Larry R. Lawson©2010

To be brief……

Citizens Capitalism is a form of capitalism that takes into account a few things that our present system does not. I’ll just list them and maybe put in a short word or two.

1- All children born into this country inherit, in roughly equal part, the responsible for taking care of it.

2- If we all have fairly equal responsibilities, we are entitled, by any doctrine of fairness, to equal reward.

3- As things stand now, if your ancestors amassed wealth, you can inherit it without ever working a day in your life to earn it.

4- Often the very people who do the real work get the least reward.

5- Modern technology and the off-shoring of North American jobs is necessary to our present capitalist system and cannot/will not be stopped.

6- Modern capitalism brought with it some aspects of previous systems that are harmful to capitalism (although beneficial to a fortunate few within our present form of capitalist system) and are rotting it from the inside out.

7- Our present system cannot be “repaired”. We’ve put so many patches and band-aids on it now that it is unrecognizable. This allows it to be abused almost without restraint by the unscrupulous and greedy.

8- It is desirable that we maintain a capitalistic system. It is the Rolls Royce of economic systems when it is not being abused by the greedy and unscrupulous.

9-Socialism, which appears to be working well in some countries, only does so in a capitalist world. Those countries act, at home, socialistically but they act fully capitalist in international trade. They are “socialist ships” floating in a sea of capitalism. Socialism demands that all members of society be guided by the lowest common denominator – capitalism allows people of talent, ability, drive and determination to soar like eagles.

10- Mankind has the ability to design a form of capitalism to fully suit his needs and wants.

In all previous systems we have merely taken what we have been handed at birth and adapted it to try to meet our needs. It is now time for us to grow up and design an economic/political/social system for ourselves.

We had a time to come out of the caves and start to design and build houses; a time to stop hunting and digging up wild roots or gathering wild fruits and vegetables and begin to organize our food supply by way of husbandry and farming. Just as we have done this, with housing and food, so too can we organize our economic/political/social system to suit our needs and wants.

Humanity tried this with the introduction of communism in the soviet Union. It almost worked. It almost worked because it was carefully and conscientiously planned - not because it espoused communal ownership of darn near everything. Communism is an abomination. Imagine what we could do with “planned capitalism”!!

The worst thing we “brought forward” when we moved naturally into capitalism was direct line inheritance. In a world where competition assumes critical importance it is disastrous for wealth to be inherited in unequal amounts. The danger that this poses to a healthy “competitive” system can be seen by looking at our present situation.

Our wealth, as a society, has been co-opted by a few hundred people by and large. It needs to be re-distributedon a regular and ongoing basis. This is necessary for capitalism to work properly. I have heard it said that each dollar in a well-functioning capitalist system must move about 16 times per year in order for the system to stay healthy. Since about half of the wealth is  locked up in land, plant, equipment, buildings, etc., it might not be possible to move that half at all.

This leaves the other, liquid half, to move at 32 times per year to make up the difference. When it is mostly in the hands of a very few people it doesn’t move like that. It gets locked up and eventually ends up in the hands of bankers. Bankers, necessary as they are, do not produce anything of value to society.

The off-shoring of jobs and the coming further advancements of automation & robotics in manufacturing and even in service occupations, means that, although our society has wealth, the average person, not owning much of it, cannot spend enough of that wealth to keep the economy moving because when machines he doesn’t own, or people in other countries, do the work, he doesn’t have an income to spend.

Traditionally it was necessary to have a business or a job in order to earn the income. The necessity for goods that ensure survival and even comfort would ensure that the money kept moving as it should. Automaton and off-shoring are putting an end to the traditional ways of earning income. It is time to “think outside the box” as we hear people say.

It is not carved in stone that “work” MUST be tied to income. It is certainly not true for the rich who have inherited wealth; why should it be true for the rest of us?

It is also not carved in stone that anyone who has not, and is not, contributing in some way to our society is entitled to inherit any more than a fair share of the wealth of our society.

Citizen Capitalism

1- It is time to disconnect labour from income.

2- It is time to eliminate direct -line inheritance

3- It is time to recognize that ALL of our ancestors, taken together, played an equally important role in developing the wealth of our nation.

4- It is time to adopt a system of equal inheritance by all, not just because it is the right thing to do but because it has been earned – by our ancestors. Not “jointly held” inheritance as in socialism and communism, but as private property. Spendable, sellable, add-to-able, private “birthright” inheritance. Roughly equal among all inheritors. And the inheritors will be every child born into our society. (If you thought that this Citizens Capitalism might somehow allow YOU to personally benefit, forget it.) This we do for our children. For all future children.

This will have the effect of making capitalism once more a system of competition. Fair competition. All runners starting at the same line. Not a few so far ahead that catching up with them is nearly impossible. Not the majority left out of the competition. A fair and equitable “race” for any and all who care to join in. And suitable rewards are once again available. All the money would no longer be locked in bankers vaults, the wealth of our nation co-opted by a few. It would be in circulation. Available to be earned. So those who like that game, and I am one, can still, in fair competition match wits against the rest.

Those who have other talents to offer, such as the arts, the sciences, education, medicine, etc., need not suffer hardship since their birthright inheritance will allow a decent, though not luxurious, standard of living and they’d have plenty of opportunity to earn more. Perhaps of greater importance, their birthright would allow them to gain the education and training necessary for them to follow their particular muse.

Those who amass great fortunes will be applauded and honoured; why not? Their wealth will, upon their death, be circulated back into the society in the form of a birthright inheritance for children yet to be born. A person getting rich will be good for his society. As it should be in a proper “Citizens Capitalism” society.

Copyright©Larry R. Lawson

Economic Meltdown

I take an interest in American economics to some degree since the US dollar is the designated base currency for the worlds banking system. This means that I take some interest in your politics as well – it is pretty much impossible to have an interest in one without also having an interest in the other.

Contrary to what many seem to think, Obama is not, I repeat NOT at fault for any part of the economic meltdown. Neither can he, or his government, do a damn thing about it. Neither could a Republican government. Or a “Green” one. Or a Nader one. Or even a Ross Perot one. The fact is that capitalism, as it is practiced in the world today, is melting down. It is NOT melting down, as was predicted by Marx, because it is unworkable, it is melting down because it brought forward with it, as the world moved from feudalism to capitalism, some of the ‘parts’ of feudalism. Those ‘parts’, while necessary to feudalism, have festered in the core of this particular form of capitalism and this infection has grown over the years to the point where it is today endangering the whole economic system.

These parts of feudalism prevent our form of capitalism from operating as it should. And by that I DO NOT mean “free market” or “laissez faire” capitalism. In order for capitalism to work properly it must, contrary to “Republican” and “Libertarian” thinking, be STRICTLY and TIGHTLY regulated so as to ensure every citizen a truly equal opportunity to advance his own interests and meet his own needs. With 96% of the wealth of North America (Yep, Canada is in this too) being owned/controlled by only 6% of the population, there is NO fair competition, and NO real opportunity for a majority of individuals to prosper. True, there is that small number who manage to do so. Some more by good luck than by good planning and some because they are the brightest of the bright. A proper capitalist system should offer good solid opportunities for ALL citizens without them needing to have IQs in the 130+ range or needing to inherit a huge fortune.

The biggest problem we face is that people have come to believe that our “present system” of capitalism and ultra-right, unregulated, laissez faire capitalism are all that capitalism has to offer. With it becoming more and more obvious that our system is breaking down people are turning towards either laissez faire capitalism or towards socialism in greater and greater numbers. They look at countries like Sweden and Norway and Denmark as examples of successful socialist nations. They are right. Those countries ARE successful socialist nations. BUT, even though those countries are, INTERNALLY socialist, they operate INTERNATIONALLY as capitalist countries in a capitalistworld. In other words, they are socialist ships floating on capitalist seas. Without world capitalism, they’d founder and die in damn short order. So much for the fallacy of socialism.

Because we citizens don’t realize that there are OTHER capitalist systems available to us, we appear ready to throw the baby out with the bath water. We are on the verge of destroying our chance to design a capitalist system made-to-order to suit our needs. Until we realize that this is possible, far too many of us will listen to the siren song of world socialism. Too late will we learn of our mistake.

Don’t get yer shit in a knot over the 2012 elections or any other elections. Neither the Dems nor the Repubs (in Canada: Liberal/NDP and Conservatives) have any answers to the problems we need to solve. They are both 100% committed to the present system. The differences between them are minor and more of a cosmetic nature than of a fundamental nature. The big dust-up between them is only for show. It keeps people focused on their “Punch & Judy Show” instead of paying attention to the REAL problems and becoming involved in a search for REAL solutions.

The goal of the main political parties is to preserve the status quo for the benefit of those who “have all the marbles” already and who want to remain in their positions of wealth and privilege. (Can’t blame them for that – if I were at the top of the heap, I’d want to stay there too!)

The goal of the rest of us should be to make our system, which is the Rolls Royce of systems, work for everybody. Not for just a few at the top, but for everybody. It can be done. Capitalism can do it far, far better than socialism could ever dream of doing it. But it has to be a designed form of capitalism; not the mess we have right now.

I cannot tell you what woke me that night. I know that it was not a loud noise. One wakes up differently to a loud noise. Perhaps it was just the soft sssh of an elderly slippered foot on soft stair carpet. Or perhaps a soft groan had escaped the old woman’s tightly pressed lips as she mounted to the landing where I huddled in an overstuffed chair under the glow of the only light that was ever left on after 10:00pm.

I had been reading. I often spent a few hours, in the quiet of the night, reading under that ancient lamp. It was the best time of the day – I could be alone. “Alone time” was precious in that great country house with its dozens of orphaned children. Days were spent in schooling and the furious dashing about common to children who simply must live an entire lifetime in each day. Loud, incessant noise accompanied every second of our waking day. Until bed-time. Then the noise eased off, quieted, and the house was still.

The old matron who had night duty seldom came upstairs these days. She had become more frail and the long curving stairway from the high-ceilinged, oak panelled, great hall below was a test of her will now that her strength was, with age, leaving her. I saw her glance my way and note my presence. I pretended sleep and watched her through slitted eyes as she paused for breath then moved on silent feet across the landing towards the room that I normally occupied along with the two other eldest children.

I was twelve years old. The other two, Jon and Marion, were fifteen and thirteen respectively. We three had all come to the orphanage on the same day four years ago. All of us brought by our “guardians” after the sudden death of our parents from the flu that had made serious inroads into the population of the cities that year.

We had shared a room ever since. Sometimes there was a fourth person in with us but mostly it was just us three. We each had our own bed but we often shared a bed with one or both of the other two. The nuns who ran the orphanage called it “comforting” each other and did not become overly concerned when we or the other children did it.

As time went on and the children, all initially between the age of six and fourteen, got older, the nuns would move the children from room to room if they noticed any too strong attraction between any of the children in their care.

They had tried to separate us a number of times. For myself, it would have been alright. I didn’t mind being with the other children sometimes. For Jon and Marion it was disaster. One would seek out the other and slip into bed with them no matter where they’d been moved to.

Last year when Jon had turned fifteen the nuns had, as was their custom, turned him out into the world. It didn’t work. Unless locked up, Marion would open a door or window every night to let Jon in. The morning would find them snuggled up comfortably together again. The nuns suspected that their relationship went far deeper than merely ‘comforting’ each other, but they’d never caught them doing anything out of order. Eventually the nuns accepted Jon’s continued presence and assigned him a room with Marion and me again.

I, of course, knew that they two were engaged in “adult comforting” as we called it. They could hardly have kept me in the dark, since I shared a room with them. Yet they had never even tried to do so. In fact, when we were all younger, we had, together, all played those exploratory games that children always play. As time went on and they grew closer and closer, I was left out of their ‘games’. I did not mind this for I had other children my own age to play with. I kept their secret faithfully despite the hard questioning of the nuns at times.  Never had the nuns come sneaking around spying on them though. That wasn’t their style.

Seeing the old matron move toward our bedroom door, I had a premonition that there were about to be some drastic changes to things for Jon and Marion. I had expected something of the kind because tomorrow was Marion’s birthday – her fourteenth. If the nuns allowed her to stay on, it would be the first time they’d ever done so. The boy children went out at fifteen – the girl children went out at fourteen. The boys were expected to make their own way in life – the girls were sent “into service” as trainee maids and other house staff of the wealthy.

Usually as a girl approached fourteen there were great flurries of activity as she was dressed up in her best and interviewed by ‘Lords and Ladies’, as we called them, for a “position” in their households. This had not happened for Marion. I had wondered at this in passing but had not really given it much thought.

Slowly, quietly, the old matron pushed open the heavy, solid door. It had not opened even an inch when I heard the sounds from inside. Jon and Marion were ‘comforting’.

The matron watched for a moment, her face showing no emotion at all. Then a small wet tear trickled down her cheek and she silently pulled the door closed and leaned her forehead upon it. She stayed like that for some time then opened the door again. All was silent. Glancing over her shoulder toward me, as if to be certain that I still slept, the matron moved into the room and closed the door behind her. Knowing that I’d hear nothing through that thick door, I stayed where I was, ready to continue playing at being asleep.

In a short time the door opened again. I could see Jon and Marion, dressed in their best, standing, facing each other, looking into each other’s eyes. Matron, behind them, was closing a large grip. I knew at once that they were leaving the orphanage. I longed to call out to them; to run to them and hug them into staying, but somehow I knew that it wouldn’t happen that way.

Matron, finishing with the grip, grunted softly to let them know all was ready. Marion put up her two hands to the sides of Jon’s face. Looking deeply into his eyes, she tilted his head forward and lightly kissed him on the nose. Pushing his head back a fraction, she then kissed him on the lips. A chaste kiss but a loving one nonetheless. Then she kissed his chin. This seemed to me the most intimate kiss of all for all its innocence, for her lips lingered on his soft skin as though she were tasting him as a bee tastes a drop of honey, delighting in the taste and drawing sustenance from it.

She turned to the matron and nodded. Matron led the way to the stairs; they followed. I watched, wanting more than anything to leap up and shout “No! You cannot go!” Yet I stayed quiet in my pretence of sleep. I saw Marion look my way and felt her stop and look at Jon. Then both came to me. She shook me ‘awake’ and as I opened my eyes, whispered softly, “We have to go now. It is our time.”

My eyes, starting to overflow with tears of loneliness already, I looked up at them in misery. I would miss them greatly. “Are you going to stay together”, I whispered?

“Yes, oh yes, of course”, answered Jon. “Always”, added Marion, “we’re going to be married.” Somehow this made it better and my eyes dried up a little. Marion leaned forward and kissed me softly on the lips. She startled me when I felt her tongue-tip slip into my mouth and touch my own tongue before quickly withdrawing. It had been years since she had kissed me like that; not since we were very young and “practicing kissing”.

Then Jon leaned in and also kissed me. Like Marion he too kissed me on the lips and like Marion he slipped his tongue between my lips and touched my tongue with its tip. His tongue too withdrew quickly. Then they were turning away, hand in hand, and going down that grand staircase for the last time. I sat stunned, watching them go. Somehow I knew that they would indeed always be together. They were – always had been – meant for each other.

I heard the murmured voices of the nuns as they said their good-byes at the foot of the stairs. Then the great door opened and closed and they were gone. I moved over to the top of the stairs and sat looking at that door. The nuns, unaware of my presence, continued chatting.

“A lovely couple”, said one, longing in her voice. “Will they be married soon?”

“Oh yes. This very morning”.

“Did you give her the papers” asked another?

“Yes, she’s Marion White now”.

“Not for long”, chimed in another. “She’ll soon have her family name back. The marriage will take care of that.”

“Do you think we did the right thing”, a worried voice?

“We had no choice. They were going to be together no matter what we did or didn’t do. Tis better they be properly married and have papers to prove it.”

“Ahhh yes”, sighed one, “but if anyone should ever find out that we helped brother to marry sister, we’d be in terrible trouble.”

By: scribblerlarry©2010

To my Christian Friends:

Of all the questions you’ve ever been asked at this time of the year there is one which I’ll bet you have never been asked. Not only that, I’ll bet you’ve never asked it yourself. In fact I doubt that it has even entered your mind.

There is a good reason for that, of course. Christmas is coming up and you have a lot on your mind. The kids are expecting you to buy out Wal-Mart, Radio Shack, and maybe Future Shop as well. Your bank account is telling you that you must choose between a lube & oil change or one of the two new winter tires you need.

That question?

What do you suppose atheists do at Christmas time?

Whaaaat?!! (I can hear you saying).  Where did THAT come from? Hey ….. they’re atheists right ….. who cares what they do at Christmas!! They’re probably out doing Satan’s work somewhere. What do I care?

Well sir, you may not have cared before but now that I have asked the question, I’ll bet you have started to wonder about it. Oh, not much maybe; but a little bit.  So I’m gonna tell ya. Y’see friend, I’m an atheist so I know whereof I speak.

The first thing you should know is that atheists are just like you. They’ve got bills to pay, and kids to raise, and doctor’s appointments to keep. Just like people do. Religious people, that is.

They too are wondering how the heck they are going to afford all the stuff their kids want for Christmas.

Oh ………. I see….

You didn’t think that atheists bought their kids toys at Christmas?  Well, I suppose that there are some who don’t; but most do. Heck we love our kids just like you love yours.

Have you ever seen the look on your child’s face when all their friends are loading up with goodies and your child gets none?  Who could hold out against a look like that? Not me, I assure you. I don’t even want to try.

A tree? Of course! Why not? It makes the old shack look kinda warm and homey. It smells great, and decorating it is a thing we can all do, as a family, together.

If you are anything like me, you probably don’t spend enough time with your kids… Y’know, doing things together.

We both promise ourselves that “one day soon” – “as soon as the pressure is off a little”, we’ll spend more time with them. Long before that day comes we’ll find them “grown and flown”, I’m afraid.

And then, as we age, we’ll wonder if their sense of “family” will be strong enough to bring them home for visits and let them keep us in their lives. If so, we’ll be thankful and humble in their love. If not, we’ll have to admit that we were the ones who set the pattern of “not being there”. A pattern that we cannot, now, blame them for following.

If this seems familiar to you then we are not so different, you and I.

So the answer to the question?—  “pretty much the same as you, my friend, pretty much the same as you.”

I wish you all a very ‘Merry Christmas’ and may you and yours journey through the years ahead in love and happiness.

1- We spend more on education and health care for our population than we do on religion and law enforcement.

2- No one in our society is ever hungry.

3- We forget about trying to be equal as individuals and learn that we are equally human.

4- We do away with a hierarchy wherein some of us are considered ‘higher’ or ‘lower’ than others.

5- Any person exhibiting “self-importance” is considered un-sane.

6- The results of ANY legitimate research are shared with everyone who wants them.

7- Our forms of entertainment do not contain violence.

8- We accept that the pursuit of pleasure is legitimate ONLY when it does not involve harming others.

9- All parts of our planet are open to all the people on the planet without restriction or hindrance.

10- We put “the good of humanity” ahead of “the good of our nation”.