Brainstorming on Unemployment, after reading : Michael Cobb, M.P., "Working for the Dole", in "The Optimist", March/April 86. Motto :All solvable problems can be solved if the creative energies of all people are released for their solution. (Free after L.E. Read of FEE.) Cobb's article, like many others, proposes that the dole recipients should give something in return for the dole. He does not propose that the dole should be "returned" as a loan, that it, should only be paid, in the first place, as an interest-bearing loan, one to be guaranteed by family and friends. He suggests, rather, that the unemployed be directed to do some community works - road works, gardening etc. to continue their entitlement for the dole. The dole representing roughtly the pay for two day's work of unskilled labour, they should have to supply 2 day's worth of community work. Assuming that they should not have to repay the dole, granted only as a loan, with interest ( as they should have to, in my opinion ) and assuming that the necessary self-help steps to abolish unemployment, even within a day, are not permitted, undertaken or even considered ( I hold that monetary freedom offers this option ), one should consider which is the most suitable "community work" for unemployed. The most important task for unemployed - and of all those concerned about unemployment - is obviously the abolition of unemployment. It could rightly be argued that the unemmployed are not experts on the abolition of unemployment. But then who is? Their task would initially be a study and simple clerical job. It is a job that is much too large even for a vast bureaucracy. During the Great Depression, the German Reichsbank alone is supposed to have received over 100,000 submissions on how to overcome the depression. There was no machinery to deal with such proposals and in such quantities. There is still no such machinery, in any country, according to my knowledge. I hold, therefore, that the unemployed are one and probably the most suitable "labour pool" for this task. It is correct that among the unemployed, too, most people are not the studious type. But most of them can read and write, can't they? So they can search for and compile relevant information, even if they do not understand all of it. So much has been written on the subject of unemployment that no single person can survey all of it in his lifetime. Consequently, this job has to be tackled in a division of labour process. At least for the initial stages and the intermediate ones, if not also for the final ones, no academic degrees and skills are required for this job - just reading and writing ability. Instead of providing gardening or road labours, for 2 days a week, I would expect each unemployed to provide at least 4 pages of notes per week on the subject of unemployment. These notes ought to cover a very wide sphere: Some unemployed might start with their contributions towards compiling a comprehensive bibliography on unemployment, others might start on abstracts, reviews and indexes, others on collecting, integrating, transcribing, translating and editing such contributions. Some might compile lists of unemployment subjects and research jobs already somewhat dealt with, while others might list of subjects and research jobs that have not yet been tackled or completed. After legible transcription of all contributions ( the job of some of the particpants, each taking up a self-chosen job in this sphere ), all contributions ought to be microfiched and duplicated, with a set to be available for viewing in ever Australien Employment Office. No copyrights are to be claimed for such contributions, i.e. other media are to be free to copy them. But each author should be at liberty to state name and address - and the type of work he or she is looking for, so that their contributions could also serve as advertisements for themselves and those reproducing their material should be obliged to mention their names and addresses and the jobs they want, unless they have made certain that the authors are no longer unemployed. Then the author's name would suffice. Imagine the ca. 600,000 unemployed in Australia collaborating in this job. That number could be enough, although, ideally, all the unemployed of the world should be activated in this way. Between them, they could survey etc. the relevant literature in all languages. All their imput, after eliminating duplications of labour and integrating the material properly and alphabetizing this collection, would form a comprehensive encyclopaedia and data bank on the subject. It should so be computerized in the end, to make its information available on-line, and in COM microfiche, not only in optical microfiche. In the initial stage some duplication of this kind of study work would occur but this would not matter greatly. Later such duplication could be reduced through lists of study, collection etc. jobs already done and remaining to be done and through making these lists available to the participants. Many small circles of unemployed could and should be formed to help them in these labours. Other people who are interested, economists, students of economy, high school pupils, social workers, teachers, etc., should, naturally, be in no way prevented from contributing their bits of information : observations, ideas, opinions, references. Some might merely compile questions : What individual rights are involved in tackling the problem of unemployment? For instance, do people have the right to supply themselves with work, without depriving anyone else of work, by undertaking all the organizational, technical and economic steps required for this purpose? What defence implications would full employment have? What is the relationship between unemployment and inflation? What is the effect of minimum wages, maximum wages, of wage control? What effect have unions had on employment, labour legislation, monetary legislation? Is there a relationship between machines and automation and computerization and unemployment? What theories do exist on the cause of unemployment? (These should be numbered for easier reference.) What cures have been proposed for unemployment? ( To be numbered, too.) What anwers and refutations have been supplied to each of these theories and proposals? What doubtful points remain on any of these? Is it possible that a whole army of conscripts of a dictatorial regime could desert - and employ itself productively or be integrated in the process of production, within a day or two? What steps are required for this? What role could well organized workers' coops play in the abolition and prevention of unemployment? What role could Theodor Hertzka's "open cooperatives" play? What would be the effect of Henry George's reform - and of other land reform proposals, if realized? Which employment programmes can be realized tolerantly, voluntarily, as experiments? Should prize money be collected, by public subscriptions, for the best employment programme? By what standards should it be judged? How should it be tested? Is there such a right as the right to supply oneself with work? Are all the unemployed, most, or many, or, anyhow, too many, just lazy, i.e. unwilling to look for work - dole bludgers? Should unemployment be subsidized? Can there be such a thing as a sound insurance against unemployment? What definitions do exist of unemployment? What slogans and catchwords exist on the subject? What is their truth contents? What doubts and questions remain on unemployment? Is there a relationship between central banking and exclusive currencies and unemployment? What laws and regulations, if any, cause unemployment? A listing of such questions could, by itself, employ many and be challenging to many others. All ideas on the subject of unemployment and all counter-suggestions and arguments should be systematically registered, together with their references. Everything worthwhile that anyone has written on the subject should be registered not only under suitable headings and corss references but also under his or her name, at least in abstract form - and while the problem of unemployment is ( at least in the opinion of most people ) still unsolved, every opinion on this subject should be considered worthwhile. There are at least 250 theories on depressions. They ought all to be registered, together with their references - and counter references. When hundredthousands work on such a task, it becomes solvable, not in further generations but in months or years at most. Why pick on the unemployed for this task? - They have got the time! They ought to be interested in their own major problem or ought to be induced to interest themselves in it. Moreover, they are being paid so far, without giving value in return, not even thought. I hold that the first responsibility of the victims of any abuse is self-help and the first requirement for self-help is self-enlightenment. For an individual full enlightenment is almost impossible to attain in this sphere - or the person would have to be very lucky. The jewels of truths on unemployment are buried in the muck of Augean stables. If they unemployed could, by this method, be induced to tackle the problem of unemployment systematically, spending as much time on it as on their entertainment, sports and hobbies, then, I believe, they would soon no longer be involuntarily unemployed because then the problem of unemployment would soon be solved. Either new methods to overcome unemployment would be developed, or, much more likely, long existing proposals on how to solve this problem would finally be sorted out, like wheat from the chaff. Leaving the problem to "authorities" and "experts" will leave it unsolved for another few centuries! They merely pile expert reports upon expert reports - each ignoring or misunderstanding the contributions of others, with no serious attempt being made to integrate all their contributions - and to confront contradictions. Book-length treatments are, obviously, not enough. A scientific approach is needed that would include every bit of relevant information and most books on the subject have so far excluded much more relevant information than they included. I hold that every layperson can and should here make his or her, large or small contribution to this comprehensive and, therefore, scientific approach and be it only by registering some more prejudices and myths on the subject. After all, most of the legislation, which according to the evidence that I have seen, is behind most of the unemployment, is based on myths and prejudices and most of the volumes written by "experts" are full of them. Even after the greatest possible effort has been made to clarify the situation theoretically, contradictory theories, predictions and observations will remain. Thus the experimental method will have to decide: Those who can agree on any particular employment programme will have to claim and realize the right to practise their programme among themselves and tolerantly, that is at their own expense and risk, while others would engage in their own chosen experiments. All these experimenters are to be exempted, upon their demand, from all laws, regulations and court decisions that would limit their experimental freedom and are not required to preserve the same freedom for others. The unemployment offices are to be obliged to help in the process, e.g. by alloweing unemployed to write their contributions there, by covering the filming costs, by exhibiting the microfiche containing all previous submissions and making at least one microfiche reading machine available in every office for this purpose. After all, these small extra expenditures are to make the huge costs for their services soon alltogether superfluous. This process does not only require knowledge as input but also ignorance, myths and prejudices - and who doubts that the unemployed, as well, have to offer these in quantity? Their suffering would only be increased by these, their errors, myths and prejudices ( and those of most other people ) being systematically challenged and refuted in the process. As my personal contribution, I refer to Peace Plans Nos. 9-11, 19C and 40/41 and others of my monetary freedom series as containing most of the insights and proposals required to overcome involuntary mass unemployment fast. But their solution is unlikely to be widely enough recognized until all proposals and ideas on this subject have thoroughly examined and the examination results for all of them have become easily accessible to anyone interested - which can be achieved via microfiche publication. John Zube, 9.6.1986 7 Oxley St., Berrima, N.S.W., Australia 2577.