Invisible Hand: Table of Contents

thanks!

Boy you've been busy. I guess I better get reading.

There you go!
: )

Now what was that you were saying about paper? LOL

I will start on this this week,i just wanted to thank you for stopping by and reading my article and your comment.Thank you so much.

Definitely a helpful idea!

Thank you for visiting the It Happened ToDay group and reading and commenting on the ToDay's history stories!

I'll have to start reading this as soon as I've finished the book I'm on.

Whoah.....How many words?!

Prolific is the word! That looks like it was a lot of work. Can you give us a synopsis?

The POM Education group articles is a kind of synopsis. But you can't really judge the idea until you understand it. This novel is the best way to understand. The idea is unique and takes a strikingly different point of view which is difficult for most people to cope with unless they have the supporting structure of the novel context. Please start reading it. If the author seems insane or you find it unpleasant you can always stop. Most people seen to enjoy reading it.

i haven't the slightest idea what it's about, but with a name like "invisible hand" i HAVE to read it!

I don't use the points so there's no need from my point of view for you to leave comments. Naturally, you should feel free to do so if you like or if that gets points for you. (I don't know if it does.)

The main thing is that you read the book. That is extremely important to me.

I will check your book out.

I've noticed your campaign for this for some time and I'm interested. I will do my best to get to it when I find some time, but it won't be soon. Feel free to remind me now and then if you wish.

Great idea. I will begin reading it. Thanks Larry.

to quote the govern'ator... I'll bve BACK!

:)

Thanks for pointing me here.

I've been thinking about reading this for a while now, but never started.

Hubby and I have a cookout to go to tonight, and will probably be out this weekend - but I want to read it with him. We've been talking about the concept of 'money' in our government recently, anyway. I think we'd really enjoy it.

And NOW I am going to bookmark this page - I thought I bookmarked it before, but I don't want to root through everything to find it. Maybe this comment will help me remember to come back with hubby. :)

thanks

I bookmarked this page. Am interested in reading your book. Sounds interesting.

Can you give us an overview of what this is about? Thanks!

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Larry, I noticed you said you don't use your points. Would you consider, then, periodically raffling them off so to speak? Maybe have a contest where readers of your book have to answer a certain number of questions, and from those who get them right you make a random drawing and send that person a gift card?

I'm always full of ideas... and that's a good way to get people to read the book and REALLY pay attention to what it says.
; )

What is the gift card like? Is it just another form of POM? :-)

This is helpful of you to give a table of contents. You're obviously written a lot of thought-provoking stuff, and I'll comment more on it after I've had time to read it all.

I'll be back...

Thanks for the invitation to read yours--it looks fascinating. I'll read yours and let you know when Chapter One of The Secret Something Within-A Life Changing Novel is posted.

Thanks for sending me here.

Thanks.

Larry, keep on pushing the message out there for us, I also have yet to read, but I really want to ... I suspect that your book means to you what mine means to me, a "tool" to help this world find a better way ... I am with you all the way.

Larry, could you give a short synopsis without any spoilers? Something to motivate us to read this?

I will get started reading. Thank you Larry.

I've bookmarked the page. Thanks.

why, thank you, Larry.

I will try and read thia Larry.

But how about a brief synopsis?

What a reading stock !! Thanks Larry I 'll get my devouring spirit fully on !!!

I'm going to put this into favorites and start reading.

Thanks - I was a bit confused. Adam Smith first coined the term "Invisible Hand" and there is a fairly new spy novel with the title "The Invisible Hand."

I saw this a while back, and then lost the link. Glad I found it again! Sounds interesting.

thanks i will start

Larry, to answer your question, yes. Gift cards are essentially a form of POM. However, there are charities to whom you can donate your points without redeeming them first for gift cards. Nevertheless, they'll be paid in POM, too. Until your system is actually put into practice, that's the sad reality of our lives. POM rules the world.
: (

I'm looking at it, thanks

hmm? i'll bite.

Okay, here goes!

ill be reading this later.. but it would be nice to have a simply synopsis of what your book is about.

This looks interesting. I read chapter I, but don't have time to read the rest right now. I do know something about the dirty deals the oil companies made and our CEO bragged about, though, so I'll see how close you are.

I just finished the novel, and enjoyed it thoroughly. Its structure was reminiscent of such thought-provokers as 'Walden II' and 'Ecotopia,' but the underlying concept explored in 'Invisible Hand' is just exceptionally brilliant.

To really see how it would work, you need to read the book, but for those of you who haven't read it yet but are curious, here are some features of the post-POM economy as I understand it:

POM, or physical object money, has been replaced by computerized accounts. You get paid when something you've done causes a net benefit, and you don't get paid until that benefit has occurred. So if you help somebody move a piano, you get paid when it's upstairs. But if you help build a bridge, you don't get paid until it's in use, which may be years from now. But after that, as long as that bridge is standing, you get a little bit of money every month. How do you live until the bridge is done? Necessities like plain-but-wholesome food, a decent place to live, "standard" white clothing, and medical care are all free.

The person whose piano you moved, or the folks who drive across the bridge, aren't the ones who pay you. There's a class of people, about 3-5% of the population, called "payers" who do all the paying. They hold a position of power and respect, provided they do their job well, but they aren't allowed to enjoy any luxuries, not now and not ever. You spot them by their plain white clothing with no accessories.

Payers determine whether an action merits pay, and how much. It's a profession, and they get good at it. If they underpay, they can pay more later, but they can't take money away from you. Only the individual can authorize the removal of money from his or her account, like to buy a luxury item, and all transactions are recorded. Money that leaves your account when you buy something ceases to exist, it isn't transferred to the seller. The seller gets paid by a payer for facilitating the transaction. The people that made the item and transported it to the store where you bought it also get paid by the payers. If a store owner were to con you into buying something you couldn't use, he wouldn't get paid because there's no net benefit, and neither would the manufacturer or the trucker. Next time, they won't be so likely to ship items to that store.

Reputation is crucial, and if you do something particularly noble or shoddy, the people affected will record a description of that act, which gets added to your records. You control who gets to see your records, but if you don't offer to show your Housing record to a potential landlord, they will probably assume the worst. Standard housing may be free, but no one has to rent to you. No one has to sell to you, either, or give you free food from their store. Property is privately owned and controlled, nothing is owned collectively.

Work no longer consists of jobs as we think of them. With a job you get paid for showing up, and you are expected to obey the boss even if he tells you to do something that is on balance damaging. That doesn't wash anymore. You are responsible for your actions, and you're paid only for net benefit. I think of the people now paid well by health insurers to boost corporate profits by denying claims. Post-POM, those people would get nothing, realize they were getting nothing, and find another line of work where they could maybe even stand to look at themselves. Post-POM, individuals acting out of self-interest actually improve things for both themselves and society as a whole! What a contrast from our current setup, where self-interest tends to reward the self at the expense of others.

There's a lot more, but you've got to read the book. This economic system is so different from any of the "-isms" that have let humanity down in the past, that I believe it could really transform the world in a positive way if implemented.

Nice collection, you have made it easier putting these all to gether.

Steve, thanks for the summary.

Larry, I'd be interested in your comments on how you propose to have "payers" who always do the right thing. In the course of human history, the result has been that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. So, freedom and democracy have been the common man's defense against tyranny.

Do you propose to change human nature, or are we talking about an alternate universe?

Randy,

Those issues are all addressed in the book. I would prefer to carry on any such discussion threads in the chapters of the novel where the relevant descriptions are close at hand.
I am very pleased that you are interested and I think the concerns you express are only natural and rational given human history.

Larry, is this book published elsewhere? Can I buy it at the bookstore?

Susan, it's on lulu.com but you may have to google for it since they have lots of books for sale.

Thanks! I'm looking forward to reading!

The format is unwieldy (sp?). It needs a one download format somewhere maybe with small print that can be turned into large print on the receiving side. I want to read it but on dial up I am not going to sit through all those individual downloads.

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Ben,

What are the chances that there will be a significant transformation of consciousness, one by one, of humanity all at the same time to prevent disaster? Either we try to change things for the better or we sit passively and await that doom. Your argument is for passive sitting.

Ben,

My system won't work if people are coerced. The system itself involves no coercion at all. It removes almost all the coercion that we presently have in even the most "democratic" of governments.

My system could not even be begun by coercion. Any attempt to start it using coercion would fail miserably. My system is really unique. It comes at things from an entirely different angle. One I doubt you have even heard of. It isn't even on the current political spectrum of left/right.

I've bookmarked this. After reading the description of what the book is about, I may read it or I may not. I'll have to read more commentary, before I decide. I'm old enough that I don't much care about any direction the world or economies take. People are greedy. It's a disease. I can't see anyone changing the status quo without being forced to do so.

From what I gather, from an above post, this is almost like a form of pure communism, which with human instinct and greed, could never happen. There's no communistic society that doesn't still have the rich and rewarded well, among them. Therefore, not a true communism.

I may be way off base, but that's ok. As I said, I'm not here to argue anything or any point... yet. As I read each chapter and IF I do, I'll leave my commentary there.

Thanks for the opportunity to look at life "your way".

Dale,

You are way off base about any communist aspect. There is almost no government and all property that is owned is owned by individuals. There is no public property and absolutely no government influence let alone control of any capital goods or labor. This system is quite different than any you have known and is not even on the left / right political spectrum.

THANKS. I'll check this out.

I read the nopom.com website and this is a fascinating concept! It sounds much like the "economics of Star Trek," where credits are earned and any item for which you have sufficient credits can be requisitioned.

Trust me, it is different.  I have not seen the modern Star Trek but I am very confident that it isn't the same.  :-)

wow! that is amazing work!

Capital markets are unstable. In the past there was no way to make them stable. But today we have computer power that can be used to make them stable.

By using the greater computer power of today we can have a much higher turn over of capital in the capital market. This higher turnover will make the market harder to game or control and the market will no longer have the unstable run ups or declines. Who can change or control the market when say 20% of the capital is trading each day?

So now that we have the compute power to provide for all these transactions that will smooth out the market how do we force people to turn over at a rate of 20% a day? Easy, put a cap gains tax of 0% (zero) on all gains of 7 days or less and put a cap gains tax of 90% of all gains of more than 7 days.

The likes of Yahoo, Micosoft and/or Sun Micro Systems will give us the systems that will provide automated software agents to support turning over one's investments every 7 days (based on the specs you give the agent).

A system like this will make the financial markets work as smoothly as the local fruit market.

thanks for the info
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