Dear Douglas and friends all, Douglas' fine outcomes need a suitable 'process' (or 'mechanism') for their delivery. I suggest that this process needs to be based upon a co-operative mode (since competitive/conflict modes necessarily deliver poorer relationships than cc-operative modes.) >>>> At the end of this posting, <<<<< I've put a seven-point economic plan to achieve a co-operative commonweal for folk to discuss - particularly with their young folk (after the turkey ??!!) ( I'd be glad to hear comments - particularly about relationships that this plan fails to identify and/or nurture.) Hugs to all, j ******* ---------- >From: "Douglas P. Wilson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: FW -- a solution? >Date: Fri, Dec 24, 1999, 6:11 AM > > > If added to the Tentative Typology of Solutions mine would read: > > Make the world a better place, then use the other solution types. > > That may seem unrealistic, futile, annoying, or crazy, but I do have > a very specific plan for making the world a better place, and it's > that plan I was referring to when a mentioned a Genuine Solution. > > It starts with a simple idea: > > The key idea is to make it easy to find and maintain strong social > relationships and other parts of a good social environment. ************************* Co-operative Socialism - A Plan of Action o Convert competitive activities into worker co-operative partnerships and remodel monopoly activities as stakeholder co-operatives, (see points two and five for the funding mechanism for this); o Redistribute 'added-value' from these co-operatives, through nationally-collected corporate taxation, distributed into local, democratically-controlled Community Banks, thus making money available for wealth creation and community development, (and the conversions referred to above); o Maximise necessary service provision (health, education, libraries, transport (?) etc) on a free-at-the-point-of-use basis, retaining (initially?) money as a mechanism for access to discretionary purchases. o Introduce guaranteed income maxima and minima for all, and, so, abolish personal taxation; o Abolish money-lending for profit, operating banking and financial services as a Public Service, 'National Wealth Service' (see point two above); o Reintroduce international exchange controls as necessary; o Make capital grants (not loans) to developing countries. In brief, transforming money - from master to servant - provides the way of converting planet-trashing capitalism into locally-controlled, sustainable, ethical co-operatives, each operating according to the 'Seven Co-operative Principles' of The International Co-operative Alliance, all working inter-dependently to deliver sustainable, 'responsible stewardship' of the earth - for the long-lived well-being of all. Dr John Courtneidge 13 North Road Hertford SG14 1LN <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 01992 501854 ************ Anti-copyright applies - please feel fully free to share with others. More hugs j *************