[GJM] Paula Gloria and Robert Ashford!!

[Steve Consilvio]

Robert Ashford states that "once you understand that capital creates  
its own capital," and that using computers has made it easier to make  
money.  This is true, but not new.  The "counting rooms" that were  
occupied by Scrooge, etc., have become modernized.  It is the same  
counting that has always existed.  Most people know this is true  
already, but they think it is a "good" thing.  (They are not ignorant  
of the fact, as he implies.)  They get their 5% interest payment from  
the bank, and wish they had the ability to make more unearned  
income.  In fact, people save their "nest eggs" specifically for that  
"capital creating capital" to occur.  (Marx was such a dolt he stated  
that it was unimportant and swept it under the rug, focusing instead  
on who owns the shovel.  Henry George focused on the dirt, and  
ignored the shovel.)

Binary Economic promises to "count different," (focusing on the  
numbers) but it is still counting and following the same paradigm of  
economic thought that exists currently (private property, centralized  
government control, overlords who "know best," etc.)  The college  
professors don't use a shovel (Ashford's example) any better than the  
people manning the counting rooms.  The difference is that the  
college professors sell their words, whereas Scrooge sells numbers.   
(I sell shovels.  Everyone sells something!)  The "greed" issue  
(manipulating money) goes back to a much older argument: the one  
between Socrates and the Sophists.  The Sophists (like college  
professors, priests, stock advisors, reporters, etc) would sell their  
words, Socrates did not.  While the Sophists were anti-slavery, they  
were similarly "pro-marketplace," (pro-selling.)  They thought  
everyone should be equal in the marketplace.

Binary economics has a strong echo of this belief, and the equally  
proud claim that men are wise enough to govern themselves.  Again,  
Socrates did not put such faith in the minds or habits of men.  He  
believed in God and held virtue, not the marketplace (economic  
theory) as what was necessary to create a virtuous society.  Binary  
economics, like all of economic thought, attempts to claim that a  
virtuous society is possible without virtuous men.  This is the root  
of the oxymoron.  The separation of church and state has essentially  
codified this idea into law, with the resulting ad nauseam debate  
over which economic theory is "right," (see recent presidential  
debates) when in fact they are all inevitably wrong.  We have at this  
point tried them all; if you read enough history, you will see that.   
Binary Economics is similar to the Diocletian reforms of the third  
century, sans a computer, of course.

The solution is not in what the government "should" do, the solution  
is in what the individual should do.  The government is simply a  
reflection of the beliefs of the individuals.  If the people lack  
virtue, then the government will be incompetent.  If the people are  
virtuous, then they don't need the government.  The wise don't need  
to be led, and the unwise cannot be led.

While it is not easy to lead a virtuous life, it is important to know  
the difference between virtue and folly, otherwise we track in the  
wrong direction, and make things worse instead of better.  Every  
individual already has the power to improve society, they are simply  
unaware or unwilling to do so.  The unwilling will reap their own  
reward, but the unaware are up for grabs.

What we need is an American divestiture movement.  The nonsense of  
"socially responsible investing," "green investing," endowments of  
universities, UPlan's and interest-bearing savings account for  
children all teach the "counting room logic," of Scrooge.  The  
winners embrace the same habits as the losers.  The issue isn't  
whether we use computers to do the counting, the issue is habit of  
counting.  Binary Economics extends this ignoble tradition, it does  
not limit it.

Think of economics as a math equation.  There are an infinite number  
of wrong answers, but only one right answer.  Zero is the perfect  
number.  Zero represents nothing and the whole.  Everybody can afford  
zero.  Our problem is not creating and distributing goods, the  
perpetual problem has been the math we use.  Capital creates capital  
whether it is interest, taxes, profits or donations.  All involve  
counting, and counting eclipses the true nature of creation, sharing  
and cooperating.  We cannot "count" our way to happiness, but we can  
count our way into misery.

To those who believe that Binary Economics has promise, please, "Stop  
Counting, and look at the math instead!"  The math of 2+2=5 is  
everywhere, in everyone's finances.  The application of "value" to a  
good is the problem.  We cannot be "do better," that which should not  
be done at all.

peace,
Steve Consilvio
www.behappyandfree.com


On SundayJan 6, 2008, at 2:00 PM, discussion- 
request at globaljusticemovement.net wrote:

>      Paula Gloria talks to Robert Ashford on Binary
> Economics on another of her You Tube contributions on
> the same subject!! I do not know whether Rodney has
> seen any of this yet. I assume he has but is
> maintaining a "dignified" silence...
>
>>
>>  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LB433xWc3tw
>>

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