social change
Alternative Economics
idea posted by cidviscous Mon, 2007-10-01 21:51 Tags:Economics...
Score Keeping for Real Life
One of the things about money (and its related need/desire in people) is that it can get people to do stuff. But no matter how much money is involved, you can't buy love/loyalty/genuine interest. You can jack up the price enought that people start to care, but they're not really caring about what's being done--just the possibility of money (and power/freedom/choice it represents).
When you get right down to it, money is just an arbitrary system for keeping score. There are other ways of keeping score in the game of life, however--pride and personal satisfaction, the warm feelings provided by generosity, usefulness and popularity, etc.
Other types of Motivation
Now that we've identified that money is not the only motivator in life, we can begin to look at some of the alternatives that are popping up. Alternative Economic systems and Alternative Currencies are beginning to develop as viable supplements and possible alternatives to traditional neo-classical economics.
The class differences these days tend to be much more about money than race or gender or sexual or religious preference. Money is what has been enforcing the strata of our society lately. The rich keep getting richer, the poor keep getting poorer and the so called middle class keeps getting poorer as well.
Democracy and the Free Market are two terms that have been so badly abused as to cause many to lose faith in the system, and many more to believe blindly that everything is all right, so distracted by the shiny trifles and trinkets of our society. They are watching the right hand while the corpolitical left hand picks their collective pocket.
Luckily, not everyone has given up hope, and not everyone has their head so far up their ass so as to not know what's going on. Good ideas are beginning to circulate. It's time to spread the word, foster open dialogue, and try to get some of the best ideas out there as reality.
Time-Based Economics
Some people are forming groups and systems which keep track of time spent working as a unit of trade. If you spend three hours sewing, you might redeem an hour of baking and two hours of baby-sitting, or whatever. People's time is all considered equal.
To prevent someone from running up a big negative-hours debt and then splitting, there are sometimes caps placed on loans, and often these groups tend to be smaller, community controlled systems based on trust.
Altruistic Economics
The people over at Altruists dot org are putting forth some really interesting ideas on way to get things done. If you've ever studied much about game theory, you'll probably understand the concept of a zero-sum game versus a non-zero sum game. They have an insightful article about the incorrect assumptions of the current economic systems, which points out that unlike a player in game theory, people in the real world don't always do what the theory predicts, and in any case, zero-sum systems always leave a loser.
Their idea is a multidemensional monetary system in which value is measured by all the parties involved, thus creating the possibility for win-win situations. It could provide incentive for these win-wins as well, because when value in a given transaction is maximized, everyone involve achieves maximum gain instead of just one party.
Gift Based Economy
The idea of a Gift Economy is one in which goods and services are given away rather than traded for money or other goods and services. Aspects of gift economies can be seen at work in Free Software projects, freely available independent media, philanthropy and charity, and many other facets of our society.
As a central economic system, it would remain open to the possibility of abuse (acceptance of gifts without reciprocation) and would probably rely on having a large enough percentage of society participating complicitly. In other words, it only works so long as everybody (or at least a sufficient majority) is doing their part.
As such, some feel that Gift Based economics serve a much useful purpose as supplement to strengthen, balance and/or complement other types of motivational/economic systems.
Binary Economics
Binary Economics is another alternative to traditional systems. Over time, Binary Economics claims to spread out capital ownership to general citizenship. So, if everything works like it's supposed to, eventually everyone ends up with a job that's right for them and a piece of the capital pie as well, so they make money in two ways.
Binary Economics would end usury through an Interest Free central bank, thus cutting off fractional reserve banking, and the never-ending cycle of debt associated with this practice. The government would regain control of the country's monetary supply (yoinking it from the hands of the Federal Reserve System).
When properly working, a Binary system should ensure a baseline for every citizen and still leave incentive to excel, work harder, and potential to go further.
Monetary Reform
idea posted by cidviscous Sat, 2007-09-01 02:38 Tags:The economy is broken. We all know this, and we can all point out different angles on how and why it's broken--big money is in bed with the government, the control of national/internation interest rates is in the hands of a private few, fractional reserve banking techniques, slave wage capitalism, and on and on.
So, since we've identified a problem--the economy is fundamentally broken, and we're suffering because of it--now, it would stand to reason that the most empowering thing to do, would be to try and address the problem, figure out some possible solutions, and then try to get the ball rolling in a more positive direction.
Let's try and list some of the specific areas in which the system is suffering...
- So-called Slave Wages--most people make enough to scrape by, but it takes a massive percentage of their personal resources (time, energy, concentration, emotion) to function in society as a 'normal'.
- Interest rates are privately controlled--in America, that would be the Federal Reserve. So, not only do we have this artificial money being created by banks and creditors in the form of loans and other debt, but we have a very small group of private/quasi-governmental bankers with their hand on the throttle of our economy
- Consumerism--corporations drive the consumerism attitude through marketing and buy legislation through lobbying, creating and inflating desire for shiny, new stuff, causing much waste, and also the need for more money (earned painstakingly from too-low paying jobs) with which to buy the shiny, new stuff.
- Debt--we've been at this crazy game for so long, that there's an enormous amount of debt, and a very uneven distribution of wealth--so, in order to fix this system, we're going to have to sort out who really gets what and somebody's toes are going to be stepped on.
- Wealth & Power--disproportional weath relative to the general populace often creates disproportionate power over people. Simply said, a relatively small amount of people control a relatively large amount of the total 'money' floating around in this convoluted system that has us in its tendrils--money tends to bestow power, and those with power tend to want to keep it (or gain new power).
- Apathy & Distraction--the People as a whole do still have power, but many (or even most) people tend to be apathetic to what's happening (for reasons ranging from lack of belief in their ability to change things, to lack of direct discomfort caused by the deficiencies of our system in their own lives) or too distracted (by personal situations--i.e. life, trying to work enough to make enough money, trying to fit in, television, pop culture, gossip, and a million other things) to even notice there is a problem.
- Ignorance--whether because of all the distractions of society, or because of the failings of our education system (and i don't just mean k-12 here), many people simply don't understand the reality of the situation which has control of their lives.
I don't know what the answers are, but I do intend to find out.
next renaissance
idea posted by cidviscous Wed, 2007-08-22 18:58 Tags:We are nearing a time when many of the troubles of the past should be slipping away.
The internet connects everyone all at once, allowing the free dissemination of knowledge and ideas, allowing cultures to blend and new cultures to develop, not subject to the former geographical and social boundaries.
Our technological skills in growing food, and producing shelter are greater right now than they've been at any point in history. Nobody should be freezing or starving.
Our medical knowledge is orders of magnitude further than it's ever been, but people still have needs because of their lack of money.
Free tools exist to help unleash peoples' creative energies, but they're too busy or tired or distracted or apathetic to use these tools, to explore their own creative potential.
Right now, we should be setting up new systems to end poverty, to drastically increase the potential for education, to ensure everyone gets the medical attention they deserve, and to provide time, freedom, and resources to every person so that they can be free to pursue happiness and contribute to the world.
Right now, we should be entering into a New Renaissance, relishing the rich cultures that comprise humanity, pushing our technology to its limits, and enjoying the freedom that our forefathers died for. Right now, we should be doing everything we can to provide future generations with more tools, ideas, and opportunities.
We, as an intelligent and thinking community need to all lean together in the direction of freedom. We need to get ordinary citizens to break free from the distractions capturing their attentions and shake loose the shackles of apathy that sap our strength.
Society is supposed to be better than anarchy for the freedom it provides us--freedom at a cost, yes, but the point is to provide the greater good to the greater number of people, according to the greater will of the people. We're all in this together because it's better than the alternative.
There is a lot of potential, and the internet is providing us with the tools to make it dynamic. It's time we created the next Renaissance.