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we need to do to address the economic causes of homelessness is open up a fair and democratic means for everyone, not just an economic elite, to become owners of the companies that generate income. It's an old "economic law" that "production equals income" ... only when most production takes place overseas or by technology, that income goes to the owners of the company or the technology, not to the worker who owns no part of the company or any technology.

One such program is called "capital homesteading for every citizen," from the book with the same title. The program is relatively simple, although not easy in the sense that it would be easy to convince legislators that ordinary people can learn to control their own lives better than the State.

In essence, each citizen would receive a "capital credit voucher" for at least $3,000 per year with which to purchase assets that first pay for themselves out of the income they generate, and afterwards pay dividends for the new owner to use for consumption. Inasmuch as the U.S. economy currently adds approximately $3 trillion worth of new capital each year, this capital credit allotment to build up a "capital homestead" could be as much as $10,000, even in our slow-growth economy - which would pick up speed once people have more income to spend.

The money would come from the same place the government currently gets most of its money - by discounting the loans at the Federal Reserve. To level out inflation, however, the government would be prohibited from doing this any more, and forced to live within its means. This wouldn't be so bad - fully two-thirds of the Federal budget, according the General Accountability Office, consists of welfare and entitlements, which would disappear as people began to have enough income to meet their own needs. The tax base would increase greatly at the same time government needs decreased rapidly.

A reform of the tax system would also be necessary. Currently the personal exemption plus deductions is, frankly, a joke. Nobody could possibly live on the amount allowed to meet common domestic needs. When you factor in the regressive Social Security and Medicare tax - to which the exemption and deductions do not apply! - wage earners are trapped, paying taxes with money they desperately need to live on, a shocking injustice, particularly in that the government then uses the tax money and additional borrowings to make up for the money they took away in the first place ... after a rake off to pay

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