When Let’s Rethink This (LRT) was forming around our core work – which is to locate the changemakers of this world (searchlight), put their talents and solutions on full display (spotlight) and then see to it that their important contributions would attract and engage investors and partners (ignite), we weren’t alert enough to notice that one such rethinker was already one of LRT’s co-creators.

Dr. Adel Elmessiry, Ph.D.

Actually, we should have guessed from his modest pronouncement on LinkedIn: “…to build the next financial technology ecosystem that will empower the global economy” that he was up to some good. We just didn’t know how good.

Translated through his DLN (Distributed Lending Network) design, Adel’s approach to interest-free microfinancing has the potential to rewrite the rules of that industry. The secret sauce – other than making friends-and-family loan risk free – is his application of blockchain. 

It is quite clear that people in the lower socio-economic rung throughout the world are carrying debt. It is also clear that in all too many cases they lack resources to pay even the interest accruing. Which of course, calls for another loan. (The accompanying cartoon shows the tragic cycle entrapping our world’s poor…to the delight of the “pigs and sharks.”)

“Dr. DLN’s” super solution: a fintech ecosystem secured by blockchain in which lenders are family and friends assured of not incurring a loss. More than that – they would be rewarded. 

LRT approached Adel with these questions:

LRT: When did you “rethink” micro-financing, and how did this come about?

DLN: When the pandemic started back in March, 2020, I started thinking of the costs and inadequacies of what is presently in place. By the summer, I had the basic structure designed and began circulating my ideas.

LRT: What qualifies you to bring about this change?

DLN: I have a Ph.D. in Computer Science, have authored award-winning papers, have a proven track record in starting successful companies and have a deep knowledge of blockchain.

LRT: What exactly is a Distributed Lender Network and what role does blockchain have in this? 

DLN is a framework that is now being deployed to develop a wholly inclusive ecosystem that provides Microfinance Institutions with new tools to scale and meet more of the needs in the communities they serve. Importantly, in a jurisdiction compliant manner. DLN utilizes the power of blockchain smart contracts to provide a social stacking smart contract that unifies community resources within and for the community.

LRT: How is the lender indemnified from loss?

Because the social stacking smart contract organizes the lending process among the individual and their friends and family, it leverages the social ties to hold each party responsible. In micro lending, the repayment rate is shown to be 98%.

LRT How is the lender rewarded?

The main innovation is that DLN invests the otherwise dormant collateral, in blockchain based decentralized finance (DeFi), which generates enough yield allowing all participating parties to be rewarded.

LRT: Why is a Distributed Lender Network needed?

DLN: There are so many factors, not the least being the fact these countries are facing a debt crisis. The IMF estimates low-and-middle income countries have more than doubled their debt between 2008 and 2018 from $3.4 billion to $7.8 billion. Debt servicing in French-speaking countries (largely in Africa) have a debt service burden of 40% of their budget revenues. Even then, these loans seldom reach to the bottom of the pyramid where it is needed

“When current forms of direct micro-lending is used, interest comes into play as well and makes the payback longer and more painful,” Adel says, adding,” This is NOT sustainable development.”

And then, there is the COVID-19 factor. According to a report in late 2020 by UN women, 96 million people will be pushed into extreme poverty by 2021 – 47 million of them women and girls. Adel centers his attention on their plight.

“It is particularly important for us to provide support for women-owned and led businesses who have limited access to subsidized and state-backed loans,” Adel says. “When you add the interest factor you are adding another hurdle…” his voice trails off.

LRT: Who would find your form of distributed lending by way of blockchain to be objectionable?

DLN: Corrupt systems and shark lenders.

LRT: Who are your allies?

DLN: The MFI (microfinance institutions), CDI (community development institutions and NGO’s.

LRT: What is your intended outcome?

DLN: To elevate the global economy to make it top-to-bottom inclusive with universal access – especially for those brave and capable people at the edges who have yet to benefit from an interest-free lending system. The what-makes-this-different edge that we feature in a distributed ledger system that only blockchain can provide.

He takes a deep breath. “The deference between light and leaser is that the later photons are in sync and in phase. Ergo, the power. Following that analogy, DLN is the synching of a community’s financial photons. Light shows us the poverty. “Synched light will burn it away.”

I worked in the nonprofit sector for ten years prior to joining the effort of Occupy Wall Street, in 2011. After watching ten years of political maneuvering, posturing, and the peculiarities of begging the wealthy for financial crumbs, in the halls of the most prestigious nonprofit organizations in New York City, I thirsted for a new way to bring resources for the 99%.

In 2011, while watching activists gather and disperse in the streets, disrupting daily life, and making incredible noise in mainstream media, on behalf of those drowning in our modern economic system, I thought, “Surely equitable policy pushed by Congress will emerge?” 

A few years later, watching the news coverage of the murder of Eric Garner, by police officer Daniel “fueled-by-racism-and-steriods” Panteleo, and the uprisings in the streets growing with each new murder of black and brown people, I thought, “The time to shift and possibly end policing must be obvious, right?” 

With the outrage, most recently, in the throes of a global pandemic, watching nearly a million people die and become chronically ill, in the United States, I thought, “Congress has to pass Medicare for All, right?”

In these ten years, I have focused on the work of public education through the Occupy Wall Street social media pages that still remain. We, as a group of editors, chose the path of education and presentation of possibilities to our audiences, championing unionization, worker ownership, and mutual aid practices. 

Facing enormous police brutality and coordination on the federal level to destroy the camps of Occupy Wall Street, in 2011, we had to pivot. The editors of the Facebook and Twitter pages had to rethink the content flowing through to a community, now over 60 million people a year. 

Today, I look at the promise of Let’s Rethink This and know this platform may be one of many solutions to the silos and seismic shifts in every realm of modern human life. The mission to commit to a practice of Searchlight / Spotlight / Ignite resonates with the core of my foundation. 

We all know of the millions of people, making pivots, differences, and inspiring creations towards equitable sustainability. This will be likely home for them. It begins with shining the Searchlight through conversation on the website, starting the journey to sensemaking. Focusing the Spotlight on those whose solutions and genius will create a significant financial and economic impact. Dedicated campaigns will further Ignite fundraising and press coverage and bring in needed sponsors, investors, and fans. 

I am excited to work closely with Let’s Rethink This’s founder, Jerry Ashton, watching him bring lessons from his success at the RIP Medical Debt charity he co-founded in 2014. To date, this effort has abolished billions of dollars in medical debt. I am ready to find people, like him, who learned how to subvert a system, for the good of the many.

Every week, I promise to bring to you a snapshot of our favorite rethinkers, ideas for your local community, and inspiration for new possibilities. Thank you for joining us, and buckle up, we have a lot of work to do.

In solidarity and hope - Priscilla

Doesn’t it always seem that when things get the darkest that the heroes appear? That only used to be in the funny papers; now it’s taking place in real life.

The darkness I refer to is where we Americans find ourselves at this moment in history. We are pandemic-shocked, staggering from job loss and wondering how we are going to meet the rent or mortgage.

And then we get the medical bill. In addition to incomprehensible medical codes and crippling charges we notice the even-more-unbelievable amounts of-nickles-and-dimes being extracted from us by our friendly insurance carriers.

Co-Insurance. Deductibles. Co-Pays. Oh, My.

Fact: millions of Americans lured into health plans with high deductibles, copayments and coinsurance are skipping doctor visits and walking away from the pharmacy counter without getting the help they need, sometimes even life-saving medications.

Fact: More than 40% of people who have coverage on the individual market and nearly 30% of people with coverage through their employers, are deemed underinsured according to the Commonwealth Fund. As there are no effective controls on the profit-hungry, these numbers will increase every year.

Fact: The out-of-pocket maximum for 2021 has increased to $8,550 for an individual and $17,100 for a family. When the Federal Reserves declares that four in ten Americans do not have enough in reserves to cover a $400 emergency – you KNOW that Americans at any moment will enter medical debt hell.

That’s the real life, taking place now.

It’s time for a hero – many heroes – to coalesce and fight back

Wendell Potter, America’s Favorite Whistleblower, is the Let’s Rethink This superhero (#3 in our series) to answer the call. If there is anyone well equipped to reveal how duplicitous and greedy the insurance industry is, it is a man who spent much of his professional career as a PR spin-Meister for his employers.

Wendell is a former health insurance company executive who became the industry’s worst nightmare. Wendell walked away from his job at Cigna, the big health insurance corporation, in 2008 after what he has described as a crisis of conscience. Now, Wendell is President of two organizations -- Business for Medicare for All and Medicare for All NOW -- working to end the employer-based health insurance system and guarantee health care for all Americans.

The New York Times called his first book – Deadly Spin – “a tour de force.” Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Doris Kearns Goodwin called his most recent book – Nation on the Take — “a stirring guide for how we can work together to reclaim our democracy and reunify our country.”

Well, he’s at it again – that patient activism stuff – and this time featured as LRT’s Rethink Hero as drawn by our esteemed graphic novel artist, Vic Guiza. This time our superman is reaching out to bring others who are heroes in their own right to create a coalition to remove out-of-pocket (OOP) medical expenses from any healthcare billing.

We are talking about representatives from health care, business, patient groups, providers, social justice organizations and other influencers to raise awareness of the problem and educated the public as to why eliminating or substantially reducing OOP expenses is an essential step to improving the country’s health and economic wellbeing.

Wendell intends to formally announce the group’s formation and launch sometime within the next week or so.

They’re gonna be coming for you, Big Insurance. Isn’t that super?

Until Let’s Rethink This came along, one of the most overlooked ways of making the public both aware, educated and ready to take action on a social problem is to turn the problem into a cartoon and someone solving that problem into a “S/Hero.”

Not to simplify, but to “pic-tify.” You know, the usual picture-is-a-thousand-words idea. This is the approach we adopted in featuring Dr. Marion Mass as our superhero #2 in a series that we will be publishing. (The first hero: Clayton Banks of Silicon Harlem.)

Given the egregious faults found within America’s dysfunctional medical system, and the attention that Dr. Mass has attracted as a physician-advocate in her rethinking of America’s healthcare, we couldn’t have found a better (almost militant) candidate.

Dr. Mass is co-founder and Executive VP of The Practicing Physicians of America, an organization that advocates for patients by – what else – advocating for the profession of medicine. As they describe themselves: “We advocate that physicians (be able to) practice medicine that is in the best interest of their patients and not for the benefit of special interest groups that have taken over medicine.”

Hmmm, now who could those “usual suspects” be?

Easy enough to tick off on the fingers of one hand: Big Pharma, Big Hospitals, Big Insurance, Big Lobbyists and Big Business.

Almost automatically, these groups fall into the “too big to fail” category – but not in the eyes of Dr. Mass and the physician/supporters she has accumulated along the way.

Credentials?

Dr. Mass is a pediatrician in the Philadelphia region where she practiced in hospital Emergency Rooms and Urgent Care settings. A graduate of Duke University Medical School and trained in pediatrics at Northwest Memorial Hospital in Chicago, she has been writing about life inside medicine and has been published in the WSJ, Washington Times, and the Philadelphia Inquirer as well as guested on radio shows and BBC broadcasts.

Oh yes, and if the legislators and lawmakers are brave enough to learn from her, she advises lawmakers at the state and national level.

The Artist and “Cartooning”

Vic Guiza, recently added to the LRT co-creation team, has his own credentials which comprise 30+ years of experience in rendering graphic novels/images that catch the eye and attention in a delightful fashion.

We can start with Disney, The Simpsons (Bongo Comics), Marvel Comics / Upper Deck and the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Not to mention the different awards earned for his work as a childrens’ books illustrator and that Vic holds a Master of Product Arts from Disney Consumer Products.

Everyone knows the basic plot of a comic or graphic novel. There is a s/hero, a wrong that needs to be righted, and an outcome that only someone with superpowers could possibly bring about.

That’s where LRT introduces the super-artist to the super-candidate – to take on the “Too Big To Battle” forces that are costing our country its very blood and treasure.

That’s where the magic of art and the education born of wisdom is put to its destined purpose: change-making.

And, it is you, the reader, who are the ones to make this happen. If making a difference is embedded in your genes, you arrived at the right place. Join us, and join in.

America: Socialist or Capitalist? Trump Helped Make Socialism Cool Again

Just as the Obama era ushered in a boomlet of libertarianism on the right, the Democrat Socialists of America began banking on Trump to make socialism great again. DSA’s goal was not just to stop Trump’s worst policies, but to push the political conversation on the left even further to the left through a mix of political action and cultural engagement. There are signs the plan worked.

Fueled by disenchantment with the typical institutions of the Democratic Party, and the phantasm of Trumpism, DSA membership has more than doubled since the election, and Congress has more Democratic Socialists in office than ever according to InTheseTimes.com. The DSA now boasts more than 20,000 members and more than 120 local chapters. Sure, you could fit just about everyone comfortably inside Madison Square Garden, but being a socialist hasn’t been this cool in years.

Thank you Herr Trump!

Trump left his followers confused and badly shaken. Many still aren’t sure what to believe anymore and don’t understand even the basic, fundamental differences between socialism and capitalism.

Is the United States a socialist or capitalist country?

The U.S. is a mixed economy, exhibiting characteristics of both capitalism and socialism. Such a mixed economy embraces economic freedom when it comes to capital use, but it also allows for government intervention for the public good.

When did socialism start in America?

It began with utopian communities in the early 19th century such as the Shakers, the activist visionary Josiah Warren and intentional communities inspired by Charles Fourier. Labor activists, usually British, German, or Jewish immigrants, founded the Socialist Labor Party of America in 1877.

What does socialism mean in US history?

As one of a growing number of supporters of democratic socialism in America, one of the chief arguments I hear from the conservative right is the evils of socialism historically. Anyone can point to Mao, or Stalin, or even Hitler (all of whom self-identified as socialists and proceeded to exterminate massive numbers of people while acting as dictators), and say, “Is that what you want? More of that? Are you really that ignorant of history?”

The problem many people have is simply misunderstanding what socialism fundamentally is, and when you do understand, it becomes obvious that they weren’t in fact socialists.

Socialism is a political, social, and economic philosophy encompassing a range of economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production. Socialist systems are divided into non-market and market forms.

Putting aside the fact that capitalism has still killed far more people than these supposedly socialist movements ever did, this is a valid point, if you don’t actually understand what socialism is.

“Our times are filled with danger and promise. As part of a broader progressive coalition, a revitalized socialist movement, committed to defending and expanding the democratic promise to all Americans, can play a vital role in the years to come.”

To learn more about socialism in America, read this:

https://journeyamerica.wordpress.com/2020/06/10/75-ways-socialism-has-improved-shaped-and-built-america/

What are the 3 types of socialism?

Depending on your reading and with whom you talk, there are endless categories of ‘socialism’. Here are some of the types of socialistic systems:

• Democratic socialism. In democratic socialism, factors of production are under the management of an elected administration.
• Revolutionary socialism.
• Libertarian socialism.
• Market socialism.
• Green socialism.

What is socialism in simple terms?

Socialism is an economic and political system. It is an economacic theory of social organization. It states that the means of making, moving, and trading wealth should be owned or controlled by the workers. This means the money made belongs to the workers who make the products, instead of groups of private owners.

What is the difference between a socialist and a communist?

Both socialism and communism place great value on creating a more equal society and removal of class privilege. The main difference is that socialism is compatible with democracy and liberty, whereas Communism involves creating an 'equal society' through an authoritarian state, which denies basic liberties.

Putting aside the fact that capitalism has killed far more people than Hitler, Stalin, or Mao, who all led supposedly socialist movements, this is a valid point, if you don’t actually understand what socialism is.

First of all, socialism is not communism. It is an extremely broad set of political ideas which has had many manifestations throughout history, and which pre-dates Karl Marx and communism by decades. European intellectuals were discussing socialism when Marx was still soiling his little German diapers.

The Takeaway

Maurice Isserman, a charter member of Democratic Socialists of America, professor with Hamilton College and the author of The Other American: The Life of Michael Harrington (2000) writes: “Our times are filled with danger and promise. As part of a broader progressive coalition, a revitalized socialist movement, committed to defending and expanding the democratic promise to all Americans, can play a vital role in the years to come.”