| Would it be possible to get rid of the concept of money all together and would it be a good thing?
Posted: 9/30/2009 8:35:27 PM | Would it be possible to get rid of the concept of money all together? What, according to you, would be involved? Would it be a good idea?
The way I see it is that money puts a stopper on many good things and also keeps pretty bad things going. What would it be for a group of people, say a country, to do the best that they can do with the resources they have with complete disregard to money. Make sure everybody is fed, clothed and sheltered and then we go for whatever seems the best idea at the time.
It seems to me that we could accomplish humongous feats without money in the way. We have the necessary knowledge and capability to do so much but we don't do it unless there is profit involved.
What are your thoughts on the subject? | |
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| Would it be possible to get rid of the concept of money all together and would it be a good thing?
Posted: 9/30/2009 8:37:12 PM | | It would be a bad idea. What is a carpenter going to do for a Dr. who already has all the wood-working items he wants? The other 5,000 local carpenters would have already built him tonnes of stuff. Fail. I already get tonnes of stuff done for free because of the service my family provides for certain people. However, that just means that noone else in our industry will get those perks, and that would suck if there wasn't money for them to use to get what they needed. | |
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wudger
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Joined: 12/20/2007
Msg: 3 | |
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| Would it be possible to get rid of the concept of money all together and would it be a good thing?
Posted: 9/30/2009 10:15:20 PM | Isn't that what a debt card is for?
Sure...that would be a great idea.
No money.
You can work all day in the hot sun shoveling manure...and once a year...I'll check your eyes and we'd all have the same stuff.
I'll live on the beach...and you can live in some secluded area in Alaska chipping icicles off your nose and....hey...no pay scales. You just drew short.
Hmmmmm...will male prostitution be considered a necessary social service.......and is there mandatory retirement?
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| Would it be possible to get rid of the concept of money all together and would it be a good thing?
Posted: 9/30/2009 10:37:57 PM | Make sure everybody is fed, clothed and sheltered and then we go for whatever seems the best idea at the time.
It seems to me that we could accomplish humongous feats without money in the way
I disagree ... it is the idea of profit that drives innovation. Human nature being what it is ... people will tend to stagnate if all their needs and wants are provided for ... without having to work and spend the money they've earned. Do you really think that once everybody is fed, clothed and sheltered (without effort on their part) ... they would be inclined to motivate themselves further?? I have my doubts. No inventor is going to innovate when they see their efforts having no personal rewards ... where their couch potato neighbor can drink beer all day and still be fed, clothed and sheltered.
It seems to work in Star Treck
The idea of money isn't gone from Star Trek. It has simply changed form in the way of the Federation credit. How that credit is accumulated and used was never made clear.  | |
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| Would it be possible to get rid of the concept of money all together and would it be a good thing?
Posted: 9/30/2009 11:04:37 PM | Hmm do some of you propose that as a human race we go back to bartering? As in you go to the grocery store and take a can of beans and a loaf of bread, and in return you sweep the floors and help them stack shelves?
I think the Soviet Bloc countries had some kind of system like this back in the Cold War days when all their currency was basically worthless, it was a kind of trading block called COMECON. It was supposed to be the communist verision of the EU and what they did was figure out what goods from one country could be exchanged for what other goods from another country. As in Bulgaria would trade with East Germany 2 million cans of processed tomatos for 5 jet engines. We all know what happened to COMECON. | |
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| Would it be possible to get rid of the concept of money all together and would it be a good thing?
Posted: 9/30/2009 11:34:25 PM | | Reminds me of Monty Python, when asked about the Holy Grail, the guards yell, we already have one. Maybe you had to be there but it was funny as hell. Anyway, I like the idea of bartering but the cable company did not want any of my baby afghans I knitted in exchange for my monthly cable bill, it just won't work on a large scale. But I have often wonder what the point was of us getting here where we work half our lives away to pay for things, many of which we could have made ourselves some years back in time. Our need for comfort has put us way out of the comfort zone in order to pay for it, yet I'm not willing to live without electricity or a indoor toilet, TV, etc. | |
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| Would it be possible to get rid of the concept of money all together and would it be a good thing?
Posted: 10/1/2009 7:22:15 AM | | You can use money where it works better, and barter when that works, and do whatever else you want however else you want to, if that works better. Money came about because it serves a purpose, for which it works very well. You can't get rid of the concept of money but you can choose when to use it, and how to use it, and how much of a tip to leave. The only way to avoid money altogether is to not have any. That's something any of us can do simply by giving ours away, or just leaving it in plain sight for five minutes. | |
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wudger
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Joined: 12/20/2007
Msg: 16 | |
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| Would it be possible to get rid of the concept of money all together and would it be a good thing?
Posted: 10/1/2009 10:01:03 AM | Money is bartering at least in principle. I don't think that is what Opie was suggesting.
Whether I have more cash or more chickens...socially it is the same.
If a days service from me yielded a goat, three chickens and yak...I would be in a higher social class live in a larger house ect... than if you could be lucky to get a three legged pig and a sack of rice.
I agree with a previous poster that states it will retard (or diminish) productivity.
There are far more people using welfare as a hand out...than those that use it for a hand up. Why? Because they can get all they need putting in the least amount of effort. | |
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| Would it be possible to get rid of the concept of money all together and would it be a good thing?
Posted: 10/1/2009 12:25:28 PM | You know, I once came up with this idea and it seemed like a great idea at first.
But then I thought further into it and asked a question or two.
Why get rid of money? I mean, whats the motive? To get rid of envy, get rid of poor versus rich?
Unfortunately, getting rid of money will not be the solution to these or the host of other issues that go along with it.
People will always and forever be envious/jealous/spiteful/ or just downright hate someone else. No matter what one group of folks do, there will always be another group that'll be their polar opposites. Guaranteed.
Get rid of money, there will be something that takes the place of that.
And this doesn't resolve the issues where people make bad choices, choose the wrong path, or are simply uneducated or lazy or whatever.
Again, get rid of the money equation, this will not resolve the human nature to be envious or hateful or spiteful or whatever else. | |
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| Would it be possible to get rid of the concept of money all together and would it be a good thing?
Posted: 10/1/2009 2:26:15 PM | Perhaps removing the whole idea of "choice" would help. Why should one drive a BMW and the other some old clunker? Make them all the same. Want a TV? All the same. Same size, same options. No differences. Priced so that ALL can afford them.
Can't decide whether to eat steak or chicken? Perhaps a "limited menu" could be introduced. We had that kind of thing before. "Meatless, wheatless and sweetless days". Why should one family have more food than another....rationing could be introduced. People would go back to gardening to vary their diets. It would be more healthy too...less overeating.
There may be ways to do it...but NOT without civil disobedience....people would be rioting in the street! | |
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granz
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Joined: 6/22/2009
Msg: 20 | |
| Would it be possible to get rid of the concept of money all together and would it be a good thing?
Posted: 10/1/2009 3:12:12 PM | I've given this thought in the past, but I haven't really come up with any ideas.
(by the way, this probably would have been better suited for Science / Philosophy)
In the Star Trek universe, Earth has done away with currency. This is plausible for them because they have a technology called "replication." Replication allows people to recycle generally any type of matter into something else. For instance, you can recycle scraps into fresh food, or debris into a new piece of technology. All you had to do was supply the computer with schematics for what you wanted to create, and give it a supply of matter to recycle. The idea of an economy pretty much fails when you have access to this kind of technology, because everything loses its value. There's also no concern for the competition of resources, since waste-matter can simply be recycled.
In order to rid ourselves of the necessity of an economy, I think there would be two requirements: 1.) that we have ample resources, rely on renewable sources of energy, or can otherwise use resources as liberally as possible without consequences, and 2.) we stop emphasizing economic classes and the procurement of personal wealth.
We're a long way from fulfilling the first requirement. Current proposals for renewable energy are too impractical, and there isn't enough attention or funding to the research of new energies, since current energies are too invested at the moment. As for the second, we aren't even distributing what resources we do have in any kind of sensible manner. Too many people are opposed to the idea, because they favor the prospect of personal wealth over the basic welfare of an entire society. | |
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| Would it be possible to get rid of the concept of money all together and would it be a good thing?
Posted: 10/1/2009 5:17:01 PM | In order to rid ourselves of the necessity of an economy, I think there would be two requirements: 1.) that we have ample resources, rely on renewable sources of energy, or can otherwise use resources as liberally as possible without consequences, and 2.) we stop emphasizing economic classes and the procurement of personal wealth.
Economics exists partially because scarcity is inevitable because of the laws of conservation of matter/energy. Economics would exist in a fantasy reality such as Star Trek, it would just be applied differently.
No technological innovation will ever eliminate the fact that choices will need to be made. Economics will always exist in a world where choices are possible.
I'm not sure if don't actually know economics or if you're simply trying to push a political agenda. Both seem quite possible.
divagreen: Is that how you talk dirty to economists? | |
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granz
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Joined: 6/22/2009
Msg: 23 | |
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| Would it be possible to get rid of the concept of money all together and would it be a good thing?
Posted: 10/1/2009 5:49:48 PM | | It wouldn't work right for very long, if at all. It's been tried actually. The Khmer Rouge tried it for example in their overzealous ultra-Maoist push towards an agrarian-based "full Communism" with no incremental steps whatsoever in between. Needless to say it was a failure and a horrible idea to start with. Its actual implementation further contributed to the general fifth circle of Hell that they turned that already half-destroyed country into. | |
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