First of all, thank you for a lucid exposition. Let me say also that I understand that this Response might be more than you bargained for. I’ll address, as quickly as possible, the central problem with which your preceding essay was concerned.

I understand, too, that hearing of a new idea directly from its author like this somehow diminishes its credibility and undermines any authority it might otherwise have, but I can’t do anything about that. I’ve given up on editors. I do have an M.A. in economics, for whatever that might be worth. I’ve been working on this idea for some time.

My idea is to change the way we supply the economy with money. I propose establishing a “democratically distributed income” (DDI). Like, say, the right to vote, it would not accrue to everyone but would be available for an unlimited number of people. Like all rights, it would be free of cost.

That would be accomplished by creating the money for the income as needed. The total of the income would form the supply of money (as currency) for the economy. (There would be built-in safeguards against inflation.)

The amount of the income would be based on the current median income, so let’s say $15/hr.; $600/wk. in the U.S. It would be the same for everyone being paid it. (The monetary entity could directly fund government, too, providing the means to eliminate taxes of all kinds — as well as public debt at all levels of government.)

The DDI would become (via the market mechanism) the minimum income. People working in minimum-pay positions (hourly wage or salary) would be paid the DDI instead of being paid by their employers. Employers would use benefits to compete for minimum-pay employees in a free market for their labor.

While the income would be the same in all locales, local conditions would determine the benefits a person could negotiate; they could take any form, as long as they were ‘in kind’, not monetary allowances. (Local) government could provide (at no cost) jobs that paid the DDI without benefits, which would give minimum-pay workers leverage while giving them a (negative) incentive to find other work.

Thus, using the market mechanism, the problem of a “realistic” minimum wage with a total compensation that reflected local costs would be ameliorated, if not completely solved.

For the record, with this system in place there would still be no limit on income or property/wealth.

If you are more curious than skeptical, I do have a Web site, www.ajustsolution.com. (The link might not work.) I have also published relevant essays here on medium.com, including “A Cure for the Ills of Capitalism,” “Extending Democracy to Our Capitalist Economy to Transform Our Society,” and “A Call for a (Further) Central Bank Revolution.” (With a change to the law to allow the Fed to directly fund government, this could be implemented by the central bank.)