C:  “Jobs” or their obvious analogs considered from the creditary/MMT perspective are as old as humanity; they are logically equivalent to cooperation and the division of labor. They exist in all cultural arrangements. And jobs certainly existed in the US before 1850. What is more novel is the degree of monetization of the economy and the formalization of labor into jobs. This leads to unemployment because of insanely stupid ideas which I touched on above. But this formalization, rigidification is a secondary matter, which does not touch on the basics like the insanity of not having a job guarantee.

Moderns believe that forcing some people to not do stuff = unemployment will magically make unicorns and leprechauns provide greater bounty than if all the humans who wanted to work. were allowed to work. People before the modern age rightly considered such ideas insane.

The rethinking-urgers are the ones who should rethink and study some more history and anthropology. For instance, a job guarantee is nothing but an expression of the universal idea in gift economies of the necessity of accepting a gift, or else giving a truly grievous insult.

Me:  “…….this formalization, rigidification is a secondary matter, which does not touch on the basics like the insanity of not having a job guarantee.

As I have posted here before a job guarantee would fit seamlessly within a wise and monetarily gifting economy. Certain MMTers who militate against a universal dividend are the ones being orthodox, still thoroughly inside the paradigm of Debt Only as the form and vehicle for the creation and distribution of money and hence obstruct the paradigm changing inversion of modern economies from individually income scarce to abundant…in ratio to total costs and so prices simultaneously produced as a flow.

“Moderns believe that forcing some people to not do stuff = unemployment will magically make unicorns and leprechauns provide greater bounty than if all the humans who wanted to work. were allowed to work. People before the modern age rightly considered such ideas insane.”

People before the modern age cannot not be blamed for not foreseeing the productive and leisurely potentials of high technology and the disruptive force of AI, and modern economists and pundits should ask themselves whether they want to live under the so called Mosaic curse forever and ever amen, even if these same forces would enable them to not only have the purposeful activities of employment, but also the by far larger set of self chosen purposeful activities available within an actual civilization of leisure.

“The rethinking-urgers are the ones who should rethink and study some more history and anthropology. For instance, a job guarantee is nothing but an expression of the universal idea in gift economies of the necessity of accepting a gift, or else giving a truly grievous insult.”

The use of the word “necessity” is the give away that such societies were propitiatory and authoritarian and so not freely gifting at all. While it is true that refusing an ACTUAL gift is by definition ungracious (in a propitiatory and authoritarian society it might actually be an expression of courage and moral and ethical strength) ….ACTUAL is the operative reality.

Implementing the dual policies of the new paradigm of Direct and Reciprocal Monetary Gifting (a universal dividend and a high percentage discount/rebate at the point of retail sale) would enable national economies to rapidly re-industrialize in the most efficiently productive and ecologically sane fashion possible thus also being able to resolve and withdraw from the negative aspects of the globalist trade agenda…because we would not have to worry about either inflation or unemployment while doing so. Of course there would actually be more employment and investment with these two policies than if they were not implemented because there would be so much more demand with them and so much less if they were not. It’s apparently too simple for the intellectual vanities of the erudite to countenance when they see how the two policies directly, reciprocally and seamlessly would be administered, complexity being all the rage. Didn’t we hear objections from the Church when Luther said mankind could have a direct and reciprocal relationship with God during the Reformation? Ah, the signatures of paradigm changes. Now that would be a very good study for modern economists and economic pundits to investigate.

Of course there are many other beneficial and resolving effects from the new paradigm in virtually all of the normal activities and aspects of the economy…because that is what a paradigm does,…..but that could be next week’s assignment. Best to study and understand at least the signs of what everyone agrees we actually need, first.

“Fourth Turnings” are unfortunately the all too well established historical failures of civilizations to find and systemically apply the process of wisdom which results in a thirdness greater oneness when that process of the thorough integration of the truths in opposing perspectives is discerned and acted upon.

Every paradigm change in human history is an example of such wisdom/integration, and has specific signatures most or all of which are present in those paradigm changes.

However, believing in the value and efficacy of “Fourth Turnings” as the likes of Donald Trump and Steve Bannon do is the folly of confusing chaos with the individual and systemic rejuvenation and genuine progress that wisdom/integrations/re-integrations are marked by.

If we do not recognize the importance and necessity of wisdom, its process and its positive effects and act with it we are complicit in the inevitable continuing disintegration that we see going on all around us now….and is indeed a sign that such has already been going on for some time.

Marx/Marxists actually cobbed Hegel’s dialectic and made an orthodoxy/ideology out of it…instead of recognizing its essential integrative wisdom which is that if you integrate only the truths, workabilities, applicabilities and highest ethical considerations of opposing perspectives a thirdness/synthesis greater oneness can be the result. This also puts the lie to Kant’s/logical positivist’s/rigidly orthodox scientism’s obsessive and exclusionary dualism.
The truth is most of us are so culturally innured to doubt by 500 years of the scientific method ONLY as the paradigm for inquiry, that the process and vehicle for self actualization of self awareness/consciousness, i.e. wisdom/the world’s various major wisdom traditions, has atrophied and lead not to enlightenment…but mere reactionary orthodoxy and confusion.

Again, the point here is neither advocacy of religiosity only nor science only but the inclusive thirdness greater oneness that Hegel’s dialectic expresses and my cosmic code of wisdom reflects

[ ( thesis x antithesis ) <–> synthesis ]

L:  Hi Steve,

I found this post both insightful and illuminating.  I never noticed that social crediters want to tie everything to a metric to freeze everything to a stop; but it is a true observation.  If you stop a river so you can measure its flow at that point in time, it will overflow. I am also mindful of John’s recent post about  money being continually created and destroyed – and yet I saw the intention of the point.  Here is the concept that came to my mind.  Picture a container with a siphon on the bottom.  We are always concerned with the volume of water (i.e. money) in it.  If you add water faster than it drains out, you have “inflation” but if it drains out faster, you have “deflation.”  Of course we do care about how much water (i.e. money) we have in the system but what we need to be mindful of where the water comes from and where it goes.  That was John’s point.

Me:  Thanks Liam. Yes, a mere statistical equilibrium is a stop in time. What we need is free flowingness through time and not only the elimination of the scarcity ratio of total individual incomes in ratio to total costs and so prices…but an inversion and transformation of that scarcity ratio…into an abundance one. Inversions and transformations are signatures of paradigm change. The Helio-centric paradigm change was nothing more and nothing less than the inversion of the positions of the earth and the sun and it transformed the entirety of the viewpoint on cosmology.

Social Crediters never quite recognized the power of the CRP, what I refer to as the discount/rebate policy whose nature mimics the digital nature of the pricing, debt based money and accounting systems. If you implement a high (say 50%) percentage discount at the point of retail sale which is both the very end of the economic process where production becomes consumption and is also the terminal expression point for all forms of inflation you can invert the entire system from inflationary to deflationary…and everyone’s potential purchasing power gets doubled in the process because $50 now buys $100 worth of goods and services. And you’ve created a better, more potentially profitable and free flowing alternative for individuals and for commercial agents to raising their prices when they see more money coming into a system that is chronically scarce of individual incomes/business revenue. Only garden variety 3-4% inflation can occur because raising one’s prices by more risks losing market share so there is no risk of hyperinflation which only occurs when wars have destroyed productive capacity, indebtedness is overwhelmingly onerous and the central bank is complicit with speculators who short the currency and create the hyperinflation. Under normal conditions money is not the deepest or even actual cause of inflation, rather it is that there is no insightful and more profitable alternative to the understandable attempt by commercial decision makers to garner more revenue in a system chronically short of it.

If you create price deflation at the end of the economic process with a high percentage discount/rebate policy….you can pour virtually as much money as you want into the system and not have to worry about inflation. It’s inversion/transformation and paradigm change.

Here are the “knock on” effects of the two policies I am now advocating:

1) with a $1000/mo universal dividend distributed to everyone 18 and older for life that potentially purchases $2000/mo with the 50% discount at the point of retail sale….why would both individuals and enterprise have to pay transfer taxes for welfare,unemployment insurance etc.? And you could rapidly also eliminate the taxes every agent pays for social security where few get more than $2000/mo and you have to wait until you’re 67 to collect it. Economic democracy and the end of poverty would be immediately a reality with the dividend and if a two adult household had mere part time jobs that made them $20,000/yrwith the two policies they’d now have $24,000/yr of dividend x 2 or $48,000 plus $20k + $20 k employment income that would give them $80,000 potential for a total of $128,000/yr. Finally, you could get rid of the corresponding bureaucracies that administer these programs. These two policies integrate the best aspects of the agendas of the left and right

2) MMT advocates claim that income taxes would not be necessary if their theory was adopted. While it’s true that the government issues a deficit before taxes are collected and so it effectively trashes the taxes we pay, it is mere liberal orthodoxy that we could stop paying taxes and simply directly issue the monies to fund government without inflation occurring….unless of course we implement the 50% discount/rebate policy at the terminal expression point for all forms of inflation at the point of retail sale which would reduce prices by 50%. Then it’s no sweat because you could not possibly have garden variety “monetary” inflation which at most is in the range of 2-3% under normal circumstances (and close to 0% while you have to wallow through 10 years of debt deflation). And if you had rational, effective and ethical control of prices and inflation and a guaranteed $2000/mo in purchasing power with the dividend, THEN you could directly fund government on all levels and reduce income taxes to say a minimal 4-5% simply to establish government as both sovereignly powerful and yet benevolently sovereign as well.

3) As we know politics is largely a power struggle mostly involving who gets the most money. When these policies democratically and abundantly settle that problem our politics can finally extricate itself from that overweening obsession and become much more statesmanly….and we will have much less stress and much more leisure time in order to consider the real political issues that are best for everyone.

There are other positive effects as well, but that’s a real good start.

GA:  Steve, I do not advocate MMT. I have not yet formed an opinion. However, this is what an MMTer believes. He does not fear deficits. He  also opposes universal basic income, UBI. He also believes hyperinflation could happen.

Me: Yes, I’m familiar with Billy Mitchell. I used to post there quite often and still do occasionally. MMT does have the mechanics of money creaton correct, but they still operate mostly within only the current monetary paradigm for the vehicle and form of credit creation and its distribution, namely Debt Only and that is why they think a job guarantee is preferable to a UBI/universal dividend. They are thoroughly liberal progressives and cling to some of liberalism’s orthodoxies like “monetary” inflation and re-distributive taxation. Of course wisdom being the integration of the truths in opposites they’re just as arrogant and ignorant of what needs to be mentally done as conservatives and libertarians who still believing in macro-economic general equilibrium continually and mistakenly wave the bloody shirt of their motto “There ain’t no free lunch” as if it were a solution….instead of it being an excellent statement of the deepest problem that needs to be resolved….by the discount/rebate policy in conjunction with a universal dividend.

When you understand what a paradigm change actually is (a singular concept that fits within and yet transforms and creates an entire new pattern) and cognite on it you begin to feel like the one eyed man in the land of the blind.

Hyperinflations are extremely rare and again require the specific circumstances I have listed here before. They could not occur with the two policies I advocate because not only do the circumstances for hyperinflation not exist here, if an enterprise’s decision makers do not opt into the obviously more beneficial effects of the policies (a doubling of effective demand for their products and services plus tremendous cost savings from elimination/reduction of taxes)…they can go out of business trying to get full price for their products and services without the discount/rebate policy…while their wiser and more rational competition would only need to get 50% from their consumers and the other 50% from the monetary authority. So it’s a benevolent “offer businesses cannot refuse.”

JD: Doesn’t the existence of monopolies (which have been rapidly expanding in the last few years) allow such companies to raise their prices without having to worry about losing market share?

Me:  Yes, but still only a relatively small percentage. They also benefit from economies of scale, but even they must compete with other relative monopolies, and a truly sovereign government with actual monetary sovereignty
(aligned and empowered with grace as in caring but unmistakable power to defend the individual and individual enterprise against domination) would be willing and able to intervene against them if necessary to maintain the paradigm changing nature of the system with the policies and regulations I have posted.

GA:  Always funding half a purchase with Fed money would seriously swell the money supply.

Me:  Precisely. And as it was monetary gifting it wouldn’t add any debt to the total and because it was subtracted from price at the terminal expression point for all forms of inflation (even the hyper variety which as I have pointed out does not occur without specific and exceptionally rare circumstances) there would not be any inflation, but rather an inverse and hence paradigm change rhyming price deflation.

Rules and regulations of Wisdomics-Gracenomics: Every enterprise must publicly declare whether or not they intend to opt into the policies, rules and regulations. It’s pretty much a no brainer however as the policy effects of doing so are all upside for them.

Businesses will pledge not to raise their prices in exchange for the cost reduction benefits of eliminated and greatly reduced taxes, the more than doubling of potential purchasing power that the dividend and discount/rebate policies will insure and the generally stabilized state of the economy as a result. They will consent to a rigorous examination of their books if they do raise their prices. If an enterprise does have legitimate increased costs that will be fine after determination of such, however considering the huge reductions as per above and actual overall inflationary increase should be very seldom the case. There may also be positive incentives for businesses who do not inflate and do not deflate further for merely self intersted reasons (for instance multi-national corporations using pricing power to dominate smaller enterprise).

If an enterpise is determined to be inviolation of their pledge they will be sin taxed by a rate of 100% for any increase in revenues resulting from the violation(s). If they persist they will lose their ability to participate in the discount/rebate policy.

Financial services at retail sale will be allowed to continue and reasonable and limited speculative activities may be allowed so long as the monetary authority/nation public bank determine that it is not de-stabilizing, corrupt in intent or criminally originated. However, private finance will be unwound in as fair a way as possible and then no longer be able to create new credit/money, only be an intermediary for already created and saved incomes and profits. The new national banking system will be publicly administered and will under virtually all instances charge no interest. The public bank in conjunction with the monetary authority may consequently be able to participate in the 50% discount/rebate policy and therefore become the new ending point of the legitimate economic/productive process instead of retail sale thus even further decreasing indebtedness for the individual and currently operating enterprise and tremendously cutting debt costs for new business start ups.

The new banking and money system will genuinely assist individuals and enterprise not parasitically dominate, manipulate and rip agents off.

An integral aspect of implementing Wisdomics-Gracenomics would include a total ban on the ability to lend/leverage up to speculators in order to short the currency whether from a domestic or foreign source and any such attempted action would immediately be declared null and void.

Any enterprise would be free to withdraw from the discount/rebate policy.

Also, an integral aspect of implementing Wisdomics-Gracenomics would include a total ban on the ability to lend/leverage up to speculators in order to short the currency whether from a domestic or foreign source and would be declared null and void.

Foreign enterprise may participate in the discount/rebate policy, but as it will now be easy for domestic entreprenuers to rapidly re-industrialize the domestic economy they would be wise to either move production here and/or lobby their elites to implement the policies of Wisdomics-Gracenomics in their own domestic economies.

Ecologically sustainable and sane developement, further technological research on same, and healthy competitive entreprenuerialism will be the financial objects and the rule.

 DT:  “I think that Frank is overlooking the overlap between theories and models that can occur in the case of a paradigm, which is a model embodying a theory.”

Me:  Yes, that is a correct and astute observation Dave. Seeing that is what I refer to as paradigm perception. A paradigm is a single concept that fits within the structures of the body of knowledge/area of human endeavor it applies to and yet transforms them in essential ways and so creates an entirely new pattern. It’s the inversion from terra-centrism to helio-centrism and an entirely new viewpoint on the body of knowledge known as cosmology.

As the very process of wisdom is the thoroughgoing consideration of and integration of the truths in a duality/opposite perspectives that yields a unitary thirdness greater oneness of those truths it (wisdom) reflects both the specific and generalized nature of paradigmatic thinking. It’s inductive and deductive thinking integrated which enlightens a single transformative concept. Which is just another way to describe a paradigm which is conceptually singlular and yet applies to and creates a new pattern.

With the strategically insightful implementation of the policies and regulations of the new paradigm of Direct and Reciprocal Monetary Gifting, Direct Distributism will become the economic reality. Then, because we would not have to worry about the effects of unemployment thwarting economic profitability and our rational self interests, we could swiftly re-industrialize in the most productive, efficient and ecologically sane way possible, therefore reducing trade imbalances and withdrawing from the coalescing wet dream of economic and financial globalists unconsciously advocated by the terminally orthodox in both parties and disintegratively pursued by non-planning merchants of chaos/populist idiots like Trump and Bannon. The resulting domestic prosperity, stability and economically clarifying cognition on the new paradigm’s efficacy would undoubtedly stun elites in other countries and elicit demands for similar changes by their citizenry there.

Ah, applying the natural philosophical aspects of grace to economics, anthropology etc. is such a solid path toward a discerning integrative thirdness greater oneness…..that everyone not yet entirely aware of its temporal universe and self actualizing effects….claim they’d like to see.

Me:  Money isn’t the deepest cause of “monetary” inflation. It’s the lack of a better, more prosperous alternative to raising prices by commercial decision makers who must labor within the current system of financially enforced individual income scarcity and hence systemic austerity.

Providing that better alternative for both individual and commercial agents is the solution we’re all desiring.

Can’t we finally see past the fallacious orthodoxy of the quantity theory of money….and start to take good rational, ethical and adult control of the economy????

JD:  Everyone,

Me:  Don’t be fooled by Bonner who has libertarian-General Equilibrium DNA in his thinking. Their idea of finance is the “free” banking era before the federal reserve which was even more unstable than the FED’s era. It’s inconsistent with actual Public Banking whether on a state or national basis.

The business model of private finance is economically illegitimate because it forces huge additional costs on both the individual and enterpise post retail sale. Retail sale is currently the only actual legitimate ending point for costs and so prices for every good or service, and also for the entire economic/productive process.

We also must not be fooled that a rational and necessary public banking system will be a permanent or uncorruptible reform…unless we recognize that the unimpeachable and resolving natural philosophical concept of monetary grace as in gifting and its integrative paradigm changing policies and regulations….need to be implemented simultaneously with it.

1. $3000/mo dividend for life at 18 years of age,
2. discount/rebate monthly lottery of between 10-50%,
3. government is graciously sovereign as in lovingly unburdening and not unnecessarily restrictive regarding transfer taxes and yet wise as in parental guidance with taxation for economic vices,
4. end of private creation of money and beginning of publicly administered money system that does not add costs post retail sale and so violate the actual end of the economic/productive process at that point and is able to be dovetailed into the discount/rebate policy to the additional benefit of individuals and commercial agents
5. businessman’s social contract-pledge not to inflate in exchange for guaranteed abundance of individual aggregate demand, cost savings from elimination of transfer taxes and large decrease in income taxes and a stabily prosperous and free flowing system, …..and the government is willing and able to follow through on grace as in recognition of the rational and ethical end of patience, with the morality tool of the bully pulpit, taxation for the vice of inflation and expulsion from the discount/rebate policy for chronic non-compliers with the rules.

businessman-you can play hard, but be a sportsman/union leader-you will be allowed to advocate…for both monetary equity and employee duty/entreprenuer-be the laughing buddha/politician-value freedom before power and you’ll end up with more of both and also be rewarded with the respect and self esteem that comes with ethics/Private Finance-services are legitimate…not so for money creation/Public Finance-grace as in Gifting and wisdom as in ecological sanity/citizen-think on these things/students-with reward and knowledge comes responsibility

Ah, grace is such a solid path toward a discerning integrative thirdness greater oneness and the maturity of wisdom and its fruits of prosperity, joy, a generally ego-less sense of humor and a deeper appreciation of the moment and its experiences.

Brexit makes sense….if you have an actually effective plan and set of monetary and economic policies that would enable the UK to do so without suffering the punishments the EU can bring upon them. Those policies of course are the new paradigm policies I’ve long advocated on here. It’s the same thing here in the States of course as third rate intellects (read total knumb skulls like Trump and Bannon) advocate “fourth turnings” which even though they are accurate historical observations they miss the more significant fact that fourth trunings are actually simply the failure to accomplish the wisdom of thirdness greater oneness available with the integration of the truths in opposite perspectives.

Mankind knows not wisdom or its very process, and suffers unnecessarily as a result.