Dear Mr Richard Smith
Firstly, I would like to thank you for the inspiration that you have afforded me over many years, in your interviews, adventures and books. You inspired me to retire at 25 years old and travel with my family.
I have since written a book which is called “Why are you still a Slave” and It is included here but that is not the reason for my letter.
Like you, I have watched as our current economic system plunders through the world, with little regard to life liberty or environment. I have been successful in business and know well how this system works but in teaching my children how I make money, I realized the futility of the current economy in a far more pressing way.
One night I asked my children how they would profit from selling a razor blade that never goes blunt and although very proud that my boys understood the conversation, when my 10 year old son Moses said, “put a unique battery in it that goes flat”, It made me question the system in a way I never had. I had always played the game to win and that has always advantaged me at the expense of others. Now I realize that I am not just taking money from people who can not play the game as well as me but creating a society that feeds on the exploitation of others.
We are in this position because of some flawed assumptions at the start of the industrial revolution and at the end of the Great Depression. These assumption were that we would never run short of natural or human resources to exploit as machines replaced labour and that designed redundancy and increased consumption would continue to provide greater demand for workers displaced by machines. Some how because of our greed we have turned our greatest achievements into the tools of our oppression, systematically reducing all man kind to his greatest profit potential when viewed on a profit and loss statement.
Seeing this as the legacy I was leaving my children inspired me to rethink the current system and hopefully find a better way. Out of that conversation and ones like it, I think I have developed a viable solution to our fault earring consumption based system that I would like to discuss with you.
Imagine buying a razor that lasts 12 month, a computer, phone or white goods that lasts 10, 20 or even 100 years (They built a light bulb a 100 years ago that has been in constant use and still going). What about a house that costs 20k and it never has a power bill, water bill and it grows its own food. A food product that is not wrapped in a one use packet. Packaging that is grown instead of plastic or foam. Fast food that does not destroy land or culture. Toilets without water. Cars that do not use any fuel but clean the air as they travel. Air travel without fossil fuel. Oil that is 100% reusable, Industrialize the natural food of our food. Clean water, food and housing in 3rd worlds as a by product of their production. Food that is produced for our benefit and not for profit. Animals that are not just exploited to make stuff for us. A house that does not have a rubbish bin out the front. Medicine that is cheap and works. Cities and laws that build communities. Laws that are fair and consider the rights of everyone to live and thrive. Without the current system of greed above all other values, we would not have a need for war. Governance can not make happy people go to war.
Everyone who has tried to address these social and capital problems have had very little success. Their is to much invested capital in the current models by important stake holders. These companies own so much of a market that they will need to take up the new idea for it to succeed. This includes all market driven problems like poverty, energy, housing and transport. These interests have to much money to fight them and so any chance of change must be in their interest.
The other major problem is that corporate power exceeds the political will to change any of these global systems.
I have identified 6 key strategies that any new economic system will need to have in order to effect great change.
It must be able to work inside the current model and attract the support of the largest stake holders in production now.
The current stakeholders must see incorporating the new system of production as acting in there self interest primarily, while effecting a 100% phase out of the old system.
Its implementation needs to transcend global, geographical, social, religious, political and capital boundaries.
The consumer demand for change must be measurable and specific before production stakeholders are involved.
The new economic system will add disincentives to the power of corporate governance or propaganda from mass media and ensure all interests in production and consumption are served.
New ideas for better production, distribution and consumption techniques must be rewarding for all stake holders, including the environment, consumers, workers and shareholders.
Framework for production requirements would include
Take every step to reduce waste in production, transport, labour and reuse of any items made. This can be achieved best in the design stage.
Have a “cradle to cradle” approach that ensures that each design considers all aspects of the biosphere and how its design can improve the quality of our total existence.
There will be no built in obsolescence in our products and they will be built with min design goals in mind. Future upgrades will be considered in the original design.
Minimum life expectancies will be set for all products. These expectations should consider the best technology and set standards based on what is possible without commercial considerations.
Zero tolerance to inhuman or unfair practices in the production, this includes humans, animals, cultures and environments.
Every product will be sold on the basis of the True embedded energy and environmental impact. Wether it is fashion, computers, cars or food it must have a meaningful breakdown and build in the best current innovations and the ability to upgrade in the future.
Products that last longer than their needed purpose could just be returned and resold.
I believe the long term impact of these mandates will be to stop corruption and reduce production costs.
Is the above possible ? I know that this is a dream that you and I share but the problem everyone has is the same. Shareholders need to be able to make money out of a system that provides these outcomes and the current production - consumption system can not do that.
I have a Simple, Effective way to change the current system but it will need the support of men like yourself. The following is my plan, in brief.
Enlist the help of forward looking men like yourself to back the idea with your name, contacts, advice and capital.
Start a product development company and brand with the above mandates, to develop solutions that can last 1000 years because Mr Ford’s idea is killing our kids and enslaving millions. Cost of production in dollar terms will not be a consideration for this brand. Cost will be measured in social, environmental and political improvements
Setup an expression of interest site that takes the ideas of people and develops them. Each product will proceed though stages on the site as it grows through Concept Designed, Developed, Costed, Listed for Bids from manufacturers and registered for pre-sales. This will be an interactive process with members posting improvements or suggestions for problems that we have in achieving production goals.
Current product performance standards will be listed, with the true production costs and our design goals for the improved product.
Register people who support the above mandates and each idea at each development stage. Then we will seek a financial commitment to buy and a price that people are willing to pay.
Each Idea will have targets of people required to be committed before production can commence and this commitment will be financial and binding as a pre order. Consumers who pre order will get a big discount on final market price. There deposit will buy the marketing to promote the brand and they will be made to feel as if they have the powers to make this idea possible and become advocates for the production.
Once I have a committed group of “X” people willing to pay “X” for a product we will approach major production stake holders and offer them the right to produce our product with a joint branding. We bring costed solutions and guaranteed customers and they will produce or their competitor will.
How do you build an economy without increased consumption, Stop paying factories to produce and start paying them not too. Reducing GDP is a the greatest single thing we can do to stop plundering the planet and yet nobody has even tried to find out how it can be done or develop an economic model to do it. All growth is bad and we need to find a better way because exponential growth of any kind is unsustainable on a finite planet.
Non of the above will work in the current wealth transfer system. The above is just an ideal without a simple mechanism to drive the change. So here is my Genius.
We are going to implement a deferred payment plan that requires products to meet or exceed our expectations or the company stops getting paid. The company will own the product for its whole life and so be responsible for it if it breaks before meeting the expected outcomes. Basically we will rent it for life with a deposit (this deposit can not be more than 1/2 the cost of the cheapest one in the current market), the deposit should cover transport and raw material costs only. The balance will be put over how many years we expect the product to last. The longer it last the more profit it will make.
Advantages to the customer are.
We will not be forced to constantly consume without reason.
Access to products without interest.
Less environmental impact
Less need for a focused work force.
Better social outcomes
Less need for lies in marketing
reduce inflation effects on living costs
More localised manufacture
Less marketing and corruption
Power returns to the consumer to get products they want, produced the way they want.
Advantages for the producer.
Customer for Life and maybe their kids lives too.
Raw costs are paid upfront
Cash flow after production for R&D and paying staff a royalty wage and of course share holder dividends if need be.
less consumption means less cost so if I was going to pay $1000 for a TV that lasts 5 years, Now I pay maybe $150 up front and $5 per week for 30 years = $7800 but the company has collected that money as pure profit, no production costs. If they had sold me 6 TV’s in 30 years they would have made far less profit on the $6000 I paid and not be guaranteed to make the next sale.
Quicker market penetration.
Less marketing costs
known sales before development and production.
Staff that are not over worked and a built in pension plan for staff.
Faster up take of expensive items and they will be more affordable.
Companies will get paid to produce big capital items as there will be a market for them.
smaller local production companies will have a market advantage over mass production.
What is in it for you, me and the other founding stake holders?
We own the global brand for everything produced like this. It will become a club like mac did. We will develop a loyal following of consumers that expect the best products and are concerned about production methods, humanity and the planet.
We take a percentage of the long tail payments to manage them, provide customer service and administer the product expectations. If the product fails all costs come out of future payments until repairs are paid for. If mandates are not met we can cancel payments or even pay the workers royalty directly.
Even Henry Ford would have built a car to last for 1000 years if he could have all his raw costs covered and pay his staff, fixed overhead and profit for a 1000 years from just one sale. This was not possible at the time of Henry Ford but now it is and so let us be the people who change the system and profit by it.
Pay companies for performance, Not mass manufacture. Pay staff to stay at home the same as we pay share holders to stay at home. Stop forcing people to making poor quality stuff that will break, just so they can make it again. All other stake holders can be paid a royalty in the same way, including Tax, Marketing, packaging, transport. As less products get repurchased because they now last longer, society will become much more efficient and production staff will work less and still make the same income.
Most people think you can not pay people a royalty to stay at home but you can, the same way as we pay song writers or investors to profit long after the labour has finished. It is just a different system, a less exploitive system.
Jacque Fresco and others have some great ideas but they have no way to bring them to market. I think this is the way to buy things in the future and because in the past there has been no incentive for a company to build a better widget, Lots of great ideas are out there and this selling platform will bring them to market.
This has already been done in the computer software field, originally software writers struggled to get the total production costs back from a certain number of sales and then sold upgrades. Now look where it is today, you get free upgrades as long as you use the software at a very low monthly starting price. This has lead to more user friendly software and better quality as the writers get no benefit from service calls or complicated systems that require technical support. We would have similar market responses from introducing this system to manufacturing.
Take car tyres, there is currently no advantage in the retailer, importer or manufacturer making tyres that last longer and perform just as well. Even though technologies exist today to make a better tyre, a business man would be stupid to even put them on the market. Under my new system, a local manufacturer would have a market advantage and be able to make a tyre that lasted 10 times longer, and get paid for the extra life over time. So maybe 1/2 normal retail up front and the balance over the life of the tyre.
Limits of the system
This system will work with any product that it is not essential in nature to be consumed, like food. Even these industries will benefit from increased efficiencies as production of tools that are used in these industries are produced in my “Long Tail Production Model”
What do I want for my Idea’s - 51% of the company?
What am I offering you.
A percentage equal to the amount of money you invest in the company. I may need more but this is the stages that I am considering to fund this company.
Stage 1
$200 000 for 5% of the company.
Needed to
start the web site
copyright the global brands
produce the marketing and capital raising documents.
run a competition on the web site to select the Idea that people most like or post their own idea.
Stage 2
$400 000 5% of the company
Setup a development team and select one of the ideas found in stage one and take it through the design development stages.
Build the electronic infrastructure to take payments and make payments for stake holders in a MLM system.
Field interest from manufacturers in the concept. Find a product that we can market test as a launch product.
Based on successful results we move to stage 3
Stage 3
$2000 000 for 10%
Get global brand security
Launch a product and prove concept
Develop the brand and start global marketing.
Select 5 more products for production and get them to market.
Stage 4
Do a Public share listing, List 29% of the company on the public share market and ask for 100 000 000 dollars do continue the brand development.
I am not demanding anything here and I am open to your advice and suggestion. I am just letting you know where I think the idea might go. If you would like to invest in the idea or have any suggestions to help me please let me know.
Kind regards
Peter Johnson
20 Samsonvale Rd
Strathpine, QLD 4500
peter_is@me.com
0414586315
PS I have been trying to get a supervisor to write my PHD at QUT on this economic model with the research question “Prosperity with Negative Growth” and as yet I have not found anyone to back me for this paper. Any help you could offer would be appreciated.
PPS On a personal note, I have followed your career since I was a boy and you inspired that boy to dream big, so thank you. Enclosed is my book that I wrote having retired at age 25 and I hope you enjoy it. If you wrote a review of it or just a comment of support, I would be very grateful.