Common Planet Economics

One of the major sources of misery & distress in this world is the economic system that has been set up to regulate human activity. It is a system based on debt and fiat currency that only has value because the central banks say it has value.

Economics is one of those areas in which the status quo has been entrenched for so long, that people just accept how shitty it is and don't think of better solutions. Luckily, there are people who take the time to dream of better possibilities & think of new ways of doing things. Sometimes new ideas start out as fiction, such as the the post-scarcity economics of Star Trek.

The Monkey Buddha Archives:

Star Trekonomics

I came across this introduction to a "Common Planet" manifesto on Phroyd's World and believe it's the type of thinking we need to transform our economic system. It seems outrageously idealistic and impossible to implement in our current situation, but only by presenting ideas and new perspectives can we even begin to change our society and its institutions.

earthvote.org:

Common Planet

The plan has aspects of Universal Basic Income, an approach of eliminating welfare programs & poverty by guaranteeing a basic income to every person.

Universal Basic Income

This would be paid for by redistributing wealth from the very top of the economic pyramid, which is now basically extracted from circulation and hoarded for personal score-keeping, instead of used to benefit all of society. Anyone who argues against wealth redistribution from the top>down is making a de facto argument in favor of wealth redistribution from the bottom>up. Some of the same people who lament the disappearance of the "middle class" vehemently argue against raising taxes on the top 1%. The wealth of not just this country but of this world is being siphoned from the average population & into the bank accounts of the ultra-rich at an unsustainable rate. This is an indisputable fact, and something must be done to regain some sense of fairness in the economic priorities of the human race.

Perhaps change will be slowly implemented over decades or centuries, maybe we are stuck with this system for the foreseeable future. However, if people formulate, analyze, and discuss new ways of thinking, then the possibility of improving our state of being becomes much more likely. These approaches need to gain recognition in the collective consciousness, and will result in people demanding & creating a better world.