A world without money.

[foilman8805]

Originally Posted by DossarLX ODI

This is something I've been thinking about for some time now. What would happen if money didn't exist? If the absence of money caused problems, what do you think could be done to rectify the situation (without bringing money back)? Do you think the world would be better without money?

A few things I can see about having no money is that insurance won't be needed, surgery would be free, nobody needs funding for medical research, and everyone has a chance at attending a higher level of education (college). To prevent the laziness, there could be some law passed that makes it so every person is required to have some type of job. And there would be limit to what you can have too - even though things would be free, you can't and don't need 500 cars unless you wanted to loan out or sell them (which isn't really necessary since you're not selling for currency).

Without really picking this apart, I feel like you're unknowingly suggesting or maybe aiming at some kind of Utopia. Here are a couple concerns I have with this idea:

When you eliminate money from every day society, you are essentially equating everything. The worth of the complicated brain surgery to remove a malignant tumor from your head is nothing (or as you've implied worth the same as everything else) when you remove money from the equation (this is obviously excluding the intrinsic value of life, which can't be valued by money or currency anyways). So is the effort the garbage man puts in to sit in his truck and remotely operate a robotic arm that catapults trash into the back of the truck. These are two vastly different tasks with enormously different qualifications that have for all intents and purposes become equal. This brings us to the real problem: is that fair?

I think a whole separate thread could be started and discussed on simply the fairness of eliminating money from society. A lot of things would need to change if money were not to exist, most notably the very nature of the human being.

Additionally, proposing limits on what people can and cannot have is a problem that you probably haven't thought about very deeply. It would most likely require some very totalitarian governmental actions to control what people have. You can bet your ass that no one is going to willingly give up the things they have purchased and acquired for the sake of collectivism (this is called communism btw and make sure to note that this has never been successful). Humans are innately individualistic and I do not see that ever changing. Whether you admit it or not, this will forever prevent money or currency from becoming extinct.