That Famous North American Ingenuity, Where is it now?

L.W. Nicholson

1992

Published in:

The Northwest Technocrat, 4th quarter 1992, No. 329, Vol. 54

In the past, North Americans have considered themselves quite adept in solving the problems they face. They have, indeed, solved many of their problems, especially their personal ones. However their social, or collective, problems have been difficult, perhaps because their past conditioning has prepared them more for individual concerns and less for those requiring collective action. Regardless of the reasons, as social problems become ever more complex, they seem to fall further behind in demonstrating the ability to solve them.

In the past, great strides were made in increasing efficiency on individual farms thus allowing more people to work in manufacturing, and then, as efficiency increased in the factories more people were released to work in service industries. But now, many jobs depend on a large defense industry for their existence. The fact is, North Americans have been so successful in increasing efficiency that they can now produce more than they can sell for a price. As a result many farm products have been plowed under, and planned obsolescence has been designed into many of the nation's manufactured goods. This has allowed foreign competition to invade the North American market quite successfully with superior products and in the process forced an increase in the quality of North American products. North Americans are now finding it difficult to provide jobs for the increasing population. Many jobs in many industries are being lost permanently because they are no longer needed. Now, if everyone worked a 40 hour week operating this highly efficient technology, they would produce so much that it would flood the market and ruin prices. However, if jobs are not provided, people don't have the purchasing power to buy what is produced and the economy deteriorates into a recession.

At the same time that our production has reached unprecedented heights, why has the debt structure risen even faster? The federal debt alone is $4 trillion and is increasing at $400 billion per year. IF no further deficits occurred, which is highly improbable; IF interest payments are not considered; and IF this debt were paid off at a rate of $1,000 per second, it would require 126.8 years for it to be paid. With the ability to produce so much -- with an ever declining number of man-hours of human labor -- this economic system of price can no longer operate without an increasing debt. This debt can never be paid; it can only be increased along with the increase in efficiency of the production process.

Now, where is this famous North American ingenuity? If the greatest technological mechanism the world has ever known can be designed and built; if the people can be trained to operate this mechanism; if more can be produced with fewer man-hours; then why can't a method of social operation be devised which doesn't require so many man-hours without decreasing purchasing power? Has the famous North American ingenuity run out of steam? Has the problem become too big for North Americans to solve? When so much can be produced, why should the living standards of the "middle class" be declining and why are millions of North Americans living in poverty? And why are so many North Americans not interested in solving these problems?

Nowhere on earth, at any time past or present, has any society of people been confronted with the problem now facing the people of the U.S. and Canada. They can't expect to find answers by looking abroad, and they can't expect to find them by looking into the past; similar problems didn't exist then. Neither Europe, Asia, Africa, or Russia can supply the knowledge required for this Continent -- except that perhaps the USSR could give us a lesson concerning what happens to a society that fails to solve its major problems. The recent riots in Los Angeles and in other North American cities provide more examples. The problems of this Continental area are different; they are new to the human species and can only be solved by new techiques.

This Continent's "problem" is the ability to produce so much with an ever declining amount of human labor. Instead of celebrating this momentous event, North Americans don't understand it; and therefore, deplore the lack of jobs -- meanwhile wishing they didn't have to work so hard. North America has all the physical requirements to produce plenty for every citizen, but since we have no operating mechanism for the distribution of an abundance, this has become a big headache.

What is so complicated about the distribution of an abundance? If one is hungry, and one has food, then why shouldn't one eat? The ability to produce plenty should make it simple; the problem of production has been solved; all we need is a method for its distribution. The trouble is, throughout history only a small amount of human needs could be supplied by human labor alone. Thus it was necessary to develop methods and rules, an economic system based on price. This price had to be determined by the relative scarcity of the commodities. All this was to determine who gets how much of what. Now, with modern North American technology, plenty can be produced; and people have a hard time realizing that we no longer need the restrictions of price in the distribution process. An "abundance", like the air we breath, can't be bought and sold for a price and for profit. If it could, the need to pay farmers to produce less, and to increase the debt into the stratosphere, would be unnecessary. At long last the citizens of North America have the ability to free themselves from the scarcity dictates of a Price System. The ability to produce plenty means that such restrictions are no longer required, that the conditions in which such restrictions were useful no longer exist. Why shouldn't North Americans have economic freedom?

The so-called "leaders" of this Continent have not provided the leadership for solving the problems of this area -- obviously because they don't know how. Where in all the U.S. or Canada is there a public school or college with a classroom in which students are taught the physical requirements for the distribution of an abundance? Aren't 33 1/2 million U.S. citizens living in poverty, riots in major cities, crime on the streets, all in the richest country in the world, sufficient reason to provide the incentive for such studies?

The people of this Continent have the greatest opportunity in the history of mankind to design and install a social system that doesn't require poverty, ill health, riots, crime and war. Why do we fight against this opportunity? This is an opportunity that may never be repeated anywhere on earth. It is an opportunity far too great to ignore. The physical requirements are here, that problem has been solved. All that remains is to overcome the mental conditioning handed down from a past of grinding scarcity, misinformation and political nonsense. If we can't prepare ourselves for the next most probable major advance in human history, then there is very little chance for mankind in the future.

Shall we attempt to continue this Price System operation by increasing the debt until we can't make the interest payments which already amount to more than $290 billion per year in the U.S., or about $1,900 per capita? And this is only for the federal debt of some $4 trillion. The total national debt in the U.S. will pass the $15 trillion mark before the end of this year. Where does it stop? With increasing poverty, we may expect the crime rate to increase; it is already higher than in any other industrialized country. We may expect more riots, wars, and a greater and more expensive "defense" program in an attempt to maintain employment and profits. We may expect trade agreements with a "New World Order" to soak up North American productive capacity -- resulting in the deterioration of the physical environment. It is no big deal to make these predictions since they are already occurring. If the citizens of this Continent refuse to make the effort to solve these problems; if they can't change their antiquated mental concepts about price and scarcity, then there is little chance that mankind, at least on this Continent, can avoid chaos. Where is that famous North American ingenuity now?

We must remember that social problems, like any other problems, can only be solved by choosing methods that work. They can't be solved by "leaders" who promise to provide jobs that are no longer needed. A new way of distributing purchasing power is required and no solution is possible without it. It is time for all intelligent North Americans to investigate Technocracy's Technological Social Design.