Chapter 4 – The 100 most important advantages

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»The folios turn yellow, the learned brilliance of the cities fades,

but the book of nature has a new edition every year.«

– Hans Christian Andersen

Danish writer

Nature is brilliant. She is the marvel of the greatest inventor of all time, our creator. She is based on simple principles and infinite variety ensues. She has four and a half billion years of experience, significantly longer than we humans. With a bit of common sense we can conclude from this that it is extremely disadvantageous to work against her, while cooperating with nature must bring a huge number of advantages.

In any good communication training you learn to restrict yourself to the most important three points. Modern people are supposed not to be able to take in more than that. Well then… The three most important benefits of the Natural Economy of Life are:

1. worldwide prosperity
2. peace
3. harmony with nature

 Actually everything has now been said. But each of these three benefits is in itself so vast and extensive that its full reach is hard to grasp. In virtually every field of life we immediately find a whole range of fundamental advantages. It is absolutely impossible to concentrate on only a few of them. 

Therefore you will get to know the 100 most important advantages of the Natural Economy of Life in this chapter. One advantage often results from the previous one. In this way ascending spirals of possibilities are created, which carry you further upwards with each rotation. Once you have learnt to think in positive possibility spirals you can change your personal life and your entire environment in a positive direction.

But beware: too much good news is hard to bear. We humans are simply not used to it. In this respect we function similarly to Wikipedia: when something only has advantages, it is thought to be incredible and possibly may not be written about. Also in classical drama, the model for most Hollywood films, there must not be only positive things because in the end that would be boring.

And now at last we have a drawback, thank goodness! The Natural Economy of Life has too many advantages. Please don’t be frightened off, be brave and hold out! And if you can’t take any more, have a break and study your favourite problems intensively. Then you should be able to go on…

Advantage 1 – Creation of money through life

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Anyone who does not appreciate life has not deserved it.«

– Leonardo da Vinci

Italian artist and universal genius

Creation of money through life is probably the most important property and at the same time the greatest benefit of the Natural Economy of Life. It is the fundamental difference to all other monetary and economic models. The Natural Economy of Life is so very much connected with life that even the creation of money itself takes place through life. From this main feature a whole range of other advantages derive and we will examine each of them individually in the following chapter.

One very practical aspect is that creation of money through life means that the money supply is always adequate, for money is created proportionally to the number of citizens. A small nation with only a small number of citizens logically needs less money than a big nation with a large number of citizens. The basic requirements are fairly distributed. What people do with them can differ from country to country.

How does creation of money through life work? Quite simply, a certain amount of money is created for every citizen each month according to an international agreement and credited to an account. From there it can be allocated to basic income, national income and the Equalisation and Environment Fund. The money is created without debts being incurred. 

Advantage 2 – No creation of money through debt

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Banks are more dangerous than standing armies.«

– Thomas Jefferson

3rd President of the USA

We have already several times pointed out the devastating disadvantages that result from creating money through borrowing or debt. Alone the fact that debt is absolutely necessary to create money is already sick: humankind is split into creditors and debtors, often even before birth.

Nowhere in nature is there such a cynical system so contemptuous of life. On the contrary, debts are unknown to nature which practises a gift economy. When you consider that almost all our economic problems today are due to creating money through borrowing or debt, a monetary model that manages without creating money through borrowing is an imperative requirement for the survival of humankind. For nature knows very well how to deal with behaviour hostile to life: a species that continually behaves in a way hostile to life becomes extinct.

Elimination of disadvantages is frequently already a big advantage, as it is here, too. By doing away with incentives hostile to life we give behaviour friendly to life the necessary air to breathe. Healing can take place when we do not split humanity into two camps in a schizophrenic manner. Humans can act together again and direct their attention towards joint survival.

A species hostile to life then becomes one friendly to life that cooperates with nature. As such we will get the right and the chance to thrive in a sustainable manner. The new incentives friendly to life motivate us to consider the threefold good in all our decisions – the good of the individual, the good of the community and the good of the big scheme of things.

Advantage 3 – No gold standard

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»The meek will inherit the earth – but not the mining rights.«

–      Jean Paul Getty

American oil industrialist and billionaire

In turbulent times the call for the allegedly good old gold standard becomes loud again. The gold standard prevents wars, it is claimed, because the existing amount of gold is not sufficient to fund the immense costs of war. A far-fetched argument, for there have been wars since the beginning of history – in spite of the gold standard. When Columbus persuaded his Spanish masters to finance the fleet with which he wanted to reach India in a westward direction he promised them gold. The sad truth was that he and his successors kept their promise and the Incas were exterminated for their gold – and not only the Incas but almost the entire indigenous population of America.

Greed for hoards of gold in other countries has often been the cause of wars, maybe not the officially stated reason for war but a decisive motive. It is simply absurd to claim that gold assures peace.

Today there are still gold mines for wresting the last gold treasures from the earth. The modern form of gold mining leaves disastrous environmental damage behind it. What is the point of this insane destruction? Why do we need gold at all? We do not need it for jewellery since only fakes are usually worn for security reasons. We seldom need it as a raw material for industry and medicine, maybe for high-quality electronic gold contacts or dental prostheses. There are many other possibilities for means of exchange and value storage, for example computer figures.

Besides that, the gold reserves are distributed in the same way as the other ownership conditions. By reintroducing the gold standard we would only further cement the existing ownership conditions. Anyone who has a lot of gold would then have a lot of money. A gold standard is certainly not the tool of choice for achieving worldwide prosperity in peace and in harmony with nature. The Natural Economy of Life does not need a gold standard. The gradido is covered by the most valuable good we have – life itself.

Advantage 4 – No goods coverage

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Mankind must put an end to war,

before war puts an end to mankind.«

– John F. Kennedy

35th President of the USA, assassinated in 1963

Have you ever had the doubtful pleasure of listening to a war report on the radio, TV or in other media? In it they speak about human life, among other things. But sooner or later

they also come to speak of material damage. Who has to bear what costs of the war? And when the war is finally over, governments and firms are already queuing up to secure the biggest pieces of the reconstruction cake for themselves. One cannot escape the feeling that war is welcome business and much more important than the people who are killed.

I have a similar feeling when I hear the argument that the money supply must be equivalent to the goods and services produced. This argument is based on the assumption that money only keeps its value when you can buy the equivalent amount of goods for it. That is indeed an interesting approach but what consequences ensue from it? Quite simply, a large supply of money is allowed to circulate in countries that produce a large quantity of goods. On the other hand, there is only a little money in poor countries although the people there badly need it. The amount of goods thus has greater importance than people.

Should people serve the economy or the other way round? The Natural Economy of Life serves both people and nature. The supply of money is proportional to the size of the population. The quantity of goods is the answer to people’s needs and not the reverse. Humans and nature are in first place. In spite of and perhaps just because of this, we have a stable supply of money and a self-regulating system which ensures that the right quantity of goods and services is always available. 

Advantage 5 – Positive account balances

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»If you have achieved true wholeness, everything will flow to you.«  

– Laotse, Tao Te Ching

There are only positive figures in the living nature visible to us, as we have already mentioned. Just as there are no apple trees on which minus 100 apples are hanging, there are only positive account balances with the gradido. Nobody has a debt unless they have explicitly made a loan agreement with another person. And even then they do not have a negative balance on their account but an agreement to repay the money.

What impact does this have alone on health? The words »positive« and »negative« do not just designate a sign before a figure; they also have a deep psychological meaning. We like being together with positive people as their pleasant nature uplifts us. As our self-confidence is also connected to the balance on our account, we can assume that positive balances influence our self-confidence positively. In a country in which everybody has a positive balance on their account people will energise each other with their positive self-confidence.

The national budget is also positive and government debt is a thing of the past. A debt-free nation also radiates a positive feeling to its citizens and the mood goes on improving. In addition, there is the positive Equalisation and Environment Fund which does not punish environmental sinners but rewards eco-friendly business activities.

We perhaps still lack the imagination to envisage the full scope of the chain reaction of these positive influences. However, we know that positive emotions stimulate the body’s production of endorphins. These are natural happiness hormones which decisively improve our health. And it has long been known that positive motivation can dramatically increase productivity and quality of work.

Thus, positive account balances are not just a mathematical gimmick. They are a crucial factor for the health, productivity and quality of life of a nation and hence of the whole of humankind.

Advantage 6 – Stable money supply

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Only when there is compassion does the intelligence exist that gives humankind security and stability, an enormous feeling of strength.«

– Jiddu Krishnamurti

Indian philosophy and author

If we want to fathom nature’s secrets, we cannot do this with our mind alone. We need compassion to explore the cycle of life. Only when we have united mind and compassion do we achieve wholeness and thus the intelligence to discover the inventions of living nature and translate them to our model. The cycle of life is a masterpiece of nature. Only through continual becoming and decaying can growth take place in a restricted system with the total mass being kept constant at the same time.

In the Natural Economy of Life the cycle of growth and decay keeps the money supply stable. In the self-regulating system the supply of money per person levels off at the amount at which the monthly creation of money and the monthly decay are in equilibrium. With the amount of 3,000 gradidos being created and decay of approx. 5% the average per-capita supply of money amounts to approx. 60,000 gradidos. Neither credit institutions nor speculators can change anything.

An average supply of money means that one person may possess more and the others less. That is quite normal and consistent with the variety of life. Some people will live from their basic income and have only small balances on their accounts. However, good business people can still become millionaires. This changes nothing in the total money supply, which depends solely on the size of the population.

Advantage 7 – The money supply cannot be manipulated

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»In doubt the Fed can rotate the dollar press as much as it likes and if necessary make a helicopter drop of  money to boost the economy.«

– Ben Bernanke

FED President

Since 2006 the Fed (US central bank) has no longer published the M3 money supply. Why not? Has the calculation become so confused and difficult that no reliable results are possible anymore? Or is the money supply so outrageously high that they no longer want to publish it?

The main aim of a central bank is to maintain the stability of prices and the value of money. It tries to achieve this by fixing the so-called prime rate so as to influence the money supply. The financial crisis shows that this is not possible. In the old system the money supply is manipulated by many uncontrollable factors, resulting in the usual suspects, such as inflation, deflation, economic and financial crises or even financial crashes.

The gradido money supply cannot be manipulated. It is fixed by the creation of money and its perishability and can only change with the size of the population. Hence, the money supply is the constant which the other parameters, such as the level of prices, have to align themselves with. After a levelling-out process the self-regulating system operates in a stable manner.

Advantage 8 – Money supply as in Central Europe

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Prosperity is only an instrument to be used not a deity to be worshiped.«

– Calvin Coolidge

30th President of the USA

The countries of Central Europe are (still) among the wealthy nations. Their prosperity attracts migrants from the entire world. In other words, people who cannot get by in their homelands migrate to Central Europe to try their luck here. Many of them send money home to support their families. It thus makes sense to choose today’s Central Europe as the quantitative measure of worldwide prosperity. And that starts with the money supply.

The total assets in Germany stood at approx. 5 trillion euros in 2008. Divided among the approx. 82 million inhabitants this makes an average of about 60,000 euros per person. This is the equivalent of the gradido money supply per capita, which automatically results from the cycle of growth and decay. 

Advantage 9 – Stable prices

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Every problem you master helps you on in future – and gives you fresh strength.«

– Steffi Graf

German tennis player

With a stable per-capita money supply it can be assumed that prices will level off at a stable level. As the gradido money supply is equivalent to the current money supply in Central Europe, the price level will balance out on a comparable level. The prices in the various product groups may shift in relation to other product groups as there are new parameters that influence prices.

Because money is perishable people may want to spend it sooner, which would make prices rise. On the other hand, interest, taxes and other levies, which today account for more than half of the end consumer prices, no longer exist and this makes prices fall. Overall, the two opposite trends might offset each other.

Eco-friendly and biological products are subsidised by the Equalisation and Environment Fund (EEF). They will thus be significantly lower in price than comparable products which are harmful to the environment. It will be cheaper to live in harmony with nature.

Hand-made goods will probably not be cheaper but they will be affordable for normal people. As their earnings are not taxed, working people have more money left which they cannot hoard because of its perishability. The best way to have a sustainable quality of life will be to buy quality goods, such as hand-made furniture, shoes and clothes and naturally also art objects and culture.

To sum up, it is to be expected that the price level will be roughly the same as now. However, people’s quality of life will be significantly higher.

Advantage 10 – Self-regulating monetary and economic system

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»If we do not demonstrate our determination to organize national finances sustainably, we will have neither financial stability nor sound economic growth«.

–      Ben Bernanke

FED President

The central banks have for a long time been unable to cope with their task of regulating the money supply so as to create financial stability. How are they supposed to be able to stabilise a complicated system whose basic functions are constructed in a way that is dysfunctional and contrary to nature?

The Natural Economy of Life is a self-regulating system. The money supply stabilises automatically through the cycle of growth and decay. And how does it work with the supply of goods?

Let’s assume that a vital product, for example an item of food, is in short supply. There may be different reasons for such a situation. The crop may have been destroyed by hail or production has become too cost-intensive and is no longer worthwhile. The distances for transporting the product may be too long or the work too laborious and there are not enough people who want to work in its production. Whatever has caused the shortage, the item becomes more expensive.

If it is an essential product, the costs of living will increase and some people will no longer be able to live so comfortably from their basic incomes. As a consequence, they will want to earn some extra money. The highest wages and salaries are to be found where an urgent shortage needs to be remedied, in our case in the production of a food that is in short supply. Job-seekers will first and foremost apply for such jobs.

The scarce product will be produced in larger quantities again. Prices fall again and production evens off at a normal level.

The system has automatically regulated itself without the need for external intervention. If attempts had been made to influence the money supply, something uncontrollable – a bubble – would have resulted. 

Advantage 11 – No financial bubbles

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»It must now have become clear to any responsibly minded person in the branch that the international finance markets have developed into a monster that has to be cut down to size.«

– Horst Köhler

former President of Germany

In the recent past we have had a lot of so-called »bubbles«. Real-estate bubbles and financial bubbles are created when the system does not have any functioning self-regulating mechanisms. Disasters are pre-programmed in a system that has to be most stringently controlled to prevent it getting out of hand. It suffices for something to happen that the controlling bodies had not expected for bubbles to emerge, grow and finally burst. Controlling bodies react to such incidents with even stricter controls (they have no other possibility). This leads to increasingly unbearable restrictions of personal freedom without it being possible to establish genuine stability.  

Really sustainable stability is created when pressure is kept as low as possible and gentle self-regulating mechanisms are in place, as in the case with the gradido.

Bubbles emerge at pressure points: we get blisters when our shoe pinches. An increase in pressure leads to bad blisters or bubbles. No pressure needs to be exerted in a self-regulating system, and nobody will rebel when there is no pressure.

As the money supply is constant and cannot be changed by either borrowing or speculation, no finance bubbles are possible in the gradido system. The self-regulating system runs in a stable manner without external control. 

Advantage 12 – Relief for the following generations

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»We haven’t inherited our earth from our parents,

but borrowed it from our children.«

– Indian saying

Some people claim that the following generations will have to repay the debts incurred by our generation. With regard to financial debts, I scarcely believe they will be so naïve. To whom are they supposed to repay the debts? To the banks? To the creditors, who are the richest people in the world anyway? Sooner or later people will wake up and recognize the monkey business. There will be a haircut to settle things once and for all. 

Far more problematic is the disastrous damage our generation has caused to nature. This cannot simply be remedied with a haircut. The longer we continue as we have up to now, the greater the damage will be and the smaller the chances of survival for humankind. The succeeding generations will have to pay for what our generation has done to the earth.

The Natural Economy of Life cannot eliminate this damage overnight. However, we can strive to do our part in helping nature to recover. The Equalisation and Environment Fund (EEF) is a unique instrument that makes an additional pool of money available for the environment in every country, equal in amount to the national budget. In this way the financial basis is created to promote environmental protection and decontamination on an unprecedented scale. Only eco-friendly products and services will be competitive on the market. Positive incentives will motivate the world economy to take decontamination measures. Environmental damage will be eliminated step by step, nature can recover and the following generations will finally find a planet worth living on.

Advantage 13 – Gentle transience

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Don’t delude yourself that you can rectify errors in nature.

There are no errors in nature, the error is in you.«

– Leonardo da Vinci

Italian artist and universal genius

Transience is part of creation. It is the cycle of life, the cycle of growth and decay. When we do not plan for transience but try to escape it, it will hit us all the harder and at a highly inconvenient time. Examples of unplanned transience are inflation, economic crises, monetary crashes, poverty, hunger, wars and natural disasters.

There have been many examples of unplanned transience in past history. Entire cultures have emerged and vanished again. Since transience is not recognised as a natural law, poverty, hunger, wars and natural disasters used to be considered as fate, whereas inflation, economic crises and monetary crashes were thought to be the consequences of financial mismanagement. But now we are able to recognize the internal connection and build up a sustainable life together on earth.

Everyone can cope with gentle planned transience without suffering harm. We all know that fresh fruits age: after a certain time they begin to get mouldy, rot or wrinkle. Nobody perceives this as a disaster, as we all know it and are prepared for it. We have learnt to deal with perishability creatively. Thus we have, for example, developed various methods of preserving food and some cooking and baking recipes taste better when preserved products are used. We can likewise approach the gradido’s perishability creatively, for example with loans and investments. And transience has the additional advantage of being merciful. 

Advantage 14 – A merciful system forgives mistakes

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Justice only exists in hell; in heaven there is mercy.«

– Gertrud von Le Fort

German poet

Gentle transience saves us from damage when we make mistakes. A person who makes a mistake in business may possibly have to pay for it their whole life long. For the repercussions of the mistake increase from year to year because of interest and compound interest.

In contrast to this, the gradido is a merciful system. Transience makes the mistakes only »half as bad« after one year. It lets the »grass grow over them«. And after a further year you will scarcely notice anything any longer.

How many promising business ideas often fail today in the very first few years because they could not be financed well? And how many once successful firms have to give up? The large part of these bankruptcies would be unnecessary if we did not have such an uncompromising economic system.

There will hardly be any bankruptcies in the Natural Economy of Life. First of all, people will have more liquid money and secondly, mistakes can be coped with much more easily without the existence of the business immediately being called into question.

Advantage 15 – No wars and fewer disasters

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»You can no more win a war than you can win an earthquake.«

– Jeannette Rankin

American politician, women’s rights and peace activist

Wars and other disasters are forms of unintended transience. They also emerge when people have not planned for the natural law of decay. Thus, they are not inevitable strokes of fate but consequences of a system hostile to life. If we alter the system and follow the cycle of life, such disasters will either not occur or will no longer have such devastating repercussions.

When prosperity in harmony with nature prevails all over the world there will no longer be any reason to go to war. Humans have a natural desire for peace and happiness that they willingly share with their fellow human beings. Only when they feel that their existence is threatened do they let themselves be inveigled in wars against other humans.                                          

Natural disasters have less devastating repercussions in the Natural Economy of Life. Think of Fukushima: an earthquake triggered a tsunami that flooded large parts of the country. If there had been more forest on the coast, the tsunami would not have penetrated so far into the interior of the country. And if energy friendly to nature had been used instead of nuclear energy, the nuclear disaster would not have occurred.

Both the forestation of the coastal region and the development of forms of energy friendly to nature are promoted by the Equalisation and Environment Fund. The latter is financed by the creation of money, which is only possible when decay is planned for. We sometimes have to “think outside the box” to understand the connections.

Advantage 16 – The economy serves people and not the reverse

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»The purpose of the economy is human welfare.«

– Gregor Gysi

German politician (Die Linke left-wing party)

Our hitherto existing monetary and economic systems have not served the good of humans; on the contrary, they harm everybody and benefit nobody. Even though the inhabitants of the rich industrialised countries have great advantages over people in poor countries, these benefits are only of short duration. What is the use of a beautiful house and an expensive car when we humans are in the process of destroying ourselves?

The first advantages of the Natural Economy of Life already suffice to prove that it benefits everybody and harms nobody. Its further advantages will confirm this argument even more. In principle, this is no wonder since we work together with nature and not against her.

Every person without exception has the right to a life in human dignity. That is the minimum that must be provided by an economy which claims to serve the good of human beings. The next few sections describe how this right can be realised.

Advantage 17 – Active basic income

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»The more you give, the more you grow.

But there must be somebody to receive.«

– Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

French writer

A basic income is an inherent part of the Natural Economy of Life. It is the first third of the threefold creation of money, besides the national income and the Equalisation and Environment (EEF). There are two possible options for the basic income – the active and the unconditional basic income.

The active basic income guarantees unconditional participation in the community. Every person has the right to contribute to the good of the community and earn their basic income by doing so. The contribution they make should be consistent with their nature as far as possible, i.e. their inclinations and abilities should be taken into consideration. A person who loves what they do is happier, more contented, healthier and more productive than a person who does not like their work. Alone for this reason it is in the interest of all that everyone is allowed to contribute something consistent with their nature.

This also applies to children and old people. Children who are allowed to contribute to the common good in a responsible manner display self-confidence and a sense of responsibility in their early years. They develop in a healthier way both physically and mentally. Old people who have the feeling of being needed stay healthy longer and live longer.

Unconditional participation consists of both giving and receiving in two directions. It enables every person to give and grow through their tasks. The community receives gifts from its members and gives them an active basic income – »A thousand thanks for being with us!«

The deep satisfaction that emerges from being allowed to contribute to the common good and the associated positive impact on quality of life and health lead us to give clear preference to the active basic income. 

Advantage 18 – Unconditional basic income

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»It is not the task of the economy to create jobs. On the contrary, the economy has the task to liberate people from work.«

– Götz W. Werner

founder of the initiative »Unternimm die Zukunft [Undertake the future]«

Although we definitely prefer the active basic income, the option of an unconditional basic income is also conceivable. An unconditional basic income is being increasingly discussed in public. It divides people into two camps – the proponents, who see it as the solution to many problems, and the opponents, who have legitimate doubts about whether all goods society needs would be produced if there was an unconditional income.

As far as we can judge, an unconditional basic income of a reasonable amount cannot be funded in the old system, and if it can be, then only in rich countries. Should the movement for an unconditional basic income develop into a strong political force, there will be no other option but to seek a better monetary system. The Natural Economy of Life is the ideal solution in this case. We do not need to debate financial feasibility as the gradido is created from the basic income. 

Advantage 19 – Full employment

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Coming together is a start. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.«

– Henry Ford

American industrialist

Basic income and full employment are often seen as being in opposition to each other. This only applies to the unconditional basic income. The active basic income with its guarantee of unconditional participation creates full employment from scratch: every person has the right to contribute to the common good in line with their nature and earn an active basic income through doing so. The question as to financial feasibility does not arise as the basic income contributes to the creation of money.

Unconditional participation is something quite different from the current one-euro jobs. These are humiliating in several ways; first, you have to prove that you are not able to find a job on the normal labour market. After you have proved this, you get a right to receive welfare benefits. The procedure up to this point is already very humiliating. And then you are sentenced to do some kind of unskilled work for a pay of only €1 an hour.

Unconditional participation starts with not having to prove anything. We sit down and consider what the individual likes to do most and can do especially well. If necessary, individual or group discussions can help to develop the person’s full potential. After that, we look together at how the person’s skills can be used optimally for the community. The pay for this work is 20 gradidos an hour for a maximum of 50 hours a month, making a total of 1,000 gradidos a month.

Since everybody has the right to unconditional participation, 100% full employment is immediately reached.

Advantage 20 – No problem with provision of essential goods as might occur with the unconditional basic income

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas

 as in escaping from old ones.«

– John Maynard Keynes

British economist, politician and mathematician

As already mentioned, there are legitimate doubts about the concept of an unconditional basic income. One doubt concerns the feasibility of financing it. This problem does not exist with the gradido because the money is created from the basic income.

It is a different matter with the question as to whether all the goods society needs can be produced when everybody receives an unconditional basic income. Production of goods should be largely assured in a rich industrialised nation such as Germany. But what about in poor continents such as Africa? If everybody there received an unconditional basic income equivalent to €1,000 a month, would sufficient people still work to assure a supply of essential goods? We don’t know.

The active basic income makes this question superfluous. It offers everyone the right to unconditional participation in the community. Every person has the right to earn their basic income. If they make use of their right, they have to do something for the community. In every functioning family business it is quite normal for the family members to lend a hand. Do children who grow up in such family businesses appear unhappier than others? On the contrary, they develop a sense of responsibility and self-confidence in their early years.

What works in a family business also makes sense in a larger community. The tasks involved provide fields of work for everybody to develop their potential. Everybody has their area of responsibility and everybody is important.

A large amount of work needed to maintain the supplying of a country with goods and services – ranging from public transport and growing food to the school and health systems – can be assured by means of unconditional participation in connection with the active basic income.

And what about jobs that require full-time employment? For these we additionally have the creation of the second and third amounts of money – the national income and the Equalisation and Environment Fund. A doctor, a teacher or a bus driver could, for example, work 50 hours a month on the basis of the basic income with the rest being financed from the national income.