What is Social Credit About?
SOCIAL CREDIT comprises interlocking concepts of economics and politics which deal with the just relationship between Man and the Society he lives in.
Economics
The progressive application of science and technology to all aspects of production is increasingly capable of providing a sufficiency for all, with ever fewer people employed in the process. Hence, in developed economies, 'unemployment' exists side by side with 'overproduction' and 'overcapacity' - i.e. 'poverty amidst plenty' in all its manifestations.
Unlike orthodox economics, Social Credit identifies the major factor in this situation as the Cultural Heritage, the accumulated knowledge derived from generations of scientists, engineers and inventors which underpins the mechanisation, robotisation and computerisation in industry, commerce and agriculture. The effect of the cultural heritage is simultaneously to provide an abundance of goods and services while depriving an increasing proportion of the population of access to them through loss of income from employment.
Unlike orthodox economics which advocates 'economic growth' to provide more jobs, Social Credit recognises that the cultural heritage is an inheritance common to all, with each individual a tenant-for-life and thereby entitled to a dividend over and above his earnings. Collectively, such dividends would help bridge the gap between purchasing power and prices which is the root cause of 'recessions'.
To forestall any possibility of inflation, the National Dividend to individuals as of right would be matched by a reduction in retail prices by the mechanism of a Compensated Price. This is best visualised as a negative VAT, or negative GST, or a negative Sales Tax, by which retail prices would be reduced by an amount calculated under a correct formula, instead of being increased as under current methods.
To finance both the National Dividend and the Compensated Price requires a major correction in the current financial accounting system to ensure it accurately reflects economic reality - i.e., abundance, instead of distorting it as scarcity. In other words, to make financially possible whatever is physically possibly and socially desirable. The techniques involved in introducing these reforms are fully explained in available literature.
Politics
These reforms require that a well-informed electorate are enabled to demand the results they require by applying sufficient pressure on their representatives under the sanction of dismissal if the results are not achieved. This concept envisages the progressive replacement of party politics by restoring the political initiative to the voters, e.g. through a process of Direct Democracy or Initiated Referenda. This procedure together with bodies such as Voters' Policy Associations would formulate the results required, not the technical methods of achieving them.
Political parties represent particular interests and submit their party manifestos, reflecting these interests, to the voters. Conflicting arguments such as nationalisation, privatisation, or between more or less taxation, serve to divide and rule the electorate on technicalities they are not qualified to decide upon. By contrast, provided that the result demanded is shown to be physically possible, the electorate could unite in such a demand as 'End Poverty amidst Plenty'.
Summary
Social Credit stands for optimum economic and political freedom for each individual by ensuring (a) consumer control over production - i.e., economic democracy; (b) voter control over policy - i.e., political democracy. Social Credit stands against the political party system; the existing financial system; and the concentration of power over individuals, whether economic or political, or in any other form. These concepts derive from the published works of C.H. Douglas.