We need a new Economics Theory.

We need a new Economics Theory.

A few times a year I have the opportunity to talk with a friend who makes his living on finance. This is my chance to talk with a Calgary businessman who perhaps is the most typical Albertan. He really believes that there are people out there who make it their lifelong mission to destroy the Alberta economy. To him, anyone who is concerned with the ecology, the environment or even the wellbeing of low pay workers is a leftist job-killing terrorist who will plunge us into debt which will destroy the future of our kids. Sam, that his name, means well and fights to maintain our so-called economy the way it is. I disagree with his theory.

To me, our goal is the long-term survival of the human species first, and the wellbeing of people second. Sam doesn’t believe in God, never opened the bible and thinks “reality” is geared towards the survival of the fittest. I think we humans have a world to sustain us and that our mission is to fit into creation harmoniously while sustaining it. We shouldn’t go into war against nature which brought us to where we are. The only way that it can work is if we all strive together to make it happen.

I think that we fulfilled the commandment to fill up the Earth and we have enough sons of Abraham if we consider all the Jews, Christians and Muslims put together. We are done and now we must work the final touches. The world can and will sustain us if we use its resources with the right goal in mind. The evolutionist’s idea of “survival of the fittest” should be replaced with the “love your neighbour as yourself” or the end is near and, “see you all in heaven.”

To me, the economy is our way of doing what it takes to keep on living. We can experiment with who does what or how much, but we don’t have the resources to supply the wants of the most greedy amongst us. They believe in eternally expanding economic growth which is simply not available on a finite globe. If we let them, they will destroy the Earth and have us dig our own graves and lay down to die. I am sure that it was not part of God’s plan when he created the world and fashioned humans out of mud.

Personally, I don’t view myself as “political” left or right up or down. I don’t care what religious symbols you wear, or which Bible you follow. My marching orders are the same in all cases and translations. One commandment above all, love one another and feed my sheep. End of story.

To me, an economy is not created to enhance the chances of one rich human over top of another or fight for some corporations to make more profits than others. I want an economy that is concerned with making this world better than what it is for its inhabitants. Notice that I didn’t even say, humans.

In my story, all of us should be working towards improving living conditions. We can use money as a means of exchange, or we can invent another way. Our way should eliminate the ability of a few of us to buy and sell our resources including labour for huge profits. No, we will not work for starving wages to make someone else travel in private jets and live in showy mansions. It is not the goal we wish to pursue.

My great grandparents toiled the soil of Austria Hungary and my grandfather died fighting for some Habsburg Emperor. They worked hard and got to keep very little. I know enough about economics to say, we should not overtax work and under tax capital or we will be back in the same place.

I listened to a speech by a billionaire Tom Steyer who is financing a campaign against the Keystone pipeline. He is fighting all methods of energy production which pollutes the earth. I can’t deny that I too strongly support clean water and air. I likewise don’t wish to destroy any economy. I wish for people to do all of what we must so all will benefit now, in a hundred years and a thousand years. It will create all the jobs we need and no need to ask who will pay for it. Our work will pay and be paid by other people’s work.

We work for money. It is printed by the Bank of Canada and backed by the US money that is created by the privately owned Federal Reserve. Most existing money is never even printed. It is a promise of work or resources. A huge amount of it is in offshore tax havens where it doesn’t produce anything but more money, not for those who work or own resources but for those who own the money. They are the “investors” who we are trying to attract by reducing taxes that benefit us, and regulations that protect us and the planet.

Personally, I have worked for many years at a job that took years to learn. I paid my taxes, paid for my education, saved for my pension and now I am comfortable in a simple way. I appreciate what I have and above all the fact that the country and the world are here for me. I wish the same for my children, grandchildren and all future generations. I don’t want them to have to fight nature for their lives to fight others for survival or live under siege by multitudes of starving people. The truth is, I wish for a world that provides all the needs for all its creatures. That is what it was made for.