Peoples Economy By Dada Maheshvarananda

Peoples Economy - Proutist Economic Development Planet Earth has enough resources for everyone – if we share. The goal of Prout is to utilize and distribute our shared inheritance in a rational way for the benefit of everyone. THE RIGHT TO LIVE! The first priority of Prout is to ensure the guarantee of the minimum necessities to everyone: “The minimum necessities of all should be guaranteed in any particular age.” – P. R. Sarkar. Guaranteeing the right to live has to be the first priority of every country. The Brazilian spiritualist Frei Betto called attention to this need when he said, “The degree of justice in a society can be evaluated by the way food is distributed amongst all of the citizens.” Minimum necessities and hence economic rights are a fundamental human right. In 1999, the last year that statistics were published, Venezuela produced only 49% of the cereals (maize, rice, sorghum, and wheat) that it consumed – the rest had to be imported. A limited amount of cereal imports is reasonable, for example if people like to eat bread they need wheat, which requires a colder climate (only 500 metric tons are grown in Venezuela each year). Excess rice or corn could easily be traded directly for wheat without using foreign currency at all. But the country must produce 100% or more of the total cereal it consumes, so that whenever any natural, political or economic disaster strikes and imports are blocked, the people can consume rice or corn instead of bread. Prout recognizes five fundamental necessities of life: 1. food (including pure drinking water); 2. Clothing; 3. Housing 4. medical care; and 5. education. According to the principle of Neohumanism, this birthright of minimum necessities transcends citizenship -- meaning that every human being, whether native or visitor to a country, must be guaranteed these necessities. All are citizens of one planet, one universe. Providing the basic necessities should be the primary function and duty of any economy. Human beings require these in order to realize their individual potentialities, to develop culturally, to achieve inner fulfilment and self-realization, which many now consider as higher goals of life. The right to meaningful employment with fair wages is also a fundamental human right. It is this that will enable the earnings to be derived to acquire the minimum necessities, and from there to increase the amenities available for all. The minimum requirements should not be handed out by a government agency, as the current welfare systems of liberal democratic countries do. Rather, the people should pay for them with the income they earn from honest work. It is the responsibility of all levels of government to pursue policies which achieve and maintain full employment, with jobs that utilize each worker’s skills and

capabilities. A just minimum wage must be set high enough so that people may purchase the necessities. Most welfare systems create disincentives for welfare recipients to work. In the USA, for example, those who receive welfare must immediately report any dollar they earn, which is usually deducted from their next welfare check. They are not allowed to borrow money to start a small business without immediately sacrificing their monthly assistance. In this way, welfare recipients become emotionally dependent, prisoners of both poverty and the welfare system. Prout, on the other hand, would only offer welfare as a special contingency for those who are physically or mentally unable to work. This is because in a balanced economy and an economy which has people as its basis and their welfare as its goal, working cooperatively, all will be able to acquire their necessities through their efforts and all will be rewarded accordingly. Material incentives for those who work harder, are more skilled, and who contribute more to society are also integral to a Proutist economy, but the incentives must be reasonable. The goal is to gradually raise the standard of living and quality of life of everyone, while doing less damage to the natural world and other creatures. The determination of the minimum necessities should be done in a progressive way; i.e. there must be continual adjustment of these basic requirements depending upon the available resources and scientific standard of the locality. As with all the principles of Prout, the standard for minimum necessities will change with time and place. For example, staple foods are different in different cultures, yet they must meet adequate nutritional standards. Clothing varies according to climate and culture. Minimum housing standards appropriate to the climate and culture will also be determined. Of course, those who work harder will be able to earn enough to buy bigger and better housing – such incentives will be built into the system, unlike in communist economies. Everyone, however, will be guaranteed a roof over their head, regardless. And incentives are there primarily so that people can render greater service to society - incentives for mere indulgence makes the capacity to produce less worthy. Prout measures economic progress according to the people’s purchasing capacity. In order to facilitate a continually increasing purchasing capacity, a number of factors are required. These include the guaranteed availability of basic goods and services, stable prices, progressive and periodic wage increases, and increasing collective wealth and productivity. What a wonderful world it will be when no one on the planet will worry about getting enough money to buy food, clothes, housing, education and medical care needed for his or her family! Is it possible? Yes. If the focus is first on people's economy. P.R. Sarkar gave great importance to a field of economics that he termed the people’s economy. This concentrates on providing goods and services to the people. It analyzes the lives of individuals in relation to the economy as a whole, including their living standard, purchasing capacity, and economic problems. It implements what is required. The most important aspect of the people’s economy is ensuring that everyone receives the minimum requirements. This responsibility includes

overseeing the production, distribution, storage, marketing and pricing of consumable goods. For commodities (goods and services) their classification should be: essential, semi-essential, non-essential. Essential goods are those needed to maintain an adequate standard of life -- clean water, most foods, most clothing, medicines, housing materials, textbooks and other educational materials. Cooperatives would produce and sell the majority of essential goods/commodities, and as much as possible they should also manage semi-essential products. Services also be classified in the same way. Essential services provide the basic necessities, such as schools (from kindergarten to university), hospitals, water and sanitation utilities, local public transportation, the railway system, the airspace for national airlines, energy infrastructure, communications infrastructure, etc. So it extends to electricity, other energies and communications which are vital now to well being. The local, state and federal government should be responsible for providing these services through autonomous bodies set up for that purpose. These are key industries held in trust for the benefit of all - for the benefit of the public and not for individual gain. Some essential services such as health care practices, medical centres and health maintenance clinics employing three or more health care practitioners can be run as service cooperatives, owned and managed by the health care practitioners themselves. These are relatively small scale affairs. Semi-essential commodities include some types of food and clothing, books other than textbooks, most electronic goods, various household items, etc. Non-essential commodities include luxury goods. Small private enterprises would only produce luxury goods and some semi-essential items. As the economy of a region develops, the number of different types of commodities in all three categories will increase and vary. When everyone is able to purchase the minimum necessities, gradually more semi-essential commodities such as household appliances and electronic items will be reclassified from semi-essential to be considered essential commodities. An item which is initially considered as a luxury will later be classified to be a semi-essential or essential commodity. All other services will be classified as semi-essential or non-essential and can be provided by small private enterprises; however, a Prout economy will always favour the development of cooperative enterprises. Accordingly, small private enterprises should operate cooperatively as well, in substance, or be converted to cooperatives when the get to big. Also, some aspects of key industries can also be cooperatised once the infrastructure or backbone can be managed in smaller units. It should be emphasized that the role of a Prout government would be to coordinate – not to be directly involved with – the production and distribution of goods and services.

Another responsibility and aspect of the people’s economy is to ensure that everyone has employment. Although this is a utopian dream in a world dominated by competitive global capitalism, economic democracy based on cooperatives can achieve this. Hence the government should promote and assist the development of cooperatives. A special mention should be made about housing. In a housing system, a Housing Board in each region, state or federal (as appropriate), but most likely regional, will have to determine the minimum standards of single-family and individual dwellings in terms of size and facilities. The Board should ensure that housing design is appropriate to the climate and culture, that suitable construction materials are available, and that the technology is appropriate and as ecological as possible. The cost of monthly payments to finance the construction or renovation of a house to meet these standards will have to be included when calculating the just minimum wage for that region. Any person or family without a home, or living in substandard housing, would be entitled to such a dwelling, and the cooperative bank would grant a long-term low-interest loan to the new owner. Owner participation in planning, arranging the loan and, if possible, construction, is a key factor of successful low-cost community housing programs in the USA. Preference would always be given to the renovation of existing houses and buildings over new construction, if possible. This helps maintain cultural and historical heritage as well. However, all costs and benefits - financial and non-financial - should be considered in a housing policy. As mentioned, the housing board would also set minimum housing standards for individuals, large families and those who wish to live collectively. People would have incentive to work harder to buy a bigger and better house, but minimum housing would be guaranteed to all. When human rights become the basis for structuring an economy, the result is people’s economy. People’s economy will deal with the essential needs of the people in general. The necessity of people's economy is to be reinforced by constitutional power. Minimum requirements must be assured through guaranteed purchasing power which should be enshrined in the constitution as fundamental human rights or as cardinal human rights. This will give citizens of the country power to sue a government if their minimum requirements are not met.