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Implement Ebenizer according to the installation instructions and specification. Then sit back and watch all of the following problems recede:

The arid dispute between right and left
Both positions are half correct. Leave it to the market, yes, but one with an in-built social and environmental conscience.

Bloated government
Ebenizer promotes varied, autonomous initiatives under the supervision of the citizens at large, enabling government to concentrate on doing fewer things better.

Astronomical boardroom pay
Ebenizer curbs all excesses.

Environmental destruction
Ebenizer makes it uneconomic, adding to the culprit's cost in direct proportion to the damage inflicted but without complex regulations or trading schemes. Simultaneously Ebenizer turns environmental conservation and reclamation into a profitable booming industry. See the example on the right.

Political disillusionment
Ebenizer ensures that holders of public office do a good job, thereby restoring their reputation with the citizens at large.

Political apathy
Ebenizer encourages each individual to think and act like a citizen as well as a consumer. It grants each and every citizen real, direct influence on the activities not only of government but of all organisations, enabling the people of a community to take responsibility for their own destiny and shape the character of the world in which they live.

Erosion of quality and traditional craftsmanship in the price-driven mass market
Ebenizer adjusts economic returns in favour of high-quality processes and products or those of a distinctive character worth preserving while reducing the gains to be made from mediocre offerings.

All of this assumes that most people would indeed regard these developments as an improvement. This is a headline list. Anything else that bugs you about modern civilisation Ebenizer can deal with. Any improvement you envision can be delivered.

Over to you.

Ebenizer 0.5

Ebenizer 0.5Ebenizer 0.5 (book)

Print: $23.52

Some of the things you can get Ebenizer to do... Promote varied, autonomous initiatives under the supervision of the citizens at large, enabling government to concentrate on doing fewer things better. Curb astronomical boardroom pay and similar excesses. Preserve and reclaim the natural environment, making its destruction uneconomic by adding to the culprit's cost in direct proportion to the damage inflicted but without complex regulations or trading schemes. Turn environmental conservation into a profitable booming industry. Adjust economic returns in favour of high-quality processes and products or those of a distinctive character worth preserving while reducing the gains to be made from mediocre offerings... Get real, direct influence on the activities not only of government but of all organisations. Take responsibility for the destiny of your community and the character of the world in which you live. Perennial problems evaporate. Discover how.

In contrast to orthodox publications this book devotes the first 20% to describing the problem and the remaining 80% to a rigorous, detailed exploration of the solution. The specification is precise and comprehensive, making extensive use of cutting-edge business analysis techniques which are introduced and clearly explained.

Ebenizer bridges the gap between economics and democracy. It is a concrete, practical means of involving the public directly in shaping the economic activity around them according to their sense of what is right, wrong, useful, not useful, sensible and foolish rather than according to what they personally need as consumers at any particular moment. It promotes the widespread engagement that politicians constantly pine for, though in a way that passes them by. It is not direct democracy however. There is no legislation involved. Ebenizer is a distributed system that runs in parallel with traditional representative government and the initiatives that politicans take on the public's behalf. As such, the petering out of conventional political reform is no longer such a cause for concern. This supplementary democratic tool can take up the slack. Developing and launching Ebenizer is a relative doddle compared to some of the biggest government and corporate projects of recent times and the benefits to be reaped are much greater.

Example - an airport expansion

An alliance of government and business corporations proposes, plans and promotes an airport expansion.

Some people, including many in the area are strongly against the scheme. They organise to oppose it.

Citizens review the information about the scheme that its proponents, opponents and neutral reporters provide.

All those who are strongly against it record a negative verdict on the companies and government departments involved. They record a positive verdict on organisations opposing the plan.

Those who are strongly in favour of the plan record the opposite verdicts - a thumbs up for the organisations involved and a thumbs down for its opponents.

These verdicts translate into additional expense or income for the organisations concerned.

If the government is out of tune with the general public then all of the organisations expecting to make money through their involvement in the project lose money instead. The aggregate verdict against them translates into a net expense. Meanwhile the opponents of the scheme gain income through the aggregate positive verdict they receive. This enhances their ability to campaign.

If the balance of opposition on the part of the general public is strong enough then companies pull out of the scheme to avoid financial loss. The concern for the environment exhibited by the citizens prevails over the cavalier attitude of the government and its business allies.