Venezuela is going through a very difficult time. The storm will pass, but we have all changed already. It doesn't matter who “wins”, the country will never be the same again. Taking this into account, I think its time to reflect on this once beautiful and prosperous country; not from any political point of view, but freely. We will need a change no matter what the outcome of this unnecessary civil crisis. Once Venezuela comes out of this painful conflict, we will need answers and solutions. I write you today because there are many ways of helping a country. This is my grain of sand. I invite everyone to think about what I am about to tell you and don't let any political ideology manipulate your thoughts, remember that at the end of the day, politicians are politicians.
we find ourselves at a crucial crossroads that deserves every single one of our upmost attention, in order to find true solutions outside of the paradigms and models that have failed us in the past.
Part 1
Introduction
I believe in a Venezuela that truly uses its resources to better the lives of its citizens. Now, what exactly does that mean? What is Venezuela?
Venezuela is an organism of humans that live in a specific geographic location. Lets study this living, conscious organism.
The first question we have to ask ourselves is, what is the purpose of this organism? I would submit that the primary goal of this organism is to survive. Secondly, Once we meet the first goal or surviving, we need to up our standards to surviving with the least amount of effort, maximizing the ability to freely express yourself and be happy.
Any system or organism uses resources to sustain itself and meet its goals. What resources does Venezuela have? Venezuela has the resources the land provides and the resources its people contribute. The resources the land provides are almost self explanatory, they are the material goods, prime resources or raw goods we get from the geography itself such as oil, coal and many others. The resources its people contribute, are their will and intellect.
Terrestrial resources are limited. We live in a defined area and can sustain ourselves in a limited way. Taking this into account, we need to use our resources in a sustainable and economic manner.
The will of the people needs to be invested in wanting to better themselves. we need to let go of our past and want to truly progress and transcend. People’s intelligence should be used collectively in order to achieve an organic (not green or eco-friendly, though we need to watch for those parameters, but rather that the means of production need to arise in a natural way) means of production for basic needs ( water, food, health, safety, education, transportation etc.) as well as luxury items (anything that is not basic such as sodas, truffles, cellphones and cultural events). Any non-aggressive organism tries to maximize their production over the input without overproducing (a foreign concept to capitalists). This basic rule should be our standard to follow.
Part 2
Application
How do you apply this mentality to our reality? There are many ways to go about this, the rest depends on the attitude and conviction of its parts and its people when you go to apply them. I tend to think that the best way to resolve an issue is to simply take two steps back and attack the problem from a new perspective. For now, I think there are several basic issues that keep us from achieving our goal of living with the highest possible quality of life. For lack of a better explanation, systems theory is the best way to re-invest our resources. Systems theory is the study of systems in general with the use of every and any discipline that you have in your arsenal, with the goal of clarifying and understanding the principles that can be applied to any system at every level in every field of investigation and consequently every level of production and application of said products whether they be physical or abstract (intellectual). I think the best way to explain this method is clarifying that the organism has at its’ disposal all its’ resources and uses what empirically and scientifically is the best course of action in order to minimize work and better every field involved (or not involved). In other words, use all the fields in an interdisciplinary fashion in order to meet our goals always taking in to account the pre mentioned parameters, always looking for the best possible outcome for all and absolute truth and clarity.
What exactly are these parameters? They are the goals that we had previously established for ourselves. Survive, in an optimal manner fomenting prosperity and health. This entails that our parameters and goals are based on helping the populous as much as possible, in the most sustainable way. Why do I speak of such pure parameters? Because for once the government will be the gold standard to follow. Why do I say this? in order to have a state that satisfies its’ people completely we have to bring elements of both Capitalism and Socialism. Now, we have to be very aware that these are only words that I use for lack of better terms. I also use these words as linguistic shortcuts in order to satisfy peoples’ expectations when it comes to political discourse. For some reason we have boxed ourselves in these two seemingly polar opposite definitions. The Venezuelan polymath Arturo Uslar Pietri, used to box himself in these two denominations as well. He believed in a gradient from one extreme to another; on one side was total equality for everyone, on the other was total liberty for everyone. What he alluded to explain was that though he is correct in our current paradigm, you can always flip the whole concept on its’ head. We have tried to find balance in the middle for a very long time, however you can also find balance by going to both extremes and bending the system and having the ends meet symbiotically. There is also a huge leap from equality to justice (in my opinion). Equality means that we all have the same things always. Justice is giving everyone the same opportunities and hopefully begin from a common starting point located somewhere in the middle class or better, in order to live with dignity, much like scandinavian countries currently do.
I would like to clarify that as humans, we classify ourselves as emergent creatures as well as our society. This means that there is no eternal answer. It means that, as changing people, our needs and values change as well and our answers should reflect this. This is why we should all question, change and better everything, but most importantly we need to leave our addiction to our past and conformity.
This is the obligatory “30 second elevator pitch“. How do you get a country to be both “capitalist” and “socialist” at the same time? You don't split the difference or find the middle, you go for a country that is both “capitalist and socialist”. If you allow the global market to take care of the currency, no major economic downturn will impact the country too much, since the country really doesn't have its own currency. This means that the country can be run in any currency, dollars for example; if something were to happen, you sell that currency and you switch over to japanese Yen or bitcoins or any other currency since we will be situated in a very flexible position. Once you have the general populous diversifying their investments, will soften any blow as a state. This will save us from the economic equivalent of the Irish potato famine. Since in my version of the world the state should close its books in 0, returning all excess to its people as dividends, it is in the states best interest to try to manage its finances properly. Manuel Rosales suggested this when he ran for office with the implementation of the card “mi negra”, however due to many obstacles the outcome was not in Rosale’s favour and thus this concept never came to fruition.
The state should pay its constituents with credits. That is all money really is, just credits. Where do these credits come from? Mainly the same as where money in Venezuela comes from today, Oil. Currently, Venezuelans do not get any type of remuneration (economic or otherwise) for pillaging and devastating their own beloved soil and national patrimony (with everything that statement entails) while the government sells it (and actually lately gives it away) to other countries. As we can see and live, the trickle down economics theory (much like communism) doesn't work anywhere in the world. It seems like it’s time to start giving the more modest classes of people more empowerment with the money generated by the “state” in order to see where capital naturally goes flows to. The money that is created directly by our natural resources will be directly invested in creating a national and self sustaining market for all products currently in the open market in all sectors. We will begin with the basics and in due time, we will begin to invest in products less necessary for people, eventually creating “luxury” items.
What happens when this this ideology is in motion? Firstly, there will be an abundance of work for people. If we apply the measures explained earlier, specially the one stipulating that the main objective is to create and provide all products and services for free and in an accessible manner to its people, inevitably, the end result will be a government producing at a level of excellence never (ever) matched in our current system. The products created under this new paradigm will eventually force the “global market” to adapt. This means that, theoretically, in order to compete, every other market will eventually have to adapt to (to a very large degree) the standards the government has instituted. Why? No one will force them, but, that being the gold standard inevitably, people following them will simply have a better product. The (normal) market will have to adapt if the “state, national” system releases a better product (specially if its free). Their only hope is to create an even better product, because it can't compete in price. This is why anything created by the government has to have excellence as their goal, never money.
The government needs to separate itself from the monetary system and allow a solution to arise naturally, like it has always occurred and is happening in many places around the world including Europe. Parallel currencies have turned out to be more robust and stable that the Euro or recently than the dollar itself; proving itself against ups and downs to better known currencies, once again like the euro and in many cases the dollar. This has helped very much the societies using them to maintain a more stable economy than the ones people around them, using other currencies, are currently dealing with.
Too many products in today’s market, specially in the tech field are created with “planned obsolescence”. For those that are still unaware of this, “planned obsolescence” is a policy of planning and designing a product with an artificially limited useful life, so it will become obsolete, or break down after a certain period of time in order to keep you buying more products and making the market (hopefully the same company) more and more money for “imperfect products”
This will no longer be the case. When I say, we will strive for excellence, that is exactly what we will do. Once you take money out of the equation, planned obsolescence will itself become obsolete. Using the best technology in tandem with the best products (not the cheapest) with recycling in mind, products (and systems) will be designed optimally with longevity and options for eminent upgrades built directly into the product. Once the state provides at the very least one free option of the products currently found in the “free market” the need to survive and the struggle for money will diminish greatly. Efficiency inevitable makes us arrive at the conclusion that we need to invest aggressively in automation of all products.
I’m sure that many of you are thinking “how will we deal with the eventual job loss this will cause?” Once we mechanize every process technologically; machines, robots, drones and computers will eventually replace human labor almost completely. A side note to those that think this is a bad idea, its happening now and will happen no matter what. This is inevitable and it is a lot more preferable to accept this fact rather than ignore it and allow the power of acquisition to polarize itself further. Take a look at companies such as google (with its’ self-driving cars already circulating in many cities), Amazon (who controls massive warehouses and all of its distribution needs, from request to delivery, without a single human involved, through the use of robots and octo-drones). The technology is already there. It exists. Technology like the internet, robotics, GPS and the use of 3D and 4D printers (who can print themselves out) are proof that our goals are not only a lot more tangible, but eminent.
Firstly, let me start by saying that this will open a huge market for technicians, engineers and programmers. Inevitably, this will raise the standard of living for many like it has been doing in India, China and previously all first world countries like the U.S.A. or England. The role of people will eventually transition to mainly one of creator, inventor, discoverer and problem solver. Secondly, we must think past monetary gain. Why? Because, our needs have already been taken care of. One will have the option to work for the international market and in this manner, keep having money to purchase those goods you prefer to have from another private brand or are not yet created in the internal market. This is ONLY if you want. We must also understand that money, more than a resource, has become the operating system of the world, but this is just perception. We must see money and economics for what they really are and focus on our true goals without falling in to this economic game which has nothing to do with economizing (and most are losing) in the world market.
Many will say that this will lead to vagrancy and a generation of loitering, though I can't speak for every case (specially at the beginning), I think, in time the culture will turn to one of introspection, personal growth and betterment of society, specially in the sectors of science and arts. As a society we will see things differently. We cannot pre-judge tomorrow’s society with today’s values. For the more, I think we have forgotten that we shouldn't have to force ourselves to work for the simple fact of working. This leads society to create mediocre products and cyclically sell ourselves trash. What happens if the person wants to be a phenomenal father or study medieval literature? What about all the artists, athletes, philosophers and inventors? All of this growth will only enrich our society more. We all long for that freedom; don't lie to yourself. Not only that but, the naysayers are implying that after being able to survive one does not have any dreams or goals of any kind. I also ask, how many people can reach their true potential in the current system? Having your needs and many of your wants met by the internal and free (No money) market, noone will be able to stop you from achieving them. For the more, would you really take food and the ability to live with dignity from anyone just because they haven't found something that motivates and drives their passion enough to work if working is really not necessary? Specially if regardless, it costs less than in the current system? The fact is that this will aid not only in the drastic drop of crime (since most things will be free and of superior quality) and there will be no need to rob. I insist that this will give rise to an intellectual movement. Once the standard of living switches from laborious servedome (specially in the fields where work is repetitive and predictable; which is most jobs in today’s world) to one where the individual can dedicate their time to activities one wishes to participate in, people will spend more time learning, growing or even working, but only in what we chose because we love. This will bring betterment and new niches in all fields.
I also hope, though I don't count on it, that the honest goodness and efficiency of the state will allow people to donate their time. This will give way to the quality of human services. For example, teachers will be teachers because they naturally and vocationally want to teach, not because they have to. Many people will have the luxury of “not HAVING to work”, but will donate their time to better the community and the systems we have in place in order to make them even more efficient ( a process that will never end and never should since we always change and things can always get better, also, there will always be new markets and products one can perfect).
Why do I keep making the distinction between the internal (free/ gratis) market and the external market? Striving for efficiency and balance in the internal market (in order to have realistic and sustainable goals) one must have an inventory of the market (the people), their needs (and wants) alongside our resources. Through a tracking system we will have a clear picture of what, when and where things are needed. This is a system that many modern stores like McDonalds, Wal-Mart, supermarkets and even libraries have had for a while. This will also help (especially at the beginning) to keep tourists, foreigners and undocumented people from capitalizing from our labor and throwing our numbers off. We will look for the most efficient means of production, in time automatization will bring cost down to practically nothing this is the inevitable future. These are the actual projections created in today’s society, estimating that employment and power of acquisition will precipitate due to this process regardless and will be coupled with a dramatic drop in production cost. This means that the more efficient we are, the less we have to work and the less production will cost. This is the very reason I advocate for a transition to a system where all resources are commonly owned by society and taken out of the hands of corporations. If we leave this process in the hands of companies and corporations we will inevitably end in what is being called “corporate feudalism”.
People think that this means that we will be counting items one by one like they did in the early days of communist Russia, however, that will not be the case. We will not have one single kind of bread and it’ll be only one for you and another one for someone else; none of that; the market will be gratis, there will be no need to ration things. This means that if you need 3 breads you can take all 3 and not only that, but there will be a variety of product choices for you to chose from. I repeat, the state should only care about how much, where and when products are needed. We want to live in abundance, without waste, since it will belong to all of us, in absolute prosperity.
I have explained this many times, however the best similitude I can currently give it is that of water (for now, though in reality there are other “utilities” such as the phone, electricity, security, and many other including free internet in many countries). Imagine a state where tap water is not only potable but of high quality and free. You will always have the option to go and buy water from anyone or any brand, from any part of the world; however I assure you that you will never worry about dying of thirst. This gives the buyer the advantage. This means I only buy water on my own terms. All labor should be for one’s own pursuit of happiness. This is to some degree what Margaret Thatcher implemented in england during the 80’s. I do believe part of that happiness we will pursue will be to share with the community and work towards goals created through our social interactions, always looking to better our quality of life. But, I clarify, this is not obligatory, one is absolutely free to participate, or not.
Given the fact that one can live for free, any state position, specially those that involved with any decision making in particular those in regards to budgeting, should be subject to transparency and scrutiny of their bank accounts and life in general in order to make it abundantly clear and unquestionable that no illegal or shady deals are taking place. In Homer’s “Republic” he states that any public servant (state worker) should work for free. This is due to the fact that he is a servant in every sense of the word and should not look for any profit of any kind. Their only motivation should be to serve for the love of your country and fellow man. This way their actions are free of corruption. This doesn't necessarily apply to laborers, but more for those who have decision making positions, where corruption could potentially take place. Decisions should be taken by experts and scientists in the field rather than politicians in an analytical, reversible and transparent fashion. Always looking for the truth and free of monetary corruption. This is due to the fact that the only thing you can really acquire is the gratitude of the people for bettering their lives, products and processes. This benefits all people and their environment.
Part 3
The good life
The good life in reality can be condensed down to one thing; its about not having to work. Not having to work means that if I don’t want to do something, I don't have to and I will still get the benefit that said labor would have awarded me as many times as I want. To explain my self once again, lets say that the state of a good life in cero is having to do everything yourself, by yourself. For example if one were a cast away as a child in a deserted island, well, you are at cero quality of life. You have to do everything yourself. Your life quality starts to better when you acquire information, any information (how to do something, what the climate is like, what resources are in the island). It betters still when you meet someone that can help you and it betters even more once you create or have some tools, traps, shelter, medicine etc etc.
The very first conscious step towards a better life came with the advent of agriculture. In other words, the ability to manipulate your environment for the very first time. Now, instead of having to go out to scavenge for food, food “came” to us by planting it where we wanted it; but planting is too much work. This is when we truly started applying technology to our toils and lives.
The first quantum leap was with the use of tools, specially in conjunction with animal labor. Having a donkey to help with the transport of goods or an ox to help till the fields helped people enjoy a drastic improvement to their lives.
Secondly came slavery. The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans and even Americans took advantage of someone working for them for free. This allowed part of the population to nourish themselves properly and also to grow intellectually due to the fact that this freed them from having to toil in the fields in order to live with dignity and not have to worry about going without to some degree themselves. These societies where a breeding ground for great philosophers, scientists and artists.
The next step came to save humanity from slavitude, servedome, child workers and much hard labor. I am talking about the industrial revolution. During the years of 1750 through 1850 there was a vast influx of production thanks to the use of machinery and characterized by new sources of power. First came pure technology helping us to be more productive, better the quality of the products and be more efficient in general. Then came the use of water to automate them and mechanize the process. In order to better that concept came the use of steam, coal and finally oil. Each time more and more people were freed from hard labor.
With the evolution of technology and with so much power found in such a compact source, more people can enjoy the benefits of working less and having better products at a price that just keeps dropping. An obvious example is that of the computer. 30 years ago the price for a computer would have set you back the equivalent of several months worth of work, perhaps even years. Now, bear in mind that the computer you would have bought would have been huge, with very little memory, very low two tone resolution and with very limited sound if any at all. Now, for the price of a few weeks work one can buy a cell phone that fits in your pocket and does more that the technology NASA used to get the first man on the moon. In fact, it is an all inclusive gaming platform, recreational system of the highest resolution, with GPS, an emailing center with free phone calls and free video calls anywhere in the world, with the ability to create and edit music, videos, photos and interactive products while you have connectivity to a virtually infinite data base called the internet.
What a good life.
Part 4
Education
Not having to work permits us the free time we need in order to study and work on our talents. Being a Venezuelan, I will tell you about the history of education of that country. It is a very good isolated case where you can really see the effects of education in its people.
Venezuela has had several intellectual booms, though due to social instability, a lot of illuminated ground was lost every time a cycle ended with catastrophic results. The first real boom was thanks to the renaissance, not during the days of the renaissance in the 1400’s but much later at the end of the 18th century. this was due to the distance it had to travel across the atlantic and into the wild south american unknown. This boom was known as the “Miracle of the generation of independence” where Venezuelan greats such as Bello, Bolivar, Miranda and Roscio among many others rose from the darkness.
Another boom arrived once the seeds planted around the 1820s by Jose Miranda Vargas gave fruit; who for free and without any personal gain, formed many people in his surroundings, modernizing science and creating modern universities, thus creating a foundation for Venezuelan intellect to be home grown.
Finally People like Adolfo Ernst and Rafael Villavicencio came to Venezuela with the positivist movement and concepts such as evolution (Positivism is a philosophy that believes that true knowledge comes through scientifically or mathematically verified sources). This new mentality allowed one of the last intellectual booms in venezuela.
I would like to note that there was one more big boom in Venezuela, this was the boom of the 1958 University expansion by Romulo Betancourt. Of Course this boom brought the “Gran mariscal de ayacucho” scholarship program, which sent thousands of Venezuelans to study abroad with the understanding that they would return to their country to help make it better. Oil profits can be used for good, but you have to make sure it is actually used for that purpose.
As we can clearly see, free education is crucial. I can't highlight that enough. Simon bolivar said “we have been dominated by ignorance more than by force”. I think he was absolutely right. Knowledge, but more than that, reasoning is what separates us from animals. We MUST have free education, in every sense of the word, at the very top of our priority list. Too many people have missed out on a proper education solely based on lack of resources, whether it’s monetary or time (since they do have to make money to sustain themselves) or both, or almost worse, because the university decided they reached their physical or perceived limit. This should never be an excuse again to not educate an individual. I am a huge proponent of allowing people gratis access to education in every level of schooling. If this can happen in an organic “free range” type of scenario it would be even better. We need to create conditions where groups of children or adults get together to answer and discuss questions in a scholarly manner, with internet access and members of the community who are willing to donate their time to teach and help stimulate intellectual growth. This will foster the development of critical thinking instead of systematically inculcating the opposite through repetition and indoctrination. By shifting learning from a repetitive memorization system to one of discovery and participation the quality of learning will sky rocket and be overall more valuable. What benefits does this bring? Firstly, Education will become incredibly accessible to anyone in any situation (economic or otherwise) since the price tag will drop drastically to almost free, thanks to technological innovations and breakthroughs such as the internet. So much so that people like the president of MIT, the Venezuelan Leo Rafael Reif as well as Sugata Mitra have been currently trying to implement this system with some success within this current system. There have even been several school openings operating in one of the first forms of this concept such as the coveted Ecole 42 in Paris France and the Hole in the wall project for children in India and England. Everyone however understands now that the current system is in need of much updating and actualization. A migration to a “free and modern” system will also almost obligate the majority of information to be current and up to date, maximizing any effort to learn and/ or teach since transparent current information is the most valuable. Having a population of modern citizens armed with the leading edge information is more valuable than anything we have ever seen. Humans are in their element when they use their intellect to solve problems, we should cater to that ability.
Part 5
The devil’s excrement
Juan Pablo Perez Alfonzo, talks about the devil’s excrement. Of Course we all know he is talking about the oil discovered in the 1910’s. This was, in many ways, the last great counter productive hit against the intellectual movement in Venezuela. The discovery of Petroil reserves in Venezuela (and in most countries that discovered vast quantities of the “black gold”) brought a plethora of problems never seen in the country before. This time it wasn't war or chaos that brought a vacuum of intellect, this time it’s the devil’s excrement that makes us lose, along with our intellect, our moral compass. This is a direct effect of the loss of the country's sense of proportions along with the loss of the feel for effort put forth to attain anything; instilling the notion that anything and everything can be bought and money is all you ever really need. The last push by the illuminating movement started by Rafael Villavicencio is lost due to the unprecedented massive influx of money that was coming in to the country due to our oil sales in an unorganized manner and without any real clear purpose.
New Rich, thats what Venezuelans became and we were destined to fail. This was the typical story of the kid that strikes it rich in hollywood when he is too young and several decades later, when you hear about them again, you find out they have robbed, became addicted to drugs, squandered their money and ended up in a ditch somewhere.
Although Perez Alfonzo was right, sometimes you have to accept that this sort of experience is something that needs to be lived in order to understand the blessings you are about to receive, in order to be able to move forward, evolve and transcend.
Now, like a good ex-addict, we have to rid ourselves from our dependencies. I am not saying Venezuela should stop selling oil, I’m merely stating that we need to invest that money (not waste or even spend) in alternative and sustainable energy sources and apply that technology to our own country, if anything at all to maximize oil profits instead of squandering it on ourselves. Once the country loses its dependence on oil, it will be able to sell a larger volume of the stuff. By investing in alternate energy sources, the day oil goes out of vogue, we will already have a plan B, not only for ourselves, but to sell to other countries that didn’t have the foresight to prepare for the inevitable. It doesn't matter that Venezuela has almost limitless resources of oil, like the Jeque Yamany said, “the stone age didn't end because we ran out of stones”. Also, by having a direct interest in economizing in order to maximize your naturally invested interests in the country and its resources (remember we will be receiving goods and services among other things directly from our domestic product) we will all be in agreement to explore and look for alternate, free and sustainable energy sources.
Part 6
Economy
Speaking of economizing, we need to get back to the real definition of that word (to avoid waste) because from far away you can tell that the current economic options are having major issues in most countries with both their currencies and their markets (and their environment to be honest). currently all options are based on an aggressive market which is only based on scarcity (scarcity = need = worth/ value). If the internal economics of the country is a resource based economy, the equation will flip (abundance = value) this way it will be in everyone’s best interest to do everything as well as possible in as an efficient way as possible. Adam smith (the father of economics) explained how economy should work and how it becomes distorted when money in a capitalist fashion is added to the equation. Jacques Fresco established the resource based economy theory during the 30’s when the U.S. was struggling with its great depression. He used the scientific method (instead of politics) to arrive at that theory's alternative economic structure. Independently Catherine Austin Fitts ( assistant secretary of housing and federal housing commissioner at the United States department of housing and urban development during the first Bush administration) and to a large degree the famous economist Ludwig Von Mises also advocated for similar systems. I am greatly in agreement with them, I believe that instead of managing the state like a business, it should be run like a home. Where a family lives and each individual has different likes and needs.
The national market will be run more like we manage “free” basic needs or utilities of very low cost; like the phone, water or sanitation services today, but in a much more efficient manner. This can be achieved by investing as much as possible in automatization and sustainability.
A resource based economy and not a market driven economy is the most productive and reasonable way to manage our resources and it enables us to have a base for the “credits” that the country will run. Another way to look at it is as if the country is the bank and the reserves and the value of our credits is based on the quality and abundance of our resources and limited taxes. This is a solid enough base that will be free of political corruption. There will be no real way to manipulate the economy through pure politics (or at least it will be a lot harder) but it will be, rather, as an individual citizen and as such, it will be in their best interest to maintain that balance and improve the means of production and access to the them. Once this system is setup, the question before undertaking another project wont be “do we have enough money?”; but rather “do we have enough resources to meet our goal”? For those of you that did not understand the difference, the new question will be “do we physically have enough materials, knowledge and willpower to achieve our goals for this project”? This means that only “real” limitations can prevent development. This goes back to the benefits of having a resource based economy. A Resource based economy (“RBE”) sets it up so saving and replenishing the country, its nature, making the highest quality products in the most efficient manner and not overproducing is in everyone’s best interest. Alaska has a similar system and it happens to be one of the states with the most equality among its citizens in the US. Sweden and other scandinavian countries also have started down this path and it has had fabulous results specially when it comes to equality among its residents.
When the economic system switches to a “RBE” it will go back to the original concept of economy, which actually has to do with economizing. Add to this the option of literally grabbing the “excess money” the state didn’t use and redistributing it back to the people (in services and dividends) and you will actually be able to find a real balance in the budget, market and economy in general. Here is where we find a change to what we currently call money. I believe instead of money we need to come up with a credit system. We can come up with a bank free system with free currency exchange. In other words, I can pay you however you want, in Dollars, Euros, Rupees, bitcoins or what ever. So, Credits? Yes! Credits. As simple as that. An intangible fictitious value which you can exchange for something else. You will be able to setup a system in which your accounts can be in any currency you wish. I will deposits my “credits” in your account and an automatic conversion will trade the credits for any currency of your choosing for the value on that day in any bank. In order to give a good sense of what I am talking about, it will be a sort of like a “paypal” that works internationally as an entity that guarantees legal transactions in real time. Why should we get rid of banks? Why should we get rid of our currency? The answer is simple, because in todays world they are (or could be) absolutely redundant and obsolete. A good government should only care about what big stores (distribution centers) care about, see what you are doing with your money and guarantee quality. This way, they can help you and its constituents better. Taking this into account, the government should only want a history of the transaction. The bank- like institution should only be a sort of “middle man”.
What benefits will this bring? Firstly, the country will free itself from many kinds of debt, mainly those based on interest and banking tricks. Secondly, we will use globalization to our favour. It’s as if we set up a nice, safe home and we go out to work in the morning and come home with our hard earned money at the end of the day. The state should act like a father; it should protect us, its kids, its citizens. The father (the state) should try to give us all it can so we don’t HAVE to go out to work. If we want to go out and and play “cards” and pretend that one child is more important than the other, they can, but its just a game. The state must still focus on getting everything their child needs at home (in our market and country) and help them be as happy as they possibly can be. I would like to clarify that more than a rich dad ( which Venezuela is thanks to its oil and the US as well due to its political and economic position) we want to have the mentality of a father who knows how to invest, organize and plan.
The free market will be “free” inside as well as outside its territory. We do,however, want to make sure it is legitimate and taxed. This system will also save us from inflation or at the very least a collapsed economy since the only thing with true worth is our resources and our labor. Even though they do have “monetary” worth, they are worth their price in any currency and however you want to look at it since the true value of the project will be inherent once it is finalized.
Part 7
Intellectual rights
The laws for intellectual property and their duration are used in great part for preventing advancement even though they were originally created and established in order to protect the authors from not capitalizing on their own work. We seriously need to take a long hard look at these laws and modernize them in order to keep people, corporations and patent trolls from circumventing the laws and corrupting their original intent. I am not saying this because of the generic general individual, the reason I mention this is because many companies and corporations have used these laws to prevent the progress of products that will be superior to theirs in order to keep control of the market or because it is cheaper for the company to prevent the evolution of their field. This ends up costing everyone technological advancement all around. We need to setup laws that prevent conflict of interests between progress and money. We must do everything in our power in order to create the conditions where progress and technology are free of abstract concepts such as the possession of intellect and/or money. Once again I strongly believe that the only things that should ever be able to stop us are “real” physical, tangible obstacles. If you tell me that “1 + 1 = 2” and that idea is yours, it should be almost criminal that you impede everyone else from getting to 4 because “2 + 2” is an innovation to your patented concept. Information is like fire, it spreads as you share it and it shouldn't cost a thing. As a Venezuelan intellectual said as an echo of global intelligence, “We must make of science an instrument for the development of our nation, adapting it to our dimensions and the reality of our country. We must forget theories and ideologies that have been imported and imitated. We must create a true remedy out of our realities and possibilities… we must make the best country we possibly can with the human resources and materials we have at our disposal”.
Part 8
Conclusion
Like Jose Ignacio Cabrujas explained, “the invoking of the spirits of the past is a negation by society against the contemporary, blinding us to the present of our society. It’s like a psychological or cultural problem that (Venezuelan) people have of making the grave mistake of telling their history as a “moral fable”; telling people this person was good and this person was bad, dramatizing the history of a country and using its’ historic characters as tools to achieve their goals. When our history is turned into a legend, you lose its reality. Then you create a dependency in our history that negates us the liberty to move freely forward and progress into the future”. Many of us want to go back to the good old days and adapt them to our present, but sometimes its better to stop completely and start from scratch. It sounds worse than it really is, but in a small country like Venezuela, change takes hold quite quickly and the country is resilient enough where the update can be implemented rather instantaneously. We are stuck fixing our past, its time to create a future.
We need to deeply understand our country and its reality. Perhaps through an analytical point of view, we can understand the relation between what we are and what were, but more than that, what we could be. Using the techniques explained earlier, we might still get some real benefit to our oil induced decent. We need to stand, we need to cure ourselves from so much misinformation. We must learn to see our country (and world) with love, but with honesty as well and the cold clarity that only a true desire to help it and understand it can instigate. Its time to stop being the good savage and become the illuminated people of the south.
I know its not perfect, but I also feel it is better than what we have. I also would like to clarify that most ideas and concepts are not my own and I have done my best to mention the people who have inspired me and have taken the time to come up with these concepts. To those who see the holes and flaws in my words, I ask you to not just bring the issues up, but to try to think of how to solve them. This way, our solutions will be a reflection of its people. If we change our point of view from one that sees only mistakes to one that sees an opportunity to solve an issue and make the world a better place, it will do the earth and everyone in it a lot of good. Remember that Einstein was credited with saying “we can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”. I ask of everyone to think, to research, to look for new options for all of us to live better, because honestly, the current options we have on the table and have been using for too long are not very many and are not very good. Question everything, test your theories, follow your conclusions and develop those that work…. once you have done all of that, question everything again. I would also like to clarify that more than a proposal (which it obviously is) it’s an invitation for everyone to start discussing these topics in order to really explore EVERY option that exists out there and those that are yet to be invented. Remember that the opposite of success, is not failure, it's not doing anything.
Rafael Michelena
