Ironically, a solution — Capital Homesteading for Every Citizen — has been suggested not once, but several times. As reported on this blog, we have managed to get word to a couple of Ministers and members of Dail Eireann, as well as to members of the Economic Social and Research Institute (Ireland's premier think tank), but there has been no real interest expressed, for whatever reason. This is more than a little perplexing, for included in the overall Just Third Way Capital Homesteading proposal is the "Homeowners' Equity Corporation" program, or "HEC." The HEC has the potential not only to solve the current "toxic asset" crisis, but also point the way to a permanent solution to many of the other economic and political ills afflicting not only Éire and Northern Ireland, but the United Kingdom, the United States, and the rest of the world.
Coincidentally, this writer contributed an article yesterday to the Helium Writers' Cooperative on the subject, which has (at least as of this morning) achieved the top rating. Clearly people are seeking a new solution, and, just as clearly, those who have come across the HEC believe that there may be something in the proposal (to say nothing of Capital Homesteading itself) that has the potential to achieve something positive.
The HEC has the potential to answer every concern expressed in the article in the Belfast Telegraph. The problem is that the leaders in Éire and Northern Ireland either don't know anything about it, or, if they know about it, haven't taken it seriously.
What we need, obviously, is for people with contacts — or people with contacts who have contacts — at the appropriate levels of government (at this point that is probably the ministerial level) to open the door to these ideas and get them to the people who can take the ball and run with it. This, of course, means you — whoever you are. If you have read this far, you evidently think there's something in the Just Third Way that has the potential to bring about lasting reform in our economic and political institutions. The question then becomes what you are going to do about it.
Here's what you can do:
1. Get to your contact(s) (or your contacts with contacts) and mention that there is a program that has the potential to solve what many people are starting to regard as one of the worst financial disasters in history.In light of the increasingly horrifying economic news coming out of Ireland (or anywhere else, for that matter), nobody has anything to lose by giving serious consideration to Capital Homesteading. It might even do some good — and, in social justice, it is your personal responsibility to see that contacts are established and doors opened so that something effective can be done.
2. Send your contact(s) to the CESJ website, pointing out that most of the literature on the subject is free and available for download.
3. Suggest to them that if they find the material has possibilities (and, at this point, anything has to be better than what is in place), they open the door for a meeting between a minister (or, better, the Taoiseach, Mr. Brian Cowen) and Norman Kurland to discuss the best way to implement Capital Homesteading.