The idea of “trans-capitalism” is that–unlike in a completely communist economical theory–in the proposed system capitalism is still recognized as being an (unavoidable) existing entity with which to exchange energy. However, the notion of trans is that the trans-capitalist society is one which has begun to transcend from capitalism to an evolved system.In effect, the trans-capitalist society may still communicate and exchange energy in the form of money and credits, though it may be significantly isolated from the capitalist system.- An economy that evolves out of capitalism; considers the notion of capitalism as a valid existence and a subset of the total system; considers capitalism to be complemented by its opposition of a gift economy and the trans-capitalistic system as a whole to include both capitalism and a gift economy, with an intermediary that functions as a translation mechanism between the two; capitalism is deemed valid in that the products of capitalism–such as computers, automobiles, and airplanes–are considered to be useful at this stage of ACE.
Some relevant concepts (much of this taken from wikipedia):
Capitalism: an economic system in which production for profit is privatized. The word “capital” itself signifies the capital assets of a trading firm or an individual owner such as wealth, money, funds, goods, and property. Described by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon in 1861 as an “economic and social regime in which capital, the source of income, does not generally belong to those who make it work through their labour,” in other words, “the rich get richer and the poor remain slaves”.
Capitalism also implies that “markets and market transactions are the principal drivers of economic activity. But this activity takes place within a system of public rules that define property, transactions, and everything else that gives shape to markets. And these rules must be enforced through public power.”
Communism: an economy in which all property is owned by the community and each person contributes and receives according to his or her ability and needs.
Modern Monetary Theory: The key insight of MMT (the macroeconomic theory which describes and analyses modern economies in which the national currency is fiat money established and created by the government) is that “monetarily sovereign government is the monopoly supplier of its currency and can issue currency of any denomination in physical or non-physical forms. As such the government has an unlimited capacity to pay for the things it wishes to purchase and to fulfill promised future payments, and has an unlimited ability to provide funds to the other sectors. Thus, insolvency and bankruptcy of this government is not possible. It can always pay”.
MMT economists describe any transactions within the private sector as “horizontal” transactions, including the expansion of the broad money supply through the extension of credit by banks. MMT economists regard the concept of the money multiplier, where a bank is completely constrained in lending through the deposits it holds and its capital requirement, as misleading.[15] Rather than being a practical limitation on lending, the cost of borrowing funds from the interbank market (or the central bank) represents a profitability consideration when the private bank lends in excess of its reserve and/or capital requirements (see interaction between government and the banking sector).
(I find very interesting the idea that the cost of borrowing funds from the central bank represents a profitability consideration. So here credit is given because of one’s assessed promise to be profitable to the owner of capital assets rather than credit being given because of an individual’s basic right to exist. Michel’s model attempts to give a basic amount of credit to each individual for survival, and then produce a fiat money system that can be exchanged for work on top of that… from what I understand… I must review his slides. )
Commodity money is created from a good, often a precious metal such as gold or silver, which has uses other than as a medium of exchange (such a good is called a commodity).
Representative money is similar to fiat money, but it also represents a claim on a commodity (that can be redeemed to a greater or lesser extent).
Fiat Money: What a beautiful and elegant concept… fiat, coming from the Latin “let it become”, here implies that the government literally creates currency out of thin air. It is fundamentally backed by… nothing! And that is what the majority of our world’s nations are now using as currency (hats off to Richard Nixon). So basically, whenever a government decides it wants something, it just mints money, under the assumption that it will be covered by one of its many resources of value… which could be something concrete, such as a natural resource, or it could be the energy of its worker constituents. In the latter case, this implies that any person subscribing to an economy using fiat money also signs up for being enslaved or in the least employed as an indentured servant to the system until it pays off its debts. In the former case, this implies that the natural resources are depleted until, in some cases, the point of exhaustion.
Gold Standard: The gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. This monetary system has been abandoned by most nations since some point in the 20th century, although many nations still hold substantial reserves of gold.
Capitalism: The issue that we have with capitalism is that it is inherently associated with greed, which violates our ethics, and does not account for the life of a sentient being as being a valid resource for preservation and the life force as being a valid resource for trade. The currencies of capitalism are backed by inanimate objects of trade, and hence all value of that system is given to lifeless objects. Life is thus given to these objects by draining the life force of humans and re-appropriating it to, in essence, statues, such as gold.
Gift Economy: in the gift economy there is no currency and there is no exchange; objects and services are simply given and received when there is either 1) a request to be given a given product or 2) there is the good will and inspiration to give. In the event that a member of the economy is struggling to meet needs, it is normal and natural that this person cannot and will not be in a position to give, as giving of one’s resources in this situation would continue to deplete the individual’s life force to the point of loss of shelter, food, health and eventually life, itself, resulting in death. Hence, when this situation is observed by another member of the gift economy who is in a state of flush concerning resources, that person’s compassion and good will are activated and a gift is given to the needy in order to sustain that person’s life. Gift’s can also be given as a token of affection to someone because of work or talent appreciated, or simply to represent a feeling in the chest equated to love.
ACE Bank: the ACE Bank is intended to be the intermediary between capitalism and the gift economy. The ACE Bank, as proposed by Michel, has an accounting system and a hash chain verification system. Each person keeps their own account system, and the trust is on the person’s right to live as opposed to on an object like gold, as in capitalism. Hence, the currency of the ACE Bank is backed by the inherent life force energy in a conscious, sentient, enlightened being. The assumption made here is that enlightened beings follow the yama-niyama of Patanjali (i.e. non-greed, non-stealing, truth, etc.).
Happy Coin: The Happy Coin is a gesture of good will and has the function of repurposing the energy in the coin for a unit of happiness. In other words, using as an example the American penny–the smallest minted unit of currency in the USA–which represents the smallest unit of fiat money