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The Social Dividend SPECIAL

EDITION
u 33. Do you propose that the Social Credit Dividend The use of the word “progressively” implies two
will correct the lack of purchasing power? things once a Dividend is established:
Yes! Since maintaining an adequate volume of 1. An increase in the volume of production ir-
For the Triumph of the Immaculate
production no longer requires all available workers an respective of the work done by producers, and
62nd Year. No. 399 March/April 2018 4 years: $20.00
increase in the Social Dividend would make up for the 2. Progress in the way we understand society.
decrease in wages and salaries. An Efficient Financial System
The former refers to material progress, which is
34. Did you say that the sum of salaries will go down? expanding and will continue to expand, unless a catas-
At the Service
Major Douglas, the founder of Social Credit stated: trophe takes human knowledge back by centuries. The
Of Producers and Consumers
“The distribution of cash credits to individuals latter refers to social progress. The teaching of Social
shall be progressively less Credit contributes to social
dependent upon employ- progress while the finan-
ment. That is to say that cial reforms of Social Cred-
the dividend shall pro- I.M.F. it would enhance it.
gressively displace the 36. Would this harm the
wage and salary, as pro- motivation of produ-
ductive capacity increases cers?
per man-hour.” Douglas wrote that
31
Douglas contended producers have two types
this because the contribu- PRODUCTIVE POWER of incentives today:
tion of commonly-owned 1. Income; and
assets accounts for a
greater part of production 2. The pleasure of
while labour accounts for transforming natural re-
a correspondingly smaller sources.
and smaller part. In a Social Credit
If the notion of com- And they still hesitate to change the wheel! economy, the first incen-
monly-owned capital had tive would be less import-
been better understood ant and the second would
and applied in 1917, when the concept was developed dominate. As less human labour is required in modern
by Douglas, the total amount of wages would have production environments, the more that competency
gone down instead of up as the number of hours and good client service could take hold. Everyone
worked decreased. Meanwhile, Social Dividends would benefit from the fruits of production. According
would have grown considerably to everyone’s satis- to Douglas, we would enjoy a society in which there
faction. Taken together, wages and dividends would was “an aristocracy of producers at the service of a
allow the distribution of all the goods needed in meet- democracy of consumers.”
ing real needs. 37. Could the Social Dividend become more import-
ant than wages?
Instead, producers, wage earners and owners
veered from conflict to conflict. Eventually they in- When production is owed more and more to
creased their respective incomes and added to their progress and less and less to human labour, purchas-
wages and profits that which should have been dis- ing power must originate more from “free money” and
tributed as Dividends to each member of society. This less from wages. If production was completely auto-
theft of the Social Dividend owed to everyone added mated, and if no wages were distributed, products
into prices what ought to have been free. We can char- would need to be purchased using free money alone.
acterize this as robbery. The resulting inflation has We are headed in that direction and so free money
satisfied no one — not the thieves nor the victims. should be placed into consumers’ hands. If not, the
35. What did Douglas mean by “progressively dis- financial system is not consistent with the facts of
place...”? progress.
Over time, the volume of production depends less 38. Would this not revolutionize the production sys-
and less on workers’ efforts and more and more on tem?
progress, applied science and the advancement of No, there would be no need to drastically change
machinery and techniques, including the increase in production methods. It is distribution which lags be-
the use of non-human sources of energy, such as elec- hind. Only a sound social entity with authority over
trical, steam, oil and gas, etc. money can guarantee efficient distribution. It is soci-
3 Douglas, C.H. Monopoly of Credit, Bloomfield Books, 1979, ety’s duty to organize a more efficient distribution sys-
p. 151. https://alor.org/Library/Douglas%20CH%20-%20Monopo- tem in which no one will be left behind.
ly%20of%20Credit.pdf

40 MICHAEL May/June/July 2019 www.michaeljournal.org