Page 8 - Michael 2024 January

From Debt to Prosperity

Here are excerpts from the booklet “From Debt to performs its function of distributing goods and servi-
Prosperity”, written by J.-Crate Larkin of Buffalo, in the ces for consumption, in that nation prosperity and
United States, which explains the proposals of Social permanent economic security will be achieved, and
Credit, or Economic Democracy. It was this book that poverty, paralyzing debt, and depression banished.
changed the course of Louis Even’s life and made him Yet Social Credit is neither Socialism, Fascism,
an ardent propagandist of Social Credit in 1934. (The nor Communism, for it involves no confiscation and
French version was translated by Louis Even.) The full would sacrifice neither the liberty nor property rights
text of this book can be found on our website. of anyone. More than anything else, it means every
by J. Crate Larkin day common sense applied to money
and business.
This booklet outlines briefly the
economic analysis and constructive Should the principles of Social
proposals known as Social Credit. Credit be put into operation today by
These are basically the work of Major the President and Congress of the
Clifford Hugh Douglas (1879-1952), a United States, within six months the
Scottish engineer of broad practical economic security of every American
experience in science, business, and citizen would be won, and the nation
economics. could enjoy the prosperity of plenty
The proposals of Social Credit are warranted by its rich resources.
designed to revive business, to pre- The nature of money
serve private property and the profit We know then that goods are con-
system, to reduce debt, to lower taxes, veyed from producers to consumers
and to provide economic security for by means of money. Money is thus the
every American citizen. Clifford Hugh Douglas connecting link between production
These aims would be accomplished and consumption. It acts as a bridge
by the issuance of purchasing power directly to con- between the desire for goods on the part of the con-
sumers in the form of credit. Three definite practical sumer and their supply on the part of the producer.
steps are required: From this it should be plain that money is some-
1. The establishment in the United States Treas- thing numerical, not a material substance. Money is
ury of a National Credit Account in which the nation not wealth, but a symbol of wealth and a means of
is credited with the production of real wealth and measuring its value. Money gives us a method for
debited with its consumption. applying number values to goods… Money is NOT
2. The sale of all consumers’ goods at the Just a commodity with substance, size and weight, like
Price, by means of a Retail Discount determined by wheat or steel. Thinking about money as a commod-
the true cost of production. ity, such as gold, instead of as a measure of value, has
3. The issuance of monthly Dividends to every caused much of our confusion today.
American citizen. Two kinds of money
Social Credit very properly comes under the head- There are mainly two kinds of money in use today.
ing of “THE NEW ECONOMICS,” which approaches The first of these is currency, or tangible government
our present-day business problems from the practical money which circulates as coins; pennies, nickels,
viewpoint of a civilization equipped with every mod- dimes, quarters, and dollar bills. The second is cred-
ern device of science for satisfying the needs and it money, or bank deposits circulating in the form of
desires of its members. In answer to the problems of cheques.
Poverty and Depression, Social Credit proposes a def- Currency is only the pin-money of business. Cred-
inite solution, the most sensible and least difficult way it money, or cheques (Editor’s note: cheques at the
out of our financial confusion. Social Credit points the time this book was written, but today credit-money
way from depression to permanent economic secur- is essentially electronic money stored on bank cards,
ity, achieved through the true financial valuation of or more recently, on mobile phone applications) is
America’s Real Wealth and the provision of adequate used in practically all large transactions, where coins
buying power to American citizens. or bills are not convenient. In fact, more than 90% of
Social Credit is founded on two propositions: our business is done with credit money.
First, that money must accurately reflect the true We know that currency is issued by the govern-
facts of our real wealth. Second, that in any civilized ment as coins or printed bills, but many people do
nation where the money system reflects the facts and not know just where or how credit money comes into

8 MICHAEL January/February 2024 www.michaeljournal.org