Price System Bind Continues

Information Brief No. 74

1991

Today, particularly in the United States, there is serious concern regarding the availability and quantity of resources for the continuance of the present economic system, a system which, by its own rules of operation, is wasteful of energy and mineral resources.

On July 4th weekend in 1976, the year-long celebration of the 200th birthday of the United States was climaxed by a great profusion of entertainment and exhibitions broadcast from New York City and Washington, D.C. All the emphasis was on the moral values of a way of life that is dead and gone; but reality is that the ideals of the founding fathers were based on hand toil in an age of scarcity.

In striking contrast, the staging and publicizing of these celebrations were conducted by the use of the most modern and sophisticated 20th century technology; for example, the TV broadcast was bounced off Telstar. Persons attended the doings by high-speed air travel, including the SST; and the crowds could only be moved and kept orderly by modern electronic traffic control equipment. Technocracy does not object to celebrating, but insists that a meaningful emphasis should have been placed on the fantastic growth in the rate of energy conversion that has occurred on this Continent in that short length of time. This unprecedented development of technology is worthy of commemoration.

Transportation by land, sea and air has developed from its early beginnings to high speed travel, to even travel through space. Speed of communications includes TV and Telstar. In prime movers, research has already been done on the more efficient use of atomic power, that is by fusion.

The 200 years from 1776 to 1976 has seen more development and utilization of technology in North America than in any other area of the globe, and more than in any other period in history. As Technocracy points out, social change occurs when there is an increase in the use of power.

Here, in North America, we have progressed from the age of hand- tools, of toil and scarcity, with a conversion rate of approximately 5000 kilogram-calories per capita per day, to the present rate of more than 200,000 kilogram-calories per capita per day. This is a 40 to 1 increase in the use of power. Concurrent with this increased use of energy has been the ever-increasing use of mineral resources. The high standard of living enjoyed by citizens of Canada and the United States was made possible by abundant and readily accessible energy and mineral resources with relatively no restraints on exploitation by the free-booting, free-enterprisers of the Price System.

A sampling of the 91 minerals on which our high energy civilization depends includes: oil, natural gas, uranium, iron ore, aluminum, copper, nickel, chromium, manganese, helium, antimony, tungsten, tin, columbium, mercury, zinc, lead and cobalt. In the use of these essential minerals careful planning and non-wasteful procedures are a must for our continued high standard of living. It must be noted in passing that none of the politicians in the United States are talking about the critical position that the U.S. is in with respect to its essential mineral requirements.

Since its inception, Technocracy has indicated that the increased use of high-energy technology would produce an impact of abundance which would destroy the Price System operation. While this concept is still correct, the citizens of Canada and the U.S. in the near future may be faced with a more imminent economic chaos due to the system's inability to cope with a new set of conditions with respect to resources. Faced with critical shortages of energy and minerals, a system based on exponential expansion cannot continue.

The Price System in North America is an economic system that must expand at a compound interest rate (exponential growth) wherein each increase must exceed the previous increase. With a finite resource situation whose reserves are diminishing, our future is very critical. A scientific redesign of our social mechanism is imperative for the proper use of these essential minerals, and the only organization in North America offering that today is Technocracy Inc.

The bicentennial year of 1976 indicated a 50 percent waste in our use of oil and gas, and in the intervening years since then, nothing has indicated any change in the wasteful practices of the Price System. Our scientific know-how could implement an immediate saving by the installation of a different system of operation. An entirely new transportation system (air, land and water) designed to handle the mass movement of people and materials would operate at a fraction of today's energy cost.

The statistical data used above was essentially from the United States Geographical Survey report as they apply to the U.S. The area of the Technate, the North American Continent, is in somewhat better shape. Nevertheless, if these shortages cause dislocation in the U.S., they will also do the same for the rest of the nations of this Continent and also have world-wide repercussions.

While the technological advances of the past 200 years have brought tremendous changes, those changes will be nothing compared to the changes that will occur in the next 200 years. If the citizens of this Continent move in the correct direction, their standard of living will continue to advance and improve. If an incorrect move is made, we may well sink into oblivion like the dinosaurs of old.

Technocrats, in their self-chosen task as promoters of this new idea of the ages, have their work cut out for them. Technocrats urge the active participation of their fellow citizens in this quest for collective survival.

Published in:

The Northwest Technocrat, 2nd quarter 1991, No. 323