A new type of economy

[maejin]

Imagine a world where you dont have to work, where you are given everything you need because you need it (food, electronics, medicine, a home etc). A world where machines do all the work and there are no rich or poor people. Where each human being can spend all their time on pursuits that genuinely interest them without having to think about money or survival or having to be jealous or compete with his/her neighbours in the economic rat race of life. This world is possible right now in a new type of economy called a Resource Based Economy. Thanks to the work of people behind organizations and movements such as the Venus Project and The Zeitgeist Movement. To know more watch the following documentaries

Paradise or Oblivion - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KphWsnhZ4Ag
The Zeitgeist Movement - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Z9WVZddH9w

If you like this view of the future and want to help bring it about, please share these with
everyone you know. It is only a lack of knowledge that this is possible and a lack of support from people that prevents this from taking place.

The idea has been around for a long time, and prevails in many parts of the world. It is called communism.

The trouble is with such ideas, there will always be those that want more for themselves, at the expense of others.

Is it George Orwell who says "Everybody is equal, but some are more equal than others"?

[maejin]

I dont think its communism. It is similar to communism in some sense as far as the goals of equal distribution of property is concerned but the system of governance is open, transparent and democratic.
For example in a resource based economy the different countries would have to work together to share information regarding the inventories of their resources, and come up with the best possible plan for utilization of their resources. These inventories and the data would be open to everyone simply as a precondition for the resource based economy to work. Without transparency and cooperation it cant work. In a communist government an elite group of people running one govt decides how to allocate and utilize resources and does so without input from anyone or anything outside the elite group.
In fact that is the only reason why communism (which has some very idealistic and utopian goals) has failed, simply due to the concentration of power in the hands of a few and the abuse of it.

sounds alot like the native american ways of long ago. share the bounty-everybody benefits. children are literally raised by the village. less work more play.

[Blue Tiger]

So if no one needs to work, where do all the electronics and homes and food come from?

At some level someone needs to create all that stuff. Third world nations providing it all for us? That's not exactly fair or equal treatment, if third world peoples toil and we sit back doing watercolors and playing on our Xboxes.

As much as I would LOVE not to have to work, and to have plenty of time to pursue other things, in reality there are major flaws in the concept.

Now if you said we would all FOREGO things we didn't actually need and stuck to actual necessities like food and shelter, then we COULD perhaps achieve a peaceful life system rather like Native Americans and other indigenous peoples had before we came along and complicated things for them.

But whom among us is truly willing to do without electricity, internet, automobiles, and microwave ovens?

[Blue Tiger]

Oh, and the biggest problem with communism has been the lack of incentive for individuals to work any more than the required minimum. If you get paid the same whether you paint a wall or paint an entire house, why would anyone go to the extra effort?

i would say that the general definition of communism was only achieved by aboriginal tribes.

Originally Posted by maejin

I dont think its communism. It is similar to communism in some sense as far as the goals of equal distribution of property is concerned but the system of governance is open, transparent and democratic.
For example in a resource based economy the different countries would have to work together to share information regarding the inventories of their resources, and come up with the best possible plan for utilization of their resources.

Lets say you have just enough food to sustain your family. Your neighbour is starving. You could give away some of your limited resources, but as you already only just have enough for yourself and your family, you can't give away enough to stop your neighbour from starving, only slow down their demise, but in doing so, you condemn your own kids to starve. But that would be fair, because then everyone gets the same.

What do you do?

Lets say you're working hard to nurture a bounty of good crops. You're willing to get out in the garden from dawn til dusk. Your neighbour just wants to play his free X Box all day and smoke all the herbs you've grown for him in a corner of the communal garden, but he also needs to eat. Does he get to share everything equally?

[charly233]

The idea of a free access, moneyless economy is promoted by the Socialist Party of Great Britain and companion parties throughout the world. Link http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/

This is all very well and I agree with their economic ideals but unfortunately I would not be allowed to join the party on account of my spiritual views. People who believe in God are banned from membership. This is because theistic people are deemed to lack the necessary consciousness thought to be required in order to bring about a socialist utopia.

I regard this as breach of my human right to join a political party that I may want to support.

I feel that a socialist party should be open to all people regardless of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender etc..

[Gem]

Originally Posted by Badger1777

The idea has been around for a long time, and prevails in many parts of the world. It is called communism.

The trouble is with such ideas, there will always be those that want more for themselves, at the expense of others.

Is it George Orwell who says "Everybody is equal, but some are more equal than others"?

Animal Farm...