Page 19 - Michael Journal 2020 March

Restore to the People the Control of their own Wealth

by Louis Even aid of others since modern production is essentially
a co-operative affair. Its effectiveness depends upon
Master or vassal? 1 the vibrancy of life in the community, upon the co-
If the owner of a house could neither enter nor ordinated work of men living together and engaged
leave it without first asking and paying for permission in a diversity of activities, and upon the existence of
from a privately owned institution to do so, would he, consumers without whom production is without pur-
in fact, be the master of his house? If he could not till, pose.
sow or harvest his fields without first obtaining and Herein, Real Credit is truly a social credit which
paying for permission to do so from this same institu- should be oriented to ensuring that society can mo-
tion, his title of lord and owner of his property would bilize its productive capacity in order to meet the
mean nothing. He would not be a property owner but needs of its population. Moreover, the community
a vassal of the overlord institution. is not simply an abstract concept but is rather com-
In other articles, we have discussed that the pro- prised of individuals. Accordingly, the community
ductive capacity of a country represents community should be able to direct the productive machinery to
wealth. Douglas called this Real Credit, for it is the produce what is needed and wanted. All should be
basis of the confidence we have that the nation can able to obtain some share of its fruits.
support its citizenry. Real Credit is as large as is the As Pope Pius XII stated in a radio message on
country's capacity to furnish promptly, efficiently, and June 1, 1941: “The national economy, which is the
completely all that is necessary to meet the personal fruit of men working together in common tends to no
and public needs of the population. other end than to ensure, without interruption, those
However, this productive capacity, which is material conditions under which the individual life of
the fruit of life in society (which is a composite of each citizen can most fully be developed.”
present-day achievement and the tremendous herit-
age of knowledge and perfected techniques handed Who should control credit?
down to us from previous generations), cannot be Since Financial Credit, money, is the accepted
utilized to society’s benefit unless a very complex tool to command production, money should belong
and diversified system of activities is set in motion. to the community and its members, just as does the
The instrument which sets these activities in motion productive capacity of the country.
is money. Money, or Financial Credit, might be called Who should have mastery over this tool of giv-
the control lever which sets in motion and guides ing direction to producers? Logically, it is those who
production. have wants and needs, since the purpose of the pro-
Currently, the people of the nation are not the ductive system is to fill wants and needs.
masters of this control lever. We are obliged to leave Both public and private needs and wants exist.
the machinery of production running at only a fraction Direction to fill private needs and wants should come
of its capacity — and this in the face of great and grow- from individuals and families. It is not the business of
ing want — or, we must go to a private institution and any agency or public institution to decide what the in-
pay for permission to use this productive machinery dividual should seek in the realm of food, clothing and
to meet our needs and wants. This is very much like lodging. It is individuals themselves who know their
the homeowner we cited above, or the farmer culti- needs best. For public needs, direction should come
vating the fields. The people are vassals to a private from the public agency mandated for this purpose.
institution, that is, to the privately owned banking sys-
tem. Money originates in a bank and cannot be had A well-ordered monetary system
without plunging into debt those to whom it is given. Since the productive capacity of a country is com-
Varied ownership, yet a national good mon property it should somehow or other be placed
at the service of all, and not be monopolized by any
The means of production can be owned by an particular individuals or groups. It is the work of so-
individual, a co-operative, a company, a public ciety and its monetary system to establish this end.
agency or another type of legal entity. Regardless of This is another way of saying that every citizen,
the owner, because of the complexity of productive as a member of society, should be permanently en-
methods, it remains sterile if it cannot count on the
abled with a certain sum of money which will make
1 The term ‘vassal’ originated with the emergence of it possible for him to obtain from the productive sys-
feudalism during the Medieval era of the Middle Ages. tem what he wishes. The productive system will sup-
They were expected to pay for the land by providing ply his needs and, in this way, each individual will
services to their immediate lord. contribute to directing the country's production sys-

20 MICHAEL March/April 2020 www.michaeljournal.org