The global justice movement has often been accused of protesting
current conditions, without offering any viable alternatives.
The Just Third Way offered here includes: a bedrock analysis
of the relationship between personal empowerment and the ownership
of productive property; a professional detailed analysis of
how to enact needed fundamental monetary and economic reforms;
a justice-based management system which incorporates proven
leading edge organizational design; an enhanced negative income
tax to eliminate poverty; and the indisputable concept of
supplementing the GDP so that such things as car accidents
and ecological damage are no longer counted as new wealth,
as they are under the current system.
In a letter to the editor published by the Washington Post,
GJM member Norman Kurland challenged the Post's assertion
that "there is in fact no third way to prosperity".
While dismissing the Clinton-Blair version as a welfare-state
amalgam of capitalism and socialism, Kurland posed the logical
case for a real third way:
|
Capitalism
|
Socialism
|
Global
Justice
|
| /
Political power accessible to all; economic power
concentrated in a wealthy elite |
/ Economic
and political power concentrated in a governing elite |
/
Both economic and political power are accessible
to all |
| /
Capital ownership concentrated in a wealthy elite |
/ Capital
ownership concentrated in a collective controlled by a
bureaucratic elite |
/
Capital ownership is systematically deconcentrated
and made directly accessible to every person |
| /
Capital incomes beyond consumption capacity for
a wealthy elite |
/
Adequate and secure incomes from capital for a
governing elite |
/
Adequate and secure capital incomes directly accessible
to every person |
| /
Individualistic, atomistic system (ignores or trivializes
common good) |
/
Collectivist system (denies economic freedom and
independence of individual) |
/
System based on sovereignty of every person within
institutions embodying principles of social justice |
| /
Institutionalizes greed |
/
Institutionalizes envy |
/
Institutionalizes justice |
| /
Materialistic ideology and system which ignores
the growing income insecurity of non-owning workers facing
displacement by technology or lower-paid workers |
/
Materialistic ideology and system based on and
fostering the absolute dependency of all citizens on the
state for their income security and well-being |
/
Moral philosophy and economic system based on the
inherent dignity and sovereignty of each person; which
fosters the inalienable right of every person to be a
worker and a direct owner within a society where spiritual
values and respect for all creation transcend material
values |
| /
Labor-centric, classical laissez-faire economic
system (ultimately recognizes that only one factor--labor--produces
wealth and creates economic value) |
/
Labor-centric Marxist and Keynesian systems (only
one factor--labor--produces wealth and creates economic
value) |
/
Kelsonian binary economic system [two interdependent
and distinct factors -- human ("labor") and
non-human ("capital") -- directly produce wealth
and create economic value] |
| /
Win-lose, zero-sum, scarcity, "dog-eat-dog"
orientation |
/
Lose-lose, zero-sum, scarcity, forced-leveling
orientation |
/
Win-win, synergistic, post-scarcity (improving
systems and technology to do more with less) orientation |
| /
Sacrifices justice for efficiency |
/
Sacrifices efficiency for collectivist "justice" |
/
Justice and efficiency go hand-in-hand |
| /
Wage system (jobs for the many, capital ownership
for the few) |
/
Wage system (jobs for all, capital ownership for
none) |
/
Ownership system (every worker/person a direct
capital owner) |
| /
Equality of opportunity to work; inequality of
opportunity to own |
/
Forced duty to work and forced equality of results
as determined by governing elite |
/
Equality of opportunity to work; equality of opportunity
to own |
| /
Protects private property rights of the few who
own productive wealth, and monopolizes access to future
ownership opportunities |
/
Truncates or eliminates rights of private property,
putting control over means of production in hands of political
elite |
/
Universalizes right to private productive property
and protects rights of private property (to extent others
are not harmed) |
| /
"Hands-off" role of the state regarding
monopolization of ownership and control; state ends up
redistributing wealth and incomes |
/
Economic power is totally centralized in or regulated
by the state; state redistributes incomes |
/
Economic power of the state is limited (e.g., preventing
abuses and monopolies, and dismantling barriers to universal
participation in direct capital ownership) |
| /
Prices and wages protected from global competition;
promotes mercantilism |
/
Prices and wages controlled by government |
/
Prices, wages and profits set by free and open
markets with profits spread among many owners |
| /
Capital credit available to a few; consumer credit
available to the many |
/
All credit controlled by state |
/
Direct access to capital credit universalized and
allocated by local financial institutions |
| /
Past savings used to finance future ownership by
few |
/
Past savings used to finance future ownership by
state |
/
Pure credit, future savings and capital credit
insurance used to finance growth linked to future direct
ownership opportunities for all |
| /
Technology controlled by a private sector elite,
subject to government oversight |
/
Technology controlled by a non-accountable governing
elite |
/
Technology owned and controlled by private sector
entities that are directly accountable to many shareholders
and stakeholders |
| /
"Social safety net" for poor: Trickle-down
incomes and social entitlements provided through government
transfers of income, institutional charity and personal
charity |
/
"Social safety net" for poor: Trickle-down
incomes and social entitlements provided through state
monopolies, forced redistribution of wealth and income
by government |
/
"Social safety net" for poor: Directly
connects poor individuals and families to growth dividends,
supplemented by personal charity, institutional charity,
and government transfers |
| /
Indifferent to environmental degradation; economically
powerless become victims of development and environmental
hazards; the well-being of future generations is sacrificed
for short-term profits |
/
Economic inefficiencies lead to inability to finance
the most advanced and environmentally sustainable technology;
economically powerless become victims of development and
environmental hazards |
/
Anticipatory approach to sustainable growth and
development; aims to
internalize externalities, assigning environmental costs
to polluters
and passing costs on to consumers; offers means of financing
most
advanced "green" technologies while economically
empowering people
directly through private property to protect themselves
against environmental hazards; plans for future generations |
| /
Purpose of education is to train people to get
jobs |
/
Purpose of education is to train people to get
jobs |
/
Purpose of education is to teach people how to
become life-long learners and virtuous human beings, with
the capacity to adapt to change, to become masters of
technology and builders of civilization through their
"leisure work", and to pursue the highest spiritual
values. |
