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Economic Overview of ProutLeadershipCurrent TrendsEcology - Sophia in Nature - Robert Bly interviewed by Roar BjonnesTypes of CooperativesEcological Economics - websitesTobacco Terrorism - still hard at work in Australia - a satirical pieceProut is an acronym for Progressive Utilization Theory. It is a newsocio-economic theory that is completely different from both capitalismand communism. From 1955 to 1990, Prabhat Ranjan Sarkar gaveapproximately 180 discourses on Prout, which are published in thetwenty-one part series, Prout in a Nutshell.Economic Overview of Prout--------------------------In a 1966 discourse, "The Future of Civilization", P. R. Sarkar set outthe six basic factors that need to be adopted by a society or civilization for it to survive and progress. One of these essentialfactors is a comprehensive socio-economic theory. In the late 1970's,P. R. Sarkar gave four basic requirements of a comprehensivesocio-economic theory. These points were published in the booklet"Prout Gita", written by Ac. Ragunath Prasad. The four basicrequirements of a comprehensive socio-economic theoryare: an integrated philosophy, a theory of history, an economic theory,and a political theory.An integrated philosophy: An integrated philosophy includes the usualbranches of philosophy, such as epistemology, ontology, metaphysics,etc., and also includes psychology and spiritual philosophy.A theory of history: A theory of history includes class theory, thenature of collective psychology, the movement of the social cycle, therise and fall of civilizations, evolution and revolution, the meaningof progress, etc.Economic theory: Economic theory includes the four basic areas of economicactivity: people's economy, general economy, commercial economy, andpsycho-economy.Political theory: Political theory includes topics such as the natureand use of power, types of leadership, forms of government, etc.Taken together, these four areas outline the scope of a comprehensivesocio-economic theory.

Of significant importance (although not more important than the others)is economic theory. Economic democracy and an economic system andanalysis consists of:1. People's Economy: ensuring the basic necessities. This is sofundamental to economics that it must be a key duty of the government,and written into law as such. The performance of a government should befirst rated according to criteria concerning the success andimplementation of aspects of people's economy such as purchasingcapacity -- does the minimum wage cover all the basic necessities of food, clothing, shelter, medical care and education for all the family?Is everyone able to meet their basic necessities?2. Psycho-Economy: dealing with the psychic impact of economic trends.There are two main concerns: preventing degrading trends such as thesubliminal imposition of sentiments and complexes, especially throughadvertising; and ensuring that economic activity translatesprogressively into greater opportunities for everyone to develop thelatent potential of mind.3. Commercial Economy: concerned with efficiency throughout theeconomy. Here, the contrast of Prout and capitalism is clear: under capitalism it is efficient to ship raw materials from an undevelopedarea to a developed area, process them there, and return them to theundeveloped area for sale. This takes no account of environmental costsor greater potential for all-round welfare by developing the potentialof all local areas. The logic of efficiency in capitalism is basedprimarily on the profit-taking opportunities for the controllers of trade. Prout applies the rationale of all-round welfare and ensures itin the local area by processing local resources locally.4. General Economy: this is macro economics and includes the study of economics through all available lenses; currently this would includecapitalism and socialism in their various forms, and Prout. Proutstructures the economy in a three-tier system: state concerns -- theseare the vital resources and services such as mining and nationaltransport and communications networks, which are run on a "no profit noloss" basis; cooperatives -- the coop is the main mode of enterprisestructure in a Prout economy and would cover most manufacturing andservices currently under private enterprise; and the private sector --in a Prout economy this is limited to operations deemed too complex or small for coop organization. As with other parts of the economy, limitsto wealth accumulation and wage parity agreements apply.Any serious study of economics and implementation of economic policiesand programmes must take these four areas into account. Conventionaleconomic and policies rely on the superstitious and religious folly of an 'invisible hand' - and convenient metaphor for inaction and notachieving all-round welfare for all people.Leadership----------If we understand each of the four basic requirements of a comprehensivesocio-economic theory and the topics they cover, we will gain valuable

insight into human society. As an illustration, let us briefly discussleadership.The types of leadership that can be adopted by a society may be dividedinto three basic categories: rule by brute force, rule by rationality,and spiritual leadership. Rule by brute force includes various forms of leadership, ranging from brutal martial leaders, such as Genghis Khan,to proletariat dictatorship, a utopian leadership model that never actually existed in practice. Prout does not support rule by bruteforce. Rule by rationality includes democracy, both general democracy,which is widely practised today, and restricted democracy, which waspractised by the Licchavis and the Greeks. It is only possible to givequalified support to democracy because its value depends entirely on51% or more of the population having a proper education, a moral andethical sense, and a well developed socio-economic-politicalconsciousness. These must not be a superficial understanding.Accordingly, general democracy as it is practised today is unlikely toelevate and increase the well-being of most people as it is dependenton party politics and party dictatorships emerging from elections. Italso has no sense of economic democracy.Until a better system is developed, restricted democracy can besupported. Today's democratic standards are quite low in any case.Until the consciousness of people is raised beyond the mundane, it islikely that democracy will continue to support essentially selfish anddegraded interests over all-round welfare. In the future, it is quitepossible that democracy will be replaced by another form of governmentbased on merit: meritocracy. This means that people will demand thattheir leaders be both capable and ethical. A genuine meritocracy shouldbe supported. Eventually, as human consciousness evolves a time willcome when elevated people will guide society. In due course,spirituality will be widely accepted in society and spiritualleadership is the best form of leadership. This does not mean religiousleadership by religious dogmatists. That era has long since gone sincethe rise of the Renaissance period. Although it still emerges todaywhen political leaders continually evoke the name of God to assist intheir efforts for war and national victory. These blind dogmaticnotions and superstitious toadyisms do great harm to elevating theconsciousness of people - the degenerate the level of thinking toirrational assertions that some kind of paper gods will solveinternational conflicts.Spirituality requires morality and a spiritualist fights againstimmorality. Earning money in a sinful way or accumulating great wealthis against the fundamental principles of spirituality. It will be quiteimpossible for people who are not following the fundamental principlesof morality to be spiritualists. Spiritualists are those who areengaged in the continued endeavour to expand the self. By reciting holyscriptures or by acquiring a few pompous titles, one cannot succeed inspiritual pursuit. Spirituality bears no relationship to religion.Although religion may or may not have some aspects that incline tospirituality.Also, those who believe that they must first attain success inindividual life before participating in collective struggle will notsucceed. They will never bring expansion in their individual lives if

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