Democrato-Capitalism works for the common good, as opposed to our current system of Tyranno-Capitalism which works against it.
I am a retired designer of computer systems for large enterprises, my generation of systems engineers (1965-1995) computerized America and the world—Medicare is one such system—Medicaid is another. I was part of a small team that designed one of the first, if not the very first, but certainly the most successful, Medicare claims processing system. I remember the day when I explained to my grandmother the meaning of her first EOB (Explanation of Benefits). I had written the EOB system, and when the force of its meaning became clear to her I was happy, but it was easy to see she was much happier—and then she began to talk about what this would mean to her friends.
As a youngster at the end of WWII, I listened to veterans from that war as they looked to our government to help them start their lives. These young men, most of them still single, had been born into the depressed agricultural economy at the end of WWI. This small depression became the Great Depression, so-called not because it was great, but because it was nationwide, even affecting the lives of the wealthy classes.
These young men, who had spent their teens living in the depression, felt that they had been unable to start their families because of the depression, which the government could not deal with due to the weird beliefs in the gold system held by Herbert Hoover and his buddies, and because the economy was nearly dead—no jobs anywhere. All these young men wanted was a chance, they would do whatever work was asked of them to make a go of it. They had already demonstrated their worth by winning the War and making the world safe for democracy, or as it turned out, for “capitalism.”
Anyhow, as these young men did all they could do to find work, take GI-Bill approved classes, travel all over Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Louisiana in search of work, they began to meet at our home to talk about their situation. Our home became a place where jobs information could be posted and obtained. As they did their best while they hoped the government would do its duty, they would talk about why the government failed them. I didn’t yet realize it, nor did they, but they were acting as systems engineers. They began their work by diagnosing the cause of problems and then they followed with ideas for solving them. I thought this was a natural thing to do because it was what they did. I became a systems engineer two decades later.
At one point they decided to work through the possibilities of changing our system of economics. Their discussion quickly settled on the idea of an unlimited supply of money. They knew that America, after WWI and WWII and two depressions, did not have enough money to enable Americans, most of them anyway, to keep body and soul together, and they knew that there were many businesses that needed money in order to start up. So, it seemed that more money was needed for injecting into the economy. This discussion had gone on all over the world during the Great Depression—I should have said earlier that the Great Depression was still going on when these young men, my heroes, came home. In fact, no matter what economists or politicians may say, the depression did not begin to end until 1957 in my part of the world.
So, these men decided to work through the idea that if America had an unlimited supply of money how could the system be modified to take advantage of it and thereby give them a fair and honest chance to go as far as their efforts and talents could take them, which would, in turn, give them a fair and honest chance to build long lives worth living for themselves and their loved ones including a secure and comfortable retirement. I need to be clear. These young men, all children of the Great Depression knew beyond doubt, because they saw it with their own eyes, that the lives of their parents were not worth living and they never wanted to have that kind of life for themselves and their loved ones. I can say that their lives were better than the lives of their parents, but not much better, and were far from the lives they hoped for when they came home from the War.
They wondered where this unlimited supply of money would come from and finally they decided to solve that problem later. In order to brainstorm the new economic system they decided to temporarily imagine that the Rocky Mountains were made of pure gold. America would have an unlimited supply of money. Then, over weeks they designed a new system of economics for America. And along the way, they realized that America already had an unlimited supply of money. All America had to do was scrap the Federal Reserve and print all the money that was needed.
I was mesmerized, and their ideas became a natural part of looking at the world. Over the years I continued to develop their ideas and finally published a book about my version of their approach. Revising the monetary system also called for revising the system of government so I did both. I have designed two systems, Faction-Free Democracy and Democrato-Capitalism.
I tried to discuss my ideas on many kinds of Internet sites and was greeted with hostility and ridicule. But, because I had done systems work for decades, I was accustomed to the “not invented here” syndrome and kept on bringing up my new systems. The reception did not get worse, how could it? But, here and there it got better. Then I found the MMT website, “New Economic Perspectives,” and I was delighted, here was a place where talking about changing our system of economics was the main business. I tried to introduce my ideas and was greeted with nothing but insults.
But I continued, and the insults grew worse until the chief of that site banned me in a shower of personal insults. At first I was shocked, but then I realized that my ideas had touched a nerve, not because of my wish to change our current monetary and economic systems, but because MMT disapproved of my ideas and I would not drop them. So, I watched and waited, Then not too long ago one of the better thinkers and better writers among those who publish front page essays on MMT began to publish a series that adopts my ideas. MMT has come almost all the way toward my idea for a new system of economics which I call “Democrato-Capitalism.” The author of these essays has kept extending them as he comes more and more in my direction. Part of his problem in moving so slowly is that he has to bring the faithful MMT’ers along with him. He has to explain why MMT’s original ideas are no longer valid—tricky work. I do not envy him his task.
I published a diary a while back here on DKos in which I talked about this change in MMT’s story, and I found that a lot of MMT believers lurk here. They attacked me viciously. But the strength of my ideas cannot be denied and more MMT essays, moving in my direction, have been published, with a promise of at least one more to come.
So, here are links to the four essays published on MMT that show their thinking changing slowly. It is complicated because their original ideas were very complicated, but, even if you don’t understand every element of what the author is saying, you can see that they are steadily dropping their old ideas and replacing them with new ones. Because they don’t acknowledge that they are copying my ideas, you will be able to see them in my book. So, I provide below links to all four of their essays, as well as links to two chapters of my book. One describes the current system of Tyranno-Capitalism. The other describes the system of Democrato-Capitalism.
First, the MMT essays:
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Copyrighted material follows:
This is the link for Chapter 6, Tyranno-Capitalism our current system of economics.
sample chapter 6 tyranno-capitalism
This is the link for Chapter 12 “An Unlimited Supply of Money,” otherwise known as democrato-capitalism, my proposal for a new system.
sample chapter 12 an unlimited supply of money
BTW, the lady from Broken Bow, the smart lady from Broken Bow, is proposing significant changes to our system of economics and we agree. For example, she proposes forgiving student loans and so do I. I also propose creating a savings account for each newborn in America. This account will grow at the rate of $1000.00 per month. When the child reaches age 18 and has graduated from high school the money will be available to use for things that will enable her to build a secure life worth living for herself and her loved ones. It is part of the Social Security Lifetime Stipend (SSLS) which is given to each citizen from birth to death. It can be used for certain limited purposes but I think that all Americans would be fine with it: buying or renting a home, education, starting a family, starting a business, advanced education, etc. etc.