Forum Post: Solution to the economy of today

For 5000 years we have been using money, through that entire period we have been dealing with the problem of greed and the quest for individuals to attain more wealth. Money promotes this idea that a persons worth is related to the amount of assets they have. Using money does not promote the basic moral of sharing, otherwise known as giving and receiving. All of todays problems on the globe come from this quest for individuals to attain more for themselves. Monsanto corporation, out of its quest to dominate the worlds food supply has depleted the amount of genetic diversity in crops all because of the quest for more money. Reducing genetic diversity in crops just leaves crops voulnerable to Failures for if a disease pops up that can target those crops they all die and we are left hungry. I am sure you could think of many more problems associated with the quest for more. So now we are going to deal with the core roots of the problems in order to understand why so many people across the globe suffer while a few get rich in the process. Problem number one- The existence of money so long as money exists there will be this problem of injustice to deal with so therefore the solution rides in loosing faith in money. It only exists because you put faith in it. We are used to it and it can be hard for those of us who are used to it to think of something different, or imagine a different way because we don't know the truth. The truth is there is an infinite supply of energy in the cosmos and we live in a multi-verse of an infinite amount of universes. I came to this conclusion through philosophical speculation 2 years before I heard science theorized the same thing. If there is an infinite supply then therefore there should be no price on anything made of matter or energy. Now you may be thinking, but wait there is only a finite supply here on earth so therefore we should be using money. If this is you're defense for money I would like to remind you that we have only been using it for 5000 years. We used to live by the truth. This truth of infinity is only however an intellectual reason for us to not use money, there is also the reason of the heart. Often it just seems right when someone acts out of kindness with ought expecting anything in return. It feels right (at least to me) to share with others. Living by the truth is right.

Solution to problem one- Loose faith in money and try something different. There are many ways to not use money some good some bad and some neutral, there is the barter system, the gift exchange economy and then there is this new idea of the resource based economy. Personally The Gift exchange economy seems the best to me for we know it works and its all done through giving and receiving and peer pressure. The internet is largely functional due to gift exchange, so there is the proof it works. The act of giving and recieiving and helping others because it is the right thing to do creates happiness, and a happy economy creates happy people. Ask yourself a question are you happy, or are you disgruntled. If the 1% was more on the side of sharing i'm sure you would be happy. Imagine what the world would look like if everyday was like Christmas, not in the sense that we over spoil each other but in the sense that everyday would be a day of giving and receiving. I do not suggest Barter or the resourced based economy, barter is still based on some selfishness and ownership (we will get to that in a bit). and the way the resourced based economy is promoted by the zeitgeist movement, is to have a computer with no feelings or emotions be the main desision maker in the society rather than people. Not all leaders are bad, but the idea of an amoral computer running things scares me, and even here the programmers of the computer would be given the power of leadership due to the fact that they have the knowledge of programming, and being a good programmer does not make a good leader. Leadership is a skill trade, but I will admit in the world of todays economy often it is the leader of a buisness who makes the most money, and this does not promote good moral values for those leaders when it comes to sharing, they lead only for themselves and not others. A world where the leaders had to live with the same amount of wealth or similar amount as those whom they lead would create a more just society. The leader would only lead because they were good at it rather than for the quest for more. Problem 2- The notion of ownership It should be obvious that the idea of ownership causes suffering, It creates an unwillingness to share, we live in a society where personal gain is championed and everyone wants to own their own things. One time a homeless person came to the door of the home I dwell in selling some magazines, I bought a subscription to those magazines purely for the fact that It would help make his life a bit easier, I also gave him my coat for it was cold out at that time of year. My parents at the time really gave me a hard time about giving to someone else, especially since it was my only coat. But It was not necessary for me to have since cold air does not bother me, and he needed it more than me. It made me wonder though on what values my own parents learned in society. They are democrats and are all for Others or Government helping the poor, but when push came to shove and someone in need was at their doorstep they did not want to give themselves and did not want me to give. But back to the point, the notion of ownership has caused a lot of problems in history. When the bloshevics had their revolution it was over the notion of ownership, that is whether public or private ownership was championed. Many people died as a result of this and it was all due to the notion of ownership. During the crusades we are taught that it was only due to religious differences, but the real culprit was the fact that there were two groups of people trying to own and control the same thing. Had they been simply willing to share there would have been no problem. Right now you may be thinking that If there is no such thing as true ownership than there is no such thing as stealing. Stealing comes from one person taking something which does not belong to them in the first place so it is wrong, instead the persons involved should have been more willing to share. Today Bankers own basically the entire housing market and they are completely unwilling to give, this has created suffering for millions of you, and here I will remind you that the real culprit is the notion of ownership. I once saw a video of a occupy wall st person argue(suffer) with a russian over whether capitalism or socialism is best. both parties disagreed and became almost psychologically violent over the notion of ownership. You feel like the 1% has taken something from you which you think is yours so this creates suffering and unhappiness, but there is a better way. Solution to problem 2- Change yourselves and share with each other. Trying to make the 1% give out of anger will only create suffering not cure it. Instead lets make a new society where the actual attainment of happiness is championed rather than an endless persuit of happiness but never quite getting it. Lets create a gift exchange society, a gift exchange economy. In a working and functional gift exchange economy there would be a new type of evolution of technology, things would become built to last rather than made to be broken, we have begun to make things much more disposable today because that is what supports the monetary system. I studied engineering I know what I'm talking about. I will not pretend to know how every detail of this type of economy would work but I have a few suggestions.

Suggestion 1- go back to communal living where gift exchange is championed, we did it in the 60's but it faded away because people did not have the strength to keep it up. So this time it may be best to plan ahead of time and come up with some ideas which could make it last for a long time. In the 60's they tried to isolate themselves from the rest of the world. I suggest we don't do that but rather work with the world. As I said things would be built more to last in a gift exchange economy so there could be some trade for resources with the rest of the world. For making a serious working gift exchange economy would not only benifit those whom live within it but also benifit others outside it for they could attain some things built very well. This is of course assuming there may be some honest accountant managing an inflow of money for the gift exchange economy only the money goes to benifit the entire public good within the economy. And of course to build more things to benifit not just those within it but others as well. I'm sure all of this sounds a little idealistic, but we could use a little idealism now and again. And if you think working for free or volunteering time within this type of economy is slavery, I will remind you slavery comes from the notion of ownership of people. Since this thread is getting too long I will quit writing for now and ask for some criticism and debate and input. what do you think of all this, what ideas can you bring to the table.