A Tale of Two Nations, Pulingo and Susuma, about Money and the Different Forms of Capitalism

A TALE OF TWO NATIONS, PULINGO AND  SUSUMA, ABOUT MONEY AND THE DIFFERENT FORMS OF CAPITALISM

The two beautiful Island Nations, Pulingo and Susuma are separated by a narrow Strait. Surrounded by white sandy beaches on the coasts, flowing gradually into dense tropical forests in the interior, the Islands are a sight to behold. Blessed with lots of seafood like fish and tropical fruits like Mangos, Bananas, Pineapples Coconuts and Kiwis, the Islands are heaven on Earth, where no Citizen lacked anything in terms of food, shelter and clothing. They lived peaceful and happy lives, exchanging their fruits, vegetables and fish with one another through barter. They also had one thing in common, stunningly beautiful colored Pebbles all over the Islands. 

As their population grew to about 200,000 each, both Islands realized that trading by Barter was no longer expedient. So, the Citizens of each Island Nation gathered their beautiful pebbles to use as a Medium of Exchange for their real wealth of goods --- fish, fruits, vegetables, etc. This was the beginning of their use of Money but the two Islands took totally different paths. 

Pulingo had a charismatic leader, “Jonah Jonah” who convinced the Citizens of Pulingo to gather all the Pebbles into a Central Vault, from where they are distributed regularly to the most efficient users of the colored Pebbles – the best Fishermen and best Farmers. These private Entrepreneurs then created Fishing Corporations and Corporate Farms that employed other Pulingoans who now earned money to buy fruits, vegetables, fish and better living quarters for those who could afford it. 

Now, Jonah Jonah selected twelve other Pulingoans with the consent of the populace, to help him administer the Island and also control the colored Pebbles (Money) in the Vault, to ensure that the Entrepreneurs and hence, their employees received sufficient colored Pebbles to run their operations and earn a living (in colored Pebbles). 

At some point, human greed and selfishness set in and Jonah Jonah and his 12 Administrative Assistants, who neither farmed nor fished, totally controlled the colored Pebbles in concert with the now powerful Fishing and Farming Entrepreneurs. To maximize the colored Pebbles they receive from other Pulingoans in exchange for the fish and farm products they sell, these Entrepreneurs paid their workers as little as possible. 

The colored Pebbles now became scarce to the Pulingo populace as Jonah Jonah and the Powerful Entrepreneurs controlled and hoarded the colored Pebbles. Everyone was now on his or her own. Pulingoans started hunting desperately for colored Pebbles in the beaches and every where because it was now the most important thing in the Island --- more important than even the fish, fruits and vegetables. If you have colored Pebbles, you have food, clothing, shelter and all the luxuries of the Island. If you have no colored Pebbles, you may starve to death. 

Jonah Jonah and the powerful few Entrepreneurs now made a Constitution that only they can control the colored Pebbles on behalf of all Pulingoans. They then placed a special mark on each of the colored Pebbles in the Vault and in use, to ensure that only those marked, colored Pebbles are legal. From then on, any Pulingoan who picks a colored Pebble on the beach and without the special mark cannot use it and can even be locked up in the new Jail they just established, if the unmarked colored Pebble was used for exchange. 

With fewer and fewer colored Pebbles in circulation for exchange among Pulingoans, hunger, homelessness, hopelessness and helplessness took hold, leading to stealing, drinking, drugs, rapes and even murder. A security force was created to stem the rising crime, and Jonah Jonah and his Powerful group started living in highly fenced and gated quarters to protect themselves from the rest of the population. 

The Entrepreneurs and Jonah Jonah, seeing their fish and farm products going to waste because of lack of demand on the Island, started exporting the fish and farm products to foreign Nations to get Dollars and Euros, which they stashed away overseas. Majority of Pulingoans did not have colored Pebbles and hence, the purchasing power to consume the fish and farm products produced by the few employees in the fish and farm Corporations owned by the Powerful few. 

As Poverty and hunger took hold in Pulingo, distrust, anger, chaos, anarchy, crime and all sorts of vices accelerated. Young males formed gangs to get colored Pebbles by any means possible, to survive. Young females went into prostitution to get colored Pebbles to get food, shelter and clothing, to live as normal human beings. 

To make a bad situation worse, some bookkeeping Pulingoan Nut informed Jonah Jonah that he must tax all Citizen Pulingoans to get some of the colored Pebbles they have in their possession, to fix the Town Hall and other commons. This bookkeeper Nut further told Jonah Jonah and his Administrators to create an annual Central Government Budget, and from thin air, created a formula, 

Central Government Tax Receipts = Central Government Budget 

The Central Government Tax Receipts (colored Pebbles) must always match the Central Government Budget. No Tax Receipts (colored Pebbles) from Pullingoan Citizens, no repair of the Town Hall and the only Solar Powered Water Purification System on the Island. In the meanwhile, the Central Government is sitting on enormous amount of colored Pebbles in the Vault, doing nothing, while Pulingoans starve and die away from diseases, homelessness and pennilessness or “pebblelessness”. 

This formerly peaceful Island, a Heaven on Earth was now Hell on Earth because of colored Pebbles and a stupid and senseless but extremely deadly formula, 

Central Government Tax Receipts = Central Government Budget 

Pulingo became a very violent society and in desperation built up an army and attacked its neighbor, Susuma, to grab her resources and especially her colored Pebbles.

Pulingo was in for a surprise. 

While, Pulingoans chose the charismatic Jonah Jonah as their leader, Susumans chose a brilliant and visionary female, Marinda Manza as their leader. Because both Islands were initially trading with each other, exchanging their goods using colored Pebbles, Marinda Manza was able to observe the focus of Jonah Jonah and Pulingo on the colored Pebbles, instead of the real wealth of fish and farm products. She also started observing the deterioration of Pulingo and hence, chose a totally different path.

She selected the brightest 25 Susumans, men and women, to help her administer Susuma, which also stored its colored Pebbles in a safe Vault. Instead of doling out the colored Pebbles to the best Entrepreneurs to set up Fishing and Farming Corporations, like Pulingo, to then employ Susumans to earn colored Pebbles, her Administration gave each and every Susuman, 3,000 colored Pebbles as interest-free loan. Every Susuman signed a pledge to pay back this loan. 

Now, the use of the loan was spelled out as follows: 

1,000 colored Pebbles for investment in Fish and Farm Corporations 

300 colored Pebbles for Education 

700 colored Pebbles for Health Care 

1,000 colored Pebbles for food, shelter, clothing and entertainment. 

These 3,000 colored Pebbles were for one Susuman for one year. To ensure that there were sufficient colored Pebbles into the future, these colored Pebbles were broken into much smaller units and more exact sizes with a specialized machine imported from a foreign country or Overseas. As a result, Susuma, now had 20 billion of these colored Pebbles. They only need 3,000 colored Pebbles per Person x 200,000 people = 600 million colored Pebbles per year. 

Susuma was broken into five Zones or Regions, each given its own autonomy to set its own political and economic policies and agenda. The Central Government in conjunction with the five Regional Governments set the overall direction of the Island Country and the overall standards in education, healthcare and corporate structure. 

Each Susuman is a shareholder/owner of the Bank he/she deposits his/her colored Pebbles, a shareholder/owner of the hospital he/she uses, a shareholder/owner of his/her health Insurance Company,  a shareholder/owner of the school he or she is affiliated with, a shareholder/owner of the telecommunication company he/she uses, a shareholder/owner of the electricity corporation he/she uses, and of course a shareholder/owner of the Fish and Farm Corporations he/she buys his/her food. 

This shareholder/ownership is the result of the annual 1,000 colored Pebbles interest-free investment fund loan from the Central Government of Miranda Manza.

No dividends or corporate profits are paid to any Susman until his or her interest-free investment fund loan is paid off. The dividends and corporate profits for each Susuman is used to pay off his or her loan. Once each Susman's loan is paid off, he or she regularly receives his or her dividends and corporate profits, free and clear, in perpetuity or for life. 

With this strategy of democratizing Financial Capital (colored Pebbles in this case), the purchasing power of Susuma Consumers always matched their supply of goods and services. If the health Insurance premium is not enough to cover costs of healthcare, it is raised for everyone in the Insurance pool. There are no fat cats. If the profit in the democratic private health Insurance company is excessive, it is distributed to all the shareholders/owners and the premium reduced the next year because the owners/producers are also the consumers. Ditto all the Institutions --- Hospitals, Schools, Electric Power Corporations, Telecommunication Companies, Toll Roads, Toll Bridges and more. This is Democratic Capitalism. 

The economy of Susuma exploded with the application of this Democratic Capitalism, as increasing purchasing power always matched growing supply. New industries sprout up, funded by all affiliated with them, and patronized by all affiliated with them. The Producers/owners are also the Consumers. Demand always met supply and supply always met demand, satisfying the Law of the French economist, Say, or Say’s Law. 

With economic explosion, Susuma started exporting her excess fish and farm products to get foreign exchange, dollars and euros, and gradually moved into manufacturing industries, also operating under the same philosophy of Democratic Capitalism --- Capitalism for All, not for the few as in Pulingo. Every Susuman was a Capital Owner or Capitalist. Education and Advanced Technologies became the mantra for Susuma, and in the process, she developed very advanced technological products including her own fairly advanced defense weaponry while complementing them with even more sophisticated defense weaponry from overseas. 

Miranda Manza and her Administration had the foresight that deteriorating Pulingo would attack progressive Susuma in the future and hence, prepared for such an eventuality. With special guards and warning sensors in strategic locations at the borders between both Island Countries, Susuma saw the beginning of the attack. 

In the Middle of the night, several war boats carrying the Pulingoan Army and Navy silently approached the shores of Susuma. Susuma was ready and with superior weaponry, wiped out the army and navy of Pulingo, and temporarily matched into Pulingo as a warning, and then pulled out. There would never be another attack by Pulingo, as she realized the superiority of Susuma. All because of colored Pebbles, we call Money --- mere transactional instrument that has intrinsic value only at the point of transaction. 

Jonah Jonah, and the few wealthy and well-connected Pulingoans monopolized the worthless colored Pebbles they picked from their shores, essential for creating real wealth of goods and services --- fish and farm products in this case. They were practicing Feudalistic and Plutocratic Capitalism. On the other hand, Miranda Manza and her Administration, knowing fully well that the colored Pebbles were actually worthless and valueless except during exchange, ensured that these colored Pebbles were systemically and regularly distributed democratically to each and every Susuma Citizen, to participate in the production and distribution of the goods and services he or she consumes to sustain his or her life. 

Miranda Manza knew that the worthless colored Pebbles were good as a medium of exchange to create real wealth of peace, security, harmony, happiness, community cohesiveness, advanced technologies and of course the goods and services they consumed to sustain and enhance their lives. She and her Administration Democratized Financial Capital (colored Pebbles for All), and hence were practicing Democratic Capitalism. 

On the other hand, Jonah Jonah and his Administration valued the worthless colored Pebbles more than the real wealth of Life, Fish and Farm Products, and hence, made them scarce to the populace, while distributing them to only the Wealthy Few, hoping that the colored Pebbles would trickle down from the Few to the Many. This trickle down never happened and has never happened in the annals of human history. Jonah Jonah was practicing Feudalistic and Plutocratic Capitalism in Pulingo.

 Susuma had to put a border fence between Pulingo and Susuma to prevent the hordes of Pullingoans who were now voting with their feet, escaping from anarchic Pulingo to peaceful and secure Susuma. All because of worthless colored Pebbles (Money) and useless economic Models --- Feudalistic and Plutocratic Capitalism.

Bright Harry is the author of America, Wake Up!, where he debunks the Federal Government Budget Deficit and National Debt as mere illusions, albeit extremely deadly ones, with facts, logic, mathematics and history. He succinctly describes what the Real National Deficit is - a shortfall in the money in circulation and in the hands of American Citizens compared to the Wealth of Goods and Services we have already Produced.