1-6-3
After the 11 September disaster, there was the risk, the fear, that the stock-exchange index would collapse, to zero in the end. The result would have been ten-thousands of bankrupt companies, making millions of people unemployed, without unemployment-benefit, because the financial institutions normally paying these benefits would themselves be the biggest victims.
So a situation then would have come to exist, wherein all factories and companies and their products still would be there, but no longer working since the money-tap would be closed. Is not it crazy, that just one paper figure can break our whole economy?
What is the cause of this? And how can we improve the situation?
The cause is that a great part of earth's capital is owned at the moment by just a few big stock-holders, who first of all are interested in their own interest. They therefore, after 11 September, immediately started to sell their shares in for example air-line companies. It even was their duty to do that, because they are my and your bankers as well.
Our whole economy is a kind of gambling-game at the moment.
How can we solve this problem?
Would the whole world have been communistic, then that risk of course would never have existed, simply because of the fact that such a paper figure, so the stock-exchange, would not have existed then. But we do not want traditional communism, and we are right, because it is very humanly to desire payment for your work, especially when you work hard and also are creative and innovative. But in the communistic world, you did not get (extra) payment for your (extra) work.
There however could exist another form of communism and I call it consum-unism. I can imagine a UC, the "United Consumers". Every human being then is a member of this UC, by nature, and also has the right to vote.
And when you buy a product then (food, a bike, a car) then a small part of the price you pay is for shares in the big companies. So if you pay a 1000 dollar for a new IBM computer, then for example 1 dollar (or 2 or half a dollar) is a payment for a share in IBM. And these shares then are owned by the UC.
In the end, the UC then would become a very big or even the biggest share-holder in world-economy. And then there no longer is the risk that, as a result of an incident, all for example air-line companies go bankrupt. The UC will always keep their shares. The capital owned by the UC even could be used then to support these victim-companies for a while.
The UC could become 'the owner' of the world then, and we all are consumers. And it would be a free world.
This UC then also can make other demands to the companies. Try to standardize the inner-techniques of all your products as much as possible, could be such a demand. Suppose Renault, Ford, VW, Toyota et cetera, all make an own model of a car, however with in every car the same engine, gearbox and other inner-techniques? All these car-factories then only have to use the same building-schemes to feed their robots with. And make one ink-cartridge, fitting in every printer! All knowledge would come together then as well. And make a world-standard liter-bottle, a standard beer-bottle, some standard jars et cetera, could be another demand, and re-use, after cleaning, these bottles and jars again and again and for as many sorts of food and drinks as possible. Only make durable products, easy and cheap to repair, also after 10 years. Ask a reasonable price for your products. Such kind of demands.
Is such a UC possible? Of course, we only have to want it.
And suppose, after 25 years, the UC own(s) half of all the shares? Then there no longer are poor people. With the revenues of these shares, we then could guarantee every-one on earth a basic income.
So what to do?
We, the UN, write a simple declaration:
1. From now on there exists a 'United Consumers', so a UC, and every human is a member (owner) of the UC, during his or her life.
2. All big companies pay for example 1/100 or 1/1000 part of their year-sales to the UC, in the form of shares.
Jan Helderman
1-6-3
