The Work-Standard relies on its own conception of Property in order to ascertain where and when any economic activity becomes capable of contributing Arbeit and Geld to the Life-Energy Reserve. Economic Planners rely on the Work-World as a conceptual tool to map out the extent to which the Socialist Nation is contributing Arbeit and Geld. By doing so, they will discover that the Work-World recognizes the presences of different Properties whose functions and relevance to the Work-Standard differ from those Neoliberalism’s conception of Property. Such distinct notions of Property Rights are related to the aforementioned Production for Dasein, which was discussed at the beginning of this Section.

All economic activities in the Work-World that is done by Economic Sectors, Industries, Enterprises, Professions, and Vocations correspond to a specific Domain. Each Domain is a constellation of production processes and transactional sales that are actively contributing Arbeit and generating Geld. Economic activities aligned with the Work-World are officially contributing to the Life-Energy and are counting toward the Final TPP Value that the Central Bank relies on to determine how many units of Sociable Currency can be brought into circulation.

Any economic activity that is not officially attached to a Domain in the Work-World is not contributing any Arbeit and Geld to the Life-Energy Reserve. This is because they are considered part of the “Informal Economy,” where potential sources of Arbeit and Geld are not being accounted for by any Economic Planners or recognized by any Inspectors. It is also here where we encounter the Work-Standard’s conception of “Property-as-Power” and how it determines whether any economic activity will contribute Arbeit and Geld to the Life-Energy Reserve. Note that the Work-Standard’s Property-as-Power renders redundant Neoliberalism’s opposing conception of Property-as-Wealth in the forms of Private Property-as-Wealth and Common Property-as-Wealth.   

There are two types of Property under the Work-Standard: “Productive Property” and “Personal Property.” Productive Properties denote any Property identified as part of a known Domain within the Work-World that is deemed compatible with the creation of Arbeit and Geld for the Life-Energy Reserve. The Totality controls them through the State, hence the justification for the five types of basic economic organizations in the VCS Economy (that is, SAEs, SOEs, NSEs, POEs, and PDEs). Personal Properties, despite coexisting alongside Productive Properties, are not part of any given Domain in the Work-World, preventing anyone from creating Arbeit and Geld through them. This is because the Self controls their Personal Properties, rather than the Totality or their State.

The best example of where the distinctions between Productive Properties and Personal Properties become readily apparent concerns the ownership of unoccupied land and buildings. The Totality controls all unoccupied land and buildings in the Socialist Nation that is not contributing Arbeit and Geld to the Life-Energy Reserve and is not owned by any particular Self. The Totality controls the unoccupied land and buildings in the Socialist Nation on grounds of National Sovereignty. They entrust the Council State to look after the unoccupied land and buildings until the time comes for them to be sold and allotted to a Self. When a plot of land or a building has been bestowed to a Self, it becomes their Personal Property. That Personal Property belongs to them, rendering it incapable of contributing Arbeit and generating Geld.

One key distinction between Personal Properties and Productive Properties is that the upkeep and maintenance of a plot of land or the buildings cannot be paid for by the Council State. The electricity, water, energy, heating and air conditioning, and so on must be paid by the Self that happens to own the Personal Property. The Actual Geld that the Self spends on those services counts as a transactional sale for any Social Enterprises rendering those services. Since this is a Personal Property that the Social Enterprise are rendering services to the Self as part of their own production processes, their Economic Planners cannot claim Economic Socialization. Economic Socialization requires two Productive Properties attached to a Domain within the Work-World.

However, if the Self decides that the land and buildings they own as Personal Property should form the basis of a new Social Enterprise, like a Small Business or a Cooperative, they must convert it into a Productive Property. In doing so, they become the Administrator and will be receiving an assigned Economic Planner, Accountants, and Inspector. The Productive Property will then begin contributing Arbeit and generating Geld for the Life-Energy Reserve.

In return for allowing the Arbeit and Geld of the Productive Property to belong to the Totality and Council State as the Socialist Nation, the Self will be allowed to keep whatever Actual Geld they happen to receive from transactional sales at the Tournament. Once again, any Actual Geld gained from transactional sales will not be subject to any taxation by the Council State.   

Categories: Compendium

Tags: Economics, Finance, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, Socialist Finance, Third Place, Work-Standard