Poverty has a simple solution

The following four paragraphs began as tweets but I decided to tie them together as a single string of ideas. I wanted to show the connection between them all in one place at the same time for everybody.

Divide communities by income levels. Now divide them by crime levels & Police enforcement activity. Is there any connection or overlap between the two classifications. If you cannot escape the conclusion that there may be cause & effect then THINK ABOUT SOLUTION!

Government cannot ever eliminate Poverty by using aggressive Policing to eliminate violent crime. The Government must first eliminate the Poverty

The Government can eliminate both the "Bureaus for Begging" and the Poverty that promotes Government moral intrusion into your life . It can use a successful Independent Agency that was created during the Great Depression called the Social Security Administration. It just needs to distribute Basic income for every adult citizen just as it does Retirement income now. Then when one reaches retirement age he can have the retirement income he earned by working added to his basic Social Security check.

Another change needed to prevent taxpayers from subsidizing the Financial Institutions is for Government to immediately stop borrowing money from Bankers and Wall Street clients and start borrowing from the Federal Reserve at 0% interest. 

The Constitution gives the Congress that power. It can borrow, tax or create money and decide how it is going to do it. The Constitution does not force us to give Banks the power to create money and then charge us interest to use it. Only Congress causes that in return for the Money Wall Street gives them to get elected. Lincoln got Congress to let the Government create Greenback to finance the Military to fight the Civil War. It needs to let the Federal Reserve create money for use to eliminate Poverty and do Nation Infrastructure building.

Path to Progress

History and Progress 

1. This Nation started with only White property owners voting but finally allowed all free men to vote by passing progressive  laws.
2. This Nation spent 100 years in protest, advocating the right of women to vote, and we finally got there by passing progressive laws.
3. After a Civil War, this Nation kept Blacks from their civil Rights as free men by using Segregation in lieu of Bonded Slavery, but we ended it by passing Civil Rights laws
4 We ended prohibition of mixed race marriage and establishment personal life choices in this Nation by using the Law of the Land.
5. We have 8 hour days, no child labor. social safety net programs , Social Security, expanded health care and marriage equality  and a wide variety of human life protections in this Nation, all because we kept pushing the Political Parties by public protest and persistent voting directed at Human progress by force of Law..

The Parties may be controlled in large part by the same self-interest groups that have always controlled power, but they cannot completely control if we keep pushing ahead. We must must have purpose and persistence. Change is possible by law if we stand up and speak out and take it to the voting booth. If we sit down, shut up and accept defeat, we have done the very thing that makes us slaves to the Oligarch of the Privilege.
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  copyright © William Hodge 2014

The Dividend from Common Shares in the National Resources.

                     

The resources of the Nation is the Common property of every citizen.  The granting of the privilege of private use for profit or pleasure carries a requirement of the payment for that privilege call taxes. That money is to provide for the general well being of the Nation & Citizens

That Commonshare provides the financial capacity to bring every citizen totally out of Poverty [adequate food, shelter, medical care, and productive skills] with a Basic Income Guarantee without changing the current economic system of competition in a free market for greater individual monetary rewards. 

It is idiocy to think we must sacrifice competition that rewards the few in order to insure life and Liberty and security for the many. We can and must do both if we wish to preserve both Community and a free market Democracy. A Human Society that sacrifices the lives of the poor in order to increase the wealth of upper class must inevitably dissolve into a Oligarchical Dictatorship that imposes  wage-slavery on the masses.

  copyright © William Hodge 2014 

The First Prime is Life

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness"

The Right to Life implies the right to food, shelter, health care, and skill training. Only by removing the fear of hunger or homelessness or illness will there be reasonable protection of the right to life.  Only by protecting Life can we guarantee the Liberty that permits the pursuit of personal achievement. That is the reason we created the US Government. Let Government lift every person out of Poverty. Then every person will have the equal opportunity to achieve the rewards that come from successes.

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William Hodge

My Progressive Agenda

BELIEVE 

My Life is centered around a Progressive Agenda because my highest value is preservation of Life itself. The primary survival activity of human beings is conducted by organizing themselves in Communities with social order and governance.  The main functions of the Sovereign Community is to protect life and to produce & distribute Goods and Labor to achieve that end. My goal is based on the advocacy and promotion of these two principles.

1. I believe that any Sovereign Society that has the capacity to ensure the basic needs of life [food, shelter, medical care, and education] to all of its Citizens should feel compelled to do so as the First Order of governance.

2. I believe that a Sovereign Society has the power & responsibility to create a Sovereign Common Currency to make the trading of Goods & Labor between parties fungible  and should exercise that power itself.  It should not delegate the creation of Money to private sector Banks and permit them to charge the Taxpayers of the Nation interest on debt incurred to fund the Actions and Responsibilities of the Nation to insure the basic needs of life. The Nation  (not Corporate Banks] should own the Central Bank and use it to create all currency and to fund all National Debt interest free.

Out of these two principles grow the Progressive ideas that I generally support. I invite all to freely contribute your opinions & suggestions unless they become abusive or offensive to my Life purpose.

  copyright © William Hodge 2014 

Sustaining Life without work

                           

Income without work

I live on Social Security & Medicare. Those programs are dependent on a Government program of deferred spending at retirement. Millions of Jobs depend on the money that I and other Social Security recipients spend.

Government is the primary creator of sustained spending programs that do not depend on Jobs.  They, in fact, create and sustain jobs. It includes such programs as Medicare, Medicaid, and other Social Safety net programs  Government is not the enemy of the Economy. It is this function of Government that causes the Economy to reach a level of sustained production.

That is a function that the Private Sector has never done and will never do because their motive is not to sustain life, but to use the living as tools of production and profitable consumption. Only Government has no motive but to serve.

Only Government has the non-profit motive to create & distribute money to the  Point of Sale that causes a business to run.  That creates profit for the owners of both Labor and Capital.

The government does not generate dependency. Government sustains life and the Private Sector is the biggest benefactor of the Government's power to create and distribute money to the focal point of consumption.  The Private Sector is the primary beneficiary of Government activity.

  copyright © William Hodge 2014 

Build a better Society.

Community is Unity

Many times I have advocated that Society should begin with the economy making sure that every person in the Society had sufficient food, adequate shelter, necessary living skills and medical care when sick.  The objection is usually, "why should I be required to sacrifice what I earn so somebody can live on my money without having to work himself".                                                                           
My point is NOT "Will you let Society take away your Wealth". The point is will you help construct a Society that believes that we all own a Commonshare of the earth resources.  Will you build a Society that compels all us to use enough of the Commonshare to eliminate hunger, homelessness, ignorance, and lack of Medical Care
  
The payment of a fair share to the Commons will take only a small share of what we are capable of producing and will leave enough to compete for individual wealth without undue interference in our competitive need to acquire more than we need. In our need to prove we are independent and self-sufficient, we lose sight of the fact that we are actually dependent for all material gain on the efforts of others. Humans beings are successful as a species  because we have the power and the need to be cooperative.

Christian Nation?

"I AM THE WAY..."

Modern Right Wing Christians think religion is a magical method of accumulating Wealth by Ritual Worship. They see the Poverty in the Society in which they live as incidental to accumulating money. They do not think life essentials are the fruit of the Commons and an inalienable  right of all to share.

They do not believe that Society should compel all citizens to contribute to the need of food, shelter, medical care and life skills of those who live in  desperation.  They think instead that Society should only allow it to be a choice of Charity if anyone is to be helped.  

They claim that Jesus is their King and yet refuse to believe him when he said  you must feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and care for the ill. They believe in life after death in his kingdom and yet refuse to hear him when he says in Matthew 25: 31 - 46 that they will spend the afterlife in hell if they fail him in his commandment. 

As for me, I think that most Modern Right Wing Christians use their religion as a tool for private gain  and not as a value system for life and service to their King.  I do not think a Christian Nation run by them would look much like the one Jesus commanded them to serve as if they were serving him..

  copyright © William hodge 2014 

Freedom depends on Choice.

People don't owe you non-aggression if they covet what you have. Only Government instituted by the Human Community can provide you protection from aggression. Only the Community Governance can support common values against the intrusion of  internal greed or outside force.

Government instituted by Community can also use the Common Resources of the Community to provide Guaranteed food, shelter, medical care, and skill training[education] in order for the individual to have the freedom to refuse any job they do not wish to do.

That is what Life, Liberty and the pursuit of happiness is. It is not about absolute rules. It is about choice. I choose Freedom from Desperation for all citizens.  Only Freedom from desperation for life essentials can lead to true Liberty for all.

 copyright © William Hodge 2014 

Rebuilding America

Building creates Jobs

 Recession has nothing to do with Business confidence. It has everything to do with too little Government funding to rebuild the Nation.


The building of America's infrastructure will never be funded by the private sector. They will do the work only if the Nation pays for it.

  copyright © William Hodge 2014 

Words have meaning

LIFE - LIBERTY - HAPPINESS

When Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence for the Continental Congress justifying  our decision to stop obeying the Kings Law he gave this as justification for our Revolution.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, 
that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."

I cannot tell you how many times I have read  or heard that line given who have no idea what it means.  It is used to define & justify every possible political philosophy.

This is the meaning that I accept for these words
1. Life -  Reliable source of  food, shelter, medical care and acquisition of life skills.  Once these essentials are provided it is possible to have - -
2. Liberty - the freedom to choose one's on course in life without submitting to the authority of those who control the source of income that we have had to accept simply to provide the essentials of Life. We need to escape  wage-slavery to be free.
3. Pursuit of happiness - happiness in life depends on finding ones passion and having the freedom to make it your path.

I can offer at least one simple solution to the problem. Every person should be given a Basic Income Guarantee that is sufficient to provide food, shelter, and medical care. We can bring every life out of Life threatening poverty and fulfill the promise of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.

              copyright © William Hodge                        

Being Human

"Three Prime Laws of Human Community"

Isaac Asimov's "Three Laws of Robotics"

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

I have often wondered what the world would be like if we behaved as humans the way Isaac Asimov's Robots were programed with the 3 prime laws

1. The Human Community may not injure a member human being or, through inaction, allow that human being to come to harm
2. The Human Community must administer orders given it by the  majority consensus of member  human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. The Human Community must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

 William Hodge  2014 

Astronomy gave birth to Astrology

                 

Religion began with basic observation of Astronomy, Pharmacology, and Biology. Those who understood the predictability of natural cycles and other nature phenomena  found it gave them power to predict future events. They codified what they had learned in Stories that became the hidden knowledge. We now call them Religious Myths

Religion is like understanding the importance of water. Science is discovering the water components of hydrogen & oxygen. Pushing forward the boundaries of knowledge will eventually discover things that make the Stories of Mythology interpreted literally seem foolish. That is the root of the War between Religion and Science

   copyright © William Hodge  2014 

Poverty doesn't have to exist

My personal opinion is that every citizen [Rich or Poor} should be getting Food Stamps [ EBT Debit Card] for at least $500 a month or more. It would be the beginning of Universal Income.

Wal-Mart and other distributors to consumers is just a part of the Capitalist Distribution System and could go on being a part of the "Free Market System"

They could have their profit. All people would have food & clothes. We could let Social Security administer the program. We could eliminate the Federal Bureau for Begging that monitors our lives as moral judges The beginning of Freedom from despair would become part of the Social Fabric..

                     copyright © William Hodge 

Are Rights more than Privilege.

Where Rights are Born

Do you believe that all thing  including all Land and the things over & under it  should be owned by someone?  If so, how does the owner protect his claim to ownership from counter claims from other persons.  

If you claim land as yours and I need it to sustain my own life & purpose, what is to stop me from gathering sufficient force to simply take it from you?   It must be obvious that the philosophical claim that your "Right to Possess" is  not going to be defended by some Super Natural Creator. There is no historical evidence that widespread  Supernatural Intervention has ever protected any individual claim to any Right, no matter how Unalienable it may seem to the intellect of the claimant.

I ask the question, because those who usually make the claim also claim that Government has no right to interfere with their Unalienable Rights .  It appear to me that Government is essential to the protection of any rights. 

It seem to me that without Government there can be no rights at all. It would therefore follow that Government , not Gods, are the creators and protectors of any privilege [Rights] granted to the citizens of the Nation being governed.

 I am puzzled by those who would disavow the very power that insures they have any Rights at all.  It would seem to me that the only protection any of us have from ruthless opposition must come from Governance controlled by the some kind of democratic process that gives us voice in what Rights & Privilege we desire.

 copyright © William Hodge 2014  

The Dividend of Commonshare

                                           Mother Earth

The Human Community is by nature an omnivores herd that lives on the Common resources of the Earth. We have forgotten that we survive by being Interdependent not independent. We have forgotten that none can survive alone. No one person gathers fiber, Spins thread, weaves cloth and make his own clothes. No one person builds anything with out using the tools created and manufactured by the human Community. "No man is an island unto himself."
And yet, we have allowed our leaders to divided up the Commons to benefit the few.  We permit the exile of the uncompetitive in the herd to live or die with little sharing of resources taken from the Commons  . It becomes acceptable to view them as unworthy of life and not entitled to their share of the resources taken from the Earth that we claim to own as the Community of Human Beings.  
A single individual has no Right of Ownership.  Private use for personal gain is a privilege granted by the whole Community on the premise that private usage will bring greater benefit to all of as in the form of  rent[taxes] for private use of the Commons.  We all hold a Commonshare in the earth that feeds us all.  Each of us is entitled to our dividend  from ownership. 

copyright © William Hodge 2014 

Wage-Slavery destroys Democracy & Freedom.

Emma Goldman famously denounced wage slavery by saying: "The only difference is that you are hired slaves instead of block slaves."

Do not believe the lie that you have a fair chance to get rich if you work hard enough. As long as your work does not leave plenty of money to save & invest, you might as well buy a lottery ticket.

The only thing that will even the playing field for accumulating wealth is by starting everyday with a guarantee of sufficient food, adequate shelter. open access to full health care and free education to learn the skills necessary to compete in an open market. Only then will you have a chance to compete with the LEGACY CHILDREN. Hard work is a Fools Errand if you and your family are still a paycheck away from being hungry & homeless. That is no less Slavery than being bound in chains.

So far Democracy has been an effective leveler for equal opportunity only for short periods of time in our History. It is time to understand that the Economy is rigged against you. Only by knowing the truth can find a pathway to break the chains of Wage Slavery.

                              copyright © William Hodge 2014 

Health Care - Public or Private Insurance?

If you do not believe that a Government designed Health Care Plan can be created that is effective and comprehensive in the scope of medical application of coverage and universally provided to all citizens then show me a Private Sector Plan that gives everyone Health Care at every economic level that is equal to the best medicare/Medicaid Plan. No such plan currently exist. No such plan has ever existed. 

If anyone is excluded for any reason (medical condition or lack of money or age], it will not be equitable in performance. If no such plan can be delivered by the Private Sector without Government involvement, then the Private Sector has failed the American People. Your fear of the Government will not open any doors that solve the problem.

I may be just an uneducated country boy, but this seems self-evident to me. You can develop some personally desired universally available private-sector plan and work to bring it to fruition. You can argue that it is the Government's failure and destroy the Government's ability to act and hope everything will fall into its proper place in our Class structured Society.

It will not happen. A Society that sacrifices the Common Good in order to reward the privileged will be a Society that benefits a few at the expense of the many. It will be a Society that tolerates eternal Poverty to preserve the privilege of the right of the elite to rule from the back of the wage-slave.

                                    William Hodge 2014  

Can fair distribution replace Fair Wages?

Wage-Slavery is a Distribution problem 

Investing is a fun game and I have enjoyed it for most of my life and I am 72. But it is not the universal pathway to financial freedom. Most people do not have the ability or desire or the opportunity to accumulate the savings necessary to do it.

You might as well recommend that all people should be great Athletes earning million dollar paydays or that everyone could be great entertainers and become Rich & Famous. The truth is that most people have no pathway to self sustaining wealth.

Instead they must depend on what is produced in our economic Production System.  They must also personally participate in that system in a way that will give adequate income to purchase sufficient food & clothes, adequate shelter. and accesses to healthcare that will sustain life.  In other words, every person must have a job that will pay a wage that secures the essentials of life at a level exceeding the level of poverty that leads to desperation. 

We know that is not possible for some for physical or mental reasons. We know it is become less possible for many people because of moving jobs to wage-slave labor Nations. We know that jobs are also disappearing at an increasing rate due to the advance of technological automation and the increased use of Robotics.  We have created an economic system where hard work will not sustain life.  It will only create Wage-Slaves to serve the benefit the Owners [1%] of the Nation.

It is not that we cannot  supply sufficient food or shelter, or Medical care. Only a small portion of the Work Force is needed for this.  The problem is that we need a distribution system that distributes the basic commonshare without requiring work that does not exist.  

We must make work that is available desirable to those that have the skill and choose to do it, but we must distribute food & clothes, basic shelter, and Health Insurance, to every citizen without   regard to work or wealth status.  It is as simple as sending every adult a Social Security check that does not require anything but citizenship.  The retirement portion can be added at the appropriate time according to the workers earnings.

copyright © William Hodge 2014 

What is Life Worth?

The 1st Freedom is from WANT

                                                

The point of the post is that no one can with good conscience can claim his work value is worth S4000 an hour when another person is worth only $7.25.  Even so I would have no problem with high income for any person if every person had a Basic Income Guarantee to purchase  sufficient food, adequate shelter, medical care, and equal access to learn life skills from K-12 to a Doctors Degree according to the ability to learn & perform the skills [not the ability to afford to pay for them].

With that kind of equal starting line and no "means testing" from a Government Bureau for Begging, I would give up the minimum wage and other Safety Net programs (except Retirement Social Security]    An Unconditional Basic Income Guarantee is the ultimate Freedom from desperation and Wage-Slavery. It is an open door to the power to bargain for wages on the individual level. It is a true Right to Work [or not} opportunity. It empowers true Life, Liberty, and the Right to Pursue Happiness.

by William Hodge

Socialism need not not be Ownerism

The 99% do not have to be owners of production for the Benefits of Socialism to become a part of a Free Market Capitalist Economy. It is less important to control who owns Production. 

than it is to control the fairness of how the Goods produced are distributed to benefit the General Welfare of all the People. 

If we can just distribute sufficient food, adequate shelter, comprehensive medical care and education produced by a technological Robotic production base to every citizen, there would be freedom for every person to pursue the path of life that brings each person happiness.

If competing for Trophy & Treasure make you happy and you can do that without using your gain to own the lives of others, then let it be so. The solution is simple enough. Give every person a monthly income through a Supplemental Security Income [SSI] system that will make him free of  poverty and Wage-Slavery and let the Games Begin.

Too Poor for Freedom

END POVERTY

The greatest injustice is having no job, no transportation, and no home, no food, and no medical care while living in the wealthiest Nation in the World and being able to cure the problem and not doing it.

  You could bring ever citizen out of poverty with a simple distribution of  an Unconditional Basic Income.  It should be enough to pay for sufficient food, adequate shelter, effective medical care, skill training for life skills and public transportation.  It could pe paid for out of each citizen's Common share Dividend of the Nations Commonwealth

With that foundation of spendable income, there would be adequate jobs to produce these basic Goods & Service for all. These jobs would allow competitive individuals freedom to acquire a comfortable middle class income or even great wealth with adequate desire to compete and create.

by William Hodge

The Poor but White Class

Union of Diversity

 Being a Son-of the-South from generations going back to pre-Revolutionary War days, I have had much experience with the power of the Class-System. I was born in 1942 and even as a child I was assured that the poorest of Whites was from a higher Social Class than the most successful of Blacks.

The Only difference now is that the era of Segregationist Dixie Democrats is past. It has been replaced by anti - all minorities Republicans. Even the poorest of whites allow themselves to be walked upon and stole from by the 1% power structure.  I guess too many had rather be of the Proud & Poor White Race than to give their children a better life in the Human Race. After all, being Human does not make us less White. It just includes us in a bigger Community with the power to create a better World.

By William Hodge.     

Equality under the law.

I BELIEVE:  That NO women should be forced by the Government to have an abortion if she desires for any reason to carry her fetus to birth.


In fact Government
 1. Should fully support her pregnancy from conception to delivery with free medical care. 

2. Government should support the life of her child through infancy with a well balanced diet and a warm comfortable shelter. 

3. Government should protect the adolescent life of the Fruit of her Pregnancy with productive education and childcare that will make this child adequately prepared to take on the task of acquiring the knowledge & skill necessary to survive a competitive life.

4. Government should go even farther and give this child and all children the means to learn all they can and will learn productive skills for benefit of the individual and of society itself. 

LIFE IS Liberty

Just to be fair

                                             



My desire is to eliminate hunger, homelessness, lack of Medical care, and insure the opportunity to learn any skill for which you have the desire and ability to learn. Once you eliminate the desperation of how and where you will live tomorrow and are give the opportunity to learn anything, you have life, freedom and an open path to pursue happiness


It is not my goal to give everyone the life of leisure & luxury. I wish only to remove the power of the 1% to turn you into a
Wage-slave. I want you to be able to decide for yourself if you want to flip burgers or start a business of your own or write and sing songs or all three.

 There are many ways to pay for it. You can extend the FICA tax to all income instead of just the first $170,000. All of the FICA tax above Social Security level could be used to fund a basic income sufficient for food, shelter, medical care, and education  You can create money like the Greenback notes that financed the Civil War by using the Federal Reserve power to create money and loan it to the government at no interest or use a small transaction tax on all Bank activity. You can apply a small import tax on goods shipped into the country. It is in the final analysis just a problem of bookkeeping and redistribution.


I advocate giving it to every person so that no person can claim he is paying for something he does not get. At least 95% of the population will receive more than the extra tax will cost them. We will not need a "Bureau-for-Begging" to judge your entitlement. We will not need unemployment insurance. We will not have uninsured going to Emergency Rooms for a head cold and passing on the bill to those who do have insurance.


The payment will increase with inflation just as Retirement Social Security does. The economic consequence will be that no one will lack employment if he wishes to be employed. We can eliminate the minimum wage. My guess is that wages will go up because everyone will have the option of saying no if he is not happy with the offer. I am not in favor of sharing the wealth of those who work for it. I am in favor of supporting the essentials of life [Food, Shelter, Medical Care,  and Education for every citizen.

                                  copyright © William Hodge 2014

Is White a Superior Class?

I speak here as a Son-of-the-South. My ancestors settled South Carolina long before we had decided we were not happy with the King. But one thing the South never forgot of was the fact that Slaves made a few people very,very rich and made the status of being white rank higher than the condition of being poor.

Both Slavery and Whiteness survived the Civil War under Segregation. When the Southern Democrats became National Democrats under the Civil Rights Law and the War on Poverty, the Republicans were glad to wave the Confederate Battle Flag. They replaced the White KKK Robe with Choir Robes and defended whiteness with a song & a prayer and the Christian Church and a White JESUS.  I suspect the Republican adoption of White Southern Values was more about votes from poor whites for the Oligarchy of Wealth than  the Pride of being White.

The Republican Party first sold out Blacks when the Abolitionist retired from Politics. When there were fewer White voters in the North to elect a Republican President they gave the South back to the Segregationist Dixiecrats and removed the Union Army in return for the promise of electoral votes. Rutherford B. Hayes became President in the Presidential Election of 1876

Under Richard Nixon,  they had found a new tactic to keep the 1% in control. Republicans were, are, and always will be in the King's Court.  Democracy is a useful convenience until it gets in their way.

http://www.alternet.org/books/how-gop-became-white-mans-party?akid=11398.205352.unCiv2&rd=1&src=newsletter946302&t=7&paging=off&current_page=1#bookmark

 copyright © William Hodge 2014 

Money can end Poverty 

If every American is given an Unconditional Guaranteed Basic Income Benefit that will pay for 

1. Sufficient food, 

2. Adequate shelter, 

3. Basic Medical Care  &   

4. Education to learn skills that prepare you for living, Poverty cannot exist except by personal choice. 

It will eliminate the Bureau-for-Begging, unemployment insurance, rental assistance, ER care for routine health problems and It will increase competitive life skills.  

Most of all it will eliminate the desperation which feeds our Wage-Slave Corporate control of our Country. It will introduce true Liberty, pursuit of  happiness and the essentials of life.  It will put the competition to succeed at the same starting line for Rich & poor alike. 

 copyright © William Hodge 2014 

Poverty is a Distribution Problem

Put a floor under Poverty.

                           

The poverty line is the level at which you can have sufficient food, adequate shelter, effective medical care, and the opportunity to learn any necessary skills. Above the line, you have the freedom to live by choice. Below the line, you are trapped in wage- slavery and little opportunity to make a choice of lifestyle.

The money is the method we use to distribute Goods & labor to the point of need.    If you have income above the line of poverty, you have the freedom to live by choice. If your income is below the line, you are trapped in wage- slavery and little opportunity to make a choice of lifestyle.

To eliminate Poverty all you need is to give every citizen a guaranteed income that is above the poverty level. There is no limit to the amount of money available to accomplish this any more than there is a limited number of points for a scorekeeper to score an athletic contest. Congress can get all the money it needs from the Federal Reserve banks at zero interest.  It just needs to authorize the Fed to use the same tool used to balance money circulating in the economy or to do quantitative easing in times of economic stress.  

The only limit is the productive capacity to perform the task. When the Society cannot produce enough to meet the need for food, shelter, medical care, and education, the capacity to produce Goods & Services needs to be improved. Do that and you can then create and distribute the money that distributes the Goods & Service.  

Money is just the tool of distribution, just as the plow is used to turn the soil or the loom to weave the cloth.  The person who has the money can get the goods. The amount of Goods & Service you have an entitlement to depends on the amount of money that you have to spend. The amount of money available is unlimited.

                                               copyright © William Hodge 2014