Needs, Wants & Desires. Rich & Poor

There is general consensus that the following are needs: hygienic food, edible water, clothes, education, shelter, judiciary, health, transport & a sustainable clean environment. (Essential Needs, Products & Services-ENPS) As humans are born consumers and later learn to produce a government should be able to supply all the ENPS that a citizen requires. Care should be taken that the quality & quantity matters to address supply of these needs should be adequate. As per my article dated 24th March 2020 in the Businessworld magazine on Planned & Organized Deficit Spending (PODS), it is clear, that with a few exceptions, almost all economies can raise monies that would be able to address the manufacture and supply of the ENPS listed here. Even with PODS being almost 36 years old in my mind & being taken forward by me from Deficit Spending macroeconomic theory to be Planned & Organized also, there are many state economies that have not been able to address the supply of needs to their respective citizens.

Country specific Central Banks, the IMF & World Bank & other global or regional funding agencies, do not provide adequate and sustainable amounts of monies, which in any case are loans (except Country specific Central Banks to its own economy) in currencies that are foreign to the loanee economies, and have to be repaid in the loaner foreign currency which has to be earned via exports even when there are shortages in the domestic exporter economy. Neither do they preach macroeconomic theory like PODS which can address, at the very least, the monetary means required to produce & consume the ENPS of an economy; surely across most of the world. These banks/agencies/funds have been around for a long time but have not been able to address the ENPS of a global order of different state economies, even till date. From what I have heard on Television, the IMF & World Bank have eased quantitative restrictions on deficits as a percentage of GDP, at least, during these difficult COVID-19 pandemic time frames, so now PODS can be freely implemented for the ENPS. I hope the lifting of these restrictions are there to remain and are permanent so that governments can deficit spend and supply at the least ENPS. In fact, if surplus economies are there, then they could contribute in a mutually acceptable manner to ENPS shortages in any economy thereby controlling inflation. In my opinion, running a deficit should not be an Ego problem at all, and inflation should be contained by surplus economies in a dignified & honest manner.

ENPS should be supplied free of cost to the citizen by the government of every economy, if that is the citizen’s choice, especially so if the government taxes.

Wants & Desires, if sought by a citizen, and if supplied or made available in an economy, have to be bought by earning money from an acceptable manner of earning provided either by a government job, part government & part private (Joint sector) job, private job or by self-employment. Monies so earned can be spent on satisfying wants & desires as well as for ENPS if preferred by the citizen & if such are made available. So could be luxuries. 

I would also like to bring to your notice my observations on “The ENPS Brand Caste System” which also doubles up in explaining the difference between The Rich & The Poor . For example:-

Natural ENPS Brand based caste system:-

So the difference between the Rich and the Poor is merely a comfort factor, with The Rich being able to afford the Premium Brands of ENPS, while the poor can only afford the generic or cheaper brands of  ENPS which are, or some of which, can be provided free of cost.

Under the PODS system or model, the government will have to count all its citizens in a dynamic manner, assess demand for The total ENPS, and see to it that, whatever needs to be supplied free of cost, monies need to be made available to the relevant sector so as to be able to produce & supply them directly; which then would also create the jobs & MSMEs which will create the monies for citizens that require wants, desires & luxuries which would have to be bought by citizens for legal tender.

Vidur Sahgal

Guest Author The author is Self taught & thought intellectual academic, in out of the box macroeconomic policy, since 1984-85. His website is www.omdic.biz