i think maybe a decent step between our current stratified monetary paradigm and a truly free and equal society is the idea of a basic income. while it doesn’t solve the psychological problems that come from competition and artificial scarcity, it at least seeks to provide every single person on the planet with a basic amount of money, so that they can live without being forced into unnecessary labour. i think we should take it one step better and start providing people with guaranteed basic resources, such as free water, food, electricity, etc, but any kind of effort is better than no effort, or effort in the wrong direction.
In order to provide a basic income someone has to toil. We all provide a basic income for ourselves. We have to work. We sell a small portion of our lives in exchange for money.
We payed for that money, most of us anyways, with our lives. We should be entitled to the fruits of our labors.
Now, if someone doesn’t feel like toiling. Maybe they know that someone else will pull their weight for awhile. They will take advantage of it. Most people would take advantage of this situation. The phenomenon is well documented in economics and psychology, the so-called “free rider” effect.
In order to provide a “universal basic income” someone has to give away some of their toiling. They have to give away some of their life. That’s fine, if it’s their choice.
Typically it’s not a choice. Governments take by force to redistribute. If you don’t pay your taxes, someone from the government will come and take it from you by force. Hardly “free and equal”. They will put you in jail, if you resist, they may kill you. This is socialism.
The truth of the matter is, everyone can’t live at the north American standard of living. The planet doesn’t have enough resources. It’s a cold and hard mathematical fact. We would need another dozen mother earths to provide enough resources for us all to have such luxury.
Artificial scarcity is no joke. Humans have infinite desires, and limited resources. The best system would allow equal access to achieve, based on merit and hard work, to get at the resources. This is neither capitalist nor communist, this is the law of nature. Study mother nature, she isn’t kind, but she is fair. You have to work to survive. The weak die. End of story.
It would be foolish to think that in a few hundred years, us humans, have outwitted billions and billions of years of nature. Nature saw us come, and it will see our demise. You can’t fight it.
Capitalism isn’t fair, but it’s a lot closer to nature. And it works. Libertarianism, if you could ever herd cats, would be better.
See Milton Friedman:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWsx1X8PV_A
LaoTze
-When the fool hears of Tao, he laughs. If he did not laugh, it would not be the true Tao.
I thought Lao Tzu was able to think outside the box..
Maybe that was some other Lao Tzu..
This one is obviously from Fox News..