[GJM] Transfinancial Economics Project, and New Thinking on Electronic Controls over Inflation

[Steve Consilvio]

Robert,

This is an easy problem to fix.  Simply require all manufacturers to  
print the price of the item on the product being sold.  Consumers  
will "report" retailers that charge less or charge more; tampering  
with the price will be obvious, and a databank with the correct  
pricing is easy to post on-line.  I am not sure why you would even  
need an "inflation control authority," if you are already doing  
everything else correctly.

I believe in some countries "fair trade pricing" (as it is usually  
called) exists.  It seems to me a precept of a normal society that  
the same good should cost the same price for everyone, everywhere;  
unfortunately we are not a normal society.  As much good as fixed  
pricing provides (fixed by the manufacturer, not the government,) it  
does nothing to address the cause and effect of inflation, which lies  
elsewhere.  An ICA would only be treating the symptoms of the  
problem, and would not address a cure to the source in anyway.   
Calling it "inflation control," when it does nothing of the sort,  
would be the perfect name for a bureaucratic boondoggle.

BTW, I call the current system "financial Jim Crow."  Rather than  
charging Blacks and White different prices, people pay different  
prices for all sorts of invented reasons (coupons, age, volume, day  
of the week, etc.)  In a land where all men are created equal, nobody  
is treated equally.  We have made "buying and selling" as confusing  
and as difficult as it could be.  The subprime meltdown, of course,  
is the latest dramatic example of financial Jim Crow.  If everyone  
were paying the same interest rate (as terrible as interest is) the  
system would work much better than charging different people  
different rates for the same thing.

As I have mentioned previously, Transfinancial Economics shares a lot  
of similarity with my own ideas, some of which I abandoned because  
they did not really get to the root of the problem.  The problem is  
that we refuse to count honestly.  Any system based on 2+2=5 will  
fail.  There are an infinite number of wrong answers, and until we  
accept that 2+2=4, nothing will work.  Of course, we are free to try  
an infinite number of combinations instead. (2+2=6, 2+2=7, etc)   
Afterall, what we believe is what we want to be "true," and people  
are willing to believe anything, and have always eager to believe  
that an easy gain is possible.  The more absurd the claim (2+2=1  
million,) the more people want it to be true.

The economy is a zero sum game.  We need principles before policies.

peace,
steve


On SundayDec 2, 2007, at 2:00 PM, discussion- 
request at globaljusticemovement.net wrote:

> Dear All,
>
>       The Transfinancial Economics Project is still in
> the process of research, and development. There are
> now a very large number of references to TFE on the
> internet. Thus, the message is spreading far, and wide
> reaching many thoughtful people. Sometimes, feedback
> occurs.
>
>
> One innovation which may appear in an updated version
> of the present TFE essay is that retail, and trade
> pricing could remain unregistered by the Inflation
> Control Authority(ICA) replacing the Inland Revenue.
> However, price rigistration for the RAW MATERIALs
> which make up products could be mandatory instead.
> Thus, most trade, and retail prices would freely rise,
> or fall without any kind of legal registration
> requirement. Ofcourse, taxation, and interest would
> not exist in the future.
>
> There are also a  number of other  evolving ideas
> concerned with high flexibility pricing, and these
> could be developed in consultation with certain
> economists, and IT experts.
>
>
> R.Searle

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