How to stop wars
Economist Fred Harrison in his book The Predator Culture homes in on the systematic carnage of the 20th century. All for land grabbing - appropriating the wealth of land and its resources. The 1941 German invasion of the USSR was the last great colonial land grab - to create a Greater Germany (a USA of Europe) with an abundance of resources.
Fred concludes that the current Capitalist system is a killing machine as the carnage of the 20th century clearly displays. Violence is ingrained into the system although most do not recognise it. It is not difficult to rectify, but those who make the easy and biggest gains stop change.
The current Capitalist system has a major "systemic" flaw. Most do not see it. Pointing that maybe a half-baked Communist system was little better does not negate the flaw in the current system.
The depression of the 1870s caused Europeans to grab for Africa to claw out of the European economic deadlock, even Belgium got lot larges slices. To get over the slump they grabbed land and its resources - the gains of this land was appropriated for private means not common means. Harrison calls these freeloaders the Predators. Those who take common wealth and the fruits of what others (the Producers) worked for, for private gain. In economic terms titled, "unearned income".
The British land grabbed at home (the Highland Clearance where Scotsmen were forcibly taken to ships to take them to Canada, and the Enclosures in England), when that land grabbing was exhausted they looked elsewhere creating a massive empire. The USA also did so to its west, the Germans attempted mainly to its east. Spanish, French, Dutch, etc empires were created by grabbing land and its resources.
Harrison points out that the depression of the 1870s eventually caused WW1. Germany and Italy were largely excluded from the Africa land grab, displacing and impoverishing the locals, and the 1929 crash caused WW2. Will the 2008 crash cause WW3? We must work to make sure it does not and that means adapting the flawed current system, which also periodically crashes on a world-wide scale. First identify where the problem is. 99% do not know where it is.
Harrison puts it into two groups:[LIST=1][*][B]The Predators -[/B] mainly those who own land and its resources and take what nature (commonwealth) gave for themselves.[*][B]The Producers[/B] - those who work and honestly produce.[/LIST]The above two are opposed and only work together by propaganda telling the Producers that the current flawed system is beneficial to all (which it is not) and violence via the army and police.
In the USA the wealthiest top 1% own more wealth that the bottom 90% - FACT. That may give you an indication that the current system is flawed somewhat as the proceeds of a society's production is grossly and unfairly distributed. Marxism is not the answer as Marx concentrated on Capital as the problem and generally ignored Land & its resources as the crux of problem - although in some statements he did which tended to negate a lot of what he wrote. If Lenin had not ignored Marx's limited writings on land and maybe "Das Kapital" was titled "The Monopoly of Land" maybe many millions would not have been systematically killed in the 20th century.
Harrison concludes, as I did decades ago, that wealth created commonly be taxed to pay for common services and that private wealth be left alone and left in private hands. This means:[LIST=1][*][B]No Income tax -[/B] a temporary tax to fund the Napoleonic wars, which is a tax on production. The landed in the UK (0.6% of the population own 70% of the land), which also had/has political power, saw Income Tax as a way of taking tax from their lucrative land and onto the working poor.[*][B]No Sales Tax[/B] (a transaction tax on trade).[/LIST]Two things you do not want to tax - production and trade.
Take away the mechanism that makes private individuals and concerns (these days many corp'ns) pursue unearned income and appropriating commonwealth and greed diminishes. People then have to concentrate on enterprise as easy pickings on the backs of others are not there. Money is directed from parasite activities to enterprise activities. Boom & Bust disappears and the need to steal others land & resources is eliminated.
I could go on.... :)
Fred concludes that the current Capitalist system is a killing machine as the carnage of the 20th century clearly displays. Violence is ingrained into the system although most do not recognise it. It is not difficult to rectify, but those who make the easy and biggest gains stop change.
The current Capitalist system has a major "systemic" flaw. Most do not see it. Pointing that maybe a half-baked Communist system was little better does not negate the flaw in the current system.
The depression of the 1870s caused Europeans to grab for Africa to claw out of the European economic deadlock, even Belgium got lot larges slices. To get over the slump they grabbed land and its resources - the gains of this land was appropriated for private means not common means. Harrison calls these freeloaders the Predators. Those who take common wealth and the fruits of what others (the Producers) worked for, for private gain. In economic terms titled, "unearned income".
The British land grabbed at home (the Highland Clearance where Scotsmen were forcibly taken to ships to take them to Canada, and the Enclosures in England), when that land grabbing was exhausted they looked elsewhere creating a massive empire. The USA also did so to its west, the Germans attempted mainly to its east. Spanish, French, Dutch, etc empires were created by grabbing land and its resources.
Harrison points out that the depression of the 1870s eventually caused WW1. Germany and Italy were largely excluded from the Africa land grab, displacing and impoverishing the locals, and the 1929 crash caused WW2. Will the 2008 crash cause WW3? We must work to make sure it does not and that means adapting the flawed current system, which also periodically crashes on a world-wide scale. First identify where the problem is. 99% do not know where it is.
Harrison puts it into two groups:[LIST=1][*][B]The Predators -[/B] mainly those who own land and its resources and take what nature (commonwealth) gave for themselves.[*][B]The Producers[/B] - those who work and honestly produce.[/LIST]The above two are opposed and only work together by propaganda telling the Producers that the current flawed system is beneficial to all (which it is not) and violence via the army and police.
In the USA the wealthiest top 1% own more wealth that the bottom 90% - FACT. That may give you an indication that the current system is flawed somewhat as the proceeds of a society's production is grossly and unfairly distributed. Marxism is not the answer as Marx concentrated on Capital as the problem and generally ignored Land & its resources as the crux of problem - although in some statements he did which tended to negate a lot of what he wrote. If Lenin had not ignored Marx's limited writings on land and maybe "Das Kapital" was titled "The Monopoly of Land" maybe many millions would not have been systematically killed in the 20th century.
Harrison concludes, as I did decades ago, that wealth created commonly be taxed to pay for common services and that private wealth be left alone and left in private hands. This means:[LIST=1][*][B]No Income tax -[/B] a temporary tax to fund the Napoleonic wars, which is a tax on production. The landed in the UK (0.6% of the population own 70% of the land), which also had/has political power, saw Income Tax as a way of taking tax from their lucrative land and onto the working poor.[*][B]No Sales Tax[/B] (a transaction tax on trade).[/LIST]Two things you do not want to tax - production and trade.
Take away the mechanism that makes private individuals and concerns (these days many corp'ns) pursue unearned income and appropriating commonwealth and greed diminishes. People then have to concentrate on enterprise as easy pickings on the backs of others are not there. Money is directed from parasite activities to enterprise activities. Boom & Bust disappears and the need to steal others land & resources is eliminated.
I could go on.... :)
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