Information Brief. Open source information. Jan. 2008 

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Obsolete System

The Price System grew out of the days of scarcity, when trading crude materials or stealing them, was the only way in which humans could acquire articles desired.  I am the Price System -essay.

Through complex ramifications the trading system has grown until it is now the overwhelming structure of finance, business commerce, and politics, in short, the Price System is a gigantic structure, but still just a method of exchanging goods, springing from the ancient custom and necessity of barter. No intention or pretense is made of accurate measurement or control; no physical accounting is involved; no accurate predictions can be made; and no stabilization can be assured. The Price System is simply a method of erratic exchange. In scarcity it sufficed well enough as an exchange method; in abundance it cannot even do that.  Price System Politics.

The dislocation of the commodity exchange method of distributing goods and services became apparent after World War 1. The disrupted conditions at that time led to a scientific investigation which in turn proved that the only common denominator of all goods and services was energy.

The scientists who pointed this out simply proposed to measure the total amount of energy used by the North American Continent in a given period : measure the energy cost of physical production and services: and use these measurements as the basis for regulation of all Continental production and distribution.  The Energy Certificate/Energy Accounting Technate System.

Technate design is the tool

The Technate design basic postulate is, `The phenomena involved in the functional operation of a social mechanism are metrical.' In other words, anything that materially affects us or changes our environment is measurable. The scientists and technologists know this and have applied it directly to the task of equipping North America with the most intricate and efficient productive mechanism ever to exist on earth. When they are given their chance they will see that the abundant goods and services produced are adequately distributed to everyone on the Continent. The Technate design is the tool by which North Americans may gain abundance and security.

This program would put into operation a Continental control of all flow lines of production and distribution a Continental statistical system which would record the desires of every citizen in their choice of consumable goods and available services. This system would do the following things in a physical area where abundance is certain:

1. Register on a continuous 24-hour-per day basis the total net conversion of energy, which would determine (a) the availability of energy for Continental plant construction and maintenance, (b) the amount of physical wealth available in the form of consumable goods and services for consumption by the total population during the balance-load period.
2. By means of the registration of energy converted and consumed, make possible a balanced load.
3. Provide a continuous inventory of all production and consumption.
4. Provide a specific registration of the type, kind, etc., of all goods and services, where produced, and where used.
5. Allow the citizen the widest latitude of choice in consuming their individual share of Continental physical wealth.
6. Distribute goods and services abundantly to every member of the population.

Why Not Money?

On the basis of these requirements, it is interesting to consider money as a possible medium of distribution. But before doing this, let us bear in mind what the properties of money are. In the first place, money relationships are all based upon ``value,''  which in turn is a function of scarcity. Hence money is not a measure of anything. Secondly, money is a debt claim against society and is valid in the hands of any bearer. In other words, it is negotiable : it can be traded, stolen, given or gambled away. Thirdly, money can be saved. Fourthly, money circulates, and is not destroyed or canceled out upon being spent. On each of these counts money fails to meet our requirements as our medium of distribution.

Money Is Inadequate

Suppose, for instance, that we attempted to distribute by means of money the goods and services produced. Suppose that it were decided that 200 billion dollars' worth of goods and services were to be produced in a given year, and suppose further that 200 billion dollars were distributed to the population during that time with which to purchase these goods and services. Immediately the foregoing properties of money would create trouble.

Due to the fact that money is not a physical measure of goods and services, there is no assurance that prices would not change during the year, and that 200 billion dollars issued for use in a given year would be used in that year. If it were not used this would immediately begin to curtail production and start oscillations. Due to the fact that money is negotiable, and that certain human beings, by hook or crook, have a facility for getting it away from other human beings, this would defeat the requirement that distribution must reach all human beings. A further consequence of the negotiability of money is that it can be used very effectively for purposes of bribery. Hence the most successful accumulators of money would be able eventually not only to disrupt the flow line, but also to buy a controlling interest in the social mechanism itself, which brings us right back to where we started from.

Due to the fact that money is a species of debt, and hence cumulative, the amount would have to be continuously increased, which, in conjunction with its property of being negotiable, would lead inevitably to concentration of control in a few hands, and to general disruption of the distribution system which was supposed to be maintained.

Thus, money in any form whatsoever is completely inadequate as a medium of distribution in an economy of abundance. Any social system employing commodity evaluation (commodity valuations are the basis of all money) is a Price System. Hence it is not possible to maintain an economy of abundance by means of a Price System.

On all counts, money does not meet the requirements of a medium of distribution of abundance.

The mechanism that does meet the requirements is the energy degraded in the production of goods and services. This energy conversion constitutes the physical cost of production and can be stated in units of work (ergs or kilowatts) or in units of heat (kg calories of Btu`s).
We can therefore measure quite accurately the energy converted in any given industrial process, as well as the total physical energy cost of operating the Continent, (a further explanation of this in the last two chapters of the  Technocracy Study Course - excerpted design chapters and links to the complete copy, the design of the Technate of and for North America is presented there).

After subtracting the energy required to operate the Continent as a whole – new plant and maintenance thereof, roads, housing, hospitals, schools, local transport, continental transport, communications, education, child care, and maintenance of public institutions – continental hydrology, the remainder would be shared equally by all adult citizens in the form of energy certificates or units.

In the U.S. alone, in 1992, more than 81 quadrillion Btu`s were consumed, with 62 quadrillion being used for overall operating, leaving 19 quadrillion to be consumed by the personal needs of the population. That would supply every North American with their favorite personal items, all else such as housing, healthcare, food, clothing, all transportation, education, in other words, all things required to maintain the highest standard of living possible within the resource base, as a right of citizenship.

Keep in mind: to be physically consumed. Since there is a definite limit to the amount of goods and services one individual can consume, it is both reasonable and efficient to issue equal numbers of energy units to each adult. The number will be greater than anyone can physically consume. Since everyone would have their own plentiful supply, there would be no point in transferring certificates to any other person – or stealing someone else's !  When private property and civil contracts are no longer the basis of society, much of what we think of as crime is also eliminated.  History and Purpose of Technocracy. Howard Scott

The Technate design, energy accounting system, is an accounting system only. It is not a Price System reward and punishment method that relies on maintaining a scarcity based money system for people control. The Price System uses money as the basic unit of manipulation and coercion, money or debt tokens also control our dysfunctional political and judicial system as well. When debt tokens are the arbiter of decision, something that measures nothing real is being used.
These wrong choices pile up in terms of resource destruction and environmental devastation and also bring the consequences of negative manipulation by those holding abstract concepts.

The Scientific Answer

The Technate Energy Accounting system is the only viable instrument of distribution which can be used in this Continent's emerging era of abundance -- the progress of which is being sped up by automation. This Energy Accounting system provides the means whereby each individual North American can express their individual preference as to what they want of the products North America is capable of producing. That is its function -- to record the demand for goods and services and thereby, to determine the amount to be produced. By applying one specific technological measuring device, production and consumption can be balanced and the first specification for social harmony is immediately achievable.

Consume With Meaning

The only real choice is consuming power.  With an abundance of consuming power, we can consume as often as we like, every day of the year, and always win our choice.

Energy Accounting eliminates both the basis and the need of all social work and charity. It would reduce crime to but a small fraction of what exists today.

If you don't like the war, the poverty, the misery, the waste, the crime, the disease, and the corruption which the Price System spawns, why do you stick with it?  Technate - An Idea For Now Stephen L. Doll.