Forum Post: Resource based economy
Posted 12 years ago on Oct. 4, 2011, 12:19 p.m. EST by mmcdonal
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Has anyone ever heard of a resource based economy as an alternative to capitalism? Like the one proposed by Jacque Fresco? What does Occupy Wall St. think of this?
This idea is of a RBE is pretty unrealistic. My proposal to create a global based Party called the People's Party is better than the Zeitgeist Movement cults RBE communistic Utopian. Click link below.
http://occupywallst.org/forum/occupy-wall-street-basic-model-proposal-and-no-its/
The battle cry of the socialist - "Raise taxes on the rich"! What about taxing corporations, stopping defining them as persons, and leaving individuals alone? I'm not 'rich', but raising taxes on individuals is never the answer. Besides, do you think people like Bill Gates are making a traditional salary and filing a W-2? They are deliberately deceiving us when they say, "Mr. President, please raise my taxes".
This occupier of Wall Street thinks that all fantasies that present themselves as "alternatives to capitalism" are red herrings that will not be realized and ought not to be realized. Leave the utopianism to the faith-based community. We are firmly based in reality. We are interested in real solutions to real problems.
The problems we are confronting are great, but the means of addressing them are mundane. Raise taxes on the rich. Regulate markets. Prosecute white-collar crime. We know what we want and we know how to get it. We want a more just economic order. And to achieve that, we are holding Wall Street accountable.
I've honestly haven't investigated this too much and frankly have little interest to at this point. I've yet to hear anyone who claims to advocate this explain how resources are distributed (which is what economics is about addressing.) They are more concerned with production: let machines do everything.
This is fine and dandy but we're not there yet (if corporations could eliminate labor costs further, wouldn't they?). But the former question needs to be answered. Perhaps Fresco has something for that in his literature somewhere but none of his advocates can seem to explain it so I'm guessing it's not there.
Resources would be distributed based on need. One of the fundamental concepts of the Resource Based Economy is that All the resources of the Earth are declared as the common heritage of all the Earths people. A centralized computer data base with accurate up to the minute planetary resource data, balances the basic and essential needs of every individual on the planet against the current sustainable output of the Earth. It first requires a full survey of the planets resources, and the realization that we all share this precious and delicate bubble. Beautiful idea! Science future really. Well distant future.
Labor: the New Gold Standard http://paulglover.org/1107.html introduces new money that's directly backed by natural resources and muscle.
Capitalism IS resource based.
Right now we have a printing machine based economy driven by the privately owned Federal Reserve.
How about the system that birthed America and has provided stability to every nation that stuck to it? Gold standard?
There are two problems with the gold standard. First, we don't know how much gold we really have in Ft. Knox. Second, any commodity-based currency just sets up the oligarchs to corner that market and stay in power.
And you're right about the gold standard birthing the nation: We revolted AGAINST it. The colonies were prosperous using colonial scrip (a debt-free fiat currency spent into society for the needs of society). Ben Franklin said “The colonies would gladly have borne the little tax on tea and other matters had it not been for the poverty caused by the bad influence of English bankers on the parliament which has caused, in the colonies, hatred of England and the revolutionary war”.
He's talking about the Currency Act of 1764. It outlawed the colonies's money and forced them onto Britain's gold standard.
Our country was founded on revolting against bankers!
Firstly there is no gold in fort Knox, you sold it all to the Chinese, second, you had a gold standard until 1971. Bankers and gold are polar opposites, you need to learn your history a little better, but I like your spirit!
The problem with the gold standard is deflation. You get deflation when your money supply can't keep up with productivity growth. Since gold reserves are more or less fixed and productivity has tended to rise, you get deflation. Deflation will tend to harm the bottom 99% as they are the ones who are borrowing money. Deflation INCREASES the real value of debts.
Incorrect. We have deflation now and my gold is looking mighty fine compared to every other asset class. Deflation is not a problem, in a efficient society the costs of production should come down and hence prices. Debt will always be a bitch no matter what dress she's wearing
I'm not incorrect. We don't have deflation now. We have inflation. Deflation is the big scare and it does increase the value of debts. Look up the Panic of 1893, for example.
Your gold increasing in price is partly due to inflation, not deflation. It's also a result of the fact that every other asset class is a lousy investment so gold seems like a good haven by default. If stock prices get low enough or interest rates get high enough, don't be surprised if people dump their gold and the price goes with it.
As for the issue of an "efficient society", there is no such thing. It's a neoclassical fiction. And even if there were, it wouldn't necessarily be desirable. More efficient systems are often less stable systems. I'd prefer a stable system but to each his own.