L.W. Nicholson 1990 Published in: The Northwest Technocrat, 3rd quarter 1990, No. 320
The stock market crash of 1929 was the spectacular beginning, not only of the most devastating depression in the nation’s history, but it was also a very visible sign of breakdown of that ancient system of trade and commerce based on commodity valuation called a Price System. Business, the banks, the whole financial structure, was all on their knees. It was then decided that it would be necessary for the federal government to come to the rescue with massive injections of federal debt.
Since then there has been a steady acceleration of the federal debt. During the past 56 years there has been only 5 years when the debt hasn’t increased, and none of those 5 years were during the past 30 years. But all this increasing debt has only accomplished a postponement of the day when the Price System can no longer operate. During those 56 years, the political, business and financial leaders could have instituted an educational program to prepare the citizens of this Continent for the vast changes which would be required when this Price System is replaced — by a social design of functional control. Unfortunately, and for their own reasons, those Price System leaders chose to withhold this information and, as a result, North Americans have so little knowledge concerning these developments that the collapse of the Price System may come as a complete surprise to many and be far more devastating than the depression of the 1930s.
Whatever action people may take concerning this fraud remains to be seen, but when one considers the dissatisfaction demonstrated with such minor affairs as Watergate and the Iran-Contra business, one must assume that much more than mere displeasure will inevitably occur. However, that is for the future to determine; at present the important concern is whether or not there will be a future.
What is a country to do when it can’t stop the growth of debt? In all the history of the United States until 1915, a total of 139 years, the federal debt had grown to $1.2 billion. Since 1915 it grew at an ever faster pace. In 1940 it was $42.9 billion, in 1960 it was $286 billion, and by 1980 it had increased to $908 billion. From 1980 to 1990, in only 10 years, this debt has more than tripled to $3 TRILLION. This debt is 2,500 times what it was in 1915.
The federal debt, great as it is, is not the total debt which the overburdened American taxpayers are expected to pay. Add all the debts of the states, the counties, the municipal, the corporate and the consumer debt. Add all these debts to the federal debt, and the grand total is now $11 TRILLION. Explain all this debt in any way that may seem reasonable, but it is what has been necessary to keep this Price System alive, and the fact is that the American people can never pay it.
A refusal to face up to this problem only postpones the day of reckoning while the problem continues to grow. Concealing the increase of the federal deficit behind the social security and other trust funds or placing billions “off budget” is only a temporary expediency. The total debt is still increasing at more than $1 trillion per year and the rate of growth is increasing. There is no way that the U.S. can avoid a collapse of the debt structure, period.
Continental tinkering with the Price System may preserve people’s faith in money for a time, but there is no way of predicting the tolerance of people. The list of Price system failures is long and growing rapidly, but there is no way to tell when a stalemate occurs.
Consider the fact that as the debt continues to increase, the value of the dollar declines. While the debt has gone up 2,500 times since 1915, the value of the 1940 dollar has declined to 11 cents in 1989. If we are expecting to pay the debt with worthless dollars, disillusion will be our reward. It will be interesting to see how we try to operate our society with a declining confidence in the dollar.
These trends are and have been occurring, and anyone who is interested enough to visit any public library should be able to verify them in the Statistical Abstract of the U.S.
If the problem were simple it would have been solved long ago. If it could be explained in a few simple words, everyone would have those answers. And, if the answers could fit with the ideas of the past, the problem could have been solved without the need for new concepts.
The difference between our society today and that of the past is due chiefly to the application of the scientific method to the problems of production. Throughout the 7,000 years of inaccurately recorded human history, the political method has never made a major contribution to man’s ability to produce. Without that ability, the means whereby humans lived changed very little and very slowly. When the Declaration of Independence was signed by the founding fathers, the horse was still the greatest provider of energy outside the human body. Ninety-eight percent of the energy available for the production process was supplied by the muscles of humans, and the living standard was limited to that ability. Since then, and chiefly during the 20th century, this condition has changed, until now, in 1990, less than two percent is supplied by humans. Over ninety-eight percent is now provided by burning coal, oil or gas, by falling water, etc. The knowledge required for this change was provided by the scientific method.
The political and business operators that have been dominant for centuries in the control of human affairs and in the distribution of goods were quick to seize control of the results of scientific knowledge for their own benefit. More goods could be produced with fewer man-hours of human labor to sell to more people for greater profits than ever before.
This was great! But — the decreasing need for human labor per- unit-of-production and the resulting decline in purchasing power per-unit-produced began to catch up with the ability to buy the amount produced around the early ’20s. Consumer debt was devised to allow the “customers” to buy more than they could pay for. As long as we could sell all we could produce at a profit, we could continue to increase production and maintain employment with ever more efficient equipment. When the quantity of production became too great to maintain prices, we bought up farm products (on credit, of course) and destroyed them; we paid farmers to produce less, and business soon learned about planned obsolescence.
A great time was had by all, except for those who couldn’t find good paying jobs, and it was all done by increasing the debt. We borrowed the money from those who made the most profits from the increasing debt structure, and they now make profits from the interest on the debt which we incurred to increase their profits in the first place. Simple?
How are we to operate our society with a dollar which has no value? Our society is controlled by people who have vast quantities of dollars (a form of debt). They own the mortgages on our homes, on our cars, and often the shirts on our backs. They control the distribution networks, the news networks, the department stores, the banks, insurance companies — and they control the politicians. They control the flow of money which we use to buy groceries, to pay our taxes and to pay our debts. When the owners of all this debt can only be paid with worthless dollars, what can they then do with a control mechanism which is no longer effective?
The white man’s society on this Continent has never known a social control technique which didn’t include money. The dollar has become man’s god, and that god is being destroyed by the massive growth of technology. The North American Continent now has the greatest technological mechanism on earth. This technology can produce so much that it can supply the needs of every citizen on the Continent, and it is destroying the value of money. The politicians don’t know what to do about it; the bankers don’t know and don’t want to know. The American people have never heard of such a thing and wouldn’t believe it if they had. And this, the biggest news story since 1492, doesn’t even make the evening news on TV.
It is in the best interest of every North American citizen, including those who own the debt that plans be made to overcome the chaotic conditions likely to occur when we must default on the debt and money becomes worthless. An alternate method of social operation must be available without delay. It is unfair and it is unpatriotic to withhold information concerning this subject.
This is what has been happening in the U.S. and Canada for more than a half century. The only solution is the installation of an entirely new economic system which is designed to operate without either money or debt. Technocracy has the design; all we need is the intelligence to use it.
