How Do I REVIVE The "DIRECT CREDITS SOCIETY"?

[ralph124c]

Back in the great depression of the 1930’s, an entrepreneur-turned crank named Alfred W. lawson came up with a scheme for ending the depression. he reasoned (correctly) that the reason for the economic depression was the shrinkage of the money supply (deflation), so, in a remakably Keynsian solution, he started a movement called the “Direct Credits” society. The basic idea was that the government should expand the money supply by granting these “direct” credit-actually IOUs id issued by the government-to people who had no income (retirees, unemployed people, drunks, etc.). In this way, money would begin to circulate, and commerce would revive.
Now, I believe that we are on the precipice of a huge worldwide depression-and that similar measures are needed to stave off an even worse version of the 1930’s depression.
So, I want to start a movement-I can’t see myself attracting much attention by lecturing on a soapbox-so how do you start a movement?
Former Moonies, ex-scientologists-what’s the secret? This is going to be big-wanna join up?

[Duck_Duck_Goose]

You oughta get together with whoever has the Alfred Lawson Web Page up. “Jerry Kuntz”?

http://www.rcls.org/lawson/index.html

Here’s the basic premise of the DCS (reverse of the membership card):
http://www.rcls.org/lawson/prim4a.htm

DIRECT CREDITS SOCIETY–MEMBERSHIP CARD

The Direct Credits Society offers the following changes as the only positive remedy for permanently bettering living conditions and general improvements in everybody, physically, mentally, and morally.

Gold must be abolished as money and everybody prohibited from using it to pay for anything.

Paper currency must be made the standard of exchange and issued in sufficient quantities for all purposes.

Interest and all other forms of payment for the use of money must be abolished and prohibited.

Control and supervision of money must be by the government, who will operate all banks and other financial institutions. Private banking must be prohibited.

All financial loans must be made by the government. Private loans in business transactions must be prohibited.

All credits must be issued by the government direct to everybody.
Everybody must be entitled to basic equal credits given by the government.

Everybody must perform actual service in return for credits.
Limited credits must be issued to everybody without security.

Credits must be issued for the upkeep and education of children up to 21 years of age, to be voluntarily repaid by them, if possible, at some future and convenient time.

Credits must be issued to everybody past 65 years of age for living expenses, if wanted. The size of such credits to be proportionate to the value of the services rendered by the beneficiary prior to that age.

Charity must be abolished and justice take its place. Credits must be issued to the sick and lame. Doctors, nurses, and practitioners will be paid by the government both in money and honors. They must treat all patients with equal consideration.

All controversies must be settled by Courts appointed by the government, who will also furnish lawyers for both sides of the case. These lawyers will be paid by the government and prohibited from taking private fees of any nature whatsoever. Disbarment, disgrace, imprisonment or worse, will be the punishment for lawyers who misrepresent anything in connection with a case they are handling.

Everybody must furnish sworn statements periodically, showing the amount and character of wealth possessed and the manner in which it was obtained.

Correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe this was considered a crackpot idea even back in the 1930s and was never implemented. It actually sounds like “small-c communism” or “socialism”, in which case, it had already been “done”, by more mainstream folks. And I seriously doubt whether you’d be able to interest many people in it today, outside of the cult-joiner-type talent pool.

Timeline.
http://www.rcls.org/lawson/timeline.htm

Evidently he doesn’t seem to have been fazed by the utter rejection of the Direct Credits Society, as by 1940 he had moved on to other things, including, but not limited to, apparently starting his own religion. Sort of.

This Time article from 1943 sums it up pretty well.

Although Direct Credits seems to largely gone the way of Ham & Eggs and other Utopias, a lot of people have had lessons in Lawson’s economics. Fundamentals: abolish the gold standard, interest, “alien” financiers, and give evervbody state credit secured by hope. Money would “have no value at all…merely act as a measure…the quantity of it issued will not affect its purchasing power.”

Anyway, you’re asking how you get something like this started. Well, all you need is money–get a website, do some interviews, get some media exposure, buy some ads. Writing a bestseller helps, too. That’s how it works.

[Tuckerfan]

At one time, Britain allowed communities to issue their own currency during times of economic hardship. I don’t remember exactly how it worked, but how I found out about it was a news program which showed the government working on a currency exchange rate computer program so that if there was a plumber in one city, that used “thistles” as its currency and someone in another city who wanted to hire him, but their city used “shamrocks” as its currency, they had a way of working out how much to pay the plumber.

[rowrrbazzle]

Cecil writes about the money supply and other matters in this classic column: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_163.html