The National Organization for Raw Materials (NORM) is an organization dedicated to scientific economic analysis and education. It was established more than 40 years ago as the successor to the Raw Materials Economic Council, which was formed in the 1940s. Its members, officers, and Executive Board members -- who finance the organzation's annual budget through their dues and donations -- refer to NORM as a "think tank" focusing on the role of raw materials in the American and world economy.

NORM's analysis of the U.S. economy differs from mainstream economic analysis. It is not predicated upon any "economic theory" such as "Keynesian," "supply-side," "trickle-down," "monetarist," etc. In the 1930s, its founder -- Carl H. Wilken -- entered into his analytical studies with no pre-conceived ideas or economic theories. He simply wanted to scientifically analyze the economic records of the U.S. government to find out what "really" caused the Great Depression and to determine if a future depression could be prevented.

NORM members have faithfully stuck to Wilken's original premise: Scientifically studying the nation's economic records and interpreting them for current and future applications that will strengthen and stabilize the U.S. economy.

Here's what their 60 years of accumulated study of the nation's economic record revealed: There is a NATURAL ECONOMIC LAW that, if steadfastly applied, leads to (1) widespread prosperity among the U.S. population; (2) broadbased economic expansion, job growth, and monetary stability; (3) full consumption of the nation's annual production of raw materials, manufactured goods, and services without debt accumulation, and (4) balanced international trade.

Briefly stated, here's how NATURAL ECONOMIC LAW works:

When the nation is at full production of raw materials, and when that production from its farms, ranchs, timberlands, oceans, mines, wells, and recycling centers first enters into trade channels at prices in balance with the prices of labor and capital, then the U.S. economy will operate at virtually full employment, debt expansion will cease and public and private debt will shrink, interest rates will decline and stay low, inflation will be nil, and there will be sufficient taxes collected to balance governmental budgets at all levels.

Why does the U.S. economy respond so positively to "parity" raw material prices? Simply stated, it's because the "Trade Turn" for every raw material dollar of income is maximized. The Annual Economic Cycle of production, processing, distribution, and consumption of the nation's goods and services operates at full efficiency on an earned-income basis.

In recent decades, it's become unfashionable to educate the American public about the Annual Economic Cycle of Production, Processing, Distribution, and Consumption. In fact, dictionaries and encyclopedias no longer define economics in terms of the Annual Economic Cycle. This is unfortunate because it is misleading. Citizens erroneously begin to believe that wealth is always counted in terms of money when, in truth, they should understand that all "new wealth" originates in the natural world and that all of Man's subsequent activities simply "add value" to the Earth's products.

The summation of NORM's findings from more than 60 years of analyzing the nation's economic records boils down to this statement:

The health, robustness, and sustainability of the American economy is directly tied to the production of raw materials and the price at which those raw materials first enter into commercial channels. When raw materials enter trade channels at prices in balance with the prices of labor and capital, the economy operates on an earned-income basis with no buildup of public and private debt. Conversely, when raw materials enter trade channels at less-than-parity prices with labor and capital, the economy lacks sufficient earned dollars to operate on an debt-free basis, therefore, public and private debt builds.

That simple explanation of raw material economics explains why today America suffers from more than $14-trillion in public and private debt and why much of it is unserviceable.