Published in: 1997 Technocracy Digest 1st quarter 1997, No. 323
First of all, you have to understand how all these elements were created. All slyly inserted, was how it was done, and people tolerated them without question, with, what the writer of one of our following articles called, A Gangsterdom of the Spirit. It meant that, even though people knew that many dishonorable and unjust acts were being committed, little by little, against defenseless people, they did not stand up and say “No” to any oppression. They did not use their intelligence to understand that these dishonest acts would eventually invade the whole country, and not only affect them also, but would ruin the country they professed to love. To this day, not much has changed their minds. They still do not understand the driving force that was making them oblivious to the corruption that was taking place. The research that Technocracy did over 60 years ago brought to light that, it was the financial system — the Price System — which governed the thoughts and practices of doing business on this Continent.
No matter that injurious practices are destroying the ecology, with industrial plants shooting billows of pollutants into the air, farmers depleting the soil with chemicals, logging consortiums decimating our tall forests, seepages contaminating pristine waters. Ozone gas is an option for cleaner water with fewer chemicals, but the expense of installing it, is stalling the process. Efforts to cut greenhouse gases have failed, and have even increased by 15 per cent since 1990, due mostly to increased (not less) automobile emissions.
No matter that, with the advance of more and more technology able to do the work of employees, profit dictates the downsizing of jobs, resulting in thousands of people disemployed and, eventually, impoverished.
No matter that, for years, we have seen how the hopelessness of poverty creates criminals. And yet, this hotbed is still germinating crime.
Many people state that they deplore technology; that it is taking their needed jobs. Now, please understand, technology is NOT TO BLAME. IT is not responsible for poverty and its resultant disorder. People still do not seem to realize that it is because most technology has been misused since it was first invented.
Technology misused, however, does create unemployment and poverty. It is making billionaires of only a few people, and leaving the majority impoverished. However, it is the PRICE SYSTEM that dictates the MISUSE of technology.
New technology should have meant the release of everyone from hours of work and arduous toil. It should have meant that, everyone could have enjoyed more leisure time to devote to pleasurable pursuits: the arts, sports, travel, and education. But, the PRICE SYSTEM spoiled all that. People still work long hours, unless they have been downsized, and can only enjoy their desired pleasures (ITALICS if they have enough money to pay for them.)
Thus, when you search for answers to your growing financial problems, we urge you to look at their underpinning: the Price System. You will see that it is MONEY that is toppling your structure.
Now, back to our question: how do we do away with poverty, pollution, and crime? By that “we”, we mean all of us.
There is no need for people to continue to be entrapped in a lifestyle that they abhor; nor in poverty; nor in crime. We can have clean air; we can have a social system that can allow us productive, enjoyable lives. Just because people have been assailed with the propaganda that they cannot live without money, doesn’t mean that is true.
They have been taught that only money can provide proper housing, health care, food, education, and so on. And, in this Price System, this is true.
But, a house can be built, as the materials, the expertise, and the workers, are all available. No money needed.
How about health care? There, again, are the materials to build the hospitals; there are the medical practitioners; and there are the explorative diagnostic machines. No money needed.
The same thing applies to food, education, clothing, where there are the products and expertise to provide citizens with all their needs. No money needed.
In a Price System, the amount of cash you have, governs how much of these resources you receive. If you’re lucky, you can have adequate housing; not lucky, you may not have a roof over your head.
If you can afford to pay for good health care; if your local government can afford to build hospitals in your area, and buy the latest diagnostic medical equipment, and provide the best trained personnel, then you are lucky.
And, if you’re lucky, you could possibly afford the best education you can buy, but that good education is governed by the amount of money you have.
And, money also governs your freedom. You can only do what you yearn for with the amount of money you have. In fact, if you don’t have any money at all, you could be on the welfare rolls. If you couldn’t make the grade there, and you wanted to eat, you might eke enough by begging, or stealing it, and that might land you in jail.
There is only one solution, isn’t there? Money is the only interference standing in our way. So, the answer is: Do away with the monetary system (the Price System). We don’t need it for anything; our Continent can provide all of us with all our physical needs. Who said the bounty of this Continent belonged to just a few? It belongs rightly to all its citizens.
For over 60 years, people have been misled, and taught, that they have a chance for the good life; taught that the next political party they vote for is going to see that this is going to happen, whereas, no politicians, no matter how well-intentioned they may be, will, or even, can, provide anything that will remedy any of the social ills that beset us. When politicians are busy protecting the political body, they cannot see the “big picture.”
Just a perusal of the newspapers gives you the “big picture” of the dangerous precipice over which we may topple. Little has been done about pollution; nothing has been done about poverty; there are more down-and- outers on the streets than ever before; people are being denied medical help; population growth and immigration have not been stemmed even though their numbers are costing us dearly in greater pollution of air, water, and soil in a finite environment.
If we hurry, we may be able to rectify a lot of this disaster-bound behavior.
There is only one way we can do this: Junk the Price System. Technocracy suggested a new social system over 60 years ago, as their research showed that their Technological Social Design was the only plan that could work. We urge you, for all of our sakes, to join together and demand the installation of that Design.