Page 16 - A Social Dividend: An Income Guaranteed to Each Citizen

u both men contribute the same amount of work, We could achieve a civilization of spirituality
they cannot demand different wages from their and the ascent of the soul. A Christian philosopher
employer. If they could, the employer would only called it “a civilization of meditation”. This would be
hire single men and men with small families. The possible for those who wanted it once they were
Dividend solves this problem, since each individ- freed from paid employment.
ual would profit from the Dividend equally. The 61. What if Social Dividends are spent on luxury
head of a family would earn the same wages as his items and superfluous goods?
fellow worker, and while the bachelor would get a
Dividend, plus his wages, the family man would re- Social Credit insists that production must be
ceive as many Dividends as there were people in directed to satisfying needs according to their im-
his home, in addition to his wages. portance. Essential needs would be the first priority
of any production program.
57. What would the Dividend do for farmers? If everyone made their own goods no one
The Dividend would allow for a farm’s products could be blamed if an individual preferred luxury
to be sold and the farmer to make a profit in rec- goods to essential ones. Modern production is not
ognition of his hard work. He could at last consider manufactured by each person nor directed toward
purchasing new farm equipment, fertilizer, live- oneself, however.
stock, etc. It is through using cash credits, or money, that
58. What would it do for the worker? consumers give production its direction. The con-
The national Dividend would safeguard work- sumer expresses his choices by buying products
ers’ dignity. The worker would no longer be forced that suit his needs, and production supplies the
to sell his services for a pittance. The security market by replacing the products that are sold.
against dire need, which is offered by the Dividend, If the consumer lacks purchasing power, he is
would allow people to pursue occupations for no longer able to give direction to producers per-
which they are best suited and society, as a whole, taining to his needs or his preferences. If he does
would gain. not have the power to seek the basics while others
59. Is the productive capacity of most nations suf- have the means to obtain the superfluous, then the
ficient to provide for a Social Dividend that would production system will supply superfluous goods
meet the population’s basic needs? and the production of essential goods will be lim-
The productive capacity of most countries is ited.
generally vast and continues to expand when it With a Social Dividend, all individuals would
does not meet interference. have a minimum of purchasing power that would
It is cruel to deny the satisfaction of basic needs allow them to obtain basic goods. Those who have
when nations have a vast productive capacity be- more purchasing power could always obtain more
cause it is an assault on the right to life; a right rec- goods, but production would first address the
ognized by everyone in society, in theory. Denying meeting of basic needs.
the satisfaction of basic needs is unfair since pro- Once basic needs were taken care of, there
ductive capacity exists. would be no reason to rebel against social inequal-
All it needs to be mobilized are two things: a ities. Different levels of quality of life can exist,
sufficient amount of financial credit to lubricate the but only after a given level of well-being has been
gears of the productive system and enough pur- achieved for all.
chasing power in consumers’ hands so they might In Major C.H. Douglas Speaks, Douglas said:
express their needs effectively. “What are we aiming at? What are we trying to
60. In developed countries, would the Social Divi- get? Well, now, I will put it in a very large general
dend not lead to overproduction? form, as I see it from one point of view. We are en-
No. Social Dividends would end parasitic occu- deavouring to bring to birth a NEW CIVILISATION.
pations that are tremendously wasteful. We are doing something which really extends far
We would learn to seek out activities other than beyond the confines of a change in the financial
for profit alone. We would be less concerned with system. We are hoping by various means, chiefly
financial, to enable the human community to defin-
obtaining our daily bread and could dedicate our- itely step out of one type of civilisation into another
selves to other aspects of life. With the help of a type of civilisation, and the first and basic require-
proper education, we could go from a civilization of ment as we see it, of that, is absolute economic
useless work and waste to a civilization of culture
and art.

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