Personal responsibility is not getting a job and paying your own way, and viewing the struggles of others as a failure of self-reliance. Personal responsibility is working together as part of a group. That was what 'We the People' was aiming for. Accepting personal responsibility is accepting that you are part of the problem when there is a problem, not assigning blame and declaring ones innocence or superiority.
Money is only barely a necessary tool. It cannot be a measure or proof of success, and holding it in excess is certainly a failure of personal responsibility. Greed is never a wise choice.
As a business owner, I claim that 'buy low-sell high' is a huge problem, but I cannot fix this problem on my own. I can only respond to the math that I am given, the same as everyone else. What I am suggesting is a fundamental reworking of the entire accounting system using the idle cash within the system to smooth out the transitions. Our current accounting traditions are nonsensical. Inflation will destroy everything and everyone in its path.
Obviously, there will be some wrenching displacement in the financial sector, but every community will have the resources to deploy solutions. Employment will shift to activities that add true value to the quality of life. Businesses will be able to staff without fear of overhead expenses. Goods will be affordable, and we will be able to return to a single-income family and close one day per week again so we can enjoy family and friends. Art and the accruements of a renaissance will be the new routine. No war, no debt, no misery.
America has long been a leader of the world. We must accept personal responsibility for its conditions, make peace with our enemies, and reform our personal banking habits. Every citizen has the power to reform their local government. By taking action, and implementing these ideas, or some variation of them, commonwealth can spread.
One Caveat
It is my belief that many balance sheets are false. If one were to actually liquidate many of the pension funds and endowments, then it would be discovered that the values claimed are untrue. There is also the other problem of to whom these securities would be sold to, if everyone were exiting the market simultaneously. Depending upon the speed of the transition, it may be necessary to begin fresh with a new currency.
In the interim, a date of 5 years prior could be used to establish a current value, and the government could use deficit financing mechanisms to purchase unwanted securities. The need for a new currency step will probably present itself eventually, as it will make it easier to establish universal wage standards. Employers should not be setting wages. Wages should be based on age, job and experience, but here again, a universal wage would work better (i.e. 10 cents per hour). It will also be necessary to revisit established property valuations. There is little from the existing marketplace that we will want to carry forward.
The excessively rich will slowly become non-existent along with the excessively poor. People will only want to live in a house that they are willing to clean themselves. The servant-master relationships will cease. Large estates can be used for functions, vacation rentals for families, weddings, conferences and other activities as appropriate. Everyone will be able to afford vacations and to travel, but rather than preying on tourists, which is the current policy, towns will be welcoming the opportunity to share. We are by nature a social species. Trade should be a great source of pleasure for everyone. Only the accounting system we are using stands in the way of a better future.
The idea of wage and price controls have been around for a long. In fact, even the rabid anti-communist President Nixon suggested them. Business-owners will generally complain the most loudly about this concept, but they are already the ones with complete wage and price control. The system does not work for them because they cannot control each other.
Economic volatility is created by the numbers we write down. The laws of mathematics have no mercy, and care nothing about majority rule. If we write down different numbers, then we will have different results. Commonwealth is as simple as that.
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