Wow, this is a great thread.
It seems pretty obvious that any society that has to deal with scarcity is going to need money of some sort, so we might as well come up with something better than the current system. I like the idea of digital money with an expiration date. However, there seem to be a couple problems with it:
1)By trading credits with your friends your money has no functional expiration date. "Hey Joe, you gonna buy that new sofa tomorrow? I got some credits due to expire this week, why don'cha use them? Just gimme some a' yours." Simple money transfers would be easy enough to prevent if it was digital, but what could prevent "money exchanges" via buying things from each other and back again. This would be an especially acute if the money renewed upon purchase rather than issuance.
2)This system, with its focus on immediate consumption, seems to be discouraging of the development of capital - resources to be used for making more resources. Now, I realize that consolidation of these are what drives the engine of the problems we're looking for solutions of here, but leaning away from thier existence seems like a rapid-fire plan for economic stagnation.
I'm sure we can figure out solutions to these holes, any takers?
Anyway, here's my pet idea, dunno how much it fits with ParEcon's idea:
Each person gets a regular stipend, just for being a person, and all the stipends are equal. However each person, by default (except for very old & young, ect.), have 24 hours of requisite work, each day, in whatever occupation the community/society considers most usefull (said individual DOES get a say in this). Now the stipend can be used on any number of consumer goods... including free time. Each person's stipend is equal to however much money would be required to purchase 24 hours of leisure time per day. All consumer goods are sold on an open market by the government (after all, its the government that produced them). I think this might work because it provides the same work incentive that capitalism does without the inequalities, unemployment, nondemocratic structure. It also gives you the choice of being a slacker with a few stuff and a workaholic with a lot. Anyway, my pet idea, though I'm sure I was infected memetically and simply forgot the source.
And just for the sake of redundancy, this is a great thread. |
