What is to be done?
A comprehensive set of monetary, credit and tax reforms that would allow the Federal Reserve, the commercial and investment banking systems, and the private sector to function more efficiently and democratically is "Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen," from the book of the same title. It is certainly worth looking at, especially since no one has managed to come up with anything other than warmed-over Keynesian expedients, that is, government bailouts, more State regulation and control, and expansion of taxpayer-supported debt. Capital Homesteading is grounded on the "pure credit" ideas of Harold Moulton explained in The Formation of Capital (1935) and systematized in the post-Keynesian binary economic paradigm of Louis O. Kelso in his second book with Mortimer Adler, The New Capitalists: Freeing Economic Growth from the Slavery of Savings (1961), and in the work of binary economists Robert Ashford and Rodney Shakespeare in Binary Economics: The New Paradigm (1999).
One immediate Kelsonian reform to the credit crisis is actually quite simple, and very timely:
The federal government should immediately pass enabling legislation for the Homeowners' Equity Corporation, "HEC," described in a number of previous postings on this blog.
As soon as the home mortgage situation is stabilized, the federal government should pass the Capital Homestead Act, an application of the principles of the Just Third Way.
What can you do?
Send a letter and an e-mail to your representative in Congress and both of your Senators. If you have a chance to speak one-on-one with any candidate for any public office, raise HEC — literally. Ask if he or she has heard of the Homeowners' Equity Corporation proposal of the Center for Economic and Social Justice, and when he or she lies and says yes, demand to know why he or she hasn't done anything. (Of course, if the answer is "no," tell him or her all about it . . . and demand to know when he or she will take action.)
If you don't get a chance to meet with any candidates, write letters and send e-mails. We will post a template that you can modify to reflect your specific concerns and (as always) we encourage plagiarism, at least of our postings. Failing that, send a link to any or all postings or the blog itself throughout your network and to the candidates. (We have to listen to them, so they should have to listen to us.)
Will this guarantee change? No — only you can do that, by organizing in this manner and keeping up the pressure. If you're wondering why nothing is being done, you really only have to look no further than the end of your nose.Donations to CESJ are tax deductible in the United States under IRC § 501(c)(3):