Economics of Reciprocity
IMO, what we need is a new economic theory, one based on, and resurrects that most ancient of principles, the Golden Rule AKA The Ethic of Reciprocity. We need to reframe this whole debate about of economics in these old but universal terms.
I draw upon my own understandings and Frank Cocozelli's research, the wisdom of one of the best known persons of my parents generation, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR, as he was known, in 1944, presented to the world an Economic Bill of Rights. Briefly summarized, FDR, said we should all have; remunerative employment, food, clothing and recreation, a decent income for farmers, business free from unfair competition, a decent home, adequate health care, freedom from the fears of old age, sickness, accident and unemployment and a good education. To him all of these spelled security.
Going beyond FDR, I believe we should provide all members of the global human family guarantees of the basic four needs; physical, emotional, mental and spriritual. Being by divine edict first spiritual beings, if we get the spritual right the other three will be assured.
From this I see the economics of reciprocity providing:
.Food, an adequate daily caloric intake for every human being.
.Clean water, safe to drink and sufficient in supply to irrigate crops,
.Clear air, free from pollutants that endanger health.
.Decent housing, adequate to climatic conditions.
.Clothing, adequate to climatic conditions.
.Health care, adequate to provide basic health needs.
.Education, that empowers all individuals to achieve their full potential.
.Sanitation, that provides a healthy environment in which to grow and prosper.
.Transportation, both personal and for business to transport goods to market.
.Employment, adequate to supply basic needs, that respects and encourages individual initiatives.
.Religious freedom, that respects the wisdom of all cultures.
.Cultural preservation, that assures continuation of ancient wisdom from all sources.
.Free and fair markets for all goods, free from unequal competition.
I want to explore a deeper concept here. Income sources should be fully capable of providing basic individual and family needs and offers the opportunity to provide a valuable service to others. Need this, provide that. Free will expressed consistent with equal responsibilty and reward for the consequences of our initiatives.
This income would be based on basic daily caloric needs. For children it would be one level, adolescents a higher level and for adults the highest level. Add to this an equation that measures the amount of hourly expenditure of calories an individual can generate.
How many calories are required for basic physical labor, how much for mental labor and adequately compensate and individual for their expenditure. For those actions that involve greater initiative and assume higher responsibilities, such as generation of capital or supervision of labor there is a higher risk factor, therefore a greater level of compensation is in order.
This caloric basis is just the beginning of an idea. As most good ideas exist in some form, i.e. there's really little new under the sun, I suspect this idea has been forwarded by someone before, so I'd like to hear what others think of the idea and offer some sources to further explore it.
From the economics of reciprocity I believe we can develop a sound progressive Christian economic policies paper, one simple enough to be understand by the public and one that can be implemented by carefully crafted legislative edicts that many, if not, most of our elected officals and candidates for office can embrace.
Peace and prosperity,
Rich
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Reciprocity and the Super Rich
IMJ, one of the policies a Christian economic paper should foster is the whole idea that the super rich use the resources of many individuals, gaining their voluntary cooperation by offering them an incentive such as a high wage or high return on their investment via stock offerings or by gaining the value of their energies by involuntary means such as physical enslavement, or by imposing unfair means such as restricting access to the source of employment which results in the payment of low wages and unhealthy, even dangerous working conditions.
To counter this individuals must band together in numbers sufficiently large enough to counter the multiplied power of the super rich. This can be done most effectively by employing the power of government or to a lesser degree by banding together in unions (which of course needs government protection). The rule of reciprocity involves two basic concepts; reward for initiative expended i.e. free will, and responsiblity for the consequences of the use of free will.
Because the super rich use the resources of publically supported services such as public transit of the goods they produce eg. natural resources such as oil and coal, and are protected by the services of government in the form of agencies of diplomacy, agencies of military force and the like, society as a whole should "bill' them for services supplied in the form of taxes. As I have said before the principle of reciprocity demands that "Those who benefit the most, should pay the most".
They thus must compensate publically supported services in direct proportion to the benefit from the services received.
Add to this the concept that the natural resources of a nation are the property of the public as a whole, and thus must be utilized for the benefit of the whole and you have an enlightened economic policy. Reward individuals and companies for energies employed to develop the resources in the form of profits received and simultaneously compensate the public for it's investments in the form of royalities paid. These royalities should then be used for the benefit of the whole of society. This, of course, is allowed only by the consent of the public to allow the exploitation where and when it benefits the whole of society.
The best counter to the tendencies of the super rich to exploit the energies of the majority of society is an adequate education. As the Bible says you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Only by open revelation of the services offered and received can a free society, both individally and collectively, function for the maximum benefit of the whole.
A Beautiful Vision
Thanks for presenting this beautiful vision, Rich. It summarizes the best parts of the New Deal vision that did so much to create a decent life for hundreds of millions of Americans. But I have to ask, "What will motivate the ruling elite to implement such a policy?" In the words of Frederick Douglass, there is no progress without struggle because the owner class will not give up its privileges voluntarily. The New Deal and the policies of Franklin Roosevelt are an excellent illustration of this point. Roosevelt started out as a fiscal conservative who wanted to shrink the size of the government. Only when he was confronted with a large, active, and militant labor movement and an economic catastrophe did he begin to envision the policies you lay out so compellingly in this post. Currently, the income gap between the top 1% and the rest of the country is greater than any time since the 1920's. Do you think the owners will agree to reduce their incomes so that we can have these guarantees of basic needs? Congress and the executive branch are firmly in the pocket of the wealthy, so who will pass the laws to guarantee these rights?
Motivating the Rich
Thank you for your question, you anticipated my next point.
While the rich seem to be impervious to the needs of the poor, in actuality they are just as tied to the whole as the rest. Here is where the love of money gets them in trouble, they think they don't need the poor, in fact think the poor are a deterimment. I read a day or so ago that the hedge fund managers are now having to adjust their lifestyles, down sizing in order to meet their obligations. It's the super rich that need to be shown how they are also tried to the whole. I see that T. Boone Pickens is hustling wind power as one of the best future energy sources. Has he seen the light? If he has, maybe others will also.
Bill Gates is giving away much of his fortune, much as Carnegie and Ford did. Sir John Templeton devoted the last years of his life to things spiritual. Nature (in terms of air pollution and the Olympic Games) is forcing the Chinese to see how they are a part of the whole, so don't give up hope.
We need the super rich to generate capital, but in a socially responsible manner. As the current housing bubble bust shows, no one is immune. If the banks go under, or national treasury notes become less valuable or worthless, the super rich suffer also. All it takes, as we now see, is one major blow to the world economy to demonstrate to everyone how interconnected, interactive and interdependent the world is.
When one major blow comes, with it comes an opportunity for the government to make serious changes. As the Chinese symbol for crisis tells us, crisis also incoporates the symbol for opportunity. Here, in the current housing-energy-world food crisis we have an opportunity to make lasting change. All it takes is the vision and the courage to make the change.
Some ask why do we need a major crisis to make needed corrections. Simple. If change came too easily world stability would be jeopordized. We need to move forward but in a responsible manner. That's the eternal progressive-conservative cosmic dance. Progress while conserving stability.
Peace,
Rich