The Cost of Everything & the Value of Nothing(part 2)

The whole world is governed by the fetishism of one symbol. 

The cost of everything

Capitalism’s value is increased by raising price whilst lowering cost. That’s easy for us to grasp. But what happens to the value of something when it is given? Think about this for a moment before reading on.

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The dollar is nothing more than a fictional symbol, as it no longer depends upon being backed up by things of commercial or natural value. It has no intrinsic value other than what is promised or contracted by its governors. Even that can be circumvented. Its functions are constantly variable, as in its value is NEVER SET, thus the things valued by it differ from moment to moment, by artificial means otherwise known as global capitalism – the power and value PLACED UPON money.

It now acts as the human-forged golden Canaanite idol of the Hebrew Scriptures – MOLOCH or MOLECH – that had to have a constant fire burning, fuelled by child-sacrifices, not to be displeased in the minds of its creators. Insanely absurd that they created their own genocide, no?

 

(above: Canaanite God Moloch / Molech was said to have weighted arms that lowered the child into its furnace)

What happens to the value of things when they cease to have monetary value, or their ‘value’ becomes so astronomical it ceases to have any rational advantage? (Such as in times of hyper-inflation). How does that affect global monetary capitalism? We see a shift not only in practice but in social behaviour and mental perception. So what if ALL commodities, assets and services ceased to have any monetary value while the monetary economy still exists? Is it possible for that to happen and how? Well, look around, we are drawing ever closer to that prospect, not through hyperinflation, which is a constant threat, but by excluding political tactics of the elite.

Many commentators have proposed we are close to the possibility or necessity of a zero-cost monetary economy, which would help. Also, governments are planning centralised crypto-currency systems. But none of these would radicalise the possession and abuse of economic and political power without catastrophic public revolt. Campaigners barking up the tree of the elite wealthy are doing us no favours. It’s the wrong tree.

If the dollar has become nothing more than an abstract symbol, in practice outweighing the sum total of all its global assets (like all the oil reserves, the gold reserves of Fort Knox etc), and if governments are turning to a virtual economy that reduces fiscal burden; why is it not possible to devise and exchange a public virtual currency that has no intrinsic value, is given no value and represents no value and hence does not exchange for anything of perceived value, except units within the same system? It is possible and it has been done many times. What is lacking is any significant effect on capitalism and money that can rapidly grow to global scale of influence and something that is readily accessible to everyone without permission from external sources,

Since ALL value of commodities and services is artificially asserted by a process of mental assessment and negotiation, it is very easy to divest them of that value, by exchanging via virtual zero-value units. It is perfectly possible to create this from nothing and have it run parallel to the monetary economy in order to acquire goods and services that are concurrently available in the monetary economy.

Now what happens to monetary capitalism? Some will say it leads to the collapse of capitalism, but that is not calculated thinking, since capitalists can also benefit from this zero-value exchange mechanism if they comply with internationally agreed caveats will prevent misuse of the PNME. This way the PNME can make the right industries way more profitable and generate the rapid expansion we need to tackle global issues and revolutionise global and localised trade.

The word ‘exchange’ must become de-coupled from the word ‘value’ even within people’s minds. This is essential if we are to ditch the habit of a lifetime, the history of economics that has led us here and needs to alter rapidly. No value-based system will transform how commerce forces us to treat each other and the planet. And no-one that is sitting pretty thinking money doesn’t need to change will initiate this. So how can we do this without necessitating a whole new education?

 

The value of nothing.

 

As a species, we often consider the value of nothing when in receipt of, or offering, kindness and generosity; people responding to emergencies; some thoughtful consideration that costs the provider. Commercially, we are familiar with loss-leaders and charitable hand-outs reducing tax burdens, or costs / losses used for producing favourable publicity, (or even individual tax-declarations); but they would not exist except as profitable strategies. Capitalists are almost constantly calculating the value of nothing.

So what happens if we create this parallel ‘symbol of exchange’ that has NO VALUE or ‘THE VALUE OF NOTHING?’ Not the value of children or any material thing. 99% of the economic population are currently acting like a lone farmer telling Monsanto “get off my land!” But they form a significant instant economic market, if they collectively adopt alternative and outperforming means that can dictate real terms.

In the Parallel Non-Monetary Economy (PNME), things would still be acquired by ‘currency’ (a misleading term) or more accurately a fictional symbol that is accounted for. If it is a numeric system, the numerals do not need to equal the perceived or economic value of the goods and services. They do not need any nature or features. As virtual valueless accumulating symbols, they do not exchange for any other thing or increase any value whilst static. When you dial or punch in numbers to open a safe containing what you regard as valuables, the numbers have no correlation to the objects at all.

This is what radically alters the mentality of ‘exchange value’ and commerce, for the first time in human history – even since bartering. It interrupts that process whereby we perceive goods and services have some exchange value; that in order to secure that value suppliers and consumers, employers and employees have to constantly compete against each other’s interests. Some say people will never think of things as valueless. This is not what we need to concern ourselves with – the idea that people can, all of a sudden, exchange things for valueless units they automatically self-generate is an easy concept to grasp.

Of course things will always have value to people, but only capitalists assert exchange value is necessary and essential for acquiring goods. Remove value from any exchange and what do those commodities transform into? Since the PNME accounting exchange unit has zero value and only unlocks access to exchange goods and services (which will more likely become regarded as simply sharing or giving), it is no longer the goods and services that are exchanged or hold economic value. They can be accessed freely by the automatic exchange of the PNME units, without any material means necessary. Much the same as when you scan a piece of plastic for something you want. Scanning by use of personal biometrics, magnetic, GPS and other current technologies will remove even that necessity. Now we are getting closer to what it will feel like. The accounting goes on unseen and all has zero value. It is just numbers adding and subtracting on glass data disks. The value of what those numbers acquire is radically transformed.

And most crucially, what if the PNME is not a hand-out from some benefactor or system but comes directly from inside of you, controlled only by you as your self-contained power to generate this symbolic valueless income? No one can take it from you. Contrast that with what any previous ‘exchange value’ could ever do. Think of what it opens up – for everyone, including capitalists.

For one example, since the units are self-generated and employers will no longer be wage-payers, they will no longer offer employment, it will be offered to them by employees. Think of how this single radicalisation will alter industry, production costs, labour standards and the control of commerce. And this is not the only contrast with the monetary system.

Of course, to have any accounting system, even an abstract numerical system will need to associate numbers to people’s chosen activities, in a flexible way. Access to goods and services will also need to be associated to the numerical system but it is wrong to assume this means another form of money. It is radically different to EVERY previous economic model. The valueless PNME can be set by society to perform anything they prioritise as essential industries, offering far greater incentives, since it is costless and not generated from existing budgets. It will accommodate every field of human activity that constitutes work, including education and parenthood. The rapidity of self-generated units will far surpass anything requiring monetary consideration, so, when PNME units are exchanged in an invisible automated accounting system – the numbers will hardly be in the minds of the people spending them; and since the PNME unit is as fictional as the cost/price imposed on monetised goods and services, it can always react to attempts at market control and profit-boosting, so the practice becomes impotent, (as illustrated by the monetary economy during times of hyper-inflation). So, the PNME is inflation-proof. It does not come from and is not controlled or restricted by any pre-existing centralised controlled account.

The only scenario where PNME units will be limited and in the consciousness is in its early stages, from infanthood, or when someone chooses how they wish to accumulate the units to meet a large acquisition; or if someone persistently chooses to max-out their earnings, or limit their activities supported by the PNME in favour of expanded leisure time, (this is hardly conceivable as all abstract labour and some leisure will earn PNME units).  

In addition, the PNME renders all monetary production costs to zero. So, even within the monetary economy that initially benefits from boosted profits, the imposed associated monetary value of things is rendered nothing, of no economic consideration. Think of how this will affect industry, locally and globally. Do the sums.

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SO – to sum up…

The differences with the PNME are: 1 – no exchange value is involved; 2 – the goods and services are not what are exchanged; 3 – the source of the generated abstract PNME accounting unit is not the same as any previous system; 4 – the control of that accounting is self-contained and transparently monitored by a global collective (as in blockchain systems); 5 – the perceived ‘wealth’ or ‘prosperity’ is a) invisible and b) so rapidly exceeds the conceived monetary value of things exchanged (which will be invalidated anyway) that the idea of swapping things for any economic value will become laughable, (except for the mechanics of the exchange and what they practically achieve).

All of this is only a necessary stepping stone to pacify the accountants of this world, who will temporarily enjoy a rapid expansion of activity before their near extinction. It will achieve the inversion of what neoliberals undermined: that Marx and Engels proposed would eliminate pricing and “radicalise the bourgeois economically” – “the abolition of the material grounds of the concept of abstract labour”.

To understand how the PNME will work, feel free to download the illustrated supplements to the book ‘A Chance For Everyone: The Parallel Non-Monetary Economy’ –

1) Turning Costs To Earnings: How the PNME works and for how it transforms industry and politics 2) Resolving The Money Obscenity. (enter ‘0’ in the price box).

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Parallel Realities

If you’re inclined to dismiss all this as ideological fiction, look around you and see the effects of what it is already doing in the fictionalisation of monetary capitalism and financialization, generated at will, out of thin air, by the greedy and unscrupulous, already tried and tested psychopaths placing the $ before our children and all life.

More importantly; think of the sheer scale of the existing parallel non-monetary economy and what it achieves amongst the billions of people around the world ALREADY divested of any economic power or value – the value of nothing – that is worth far more than any money. Value that capitalists have exploited for only marginal surplus value – an alternative to ‘labour surplus value’ that no longer affects price – as a trade-off for monopolised control.

So why should we not make the PNME an economy that has economic power for every living individual WITHOUT needing the artificial monetary system, any exterior source of generation, or ANY imposed associated ‘value’? Imagine, seriously, what ALL agencies could do – education, health, government, charities, NGOs, campaign organisations, green industry and agriculture, environmental and species regeneration – relieved of the limitations of monetary dependency. 

It is not money that is our biggest problem – it is our fetishism of it as our only saviour. EVERY INDUSTRY & INDIVIDUAL that practically asserts money is our only saviour are PART OF THE PROBLEM when they could become a massive part of the solution.

And this new virtual symbolic zero-value ‘currency’ doesn’t need to replace money or even compete against it. It simply has to exist. It can eradicate poverty tomorrow, if we grasp it now.

Before dismissing the claims above as dream world and burying our heads in the sands of human history and BEFORE THE COST OF EVERYTHING RENDERS EVERYTHING THE VALUE OF NOTHING – please examine the PNME.

 

http://achanceforeveryone.com

(Available for free or pay what you wish in download versions).

 

 

 

 

 

Kendal Eaton
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