Demand Power: Minimum needs

The previous sections explained that Supereconomics, based on the Positive, replaces:

• selfish-interest with fellow-feeling and self-purpose
• utlity with a flexible hierarchy of needs

This flexible hierarchy of needs is:

• based on the 5 Elements, and
• flexible, allowing the higher needs to be larger than the lower ones

This hierarchy is implemented as the Minimum Needs.

• This is opposite of Economics which implements utility as marginal utility

This is based on the idea that a society is a metaphysical soul-organism made up of individual souls.

This means that each soul is important or has a purpose in the society because of the First Law of Value.

It is then society’s duty to provide for each member soul through fellow feeling and not through domination.

No society can surely be flourishing and happy if the majority were poor and miserable. It is but equity that those who feed, clothe and lodge the the people, should have such a share of the produce of their own labour as to be themselves tolerably well fed, clothed and lodged.

Adam Smith

Book 1, Chapter 8

This is consistent with the Consumption Motive which treats the society as one family.

This means that the government should take a leading role, as the father of the society.

Miniumum Needs can be impelemented either by the government or by non-government organizations and institutions.

Such institutions are distributors of goods and services and not producers. This will reduce its capital costs. Instead, it will need a fund to sustain its operational costs.

This fund is derived from wage contributions (sale of labor) or sales taxes (sale of goods).

Supereconomic taxation allows tax payments in kind. And so the set up cost of this system is not as high as imagined.

Classifying Human Needs

Minimum human needs can be simplified into the following, in terms of temporal importance:

1. Clean air
2. Clean water
3. Food
4. Shelter
5. Transporation
6. Communication and Expresion
7. Healthcare

We call the desire to have these needs met as the Demand Power of force of demand.

This force comes from fellow-feeling from the Positive Force, which is the opposite of selfishness from the Negative force.

Gross National Happiness Index

The Gross National Happiness (GNH) Index has been in part of the Constitution of Bhutan since July 18, 2008.

It is made up of 4 pillars:

1. Sustainable and Equitable Socioeconomic Development
2. Environmental Conservation
3. Culture
4. Good Governance

It also has 9 domains which we arrange into our hierarchy:

1. Living Standards
2. Ecological Resilience
3. Mental health
4. Education
5. Health
6. Community
7. Time Use
8. Culture
9. Governance

It is administered by a Gross National Happiness Index Commission that is tasked to:

• come up with 5-year plans
• administer the GNH survey

After food, clothing and lodging are the two great wants of mankind.

Adam Smith

The Wealth of Nations, Book 1 Chapter 11

The economic authority of a country, such as the Bureau of Economic Research in the US can be overhauled to implement the GNH in their respective countries.

The Net Domestic Product will be absorbed by the Living Standards Domain or the Material Strata.

Needs Policies

The Needs Policies refer to laws and regulations that directly affect the Minimum Needs:

1. Agriculture and Water
2. Transportation and Infrastructure
3. Energy and Telecoms
4. Healthcare and Insurance
5. Pension

These will be discussed in their own subchapters.