Page 12 - Michael Journal March 2020

u dividends on capital investments, gifts and inherit- other in a ratio to yield the most favourable result.
ances. The money thus distributed does not reach all The incentive to produce must be preserved and
members of society. Another means must be intro- goods must reach those who need them. This ratio
duced which will allow each person to obtain a share remains to be practically determined but must allow
of the goods available. This is one reason why Social all members of society, whether gainfully employed
Credit advocates that a periodic Dividend be issued or not, to access a sufficient amount of goods to fur-
to each person, from birth to death. nish an honest subsistence.
Solving conflicts in the workplace Work: an end or a means?
Many of the conflicts that arise in the workplace The goal of agriculture, industry and production,
are because salaries and wages are not sufficient for as a whole, is to create products, not to provide em-
workers to obtain the goods needed to sustain their ployment. Production is at its apex when it creates
own and their families’ lives. Hence, there is a de- the most goods with the least effort, thus allowing
mand for higher wages. Yet, each salary increase re- the population to enjoy freely chosen activities which
sults in an increase in the price of products that leads are neither paid nor materially rewarded. Social
to an even greater insufficiency of purchasing power. Credit rejects full employment and instead insists
Social Credit solves this problem through a Nation- on full income! Social Credit disentangles income
al Dividend that increases the purchasing power of from work. In other words, work is not an end in itself
each citizen without adding to costs. Additionally, but only a means to create products. If the end, i.e.
the Adjusted Price mechanism lowers prices without products, can be attained without work, then work
negatively affecting producers. becomes obsolete. The mechanism by which prod-
Production must be oriented to the consumer and ucts are claimed is money. After products are manu-
everyone’s basic needs must first be met. For this, factured and await distribution, it is money, not work,
that must be our focus.
consumers must have a mechanism to pass on their
demands to the system of production. Social Credit Money, a social instrument
provides this mechanism via the National Dividend, Since money is a claim to the goods and services
which guarantees a regular income to all consumers derived from a nation’s public and private sources of
and thus ensures consumers have effective demand. production it must be considered a social instrument.

Progress displaces labour Society, through its government, must rule over the
Mechanization, the application of science and creation, volume and circulation of money and credit.
Social Credit would entrust these functions to a Na-
improved techniques serve to increase the volume tional Credit Office, responsible to elected represent-
of products while decreasing labour’s contribution atives, whose mandate would include the adaptation
to production. In other words, more products are of finance to the facts of production and consump-
manufactured by fewer workers. Another means of tion.
distributing purchasing power must be devised to ac-
count for machinery’s replacement of labour during Governments must refrain from assuming re-
the course of production: Social Credit advocates the sponsibilities that individuals or lesser associations
distribution of a National Dividend to all, whether em- and groupings can accomplish. The systems of pro-
ployed in production, or not. duction and consumption must enjoy the maximum
freedom compatible with properly understood social
Modern production is primarily a factor of natural order and prosperity. Social Credit rejects govern-
resources, social organization and applied science ment interference in production, transportation, sales
rather than a function of individuals’ labour. We con- and/or delivery activities. The National Credit Office
sider these factors “commonly owned capital”. This would not interfere with production or consumption;
very productive common capital must entitle each rather, it would account for what is produced and
and every citizen to a Dividend. The Dividend is not a consumed. Based on these calculations, it would de-
gift but an entitlement. Social Credit recognizes that duce the amount issued to citizens as a National Divi-
“All men, upon entering into the world, could effect- dend and as subsidies for the Price Adjustment on
ively enjoy, in some way, the condition of being an retail goods. Social Credit places finance at the ser-
heir of the preceding generations” (Jacques Maritain, vice of production and consumption, not vice-versa.
Integral Humanism). Social Credit would not interfere in the manner
As long as production requires human effort, in which individuals spend their money. One could
work must be rewarded. While advocating for a uni- choose to save money and spend it at a later date, for
versal Dividend distributed to every person, Social instance. Savings, however, must not cause products
Credit recognizes that wages or salaries will be paid to accumulate and result in unemployment as is the
to every employed person. case today. Instead, savings would benefit the entire
Wages and Dividends must complement each community by allowing access to unsold products

14 MICHAEL January/February 2020 www.michaeljournal.org