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The Dirty Dozen: The Top 12 Election Issues Nobody Is Talking About (Demo)

On October 19, 2012, Michael I. Niman of ArtVoice present an Op-Ed on Truth-Out.org that is an accurate assessment of the human condition. This should be read by EVERY human.

Of the prioritized five issues on the top of his list, which hamper our ability to addresss the next seven, the issue of growing poverty is paramount.

Niman, however offers no solutions to poverty, which, simply put, is the lack of sufficient income to be self-sufficient. This is not really about JOBS, which are being destroyed and degraded due to tectonic shifts in the technologies of production makes many forms of labor unnecessary, but to do about the fact that  capital’s proportionate contributions are increasing relative to that of labor. Because of inherent system barriers the result is that the economy’s productive capital ownership is concentrated among essentially 1 to 10 percent of the population. As a result of continued innovation and invention, the trend has been to diminish the importance of employment with productive capital ownership concentrating faster than ever, while technological change makes capital ever more productive. But because this is not well understood, what we as a society have been doing is to continually shift the work burden from people labor to real capital while distributing the earning capacity of capital “workers” (via capital ownership of stock in corporations) to non-owners through jobs and welfare.

In essence, poverty and the decline of the American middle class is the result of a social order based on greed, exploitation and power over most of humanity by a tiny elite through highly concentrated ownership of the means of production––productive capital, which is the collection of non-human “things” and these “things” are integrated with all human contributions to the produce marketable products and services.

For those who believe that we need a new direction to address the concern for social and economic justice, the solution needs to be based on ensuring FUTURE ownership of new productive capacity. I don’t think that the richest Americans and those who concentrate capital ownership can see that it is in their interest to broaden ownership of FUTURE productive capital in order to create customers and enrich themselves. They have developed a capitalist greed “hoggist” mentality, which will ultimately lead to upheaval as the 99 percent are denied equal opportunity to become new capitalist in a society and economy based on the principle of private property and free markets where tectonic shifts in the technologies of production are destroying or degrading jobs and significantly decreasing the need for labor all together in order to make products and deliver services.

Without a policy shift to broaden productive capital ownership simultaneously with economic growth, further development of technology and globalization will undermine the American middle class and make it impossible for more than a minority of citizens to achieve middle-class status. We have a dysfunctional “system” with barriers for ordinary Americans to acquire income-producing FUTURE productive capital assets and pay for their acquisition out of FUTURE earnings, not dependent on PAST savings. This is a problem that was solved by binary economist Louis Kelso over 50 years ago. Having experience the absurdities of the Great Depression with essential food products “dumped” because the owners of the companies producing the products could not sell their products, he conceived of an alternative organization of the economy that would free economic growth from the slavery of past savings. His solution was to enable EVERY child, woman and man to rightfully earn income from their private property-protected individual ownership in FUTURE new productive capital assets.

I suggest that every concerned person and those hungry for an alternative workable solution to the non-solution of “full-employment” read Kelso’s writings. You can download free “The Capitalist Manifesto” and “The New Capitalists” in the Library section of the Center for Economic and Social Justice at http://www.cesj.org/cesjsitemap.html. Also purchase a copy of Kelso’s “Two-Factor Theory: The Economics Of Reality” and “Democracy And Economic Power.” Granted that this is a lot of reading but if you really want answers and solutions for a troubled nation and economy, then you need to exert yourself and study. There are no short-cuts, though to start you can read my overview article “Democratic Capitalism And Binary Economics: Solutions for A Troubled Nation And Economy.” These ideas have been put forth in a piece of advocacy legislation known as the “Capital Homestead Act” (http://www.cesj.org/homestead/index.htm) proposed by Norman Kurland of CESJ and other supporters, such as myself. Also, just released is the new CESJ publication “The Restoration Of Property: A Reexamination Of A Natural Right” authored by Michael D. Greaney. And support the Capital Homestead Act at http://www.cesj.org/homestead/index.htm and http://www.cesj.org/homestead/summary-cha.htm

Advocates for putting America on a path to prosperity, opportunity, and economic justice should be hammering President Obama and the national media to address the CONCENTRATED OWNERSHIP issue and WHO SHOULD OWN AMERICA and HOW! The focus on JOB CREATION will not result in REAL job growth until there is REAL and SUSTAINED national economic growth with EVERY American becoming a new capitalist in the FUTURE productive capital economic engine of growth and the income-producing assets of our business corporations that constantly seek to lower costs by shifting the making of products and services from labor to the non-human factor––productive capital, e.g. land and resources, structures, human-intelligent machines, superautomation, robotics, digital computerized operations, etc.

If President Obama, and for that matter his challenger Willard Romney, wanted to seriously CHANGE the direction of the country then in the future debates ALL one of them has to state is: “I want to create an OWNERSHIP CULTURE whereby EVERY American can become a new capitalist!” That will start the national discussion and debate on the BIG ISSUE facing us, that is CONCENTRATED CAPITAL OWNERSHIP and who should OWN America. It will put them both on the spot to address this critical issue. The result would be that the national discussion in media and academia, AND politics would zero in on what this potential is all about.

In the final analysis, for the Coalition for Capital Homesteading to go viral, numbers of people need to contact the national media, the White House, their representatives in the Senate and House of Representatives, and their network of friendly activists and advocate for them to address the issue of CONCENTRATED OWNERSHIP and WHO should OWN America.

None of the political parties or advocate leaders on the national stage are offering a just and comprehensive solution to the economic system problems facing this country and the world. Leaders should adopt the vision and specific proposals of the Coalition. The candidates of a political party who do adopt this high middle road position deserve to win and be followed.

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/12209-the-dirty-dozen-the-top-12-election-issues-nobody-is-talking-about

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