[GJM] Is Money Obsolete?

[Steve Nieman]

I agree with Dan,

The root of all evil is NOT money, IF (and this is an important  
word), we properly set up how we administer and distribute money and  
credit.  We being government, because that's one of the geniuses of a  
central government –– it can do what individuals by themselves cannot.

That's why corporations are important.  By coming together,  
individuals can own and benefit from expensive productive capital  
assets that they could not afford to buy on their own.  Again, the  
important matter is to be sure corporate governance is set up  
democratically AND keeping in mind what Dan points out –– provisions  
to counter the bad people, loafers, free-riders, the people who want  
something for nothing.  In a well run corporation, everybody  
connected to it has an important role, and they must execute their  
duty properly.

At Downwind Corp, the entity that I set up with a few other people ––  
we are trying some things that have been discussed in various Global  
Justice Movement arenas, on this discussion board as well as on the  
numerous COG boards at Kent State.  Such as, offering our  
stakeholders transactional cost interest to become owners of our  
assets over time.  Aiming for break even even though we are a for- 
profit S corp; in other words, offering access to our assets by labor  
and what we produce by our customers at cost.  Why the need to  
generate a *profit*?  As long as we can pay our expenses, we're a  
going concern.  Growth?  We borrow money for that (we're trying to  
set up innovative ways to do that too).

Not having to generate an additional 5-10% on our *capital* is huge.   
Our company has a profit sharing program that pays to our  
*workcustmers* (which is what we have dubbed our stakeholders, a  
combining of worker and customer roles, which recognizes their  
interdependency), but why not produce and consume at cost?   
Generating all that additional profit money and paying it back, we  
figure, is a wasted step.  Plus people can use that money NOW to live  
their lives.

The tools are all here.  We don't have to reinvent the wheel.  Many  
of our ancestors were righteous, and tried to set up things as best  
they knew how.  It's just that we've gotten off track here in the  
last 50 years or so.

Evil people don't necessarily work harder.  My wife says they just  
take short cuts that people who try to do things justly don't.  So  
it's easier for them to have more of an affect.  The good people have  
to hang in there and not back down when confronted by evil.  Evil  
people, I've learned, are more scared that most people realize.

Regards,
Steve Nieman,
Interim CEO, Downwind Corp

p.s.  You could *invest* in the Downwind Corp –– but you can't.  Only  
people actively working our assets and consuming our production are  
allowed to be its stockholders.  And we don't sell our shares –– we  
give them to them.  Afterall, it's their wealth creating that makes  
our little company go...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
On Mar 12, 2007, at 11:20 AM, Dan Parker wrote:

> Thanks for the great poem Richard. For money,
> experiments in Russia on a large scale and Israeli (kibbutzim)
> on a small scale, show that it is too early to eliminate
> the accounting of money from a sociological perspective.
>
> Kibbutzim members would leave their air conditioners
> going all day, waste tons of food etc. because they were
> not held personally responsible (until reforms fixed this).
>
> Remember, all it takes is one to ruin things, even if the
> great majority are inwardly driven to do the right thing.
> That one person leads to the old 80/20 split, where 20%
> of the people end up doing 80% of the work.
>
> This could well be a reminder that accounting (and the
> symbol of money) will always be necessary from
> an environmental perspective (basic 'tragedy of the
> commons' stuff).
>
> Regards
> Dan