Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Ten benefits of not having money 10

Ten benefits of not having money 10

Continued from post here
We continue describing how things could be like in a socialist society, where there would be no need for money.

Socialist society will have no need for money. This will profoundly affect all aspects of life.

Quality of Life

In a world of money “quality” is equated with cost. A quality item costs more than a shoddy or mass produced one, e.g. Rolls Royce v a standard Ford. “Quality” chocolate costs the consumer more but doesn't give more to the grower. Quality is a term used to convey superiority and status, something better than the rest, better than the others. Unfortunately when coupled with time most families have little of it and the cost can be great. Quality of life is talked about as something desirable, to be aspired to and implies a certain level of income but, in fact, everyone has a quality of life, a comparative quality which could be measured against many different yardsticks. Most people would admit they are looking for ways to improve their own.

In order to achieve the positive changes to be gained by the disappearance of money, power has to be taken away from the elites and placed firmly in the hands of the people. None of the proposals posed in this series could become reality without the will of the majority – but what is the will of the majority, the popular perception of the “system” today? Active consent for the system is generally lacking and people have allowed themselves to become resigned to it instead of opposing it, believing that there is no alternative. Surely it is within the capacity of this miracle of evolution to reason its way back from the headlong rush to condemn billions of its own to degradation and misery, whilst destroying its own habitat with the philosophy that money can solve all problems? With money gone the generally accepted meaning of “quality of life” can become a reality for all to contemplate and world citizens will be free to aspire to achieving goals worthy of humankind.

JANET SURMAN

1 comment:

Jock said...

I think Janet is right to say that generally there is currently a resignation of accepting capitalism. However she also says that "active consent for the system is generally lacking" - I think this is questionable. Millions vote for the capitalist parties, giving capitalism popular legitimacy. I am not saying this is a desirable state of affairs!