Economy: April 2006 Archives

Besides agricultural or farmer's cooperatives, Prout advocates the formation of other types of cooperatives, including producer's and consumer's cooperatives. Producer's cooperatives include agro-industries, agrico-industries and non-agricultural industries. The total profit of such cooperatives should be distributed among the workers and members of the cooperative according to their individual capital investment in the cooperative and the service they render to the production and management of the cooperative. Similarly, like-minded persons who will share the profits of the cooperative according to their individual labor and capital investment should form consumer's cooperatives. Those who are engaged in the management of such cooperatives will also be entitled to draw salaries on the basis of the services they render to the cooperative. Consumer's cooperatives will distribute consumer goods to members of society at reasonable rates.

Commodities can be divided into three categories:

• Essential commodities such as rice, pulse, salt and clothing
• Demi-essential commodities such as oil and antiseptic soap
• Non-essential commodities such as luxury goods

Cooperative members should form a board of directors for each cooperative. The board should decide the amount of profit to be divided among the members; that is, the dividend to be paid to each shareholder. However, the total profit should not be distributed in the form of dividends - some should be kept for reinvestment or purchasing items such as tractors, manure, etc.; some should also be used for increasing authorized capital; and some should be deposited in the reserve fund. The reserve fund should be used to increase the value of the dividend in the years when production is low. If this system is followed the authorized capital will not be affected. The board of directors should be elected from among the cooperative members - their positions should not be honorary. Care should be taken to ensure that not a single immoral person is elected to the board. All directors must be moralists. To stop black-marketeering strong steps need to be taken by the government. For example, to protect the clothing industry, the government should pass a law that prevents the sale of any clothing without the trademark of the producers cooperative where it is made. Thus, if black-marketeers try to sell any clothing without trademarks, they can be easily caught. Many intelligent people know this simple but effective remedy, but still they do nothing. This is because they are the agents of capitalists who need money from these black-marketeers and hoarders to fight their election campaigns. This kind of corruption in the electoral system is part of democracy, so we can say that democracy is not the best form of government. Hoarding, profiteering and black-marketeering cannot be stopped in the democratic system because those who try to stop it will be thrown out of power. In the high point of the ks'attriya (warriors) Era smuggling and hoarding were controlled, but as soon as the influence of the intellectuals (vipras) or capitalists (vaeshyas) emerged, the control over these corrupt practices slackened.

"Pragatishiila upayogatattvamidam' sarvajanahita' rtham' sarvajanasukha' rtham praca'ritam"

[This is the Progressive Utilization Theory, propounded for the happiness and all-round welfare of all.]

A developed economy should consist of four parts - people's economy, psycho-economy, commercial economy and general economy. This quadri-dimension of economy is a vast ex¬pansion on the contemporary and co-contemporary conceptions of economic activity.

Most economists today understand only a little of the principles of general economy and something of commercial economy; but both of these parts are still in an undeveloped stage. People's economy and psycho-economy are totally over-looked by modern economists, and as such could find no place in the present mode of economic thinking.

America's first African American billionaire, Robert Johnson, has recently purchased a small Florida bank that he plans to move to Washington, D.C., one of the United States' strongest banking markets, in order to serve the African American community. Johnson has said he thinks the bank, to be renamed Urban Trust, could become "the preeminent African-American owned bank in the country." ¹ How much that will benefit working and middle class blacks or mainly himself and other bank stockholders is unclear.