The New Economy: What If Everything Was Free?
Posted: Tuesday, August 24, 2010
by Michael Ramzy
delusionthread.com
Another hot one here in Texas, but I'm not worried: when global warming hits I'm already prepared!
Of course, if we have another ice age I'm pretty much out of luck, but c'est la vivre.
I was driving home from the paint store this morning and I was struck by a sudden thought: what if everything was free?
Before I get all of the comments saying I've turned communist, or socialist, or any other -ist, let me explain my reasoning. Then, if you wish, you can tie me to a stake and light me up.
I probably have a whole team of doctors waiting right outside my door, right? Read on.
Let's say you want a car. Any old car will do, but let's say you want a Prius. You walk into a car dealership, present your driver's license, and drive away. You stop at a gas station and fill 'er up. For free, of course. You then drive around for a few hours and decide you're hungry. You stop at a restaurant, eat, and then drive home. You're tired, but you have your car and you're well-fed. Life is good since you have no worries about money, car insurance (it comes with the car, obviously), or where your next meal will come from. You take a nap and wonder how things could possibly be different.
The people who make the cars have the same deal, as do the people who drill for the oil for the gas, as do the people who work at the restaurant, etc. Everyone has to be included for this to work.
Impossible? Not at all. You are wondering, though: who is going to pay for all of this?
You are.
But . . . how?
Everything is free. Everything. You still go to work every day, you still work as hard as you can (many would probably work harder, if you think about it), and at the end of the day you don't think to yourself, 'gee, I worked my arse off and I still have all of these bills', you think, 'gee, I worked as hard as I could to help others achieve what they can.'
No, it isn't socialism or communism (or any other -ism). It's actually selfishness. If everything is free, and YOU want to keep it that way, you work exactly as you do now - without the worry and the pain and the anxiety.
Sure, some would take advantage of the system. Some would get everything for free and return almost nothing to society. It isn't as though we haven't heard of that before, right? Some would absolutely do nothing but be a drain on society and resources, but that's a small price to pay for the end of homelessness, crime, and above all, anxiety.
If everything was free (houses, cars, shoehorns, paintbrushes, etc.) and everyone worked as they do now, exchanging their best effort for the best effort of others, why wouldn't it work? We wouldn't need government grants (we would still need government, obviously), we wouldn't have to give those dollars to the lonely people on the streetcorner, we wouldn't have to lock our cars at night, we wouldn't have to read about celebrities who have more than you, we wouldn't have to worry ourselves silly over things we should be in control of but aren't.
Of course, at first I can imagine it would be a free-for-all (pun intended). Everyone would scramble for the cars, televisions, etc. Controlled looting is what it would be, but I can believe it would be short-lived because after awhile we would get bored with having everything commercially we could want.
We would then spend the time and energy bettering ourselves physically and spiritually. Then we would realize everything we ever really needed was free after all . . .
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Top-level comments on this article: (10 total)Yeah Mike, I once had a dream of a world without money. People all working for their fellow man. But reality stepped in and discouraged my dreams.Ahh, reality is always the great discourager. Have faith, though. Thanks for reading and commenting.
The minute after everything became free, someone would figure out how to charge for it. Hey, our articles are free! That's a start!You're probably right. I don't know what I was thinking! Thanks as always.Great line E--how funny!
Oh Utopia, where art thou? Since we already have those who drain society it draws the question, how many more would join in? Would it be wonderful to live like that? Oh heck yes! But your last paragraph said it best. Everything we really need is already free.Great article!GraceTrue, everyone else can take all of the commercial stuff. Thanks for reading and commenting.That's true, but if everything were free they really wouldn't be draining society any longer. Everybody already contributes to society in one way or the other, the ones we consider drainers are getting food or shelter, etc. which they would already be getting. Might help their self esteem and then who knows what they might contribute then.Great point, sir.
Great article idea and well thought out as usual--you should be writing somewhere getting paid for it...ha-ha. I thought of this idea years ago, or should I say wondered why it isn't the way the world works. Not wanting to get into a long winded viewpoint on the specifics as I see them, I'll just say it boils down to it not being human nature for this to successfully work--not wrong of people to not be that way, simply not human nature.I know, but I really don't think we are supposed to work so hard for so long for so much stuff. I wonder in a thousand years how we'll be. Thanks very much for reading and commenting. I appreciate it.
If everything was free there would be nopes of achievement. Money would have no real value. All our needs would be met technically. We can walk into a home and claim it. Medicine would be prosperous. Food would be plentiful depending on what it is. But there maybe shortages in some resources, such as those that limited like coal, petroleum etc. I would sure love to live in this world!I don't know about walking into a home and claiming it, but the idea is we would eventually get to the point where we would ony take what we needed, not what we wanted. A pipe dream, perhaps. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Beautiful communal idea. The only problem I see is that you have many people that do jobs now that they wouldn't do if it weren't for the fact they were the only job they could get and they needed the money. Unless you had specific tasks assigned to specific parts of the population, like, to this age you do these, and to this age you do these, etc. Like you do in smaller communal settings now. In a larger populace you would probably have too many people rebel against their specific tasks for it to work. I like it though. Michael, your such a dreamer. hehe Actually it could work, and should work like this, the problem is you have too many people now that just aren't satisfied no matter what they have. Look at the people that hoard a majority of societies assets now and still crying for more tax breaks.True, there are always some who want more more more. Yet those super-rich (and super-poor) would look at things differently when the value of a 'thing' is not measured in dollars. Sure, many would (at first) take advantage, and many would not do the jobs needed. Yet eventually people would realize these jobs would have to get done, and if you have everything you could possibly need, wouldn't you take a turn shovelling garbage for awhile? I would.And, the systems in place now (capitalism, socialism, communism) all have those who readily take advantage, so I don't know if the 'free' system would be any different in that respect. Then again, as many of the comments suggest, perhaps I have too much faith in humans.Thanks as always for reading and commenting.True, there are always some who want more more more. Yet those super-rich (and super-poor) would look at things differently when the value of a 'thing' is not measured in dollars. Sure, many would (at first) take advantage, and many would not do the jobs needed. Yet eventually people would realize these jobs would have to get done, and if you have everything you could possibly need, wouldn't you take a turn shovelling garbage for awhile? I would.And, the systems in place now (capitalism, socialism, communism) all have those who readily take advantage, so I don't know if the 'free' system would be any different in that respect. Then again, as many of the comments suggest, perhaps I have too much faith in humans.Thanks as always for reading and commenting.
It could work in small communities of maybe 5 people! But oh my god the logistics in a city! :) Nice idea, Michael!The logistics would be a nightmare, agreed. As I stated, it would be 'controlled looting' at first. Yet perhaps we would all see the light. Thanks for reading and commenting.
I had the exactly same dream during my childhood :) I asked my mum why the world isn`t like that - and she simply answered that it wouldn`t work at all: everybody would go into shops and buy the highest quality stuff -electronics, cars (why getting a cheap car if you could have porsche for free?) and everything else. And nobody would work anymore - and if so, there will be no effort at all.And that`s the reality.But it may work in small communities as someone already said - for example like in the movie Village :)It may, although if I remember that movie it was all a con - the 'village' was really just an enclave. I still think people would get bored with all of that 'stuff', but perhaps I am just dreaming. Silly me, I know. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Hi Mike, nice thought, but....
I assume that the cavemen or whoever the first inhabitants of earth were, didn't have money. They all hunted together and shared the spoils. No money changed hands, there was no money. But something happened, like one hunter had a better spear than the others, so they asked him to make spears for them and paid him with the results of a better hunt due to better spears. Bottom line, people were willing to pay for better things and we were off to the races. Nothing was ever free again because people were always asking for better products. We breathe free air and see God's doings and beauty free. That's a lot.That should be enough. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Hello Michael,
I had the same idea, What you outline could actually work as soon as most people realize that a currency does exist that is far more valuable than pieces of paper backed up by golden rocks. That currency is the knowledge that one is genuinely needed, valued and appreciated for the work that they do. If everyone were "paid" with the knowledge that they were truly needed, valued, and appreciated for their work,maybe most people would not quit being productive members of society once everything was free (especially if they enjoyed their work). There is a growing body of research that shows people are happiest when they are helping others and when they feel their lives have purpose. It may take a while, but I think we'll get to the point where a money-less society will become a reality. Thank you for putting this idea out there!
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