflect the buddhist saying: If you come upon the Buddha on the road to enlightenment…shoot him!

To paraphrase James Carville: It’s the monetary paradigm, stupid.

KZ:   In his book “The History of Money,” anthropologist Jack Weatherford points out this about money.

“Greece was the first civilization to be transformed by money, but in a relatively short time, all cultures followed the Greeks down the same road and underwent the same metamorphosis. Humans have found many ways to bring order to the phenomenological flow of existence, and money is one of the most important. Money is strictly a human invention in that it is itself a metaphor; it stands for something else. It allows humans to structure life in incredibly complex ways that were not available to them before the invention of money. This metaphorical quality gives it a focal role in the organization of meaning in life. Money represents an infinitely expandable way of structuring value and social relationships—personal, political, and religious as well as commercial and economic. Everywhere that money went it created marketplaces. Money created a new urban geography by giving rise to towns and cities centered on the market rather than the palace. The exchange of goods necessitated new commercial routes over land and sea from one urban nodule to the next, thereby linking Greece and neighboring lands in a new web of commerce. This new social network founded on commerce and money gave rise to a new political system.” Monarchies of great empires that spread money and commercial life around the world of the middle east, and even into Europe and China.

Weatherford also points out. “The great struggle of history has been for the control over money. It is almost tautological to affirm that to control the production and distribution of money is to control the wealth, resources, and people of the world. Over time, competitors have aligned themselves into various factions, institutions, governments, banks, guilds, corporations, religious orders, and great families; but from the minting of the first coin until today, the struggle has never abated for more than a brief respite of a century or two. The money wars have sometimes been literal ones fought on great battlefields with large armies, tanks, warships, bombers, and missiles. At other times they have been metaphorical—but no less serious—struggles conducted in private chambers, corporate boardrooms, courts of law, and legislative halls as well as on the floors of the great stock and mercantile exchanges of the world. As soon as a battle is settled in one arena, the actors and interests switch to another where they fight with new rules and new weapons. Throughout history, whenever one faction or institution seemed to have won control of money, an outside player invented another form based on a new technology, and another struggle erupted.” The term technology as used here by Weatherford includes not just what is most often considered technology – new materials like paper and metal and new devices to protect money, like magnetic strips, but also new ideas and concepts about money, such as banks, taxes, denominations, and new market designs such as the one proposed by neoliberalism.

Me:  Excellent and very accurate post. It enumerates the many ways that the present paradigm of Debt ONLY has almost completely woven its way into the woof and warp of EVERYONE’S daily life. As mentioned in my book this is why the new monetary paradigm will have such incredibly broad and deep beneficial consequences. It will be a greater step upward than the last mega paradigm change from Hunting and Gathering to Agriculture/Homesteading/Urban Civilization. In fact one of these changes will be the ability to de-centralize urban civilization.

Me: As wisdom is the integrative mental process itself including any additional study in an analysis is the correct vector, but this is done on a fairly routine basis in most scientific studies, probably less in economics and the money systems than most, that is true.

However, until science overcomes its more than 500 year old foolish and reactionary rejection of the fundamental fact of human self awareness/consciousness (whatever one attributes its reality to) it will hamstring its research methods and worse yet its level of knowledge/epistemology. Knowing every little dogmatic jot and tittle of the bible and insisting on strict empiricism, reductivism and mental dualism in science are simply two sides of the same coin.

Economics requires science to consult wisdom and its pinnacle concept of grace/graciousness/love in action as policy….implemented at the most reality changing point of the economic/productive process at retail sale. Don’t be a religiously erudite scientistic dunce, be wise and scientific. It’s both integrative and scientific in the highest sense.

KZ:  Craig, many comments on this blog ask about other options to organize economics, apart from the physics model built into the current discipline. A model that is completely ill suited for economics. I offer geology as one option. An option that, in my view fits the kind of science economists must do since their study subject is more uncertain, more fuzzy, more changeable than most. Biological science might work as well. Though I don’t believe it fits as well.

Me:  Why not integrate philosophy/a new philosophical concept into economics and strategically apply it to the monetary system which currently parasitically sits upon everyone and every legitimate business model with a policy that is the very expression of the new monetary paradigm of Direct and Reciprocal Monetary Gifting?

“A new economic philosophy” is what Steve Keen said was needed a couple years ago at a meeting in Europe that called for a new Reformation in economics. It’s just that he didn’t have paradigm perception. The Reformation was a paradigm shift itself which being the perception of conceptual essences is the same level of mental integration of the truths in opposites as wisdom, which is precisely what is needed.

As I said in my prior post science integrates other sciences already. Economists and economic pundits simply need to “up their game to it”.

KZ:  Craig, sounds nebulous to me. How about this. Drop the physics-imitation and all mathematics beyond descriptive statistics and see what develops. Comparing multiple possible answers as do biology, geology, and some others might be added later.

Me:  Surprised to see the classic empiricist, scientistic response from an anthropologist.

Economics’ problem is it apes the scientistic side of physics not its cutting edge quantum one which courageously dares to embrace a concept like grace as in the continual integrative, interactive particle flow of the cosmos which reflects and comes back to the Hindu concept of Shiva’s dance experienced over 6000 years ago.

KZ:  Craig, as I noted physics owes a lot to star gazing, religion, and the mysteries of mathematics for what it is. So, some philosophical form of integrated truth following in physics would not surprise me. I’d be happier if physics, and economics just turned into everyday workable and useful sciences. Right now both are scientific outliers that do no good for anyone. Not even their practitioners.

Me:  I’d go along with that, but what’s unworkable and non-utilitarian about an ending, pivoting and paradigm changing point in the economic process where a simple algebraic operation and monetary policy resolves the two biggest and most stubborn problems of modern economies? And I’m not talking changes it a little, but changes the entire pattern.

KZ:  Craig, no problem with it at all. If it works. One of the reasons planners use models rather than social experiments to test out their proposed policies is that it’s always better to explode a model than a city, state, or region. Or, perhaps a nation. So, model your proposal and let’s take a look at the results. They may surprise you. If the model results are good, then do some polling to figure out if those you hope to benefit from your proposal understand or want it. Those results may surprise you, as well.

On the working and useful part, for economics I’d consider some recommendations, with policy proposals for dealing with inequality, for dealing with climate change, for ending the consumer society, etc. as signs of working and useful. For physics, recommendations and policies for dealing with climate change, nuclear proliferation, new designs for renewable energy, etc.

Me:  Ok.  From my book:
A $1000/mo. universal dividend paired with the 50% Discount/Rebate policy immediately guarantees everyone 18 and older $24,000/yr. of potential purchasing power whether they are employed or not.

The dividend for married couples with at least one child is $1500/mo. each or $36,000/yr. apiece or $72,000/yr.

Of course if anyone gets a job their purchasing power from any employment is also doubled.

An 18 year old student with a $9/hr 16hr/wk Wal Mart job would then have monthly purchasing power of $3152/mo or $37,824/yr.

A couple with a child with 2 full time Wal Mart jobs would have purchasing power of $11760/mo or $141,120/yr.

A married couple with one child and one income of $40,000/yr would have potential purchasing power of $152,000/yr.

The wealthy’s income from both the dividend and the doubling of their earned income will increase their purchasing power as well so technically inequality isn’t addressed, but as everyone’s income will be abundant instead of scarce or non-existent….who cares. Envy is a personal vice, gratitude is a stellar virtue and such a graciously abundant system would help to support, habituate and self actualize the latter….and the system  would be free flowing as well.

Climate change:

Creating a publicly administered non-profit monetary and financial system would:

Forever end cost as a factor for slowing or denying necessary products, projects and new research that would deal with climate change

With the second 50% Discount/Rebate policy at the point of note signing a $30,000 solar panel purchase would cost only $7500 which with a 0% loan for 2 years would be $312.50/mo.
A $40,000 autonoumous battery powered car would be $10,000 with a 3 year 0% loan would be $277.78/mo.

With inflation forever ending from the dividend and Discount/Rebate policies and unemployment no longer a deleterious factor the government could allocate whatever funds it saw fit for any of the huge projects needed to reduce carbon foot print. Re-industrialization of the nation even in the most efficient and ecologically sane way possible would actually increase employment and keep the economy robust and stable and reverse the failed and destabilizing globally financialized economy.

Ending consumer economy

Creating an economy philosophically and policy-wise based on grace invites the many virtuous aspects of that concept.

I suggest a nationally coordinated cooperative effort between the clergy, helping/therapeutic professions and the government to acculturate such virtuous traits and helping people to expand their awareness and appreciation of the vast set of positive, constructive purposes available to them in addition to employment with the monetarily abundant economy.

There are numerous additional policy suggestions and capabilities in my book that the new monetary paradigm would enable.

KZ:  Craig,

“Morning always promises miracles.”
― Sinclair Lewis, Elmer Gantry

I wouldn’t want your clients to put you into the Elmer Gantry role.

Me:   Cynicism is irrelevant regarding survival, and an historically verifiable indication that one is on the wrong side of a paradigm change. Craig 08/08/2019

KZ:  Craig, the last thing my remarks are about is cynicism. I speak from experience. Just one instance. I negotiated a $55 million rate decrease for some Texas utility customers. On the witness stand I was pilloried by the AG and Citizens’ Counsel for giving too little of the money to low usage customers. Both disagreed with my whole strategy and made that clear by bashing me. Just saying, we don’t always get what we think we deserve.

Me:  Cynicism grows out of negative experience. I’m not saying it is pleasant or that it is anything but a mental challenge to overcome. Neither am I naive about the hold that ideologies have over people’s minds. There are probably nearly as many stupid (read extreme) liberals as there are stupid conservatives/libertarians. Did you get the decrease and did it benefit everyone? That is what is important. And paradighmatically, is it conscious of how the paradigm of monetary scarcity/austerity is overcome with abundantly direct and reciprocal monetary gifting? Recognizing the benefits and necessity of a new pattern is personally 90% of the battle won. Consciousness raising is difficult in humans because of the subtleties of consciousness itself, but the efficacy of a genuinely new pattern gets learned most rapidly by doing-living and in so doing the old way of thinking dies a rather rapid death. You know that. It’s the power and process of culture.

As wisdom is the integrative mental process itself including any additional study in an analysis is the correct vector, but this is done on a fairly routine basis in most scientific studies, probably less in economics and the money system than most, that is true.

However, until science overcomes its more than 500 year old foolish and reactionary rejection of the fundamental fact of human self awareness/consciousness (whatever one attributes its reality to) it will hamstring its research methods and worse yet its level of knowledge/epistemology. Knowing every little dogmatic jot and tittle of the bible and insisting on strict empiricism, reductivism and mental dualism in science are simply two sides of the same coin.

Economics requires science to consult wisdom and its pinnacle concept of grace/graciousness/love in action as policy….implemented at the most reality changing point of the economic/productive process at retail sale. Don’t be a religiously erudite scientistic dunce, be wise and scientific. It’s both integrative and scientific in the highest sense.

Almost no one here disagrees that neo-classical economic
theory is a fraud and a failure, and virtually everyone agrees that the heterodox critiques of Keen, Hudson, Lars, Asad etc. are more accurate and the right direction. Can’t we move on to suggesting policies and structural changes that align with the conclusions of our agreed upon conclusions like:

1) It’s a monetary economy, not “a veil over barter”
2) Money and credit are the most potent and significant factors in such an economy
3) Private for profit finance having a monopoly on credit creation is a massive contradiction in an allegedly free enterprise theory and system, and also requires that the sole form and vehicle for the distribution of credit-money be Debt ONLY
4) Hence private money creation must end, but because public money creation could also be just as problematic its money creating ability and monetary policies must be firmly and unmistakably aligned with an unimpeachable ethic like the natural philosophical concept of grace as in love in action, i.e. policy as in direct and reciprocal monetary gifting at a strategically rational, effective and definitive point in the economic process. That is at retail sale, which will invert the presently agreed upon reality of individual and systemic monetary austerity into monetary abundance, and will also change the chronic inflation of modern economies into beneficial price deflation.
5) Science as wonderful, necessary and interesting as it is, is immersed in complexity and rarely accomplishes solutions because its task is the reductive process of discerning factual truths. We should aim for discerning the elegant, deep, holistic and resolving simplicity (a single new concept) of a new paradigm, which concept applied intelligently changes the entire pattern of the area of human endeavor it applies to.

Isn’t this the truly serious course of thought and action? Or is this blog merely a debating society?

We must make the money system serve us. Accomplishing that is the first step in making the economy flow gracefully and prosperously for all, and nothing of real or lasting positive effect will ocur until that does happen.

Implementing the new monetary paradigm of Gifting integratively into the economy by creating a non-profit publicly administered monetary and financial system based on and firmly guided by the natural philosophical concept of grace and its logically aligned policies is the essential first step in that process.

If certain businesses raise their prices by high percentages in the run-up period to the new paradigm policies are enacted their competitors will be given an additional 10% Discount/Rebate percentage, and the inflationary offenders will have their discount percentage subtracted by the percent they inflated. This applies to after the new paradigm is implemented as well.