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Before society can move forward into a “better” world, we need a clear and inspiring vision of what that world might look like. Arguing over what we don’t want from inside a dark room with no windows will merely divide and frustrate us. With this in mind, I have tried to simplify my explanations of how a “better” economic system could operate. In this article I will explain only the two most important foundational principles that together will release individuals, entrepreneurs and small business owners from the servitude of needing other people’s money to thrive.

The first principle concerns the legitimate right to create money. If money is necessary to participate fully in society then everyone must have equal access to it. Money creation should not be controlled by governments and banks and it certainly should not originate as debt. Individual citizens should create the money supply through voluntary contributions of their own socially-productive talent and labour. Money should be nothing more than a receipt for value already contributed to society. Ideally, I believe it should be based on hours since time is a stable, universal constant that is equally accessible to everyone.

In practical terms, this means people would pay themselves simply by contributing their talents and gifts to society. Work itself would create new money receipts. No one else’s money would be required to pay workers for their contributions. No upfront capital would be required by businesses to hire and pay “employees”. Workers would pay themselves simply by showing up to work. Businesses would no longer have any payroll expenses. “Employers” would simply report to the banks which workers showed up and how long they worked.

Commercial transactions would operate like a line-of-credit does today. Upon the successful verification and approval of a business plan, a new business would open a line-of-credit account at his or her bank. A maximum credit amount would be set based on the complexity and needs of the business and a reasonable time frame would be established for the start-up period. Once registered and approved at the bank the business would be able to begin ordering the necessary equipment and materials for production. No money would change hands. All goods and services transferred between businesses would simply be recorded as accounting transactions. The outstanding line-of-credit balances of shippers would be reduced by the value of the shipments and the credit balance of the receiver would increase by the same amount. Neither upfront capital nor other people’s money would be required to start and operate a new business.

A labour-based monetary system would eliminate unemployment. Contributing socially-productive labour wouldn’t place a financial burden on anyone else. If appealing work was unavailable in the marketplace, individuals could easily start their own enterprises. The dependence on other people to hire you would disappear. A far broader diversity of creativity and productivity would emerge as more and more people learned how to run their own businesses. Small, local, custom enterprises could flourish without the burden of debt and interest. No middlemen, brokers or investors would be needed or rewarded by scalping an entrepreneur’s initiative. Finally a level playing field could be established and honest free market competition would decide which producers were most socially valuable.

The second foundational principle concerns the legitimate authority of government. Since income tax was initiated in 1917 as a temporary measure to fund the First World War, it has flourished into an array of permanent taxes that now consume over half of the income of average citizens. Initially, maybe, people agreed with the reason for this confiscation of income but as time went on taxpayers started to question the use of public funds. Today earning a living is hard enough without forced contributions to an array of secret government programs and ambitions. As the excellent documentary The Panama Papers shows, corporations and the rich have managed to avoid paying taxes despite being the largest beneficiaries of the debt-based, profit-driven economic system that runs the world.

Larken Rose has been criticizing the immorality and illegitimacy of government authority for over 20 years. Using simple logic that even a child could understand he points out that if a behaviour like murder or theft is wrong for an individual then it must also be wrong for a group of individuals or government. The use of force and violence is the primary means by which governments sustain their control over society. But if force and violence, murder and war are morally wrong for individuals then there can be no legitimate moral exemption for governments who commit the same heinous acts.

In a voluntary, labour-based society people would vote every day with their talent and energy for the type of community they supported. The burden and expense of politics could be eliminated. The nature of society would be a reflection of public will not government decree. Replacing forced confiscations with voluntary contributions would allow free enterprise to provide common social needs like roads, education and medical services. Competition would demolish government monopolies and huge corporate syndicates. Basing money on real social contributions instead of imaginary wealth and financial speculation would end a cascade of profit-driven scams used to concentrate wealth into fewer and fewer hands.

In a voluntary, labour-based society income, sales and property taxes could be eliminated altogether. All people would provide public services as it would be the first foundational principle that money was based upon. When work itself creates new monetary receipts to reward the worker then taxes are no longer necessary to fund government payrolls. When transfers of goods and services are merely accounting entries in a public ledger taxes are no longer necessary to acquire the materials and equipment needed to carry out government functions. Government programs will be voluntary and purchased by those who support them. Politics and elections will vanish. People will vote with their lives for the type of society they want to live in. Most likely very few people will choose to support war and terrorism in foreign lands, or corporate collusions and interventions to control supply chains and commercial markets, so those types of activities will disappear.

A voluntary, labour-based society provides people with the means of maintaining personal sovereignty and freedom from coercion and government force. Basic natural laws of do no harm to others would constrain individual rights and actions. Self-defence would be included as a natural right and owning a gun would be a social responsibility. Disputes among neighbours could be resolved through local citizen juries. Radical changes in education would instil personal responsibility, tolerance and a respect for the rights of others into our children and a far less selfish world could evolve.

To read more about these ideas visit the Financial Party's website.

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A Better World