Page 20 - Michael August 2021

Economic Democracy in Brief

“The Economic Democracy dividend is
the recognition of everyone’s right to life.
Each person has a fundamental right to a

share of earthly goods.” – Louis Even

by Louis Even power depends on the money found in the hands of
consumers who have needs to satisfy.
Little else than human labour at their disposal, Economic Democracy presents a well thought
the power of animals, and a few simple tools con- out plan to fill the gap, on an ongoing basis, between
sisted in producing enough goods to sustain them- the prices of products and the money consumers
selves. Real poverty, scarcity, was a constant threat. have in their hands to buy the products meant for
In the twentieth century, with a continent open to their use. This system leaves both inflation and de-
progress, with the forces of nature and of applied flation out, but it maintains a mathematical equilib-
science at our disposal, the immediate problem is to rium between production and purchasing power. It
find the way to distribute an abundant production. subdues money and puts it to the service of man. It
The presence of an abundance of goods already real- forces it to fulfil its function: the financing and dis-
ized, or easily realizable, should confer to all men the tribution of production, the satisfaction of consumer
following political rights in the economic domain: needs to the extent that the resources of nature and
1) Life — The right for each individual to obtain industry will allow.
the necessities of life, food, clothing, lodging, without In its propositions, Economic Democracy embra-
having to resort to public charity. ces doing away with poverty, with the social guaran-
2) Freedom — The right for each individual to tee of the individual’s economic security.
choose the kind of occupation he is best suited for, No one will deny that the country is able to produce
instead of being compelled to accept such work as enough goods so as to provide an honest subsistence
he can find. to each and everyone. The physical possibility exists;
3) Pursuit of happiness — The right for each only the financial possibility is lacking. Finance does not
individual to leisure that he would be free to use in serve the people, and this is where a remedy is needed.
accordance with his personal initiative in material, As Henry Ford pointed out, the products are there, but
aesthetic, intellectual or spiritual activities. the dollars to buy the products are not. The producers
The possibility of guaranteeing these rights rests of goods fulfil their role, but the producers of dollars
on the undeniable capacity that now exists of produ- do not. Admirable techniques are used in production,
cing all the goods and services required to guarantee but there is none in the monetary system. The great
these rights while using only a fraction of the human American industrialist added: The monetary system is
labour that is now available. outdated, inefficient, and it is high time it be changed.
What is Economic Democracy? Wealth
Economic Democracy, also called Social Credit Money is not wealth; it is only a title to wealth.
— not the system of control and espionage currently Wealth comes from human or mechanical labour ap-
applied in Communist China, but the financial pro- plied to the natural resources. We are not short of
posals of Scottish engineer Clifford Hugh Douglas wealth here; there could be much more wealth since
conceived in 1917 — is a movement, whose goal is there is much human and mechanical labour not be-
to allow consumers to benefit from the entire pro- ing used. Money comes from the makers of money,
duction capacity of useful goods. Unemployment, of and because there is a shortage of it, or since it is not
which people suffer today, is not the result of the sat- where it ought to be, since the titles to wealth are
uration of consumer needs, nor of the exhaustion of lacking, the wealth is not sold, production comes to a
the productive resources, but results only from the stop, poverty reigns amidst plenty.
non-distribution of products and services. Money is made up of metal coins, of bank notes,
Production goes ahead only in accordance with and of bank credits and deposits that are put in circula-
the orders it receives. The orders are limited by tion by our signing cheques. Today, cheques account
the consumers’ purchasing power. This purchasing for more than 95 percent of business transactions.

20 MICHAEL August/September 2021 www.michaeljournal.org