PR Sarkar identified four requirements for economic democracy to be successful and designed the economic structure of Prout to fulfill them.
The first requirement is that the minimum requirements of life and the basic amenities must be guaranteed to everyone, in order to free all from the desperation of poverty and want.
The second requirement is that the people should enjoy a gradually increasing purchasing capacity and quality of life. People need to feel that the quality of their lives is improving. Measuring purchasing capacity, the ability of people to pay for basic goods and services, is the most direct and accurate way to assess their standard of living and the true state of the economy. This is very different from prevailing consumerism, which manipulates people through advertising, creating artificial needs, buying on credit, and ignoring the environmental impact of their purchases. To increase purchasing capacity, products must be available to meet local demand. There must be stable prices, periodic increases in wages, and a steady increase in collective assets and infrastructure, such as public transportation, energy generating systems, and communication networks. Raw materials, agricultural produce, and other assets of each region should be processed and refined close to their origin. In this way, improvements in technology and manufacturing benefit the local inhabitants of every region. Thus Prout promotes sustainable local economies, rather than the exploitation that floods the world with cheap goods from China and the underdeveloped countries that we see today.
The third requirement is that local people deserve the right to make economic decisions that directly affect their lives. It is a basic right of workers to own and manage their enterprises, making the economic decisions that directly affect their lives. Whether as small-scale private enterprises or cooperatives or even public-managed utilities, local people and communities need to determine their future. Local economies with sustainable agriculture that grows healthy food, renewable “green” industries, and credit unions that offer loans to local people are all elements of a vibrant community. Such a decentralized economy will be discussed in a later section.
The fourth requirement is that we must prevent the outside control of local economies and the drainage of capital. Corporate big box stores and restaurant chains send profits that are earned in the community to outside shareholders. Corporate banks use local deposits to speculate in the global stock market casino. Outside landlords take rent money away, too. Without outside ownership of land and resources, profits earned in the region would not be siphoned off and sent elsewhere or hoarded; rather they would be re-invested locally in productive enterprises. This does not refer to immigrant laborers who are welcome to settle and become part of the community, but rather to landlords and corporations. Economic democracy is essential to overcome discrimination and marginalization. Poverty and unemployment feed racism, sexism, and anger toward immigrants. Women, people of color, the young, and the old tend to suffer lower wages and more joblessness in economic downturns. Decentralized local economies can achieve full employment and financial prosperity, allowing all to develop their full potential as human beings. We need community-managed institutions based on economic justice to eradicate the causes of inequality, educational programs to overcome discrimination and consciousness-raising to change the behavior, attitudes, and ideas.