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A Life in the Woods

There is something wrong with our world, something fundamentally and basically wrong.

—Martin Luther King Jr.

Picture yourself as a woodsman/woodswoman. You can drop yourself into any era you like, but imagine you have a little property somewhere in the woods, where woods-people typically reside.

There’s a little shack. Or hey, maybe a fine, upscale cabin—this is your fantasy, not mine. Either way, there’s a clearing with enough sunlight to allow you to grow crops, maybe a greenhouse, and definitely an outhouse.

You and your woods-spouse and woods-children have fashioned an elaborate rig that allows you to harvest rainwater as it trickles down through the forest canopy high above. So you have plenty of drinking water for you, your pets, and your livestock.

Yes, in this fantasy, you raise your own animals. Feel free to choose any animals you like. I’m fond of chickens, for their general utility as food producers and being food themselves. Plus, they’re hilarious, the way they run around pecking at things and squawking.

What water you don’t drink, you feed into your remarkably sophisticated channel irrigation system, which keeps your crops thriving. And in fact, your elaborate rig is so effective that, unlike some outdoorsy types, you’re always well-showered.

You’ve got a barn where you can do your hide-tanning and fish-skinning and carcass-cleaning, just like any other self-respecting member of your trade. Speaking of which, you’ve compiled a proper arsenal of the things you need in order to fish and hunt game.

Given that I am a tech billionaire and NFL franchise owner who is nothing even remotely similar to a woodsman, I have exhausted my knowledge of what other things a woods-family might have to keep themselves going. Furs come to mind. You probably have lots of furs.

In any case, here we have a picture of what you might call an ideal life, and what my writing collaborator Evan White would certainly call a natural life. Either way, as long as you’re okay with the draftiness of the cabin and the spiders the size of small puppies, you want for nothing. Sure, you have to work for what you need, but at least you can rest easy. And my guess is, after the days you have, you sleep amazingly well. You can rest easy because you know that if you ever need something, you can always go out and get it.

Entertainment? The world is your entertainment. You share an uncommon bond with your family. Plus, someone you love probably plays the guitar or banjo.

Speaking of love, it’s all around you.

A sense of self? You’re a woods-person, for goodness sake! You’re amazing!

Food? Well, you had that nice harvest and did all that canning, jarring, and storing; or you could go out and kill something.

Water? You had to put a lot of work into setting up a system to capture rainwater for drinking, washing, and irrigation, but now that the work is done, everything you need literally falls from the sky. And because of that free-flowing water, everything else you need in life is accessible.

This, my friends, is an example of a natural economy, where you can simply live in the woods and the water and sunlight provided by nature are simply there. And because they’re there, you can grow crops and make a life for yourself.

Of course we know that this is not the case for our current lives. We have to have money to make ends meet, to pay our rent or mortgage, our food bills, our car lease, and so on. Natural life in the modern world isn’t possible because living in the modern world takes money, and money doesn’t behave like sunlight or rain. Natural life for people in the United States is no longer possible.

Unfortunately, the modern economy creates something far different from a natural life. In the modern economy, you either have to borrow from a bank or earn money that someone else owes to a bank. And not everyone’s ability to borrow or earn is equal. Your drinking and cropping water isn’t appearing naturally like rain. In fact, in the real world, water costs money. As for collecting rain from the street gutters, good luck with that.

Bottom line: It used to be that survival was a matter of access to water, personal resourcefulness, and a willingness to work hard for what you needed. Now we need money. In the United States of America, you can’t do anything you need to do unless you have access to money.

This might be a good point to address a counterargument I’m anticipating from my more discerning readers like you. You might say, “Wait a minute, J-Dub. Didn’t you just say that I could have a good life in the woods and all I need is water? I mean, what’s preventing me from just unplugging from the grid and going out to be a woodsman/woodswoman?”

Good point, my more discerning reader. I wish you well. Just know that it’ll be a ton of work to set all that up. Also, you’re almost certain to have to pay property taxes, so you’ll still need a means to earn money. The government doesn’t let you pay in furs or chicken eggs, no matter how much you may want to. Maybe you could sell those furs or eggs in person. This will necessitate transportation to a physical location, both of which tend to cost money. Or maybe you could sell them online, which would require an internet connection and online presence, both of which cost money. Also, to help make for a better life at the shack, you might want to buy some fertilizer. Or a water filter. Or maybe some medicine. The list goes on…

Point is, you’ll need money, no matter how woodsy you get. You might be saying, “Well obviously we’re not cavemen anymore, so a natural life isn’t possible.” If you’re saying this, then you’re missing the point. Here’s the point: Why is it that with all the technology and other advancements that show up with each new day, life doesn’t seem any easier? We have access to smartphones and same-day delivery; we have self-driving cars and robots to do certain jobs; we have crafted this whole world around the notion of ease of access and convenience.

And as a final point of explanation about my Woodsman Story—or what some might call over-explanation (hey, I do like to get my point across, especially when it has implications for the whole book)—life today is all about extremes. For instance, one person can find himself starving and homeless in a back alley of a restaurant that serves steak dinners for $150 to hundreds of patrons every day, all of whom care nothing about the poor person just a few feet away. Contrast this to the Woodsman, who seems far more likely to take care of his neighbor who fell upon misfortune. After all, it makes sense to do unto your neighbors as you would like them to do unto you. The Woodsman could make up the additional food by hunting a little more and sowing a few more seeds. If he needs more room to house his neighbor, he just gathers the materials and builds. Maybe the neighbor can sleep in the barn until the extra bedroom is finished.

In any case, he also helps his neighbor restore his lot from the misfortune. And in the end, they’re both better off, because if misfortune ever came the Woodsman’s way, his neighbor would be there for him, ready to repay the favor. In essence, while it might look noble and selfless, it was actually entirely selfish behavior that led the Woodsman to take care of his neighbor. Contrast this with the homeless person behind the restaurant. Any effort to help the person is purely benevolent. Expecting the help to be returned someday is wishful thinking.

All told, a natural life leads to abundance while the modern world has engrained a sense of perpetual scarcity. This book explores why, gets to the root cause, and then provides a solution—or a Big Solution, as it were.

Anyway, I’m getting slightly ahead of myself. Let’s back up and address that first question: Why doesn’t life seem any easier than it was out there as a woodsman in nature?

There’s Something Very Wrong with This Country

Yes, I’m aware that writing about how there’s something very wrong with this country makes me sound like a younger and slightly less handsome Bernie Sanders. So let’s all take a moment to reflect on the surreal nature of a billionaire drawing comparisons between himself and Bernie Sanders in section number two of his book. It’s a strange position to find oneself in. But here we are.

Before I write anything else, let me just differentiate myself from Senator Sanders by making this solemn promise: I’m going to bend into a pretzel to avoid any prolonged ranting in the pages of this book. Yes, there’s something very wrong with this country—and I believe it’s all connected to a singular (albeit shiftily complicated) culprit—but just because there’s something very wrong, that doesn’t mean you need another egghead yelling at you about it.

Evan says that any good book should present its thesis up front. Okay fine, Evan. Let’s do that. But to do that, I’m first going to have to tell you what my thesis isn’t. This is true because every time I try to explain my Big Solution to people, they think I’m talking about socialism or Basic Income or just generally handing out free money with no rules or strings attached.

So, here’s what my Big Solution isn’t: It’s not socialism. It’s not Basic Income. It’s not an attempt to save capitalism. It’s not even particularly similar to any of those things, when you get to the bottom of it. But it is an attempt to save all of us from the doom and gloom that we are heading toward.

The Big Solution is also not a rehashing of an old idea. Old ideas like Basic Income, socialism, communism, and a host of other isms—even traditional capitalism—absolutely do not work. This is, after all, why my writing partners and I sat down to write this thing; all these isms have had their decades and centuries to prove themselves, and I’m sorry to say, all these isms have failed spectacularly. So it’s time for a new economic system. Bonus points: the new system we’ll be presenting in this book doesn’t even end in “ism”!

To help accentuate the matter, I’m just going to set this in its own, bolded paragraph: This Big Solution is a brand-new idea. While you may be tempted to draw comparisons to other ideas, this Big Solution is completely distinct and independent from any other economic way of thought. It is new. Completely.

Okay, now here’s what this book is: It is a presentation of a new way to think about money and how money should work in a functional economy and society.

Here’s how new this idea is: neither the anti-socialist nor the anti-capitalist camps are espousing anything like it currently, and what’s more, once we have laid out the fundamentals, both camps will actually be in favor of these ideas. What? How is that possible? In this day and age of argumentative politics? Get out!

No, it’s true. This book is pro-capitalism in the sense that it believes that private, for-profit ownership of production is humanity’s best chance. Are you listening, fiscal conservatives? Because there’s this: Ayn Rand was right; we need to defend the producers. But don’t worry, lefties; she’s only right as long as there is a healthy dose of competition between those producers, including competing for employees.

Okay, now it’s your turn, Bernie Bros. This book is also very much about social justice, guaranteed liberty, and it puts people first. In other words, The Big Solution recognizes the importance of a social fabric that takes care of everyone. I dare say, card-carrying-socialists and democratic socialists and social-focused democrats, this Big Solution is bound to turn you into capitalist pigs. Put a more direct way, whichever camp you belong to, you’ll soon see that the system in place gives very few and mostly poor choices on how to run our governments.

How can there be a better option that is capitalistic, small government, and eliminates the need for social safety nets? Well, shoot, read the rest of this book.

Meantime, let’s all embrace the idea that this isn’t another book trying to divide us politically. This book seeks consensus. And the best way to get consensus is to destroy the arguments of both parties and unite them in a singular pursuit, which in a nutshell is to replace the way we currently think about and use of money (which forces people into a life of dependence on government safety nets) into a new and better way to think about it, one that promotes a more natural system that allows for dignity, liberty, and growth.

Okay, actually, I can’t wait. I have to give up a couple of nuggets about why the extreme left and extreme right will get along so well on this idea: we’re going to eliminate the need for safety nets. When you have no safety nets, the government will be small. Now don’t get too up in arms, socialists, social democrats, and progressives, because it’s going to become clear (and really quickly) that people are better at taking care of themselves than the government is at taking care of them.

Progressives, let’s not forget the 1970s, with its inflation, high-priced unions, and government-run utilities. If this is what you want back, or if this is what you think will return America to its place as an economic world-leader, then the Big Solution will bring you a new way to look at things. We don’t need to bring back the 90% tax rate to ensure that everyone can lead a comfortable life. The math doesn’t add up anyhow.

Conservatives, you guys believe that capital markets are the most efficient use of labor. And you know what? This is true! When it comes to increasing productivity, capital markets will always do a better job than the government can. But! Capital markets do not pursue the common good; rather, they pursue the desires of the capital owners. Because of the advancement of technology, capital markets are no longer about labor. This forces governments to use massive resources for safety nets. It is the ultimate cause of big government (and ultimately, the ultimate cause of indebted servitude, like so many people are facing in Japan). Capital markets driven by bank-issued debt has the nasty habit of yielding the deployment of antilabor technologies and policies. This leads to a distorted distribution of wealth and big government. The Big Solution, meanwhile, offers a more efficient use of capital, and ultimately, a new way to guarantee the liberty of people.

Let’s remember that capitalism sprang to life out of aristocracy and slavery, and to this day squeezes the working man until he can barely survive. In fact, people are dying from poverty in very big, scary numbers every day. And if you don’t see the wealth gap and shrinking middle class as capitalism’s return to aristocratic times, then you aren’t paying attention.

Okay, everyone intrigued?

No? All right, then, what if I told you that The Big Solution solves almost every problem the world currently faces? That’s right; after we explain this new way to think about money, this book will address the host of problems in this country—all those things that are fundamentally and basically wrong (big hat tip to Dr. King)—strip those problems down, and show how the mechanics of the existing national or global economy aren’t a side-effect of those problems, but rather, the root cause of those problems.

Once we’ve got that pinned down, we’ll present the Big Solution, a sweeping change that doesn’t simply fix all these problems but does so in a way that benefits everyone from the very poor to the very rich.

Next, the big question: What are you, the discerning reader, personally going to get out of this thing?

Great question. This book will help you see the United States, the economy, the manner in which countries interact with each other, and even your own life in a new and different way.

Once you are able to see the world in this new and different way, you will be better equipped to diagnose the problems we’re currently seeing. And as any good doctor will tell you, diagnosis is the quickest, most effective way to the cure.

Time for a Brand-New Start

In this day and age of polarized belief systems and wariness of expertise, I worry that one group of people or another will write me off as too biased to be trusted.

Rightfully so. I’m a somewhat polarizing figure in some people’s minds. And anyway, everyone is biased in some way. Everyone has their opinions, even if they aren’t rule-bending tech billionaires. And thanks in part to social media and in part to the general shouty-ness of cable news, most people aren’t shy about applying those opinions and writing off any others that don’t jive with them.

Just like The Big Solution has something that both conservatives and progressives will love, I also want to make sure that this book itself doesn’t get qualified as progressive or conservative or anywhere between. I want to write a book for everyone, because The Big Solution is for everyone, no matter who they are, where they come from, or what god or political party they pray to.

So, in an effort to avoid the natural bias that we’re all subject to, I’ve decided to be something far less than the sole author of this book. Instead, I’m opening this bad boy up to other writers. Sometimes, those other writers will take whole sections all to themselves. Other times, we’ll engage in conversation, as you’ll see shortly.

The important thing to remember is that these other writers reside on different points of the political spectrum. This allows them to contribute an array of (often conflicting) opinions to the conversation. The goal will be not to shout at each other, but to carefully and respectfully debate. If more than one opinion shows up on these pages, we’ll be able to reconcile different viewpoints, and ideally, come to a consensus on what The Big Solution is, what it means, and what it can do for the world.

So let’s meet the contributors. And let’s do this in a roundtable style, complete with speaker cues and different fancy fonts to identify each of our four speakers. I’ll start, and I’ll continue rocking the traditional Times New Roman.

Justin: I’m Justin Wolfe, inventor, CEO, and yacht owner. People have often described me as slightly left of center politically (probably because I’ve always been slightly left of center about everything). And that was certainly true in the past. But lately, I’ve seen some things, man, and those things make me identify as more of a revolutionist. In short, I believe that humanity has gone crazy, and anything short of a revolution will not suffice. Centrist compromise just will not fix crazy. And if a country and its citizens, including you the reader, don’t know where you are going but you are going so fast it could kill you, then you might just be crazy. It is insane to risk everything for the pursuit of aimless progress.

But the good news is that I am not talking about a bloody revolution; I am talking about a simple adjustment to how we think and what we believe about how this country and its economy should function.

Next, I’ve already mentioned Evan White. Everyone say hi to Evan. He’s the guy over there in the corner, blushing and adjusting his glasses. Conveniently enough, he’s apolitical. Although I do have to say he likes guns a whole lot more than I do.

Evan: Are you saying that gun ownership indicates a rightward-lean?

Justin: Not at all. It was just the most visceral contrast between us that I could think of off the top of my head. Of course, we disagree on more than just guns. I, for one, am interested in politics.

Evan: It isn’t that I’m not interested in politics. I just find straight economics more intriguing.

Justin: See? Apolitical. Which is a good thing. You’re going to be the guy who keeps pulling the rest of us out of our political bubbles. You’re our outside-the-box guy, both politically and in terms of your economic thinking.

Evan: I’m honestly flattered.

Justin: Tell our readers what else you bring to the table, Evan.

Evan: I’m a big fan of numbers and the stories they tell. I figure between your big-picture ideas, Justin, and my data and anecdotes, we should be able to speak directly to the largest percentage of Americans—those who try not to let their political affiliations get in the way of their perception of good solutions.

Justin: Amen, brother. So now that we’ve finished hugging it out, let’s wander to one of the far reaches of the political spectrum. Please allow me to introduce my lovely girlfriend Connie, who in no way landed this job because she’s my lovely girlfriend.

Connie: Well I should hope not.

Justin: Obviously not, Con. Nepotism doesn’t apply if the person benefitting from it also happens to kick ass at what she does. I like your font, by the way. It’s a good choice. Suits your vibrant personality.

Connie: You should know by now that flattery gets you nowhere with me.

Justin: This is true. Okay. You want honesty? You’re here because many have called you a right-wing nutjob.

Connie: That’s more like it. And I wear that label proudly, by the way.

Justin: You don’t have to tell me that. I’ve seen you on TV, wearing it like a badge as you serve the president. Did I mention my girlfriend worked for a republican President? Seems like a credential I should’ve mentioned. Anyway, she’s good at what she does, and she’s very much a conservative thinker. So, she’ll hold down the fort from the right side of the political spectrum.

Onto the left side. Laz Hammond, where you at?

Laz: Yo, yo, yo. I’m here, boss.

Justin: Solid chime-in. Tell us a little about yourself.

Laz: I guess I’m the left-wing kook around here. I’m also a former homeless guy and current entrepreneur. Like Connie, you may have seen me hollering on a few talking-head shows recently. Some people agree with my opinions. Others don’t.

Connie: I’m very much one of the others, incidentally.

Justin: Hey now, you two. Let’s save it for the debate stage. Anyway, that’s Laz. He’s opinionated. Just don’t ask him about the robot uprising and you should be fine.

Laz: You’re joking, but the robot uprising is a genuine concern. Today’s advanced AI is—

Justin: Okay, okay, iRobot. We’ll get to that when we let you weigh in on automation later in the book.

Laz: Hold onto your socks.

So there’s your cast of characters. They’ll all be contributing quite a bit to this book as we move through the observations and principles to come. They’re all brilliant in their own ways, and they are all more than qualified to hold up their portion of the political (or apolitical) spectrum. The poor saps don’t know this yet, but even after all their hard work and strong contributions, it’ll just be my name on the cover of this book. Ain’t that just like life?

The World’s a Mess. Why Should You Care?

I kicked this book off with an anecdote that gets to the general spirit of this whole discussion: my firm belief that this country is somehow broken. But just because I believe that this country is somehow broken, please don’t mistake this book for another entry into the, “Oh my God the planet is crumbling, and we can only stop it if we all work together and recycle our plastic and ride our bikes to work” genre. The world doesn’t need any more of that. The world doesn’t need someone to list a bunch of data points that you can easily find and fact-check on the internet. The world doesn’t need a million more footnotes about surveys and studies.

I’m writing this book to you. You. You, the person who is wondering why the world seems so off the rails, why work seems so much less rewarding than it used to be, why people can’t seem to stop shouting at each other, why the rich are so much richer, the poor stay poor, and extreme poverty never goes away—and most importantly, I’m writing to you because you would actually like to know how to fix all this shit. And for that matter, you want to know why in the world there is no plan for a happy, sustainable future for us.

Because of my background, I recognize that there are millions of people out there who don’t give a damn about some of the bigger-picture problems we’re going to be discussing in this book. It’s much harder to do anxiety cartwheels over global warming when you have to figure out how to pay for dinner for your family tonight in the midst of a life-upending pandemic and economic collapse. If that describes you, please don’t stop reading, as this book is also for you. It shows how we can claw our way out of the present situation, where the vast majority of people struggle just to shelter and feed themselves.

For many people, life is already in tatters, so why should they care about everyone else’s lives being ripped to shreds? I also recognize that there are more than a few Chicken-Little-haters out there who don’t believe the sky is falling and do believe that the libs are overreacting. I totally get it. Totally.

So who’s to blame then?

This is a loaded question, because it will likely trigger some deeply ingrained belief of yours that will make you throw this book out the window. In order to change your beliefs about how the world works, your current beliefs are going to have to be challenged. I have named this type of emotional baggage “belief triggers,” because once they are triggered, some people have a difficult time thinking outside the lines of their political affiliations. So, let’s take a deep breath and go with the flow. It’s just a new way of looking at our world, and it will help solve a lot of problems.

Let’s start with billionaires. There’s this huge movement to blame guys like me for the economic problems in this country. Meanwhile, you might be thinking that you’re more likely to make money working for a billionaire than taxing the hell out of one. And you, my friend, would be right. We should have coffee sometime and talk about it.

There’s another movement blaming immigrants for job loss in this country (and elsewhere—this is not a uniquely American problem). Well, my friend, the will-they-or-won’t they question about whether immigrants are stealing American jobs is irrelevant. What’s relevant is the artificial shortage of jobs and therefore money and resources that is created by the existing economic system in this country and elsewhere. Here’s the thing: immigrants don’t determine how many jobs are available; the banking system does that. And this banking system is screwing a minimum of ten million people out of jobs and lots more with low wages. Working migrants don’t make it any better or worse to find work at a livable wage, but if you’re turning in an application for a job at the same time, it sure doesn’t seem that way.

Or maybe you want to blame China? Here’s the thing: If manufacturing hadn’t moved to China, then it would still be here in America, and what exactly do you think the Chinese would be doing instead? What makes you think that 1.5 billion people working to make inexpensive products for you and every American is a bad thing? The Chinese are literally working for slave wages for you, the American. They don’t determine how many jobs and what the wages are for the jobs available here in America. Those things are determined by the American banking system.

Anyway, why worry about the geopolitical displacement of jobs and trade wars when you’re trying to find yourself a decent job? It might interest you when I say that I believe climate change and job loss are connected to the same (incredibly solvable) problem, but mostly you just want to know how The Big Solution will make your day-to-day life better.

And why worry about how the stock market is through the roof, making the rich richer while the working class hasn’t gotten a raise in decades? All that really matters is how hard it is to keep up with the cost of living. When you’re stuck in an hourly job in a country that makes it impossible to get out of that hourly job, what do you care about market pressures? But more importantly, how can you call yourself free?

This all adds up to a huge part of the problem: we have to acknowledge that most people have resolved to just take care of themselves because that’s all they can do. Life in this country has become so difficult that too many of us have given up on trying to fix it.

That’s not good enough! Especially when all we need is a shift in perspective—a new understanding about how the economy and society works (and should work).

As it turns out, I have an idea. A Big Solution. Yes! That is where I came up with the title for this book!

Evan, as the chief economist at my recent failed Farm experiment, our outside-the-box thinker, and our apolitical weirdo, maybe now would be a good time to highlight the real problem with this country.

Any Fool Can Know

Hello. Evan White here. Happy to be called an apolitical weirdo.

Einstein once said, “Any fool can know. The point is to understand.” I think what this means is that if I keep my anecdotes and economic explanations simple, then more people will have a much better chance of understanding the point. So my first promise is to keep things simple.

My other promise is to keep them natural. Economics is a challenging science to get a handle on. I studied the subject for eight years and I still can’t predict what will happen with the current US economy (although if you believe Justin, we can predict at least one thing: it’s going to continue to suck for the middle, lower, and impoverished classes.)

The best way to understand how the economy works is to look at nature, as Justin kind of did at the start of this chapter with his woodsman anecdote. If I can quote Einstein again, he also said that imagination is the highest form of research. The best way to engage our imaginations is through analogies. So, in the pages to come, I’ll use stories to explain why human society works one way and why nature works a completely different way.

Anyway, for now, I’m supposed to be telling you the “real problem with this country.” It’s this: money. More specifically, the real problem with this country is that money is the centerpiece of everything. Life has become utterly transactional.

Let’s go back to that woodsman scenario Justin started with. Where does this shack and the people who live in it get their water? They get it exclusively from the rain, the natural way. For anything in this residence to work, they need water. You might say that this shack situation absolutely depends on rain for its existence.

What happens if it stops raining? How many problems would this create?

Rain is what allows the family’s crops to live and thrive—to say nothing of the livestock and of the family itself. This is just like what money does for people. If people run out of money, then just like crops/livestock/human beings running out of water, they can no longer thrive (or even afford to have a life).

If you haven’t noticed, this applies to the US government as well. It is all out of money and heavily in debt. This leads to one crisis after another, as monetary rationing dominates the political discourse.

And yes, this ties into war, global warming, healthcare, and all our other problems. Money, as it turns out, is everything. The reason money is connected to all of our problems is very simple: money is necessary for all transactions between people, whether we’re talking about governments, corporations, or individuals.

Does it not therefore make sense that The Big Solution is about money?

A Brighter Future

Yes, all of our problems can be traced back to money. That’s the bad news. It’s also the good news, because now that we have identified the problem, we can work toward a Big Solution that will solve them all in one fell swoop.

Think about a country without paved roads. If every car in America had to drive on gravel or dirt roads, people would skid into ditches and get flat tires all the time. This would cause delays that would impact productivity across the board. But if we paved these roads, then cars would stop wrecking so much and getting flats and suddenly we’ve solved a massive number of problems.

Currently, we live in an unpaved country (metaphorically), a country terribly inefficient because of the way money is used and because of the economic rules that determine how money comes and goes. Your gut might be telling you that the people in charge—the academics, the economists, our leaders—would not allow the very rules that we have created for our own society to in fact undermine our past, present, and future. But as we’ll see in the pages to come, your gut is misleading you.

When I think about the many ways the Big Solution can fix this country, I like to imagine a future that looks like so:

A future where technology increasingly contributes to the common good, both for poor people and rich people (and hey, how about all the people in between?).

A future where supermarkets aren’t throwing out 60% of their produce while people just up the street from the supermarket go hungry.

A future where five million children don’t die of poverty-related death on an annual basis.

A future where the bottom 25% of the population no longer have absolutely nothing in their savings—and instead, they have the means to continue saving as the years go by.

A future where savings accounts yield a handsome return and not the insulting near-zero interest rates of modern times.

A future free of never-ending war and terrorism and mass shootings.

A future where the environment is no longer cast aside just so we can scrape to make the economy work.

A future where sustainability is possible for nature, humanity, and wildlife.

A future where jobs are not precious, but instead, ubiquitous, and not thought of as a rare commodity and manipulated to control wages.

A future where politicians have more than just bad options/decisions to address.

The Big Solution

If we change how money flows into our reality, then we will fundamentally change reality.

Surprisingly, the biggest obstacle is not the government or bureaucracy. The problem is in what humanity collectively believes money to be. In order to solve the world’s problems, we’re going to have to dismantle our definition of “money” and how we believe it’s supposed to work.

And as a gentle reminder, this still isn’t Bernie Sanders shouting into the sky. No one here is a socialist. And we’re not promoting that fluffy pipe dream known as Basic Income either. It’s also not a fleecing of the rich. In fact, wealthy people will be free to actually earn wealth instead of just waiting for stock and asset prices to go up. The Big Solution is something everyone can and will benefit from. The Big Solution is so much more.

In the pages to come, we’ll be discussing something entirely different from an obscure social construct. What we’re promoting fits nicely into everything humanity has built to date. The Big Solution is simply a set of new financial products with a new set of desired outcomes. It also does not require anyone to take risks or sacrifice what they own or earn. None of us has to change a thing, except for our perspective of what money is and what it is supposed to do.

Let’s get started.