If you’re half as panicked as I am, you’re probably screaming at your wallet for being too skinny, half the day.

We are in financially turbulent times.
Some say that we still haven’t recovered from the 2008 market crash.
Others say that another crash is eminent thanks to all of those car loans and student debts out there.
Thrift store business seems to be climbing and people are becoming more stingy with what they are willing to spend money on.

Wasn’t the creation of the Federal Reserve (a non-government institution) supposed to stop the sudden crashes that were experienced prior to its creation?

Why is there so little faith in the stock market when it literally determines the worth of our currency?

Is using credit to buy from the future really a good idea for everyone?

Lets start from the beginning.

Money: A New Hope

It came from humble origins as shells and pearls to determine the worth of many different things.
Making it easier to compare the value of things instead of the old bartering method where you could say you wanted 10 chickens for 1 duck because you thought that was a fair trade.
We even used it to place a value on time. What is your time really worth?
From this point we established who was a more valuable person based on how much their time was worth.
People were paid differently depending on what those in power thought was worthy of higher pay.

As it has evolved though, classism and racism seem to be reinforced via wealth gaps and eliminating the middle class.
This would then spur revolutions and different concepts on how society should be ran and how the money should flow between members of the society.
We have definitely come a long way since the time of kings in how we treat people and what fair truly means.
However, these issues of classism and racism being reinforced by how much money you make or owe, are still a massive issue that we have yet to correct.

On its face, money isn’t a problem. The problem is how it is used within a society and why those with most of the money, or control over its distribution, are reluctant to empower those lower than them since they would not be in control if there was no one below them.

Are we hanging on to an idea simply because we have become used to the abuse of its use?

Fundamentally, money is not the root of all evil.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this
craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” (1 Timothy 6:10).
“But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.” (1 Timothy 6:9).
(Quotes from the Bible, if you didn’t gather).

Clearly we have had some issues with money since the beginning that we still have yet to resolve.

Is there a way to go from here? Do we simply change how money is handled and distributed among citizens?

Is Cryptocurrency the answer? Gold backed bills? Acorns?

Maybe it’s time to rethink how we look at and operate in society.
Then we might have a solid path forward.

What’s the Problem?

Again, money isn’t the problem.
How we look at and idealize money is.

On a daily basis we are shown that money definitely buys happiness and all of the amazing dreams you could ever want.
But we all know that isn’t true.

First off it is literally impossible for everyone on the planet to be a millionaire with the economic model we have setup.
There always has to be someone doing the gross jobs for little to no money in order to keep society functioning the way we have set it up.
This setup has left everyone to either look down upon or completely ignore the jobs it takes to make the foundation of society stay together.
What is idealized, and almost fetishized, are the sports, acting and music professions. All of which are for entertainment and different forms of escapism.
We worship those who help us escape the realities we live in.

Why?

Because we are unwilling to face the truths of our society.
We are unwilling to look at the foundation and recognize that this is a very sick and limping society.
We are unwilling to take responsibility for our inaction to change the foundation merely because it didn’t suit our financial situation.

When I say foundation, I’m not talking about electing a new president to solve our issues. That’s looking at the roof in order to fix the basement.

We have ridden this money ride long enough. It is no longer healthy to keep going with it since it is so easily abused.

Abandoning money doesn’t mean going back to prehistoric times though. We have developed technology, how about we use it paired with a simpler way of living?

A Future without Money

Before we start burning the banks to the ground, we have to first recognize what it takes to make our cities, states and countries operate.
It’s not money, it’s people.

People, no matter who they are, deserve our respect. That’s the only way we can have a healthy future.

Respect for the janitor, garbage person, teacher, therapist, nurse, plumber, farmer, etc.
If we can’t have respect for any of these foundational professions, we will never move forward.
To me, the best way to gain respect for another, is to experience what it is that they do.
Shadow a professional for a month or a year and you will have a basic understanding on what it takes to keep things going.
Who knows, maybe after shadowing you might find you prefer doing that line of work.

This is where it gets interesting.
Instead of chasing a paycheck, we chase our passions.

The bare minimum here would be 3 hours a week to helping some aspect of the community. It could be working on a community project, farming, waste handling (compost and grey water), educating, infrastructure building/repairing, etc.
If everyone in a community could do just 3 hours a week doing any of the foundational work to keep the community operating it would keep everything stable and moving forward.

These communities could range from the size of a one block neighborhood to the size of a country, depending on how foundational work is defined once getting into a size larger than a city.

Side Note: I would suggest rotating each day/week/month/whatever what foundational profession you work on so you can branch out and see if any of it strikes a spark for your passion. Then dive into that for a while. Tired of it? Jump into something else. There’s no fear of being stuck in something because it’s what is paying the bills, because there are no bills to pay.

Beyond those 3 hours a week people could pursue whatever it is that they want to. Some people may choose to spend their time working on the foundational professions and improving them. Others may want to dive into scientific research or mathematics. Teaching would become a universal skill since everyone has to initially learn any foundational aspect of a community they are joining.
Medicine is included with all of this. It is essential that everyone knows basic first-aid and healthy life styles so people can treat their own minor wounds or sicknesses and those of others.
Of course there will need to be those that know how to fix bones or treat massive wounds.
However, you have to remember, a lot of violent crime will go away since people won’t need to fight for money to survive. Just look at Urban Farming Guys and how they completely transformed one of the most violent neighborhoods in Kansas City into a self sustaining and thriving neighborhood. This reduction in violent crime should reduce the number of traumatic injuries that flood many larger city hospitals. Basic first-aid and healthy life styles will reduce the other would be patients as well.

Every community could be as diverse and unique as the people that live in it. The only thing stopping people would be their imagination and knowledge from a professional.
I define a professional as someone who spent several years pursuing a passion and has become extremely knowledgeable in many different facets of that passion.

Technological developments could happen even faster and with more unique variations than ever before. The only thing that’s holding most of this back, in our current situation, is money from investors. Including the need for planned obsolescence with lots of devices so that people have to keep buying a new one next year.

If you need a special resource or object that is not within your community, just travel to a community that has that resource or object to work on your project.
You may want to contact that community before travelling to make sure what foundational aspects of that community you must participate in, in-order to get your resource or object.
Once you’ve obtained the resource/object you can either return to your original community or grow with the one you traveled to.
Or you can do something completely different with the community that has that resource that you need. Strike whatever kind of deal that you and the other community can agree upon. Maybe that community needs a resource that yours has. Yes, this does go back to a form of barter/trade once you need things that your local community cannot provide.

Now we have the power of the entire world to help solve issues.
There can be a whole website dedicated to problems other communities have all over the world. People can offer solutions on the site or set up arrangements to travel to or live in the community that needs help.
Our world transforms from a hyper-competitive one into one that is willing to collaborate to bring about solutions and positive change.

If this all sounds like something you would want help make a reality, check out Ubuntu Planet. They call this model, Contributionism (There’s a Kindle version too!).
There’s also another concept close to this called the Venus Project that utilizes technology a lot more heavily and uses their concept called a Resource Based Economy.
To me, it seems like the Ubuntu Planet model would evolve into the Venus Project model as time went on. Both focus on leaving behind any kind of monetary system and letting people pursue what it is they truly want to do with their time.

However this turns out, this is definitely the healthiest option humanity has at continuing forward and maintaining life in general upon this planet.


For a small scale option to get started and try out locally check out my other article, To Those Who Wish to Change the World.