swfchan: rbe2.swf (info)

Text

The following is a
audio reading of one of
Jacque Fresco’s Essays.

Resource-Based
Economy
(Part 2 of 5)

The Earth is still abundant with resources.
Today our practice of rationing resources
through monetary methods is irrelevant and
counter-productive to the well-being of
people. Today’s society has access to highly
advanced technologies and can easily
provide more than enough for a very high
standard of living for all the earth’s people.
This is possible through the implementation of
a resource-based economy.

Simply stated, a resource-based economy
utilizes existing resources rather than money,
and provides an equitable method of
distribution in the most humane and efficient
manner for the entire population. It is a system
in which all natural, man-made, machinemade,
and synthetic resources would be available
without the use of money, credits, barter, or
any other form of symbolic exchange. A
resource-based economy would utilize existing
resources from the land and sea, and the
means of production, such as physical
equipment and industrial plants, to enhance
the lives of the total population. In an
economy based on resources rather than
money, we could easily produce all of the
necessities of life and provide a high standard
of living for all.

To further clarify the concept of a resource
based economy consider this example: A
group of people is stranded on an island with
enormous purchasing power including gold,
silver and diamonds. All this wealth would be
irrelevant to their survival if the island had
few resources such as food, clean air, and
water. Only when population exceeds the
productive capacity of the land do problems
such as greed, crime, and violence emerge.
On the other hand, if people were stranded on
an island that was abundant with natural
resources producing more than the necessities
for survival, then a monetary system would
be irrelevant. It is only when resources are
scarce that money can be used to control their
distribution. One could not, for example, sell
the air we breathe, the sand on the beach, or
the salt water in the ocean to someone else on
the island who has equal access to all these
things. In a resource-based economy all of the
world's resources would be held as the
common heritage of all of the earth’s people,
thus eventually outgrowing the need for the
artificial boundaries that separate people – this
is the unifying imperative.

We must emphasize here that this approach to
global governance has nothing whatever in
common with the present aims of a corporate
elite to form a world government with
themselves and large corporations in control,
and the vast majority of the world's population
subservient to them. Globalization in a
resource-based economy empowers each and
every person on the planet to be the very best
they can be, not to live in abject subjugation to
a corporate governing body.

All social systems, regardless of political
philosophy, religious beliefs, or social
customs, ultimately depend upon natural
resources, e.g. clean air and water, arable land,
and the necessary technology and personnel to
maintain a high standard of living. This can be
accomplished through the intelligent and
humane application of science and technology.
The real wealth of any nation lies in its
developed and potential resources and the
people who are working toward the
elimination of scarcity and the development of
a more humane way of life. A resource-based
economy would use technology to overcome
scarce resources by utilizing renewable
sources of energy; computerizing and
automating manufacturing, inventory and
distribution; designing safe, energy-efficient
cities; providing universal health care and
relevant education; and most of all, by
generating a new incentive system based on
human and environmental concern.

Unfortunately, today science and technology
have been diverted from these ends for
reasons of self-interest and monetary gain
through the conscious withdrawal of
efficiency, or through planned obsolescence.
For example, it is an ironic state of affairs
when the U.S. Department of Agriculture,
whose function is to conduct research into
ways of achieving higher crop yields per acre,
pays farmers not to produce at full capacity
while many people go hungry. Another
example is the choice of some companies to
illegally dump solid waste into oceans and
rivers to save money, when more ecologically
sound disposal methods are available. A third
example is the failure of some industries to
install electrostatic precipitators in their
factories’ smokestacks to prevent particulate
matter from being released into the
atmosphere, even though the technology has
been available for over 75 years. The
monetary system does not always apply
known methods that would best serve people
and the environment.

To be continued on
The Venus Project Essay -
Resource-Based Economy
(Part 3 of 5)
For more information visit
www.thevenusproject.com
www.thezeitgeistmovement.com

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