Page 11 - A Social Dividend: An Income Guaranteed to Each Citizen

the concept was developed by
Douglas, the total amount of
wages would have gone down
instead of up as the number of
hours worked decreased. Mean-
while, Social Dividends would
have grown considerably to
everyone’s satisfaction. Taken
together, wages and dividends
would allow the distribution of
all the goods needed in meeting
real needs.
Instead, producers, wage
earners and owners veered
from conflict to conflict. Eventu-
ally they increased their respect-
ive incomes and added to their
wages and profits that which
should have been distributed as The present banking system resembles the golden calf
Dividends to each member of so- of old; we are its servants and slaves. The Social Dividend
ciety. This theft of the Social Divi- would access for us our cultural heritage and make us free.
dend owed to everyone added In a Social Credit economy, the first incentive
into prices what ought to have been free. We can would be less important and the second would
characterize this as robbery. The resulting inflation dominate. As less human labour is required in
has satisfied no one — not the thieves nor the vic- modern production environments, the more that
tims. competency and good client service could take
35. What did Douglas mean by “progressively dis- hold. Everyone would benefit from the fruits of
place...”? production. According to Douglas, we would
Over time, the volume of production depends enjoy a society in which there was “an aristocracy
less and less on workers’ efforts and more and of producers at the service of a democracy of con-
more on progress, applied science and the advan- sumers.”
cement of machinery and techniques, including 37. Could the Social Dividend become more
the increase in the use of non-human sources of important than wages?
energy, such as electrical, steam, oil and gas, etc. When production is owed more and more to
The use of the word “progressively” implies progress and less and less to human labour, pur-
two things once a Dividend is established: chasing power must originate more from “free
1. An increase in the volume of production ir- money” and less from wages. If production was
respective of the work done by producers, and completely automated, and if no wages were dis-
2. Progress in the way we understand society. tributed, products would need to be purchased
using free money alone.
The former refers to material progress, which
is expanding and will continue to expand, un- We are headed in that direction and so free
less a catastrophe takes human knowledge back money should be placed into consumers’ hands.
by centuries. The latter refers to social progress. If not, the financial system is not consistent with
The teaching of Social Credit contributes to so- the facts of progress.
cial progress while the financial reforms of Social 38. Would this not revolutionize the production
Credit would enhance it. system?
36. Would this harm the motivation of producers ? No, there would be no need to drastically
Douglas wrote that producers have two types of change production methods. It is distribution
incentives today: which lags behind. Only a sound social entity with
authority over money can guarantee efficient dis-
1. Income; and tribution. It is society’s duty to organize a more ef-
2. The pleasure of transforming natural resour- ficient distribution system in which no one will be
ces. left behind.

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