Introduction
America began as a plutocracy and rather quickly evolved into a corpocracy, or an unequal partnership between Corporate America and Government America, with the former controlling the latter. We now call the plutocracy the power elite of the corpocracy, and it is this power elite that is responsible for America's economy and its capitalistic economic system. Both the economy and the system serve the power elite, obviously, and not the common good. Assuming you are not one of the power elite, you, like me, are on the short end of the stick. How short depends generally on what your socioeconomic status is. The stick is very short for America at large, for it is becoming, if it hasn't already gotten there, a third world country, which means a substandard living for many of the citizenry.
I once raised the question, "Is America going to Hell in a handbasket?"1 If it is, there are three "isms" why; imperialism, militarism, and capitalism. There is absolutely nothing intrinsically good about the first two isms. There is no good imperialism, no good militarism. Not so the third ism. All America has ever known and used is bad capitalism. But as Parts 1-9 have shown us, there are many visions of a good capitalism. However, there are probably millions of people, especially socialists, who insist there is no good capitalism. Well, they can believe whatever they want to believe.
That being said, what do I have to offer in this last part, Part 10, of the ten-part series on "economic sanity and alternative economic systems"? A "peoples' capitalism," a good capitalism, is what I have to offer. It does not stand alone. It stands on the shoulders of the non-economist thinkers who preceded me in Parts 1 through 9.
The Lodestar for The Peoples' Capitalism
The lodestar tells us what to aim for, the end goal, which is the creation of a fully functioning peoples' capitalism, and how we know if we get there. The lodestar is nothing more nor anything less than that prescribed in the first 28 Articles of the United Nations Declaration of Universal Human Rights. At first blush some of the articles seem to have nothing or little to do with a nation's economy and its economic system, yet these 28 rights could never materialize under bad capitalism.
1. Innate freedom and equality 2. Ban on discrimination 3. Right to life 4. Ban on slavery 5. Ban on torture 6, Right to recognition as a person before the law 7. Equality before the law 8. Right to effective judiciary 9. Ban on arbitrary detention 10. Right to public hearing 11. Right to the presumption of innocence 12. Right to privacy 13. Right to freedom of movement 14. Right to asylum 15. Right to a nationality 16. Right to marriage and family 17. Right to own property 18. Right to freedom of thought and religion 19. Right to freedom of opinion and expression 20. Right to freedom of assembly and association 21. Right to take part in government 22. Right to social security 23. Right to work 24. Right to rest 25. Right to an adequate standard of living 26. Right to education 27. Right to participate in cultural life 28. Right to a social and international order
Ordinarily, I regard the UN as a worthless entity, a pawn of the world's power elite, particularly that of America's corpocracy, but I give the UN credit at least for enunciating the above principles. But I must discredit if for being feckless. No nation can expect UN enforcement of the 28 rights. The UN declaration is like all corporate codes of ethics, paper principles to be preached and never practiced.
The Lodestar's Lodestar
Article 25
"Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and of his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Motherhood and childhood are entitled to special care and assistance. All children, whether born in or out of wedlock, shall enjoy the same social protection."
All the other articles are represented in one way or another in Article 25. We must look to it for the criteria for determining whether every human being has the essentials for an adequate living and nothing less. If they do, then it is at least partly due to some form of socially responsible capitalism. Adequacy, of course, is the minimum standard. Millions of Americans and billions of other peoples have far less than an adequate standard of living. They have a miserable standard of living.
Developing criteria, or indicators of progress and reaching the goal, used to be among the mainstays of my working career, but no more. I shall turn that responsibility over to a taskforce of special people to be identified next.
Setting the Stage for True Reform
Let's assume the following stage setting. My proposal for a U.S. Chamber of Democracy (USCD) has been implemented.2 It has commissioned a task force, peopled by the non-economists highlighted earlier in this series along with Aristotle and Marx in absentia, and charged with developing and publishing under the auspices of the USCD a proposal for a new national economic policy and a new economic system, the peoples' capitalism. The proposal would include strategic initiatives, a time table for finishing, and indicators of progress.
The taskforce would also be charged with polling the opinions of middle class Americans, the socioeconomic group essential to any true democracy and viable economy, and then melding the solicited public opinion with the draft proposal.
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