What is Economic Power?
We all want Power, this is not necessarily about the egotism of Humans; power is simply the ability to achieve a goal or value. We have our principles and theories and plans, after this we need Power to achieve our dreams. Everyone needs Power, every soul needs Power or things cannot get done, and happiness cannot be attained.
In the economic sphere, most people, the vast majority of people, do NOT have Power.
Power is held by large corporations and financial institutions. Just a handful companies dominate whole industries.
The wealthy 1% of the economic pyramid actually controls 50% of the wealth; this means that on the average of one hundred people, one person controls half of the total wealth, while the other 99 people divide up the remaining half. This is the level of economic disparity in the USA. This 1% is unknown to the rest of us, they live far away in gated and hidden communities, they travel in elite circles, but they make fundamental financial decisions that control our lives.
Also, Power is also held by government bureaucrats and politicians who are often tools of big business via legal and illegal graft and corruption.
In a Diverse Economy Power is redistributed, it is liberated and given to ordinary people. Here is how this occurs:
Metrics
Metric measures are created that append the measure of money and profit. These measures include many things such as product quality, customer relations, diversity in the workforce, giving to a local community, environmental issues and much more. These additional measure are used to evaluate the performance of companies, these goals represent the values and concerns of everyday people. This is a form of Power because we are making companies work in new ways according to our new metrics. Firms are being evaluated according to how they serve our needs. They receive investment funding, community support, endorsements by consumers based upon their metric showing. And conversely corporations that do not meet the standards of a metric economy are shunned.
Leagues
A league in a Diverse Economy is some form of social organization that represents a fundamental player in an economy. There are industrial leagues that represent companies but there are also leagues that represent consumers, average investors, communities and many other social groups from minority leagues to environmental leagues and more. A league is an expression of Power. In the old economic system, the only organized power allowed is that of industry. In the new ideal, consumers, communities and many more collections of people have institutions which can control the behavior of companies. This is a form of Power.
The leagues do these things: They measure, publicize, recommend, criticize and if necessary even boycott a firm if the problem warrants it. There can be Consumer leagues,
Community leagues, Investor leagues, Employee Leagues and more -- Leagues for women, minorities, the disabled, environmentalists etc. Each league can serve a given demographic or interest group measuring and monitoring the performance of a company.
In this way a League system creates a set of interlocking checks and balances in an economy. In the past, companies had NO limitations at all. In a Metric or Diverse economy, firms must deal with society, the days of caprice and narcissism are over.
MBX
An MBX is a collective term for financial institutions which include a securities market and investment banking. MBX stands for Metric Banking and Exchanges.
The MBX creates a stock and bond market that deals only in metric securities, the MBX helps companies form on a metric basis, the MBX develops a special form of investment banking, the MBX works with investor, community and consumer leagues. The MBX is a form of power that represents the interests of the average citizen.
Ownership Forms
Who runs a company? Who makes decisions on compensation and dividends? These are important questions. In a Diverse Economy, we have a diversity of ownership forms. Equity in a Diverse Economy is varied, but the bottom line is always diverse democracy, that is, ownership is an expression of a range of ownership forms that represent different types or modes of management. Thus, this includes private ownership, entrepreneurship, small business and also collective forms such as cooperatives and democratic corporations.
Today modern economies are dominated by the capitalist corporate form which is undemocratic and manipulative. Its operating principle is to use other people’s money without giving them control. In the future, cooperatives and democratic corporations will become a dominant form as the old style corporation will either be reformed or abandoned as an arcane relic of a crude age.
The Citizen
The fundamental form of power lies with the citizen. In a democratic society, power ultimately resides within the individual. In the case of economics, power is knowledge and skill. The modern citizen is now an investor, owner, worker, consumer, community member, environmentalist and more.
So far in this discussion, we have developed various institutions, but in the end, we must keep in mind that the citizen is the keeper of a metric world. The citizen is an investor, member of a community, an employee, a consumer and often an owner. And this metric economy is one founded on directness – direct participation, direct knowledge, direct action, direct control.
So while we have a number of interconnected institutions, the citizen is the common denominator to all. The citizen maintains all points of view. In the head of the citizen is the metric attitude; in everyday behavior is the metric practice. In all perception is the habit of linking quality and quantity together. In all strategy, the use of ranges and spectrums is based on particular conditions. In the heart, we seek the balance of measure and immeasure. In the mind, we are breaking out of measure tautologies. In economic life, there is an exploration of the new monies of our culture. This becomes the measure of a citizen in the new world of measure.
Direct Democracy
Naturally, conditions for this new citizen demand a Direct Democracy. One cannot have a Diverse Economy going in one direction with the current elite democratic system going in the other direction. A “representative” system of government ends up representing the representatives, so it is best that we move to a direct arrangement with direct voting on bills and the re-categorizing of politicians as “functionaries” who help the citizens develop, understand, pass and monitor legislation. General direction can be decided by voters while details can be worked out by functionary legislators. With a direct democracy we can keep corruption out of the political process. Our ancestors were able to Separate Church and State, it is up to us to Separate Money and State.
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