The Human-Hour Econo-Government
People live, then they die. But while they're alive, they do stuff. What do they do? Eat and drink for one.
They also breathe, but for all intents and purposes, air for breathing is an infinite resource... for now... until we kill all the plants.
So animals, excluding humans, go hunting and gathering for their food and they devote nearly their entire lives looking out for their next meal.
Humans, at least in developed countries, only have to worry about where their next meal is coming from if it is the middle of the night and no place is open. Or you could probably go to the pantry and scrounge something up.
Other than air, food and water, people need material possessions as well. They need cars and clothes and myriad other items to get them by in the modern world.
Humans came up with the concept of trading, or bartering. By logical extension, humans also came up with money. Money made trading easier.
The logical extension of money was markets and trade. Eventually, currency ran the world. This wasn't bad at all for a very long time. Money was very convenient, after all.
There is a big problem with money, though. It is a middleman between stuff you need for life and the effort of acquiring it. To acquire money, you work a job. You are trading your time and effort for food and stuff.
Money being a middleman isn't a problem in itself though. Money has a sort of gravitational property to it. Entities that have a lot of money to begin with find it incredibly easy get more of it. Those without a lot of money to start have a hard time ever getting the ball rolling.
This isn't why money is bad though. People are bad. No longer is currency merely a tool used to aide in trading; it is the trading. Money has gone from a tool in a game to being the game itself.
Businesses, as they grow, no longer worry about product quality and customer happiness. CEOs have to worry about whether or not the business makes money to stay afloat.
No longer can people do what they love, for they have to go work a job they hate so they can earn money to live.
The game of money has turned into a tool of oppression. It controls our lives and our minds.
What about this? Since money is used as a symbol for your time and effort, why not give your time and effort away for free? Ask others to do the same.
If we don't do things for money, we do them because they make the world a better place. If we don't make our products to maximize profit, we make our products to please the customer.
What if you went to work every day knowing that doing so was helping to make the world a better place for you and your family rather than just enriching the life of the person that owns your company?
Eventually, voting wouldn't be necessary. People just go and do what they want, working for the company they want because they think that will make the world a better place.
The problem is, if people don't specialize, or rather, don't work in the same field their entire lives, they won't ever be really good at one thing.
This isn't a problem, it's a solution. Since people are working their job for free, there's nothing compelling them to stay at the same job any longer than it holds their interest.
Thus, several things happen. First, it would probably increase turnover rates at companies, while increasing the number and quality of "permanent" employees.
Second, general skills would strengthen. Instead of producing individuals with a singular skill-set, we could have an large number of interchangeable employees.
Third, no longer would people hate their jobs. If you don't like doing it, or you don't agree with what the company does, quit. They need you more than you need them.
Instantly, everybody's vote counts for exactly one each. There are no more individuals that have more voting power (read: money) than another. Value would be measured in humans per hour.
People develop a large array of skill-sets, or at least cursory knowledge of many topics. Knowledge which may be only an inch deep in some spots, but the puddle of their mind is a mile wide.
Wouldn't we run out of "experts" though? I doubt it. With a data repository for the human race such as the Internet, "expert knowledge" could be contained and added to digitally. If something new is discovered, the repository is updated and future explorers of said topic can pick up where the others left off. Also, people will become experts in what they love; that's all an expert is anyway.
In a human-hour economy, the individuals would drive it, creating a true democracy. This way, the government IS the economy. Now we can get rid of politicians as middlemen, too!
If you see on the TV that Company X is polluting or doing something you don't necessarily agree with, and you happen to be an employee, you can show your opinion by not working there. Conversely if you see a company that you think has potential to benefit you and or others, then go work for them!
No longer do people need to learn facts and data, they simply need how to learn in general. Learn to learn and you can know everything. The decrease in training time for new employees would, at least in part, make up for the higher turnover rates.
Lastly, I believe this would also solve unemployment permanently. In fact, if this became law, I don't see why we wouldn't go ahead and make unemployment illegal at the same time.
So realistically, how can this happen? Just ask your employer to stop paying you, but keep working there, at least for awhile. If you don't already have a job, go ask to work somewhere for free.
If every unemployed person in the United States went and worked somewhere for free right now, I bet it could be the kick-start our economy needs to get rolling again.
When it comes down to it, people are unemployed because the price of their human-hours was too high, and now they refuse to work for the price the market seems to think their human-hours are worth. It is despicable.
If you want the economy to keep sucking, then keep feeling sorry for yourself and stay unemployed while the rest of us do the right thing and work for free.
02.25.2010. 06:11
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