GOLDEN AGE Economic System (break glass in case of emergency)

I had been thinking and researching ways that people banded together without centralized government to create local trade or monetary systems in the event of a economic collapse. I found holes in almost every system, systems that leaned one way or the other, in favor of some but not the others. I liked the barter system, but to barter you had to have something right there and then usually to trade. The barter system may still work, but in present modern age where nobody is making anything bartering may further weaken us if the economy collapsed. We need a system that uses every willing and able person for the betterment of the whole right out of the gates of an economic collapse. Food, water, shelter, and health care being the foremost of the needs. So how to organize that from the start? What kind of system?

I recently had a dream that I was shown an economic system that functioned almost like our current system, yet currency was not inflated, and no taxes were collected. When I thought about this system further I realized that it incorporated a lot of different political viewpoints about economics while maintaining a very capitalist society. The system worked very much like the barter system, our current monetary system, and the system we use with our neighbors (which there is no name for). The system with your neighbors is they borrow your lawnmower but no contract is made, yet when you need some sugar they give you some.

The system is below please comment add to it, raise issues or points so that I can iron this out better in case we ever need to break the glass on it.

Golden Age Economics


Golden Age Economics uses the same infrastructure as is currently being used in a capitalist society, but provides for an even playing field, and rewards based off the betterment of the whole. If the President of a country decided the current economic system was broke, this system could be implemented the next day using existing technology, and resources. The method of this economic system is one based of need, versus off of wants. The system effectively rewards those who can contribute faster than those who cannot or would not, by allowing them to purchase more “want” items or services. The system also addresses hunger and encourages automation of production, free time for society, and a pursuit of working within ones own interests. All contributions to society must have a real marketable need or want otherwise like any skill if there is no buyer then the product or service is worthless. In fact this economic system is the same as our current debt based system, with a non inflationary, global conscious approach.

Ideally this system could be used in local communities in the event of an economic collapse. It assigns needs of the community with workers to accomplish the goal of a whole group, rewarding those that become innovative, or have a product that helps the majority of the community. The debit system below is just a way to track and has no value other than determine the value of a debt or contribution to society.

TERMINOLOGY
Debit = A increase or decrease in an account

Account = A mode of accounting for debt’s and contributions

A negative debit = your debt owed to society

A positive debit = your contribution to society

Need Item = Items or Services in which people need to live

Want Item = Items or Services in which people want to have

Pricing Method Formula = Unknown (Maybe I’ll have another dream), but I have a feeling this formula would involve the man hours needed to make something or perform a service.

Labor = Whether performing work as a private individual or working for an employer: All work done for someone else allows the worker to transfer negative debit points to the employers account based on the contracted rate of pay.

Payment for Items and Services = All private parties wishing to purchase an item or service will accept negative debits transferred from the seller to the buyer.

Internet = The biggest function of the internet in the Golden Age Economic system would be to post available work or projects, in which to show up and work for. Jobs would only require certain skill set certifications that would be learned through educational facilities. If you have that skill and want to work for that contracted amount of debits per hour then you can assign yourself the job.

INDIVIDUALS & BUSINESS ACCOUNTS
Individuals and businesses will have accounts that shall never be a positive number. A person or corporate entity may only have zero or a negative account balance. Although, an individual may have an accumulated positive points past zero that is useable within a certain amount of years (assuming this person is so successful and contributes to society far greater than he/she consumes).

Example #1:
A logging company hires a worker. This worker negotiates an amount the workers negative debits to be transferred to the owner of the company for his work performed. (I’ll assume 2 debits per hour for this example). The worker chops down 2 trees in that hour. The company owner then sells the trees to a mill company. The mill company says they will buy the 2 trees for 4 debits total. The mill company accepts the negative debits from the owner of the logging company, which alleviates the logging company of it’s debts to society.

Example #2:
A writer authors a book he/she wants to self publish. The writer spends 100 hours on this book, and is owed nothing by society at this point. The writer calls a publishing company and prints a number of books to distribute to bookstores. This costs the writer (100 negative debits, in this example) to publish and print the 100 books. The publishing company transfers 100 negative debits to the writers account, alleviating the publishing company’s negative debits. The writer prices the books for 2 negative debits. The writer then sells all the books transferring off 200 debits from his/her own account to the buyer upon successful sales off all the books.

Example #3:
You want to go on vacation. You book a hotel room and a plane ticket. Negative debits from the business owners accounts are transferred over to you. You fly and stay at the hotel, your total trip costing you 50 debits. You go online and find yourself work to do based on skill sets you posses, and alleviate your balance by transferring your negative debits to the owner of the company you chose to work at. You may also just have a steady job, the choice would be totally yours.


GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTS
Government is the only entity that starts with zero and gets positive debits to their account; government can never have a negative account. In a Golden Age economic system, government need only be as big as needed without waste. That need is based on what the community needs to improve itself and based on the ability for it to perform the work needed. Government uses positive debit credits only. When the government buys something, they take away negative debit from the private party or business as payment but it converts to a positive once in the governments account. Why is this?

There are no taxes ever collected and no fees needed to government entities. This is because elected officials have a positive debit account. Whereas, when government decides it needs workers to oversee food, building regulation, etc. it hires workers. Those workers transfer negative debit points to the government, but the government converts it into positive debits. The more the government hires and buys the larger their positive debit account becomes. At the end of the year, all positive debits are returned to all citizens equally. Thereby, this offsets the citizen’s accounts alleviating some of everyone’s debt.

www.thevenusproject.com...

You should check out that website, it is brilliant, and you may like what you read.

I agree with Dalan. Check out The Venus Project.

Also, having been in Banking a number of years (and a number of years ago), I might point out that "debit" is a deduction and "credit" is an addition - depending on one's perspective, accountingwise.

A check may represent a credit of funds to you, but it is counted as a debit by the bank.

reply to post by dalan.


Thanks for that link... it is Awesome! I hadn't seen it before .. they are on the right track.

A drastic change is our only hope of survival as a species.

Oh yes I love the Resource based economy module of the venus project, but you couldn't implement this without a massive step. The goal of the system I propose would be able to be implemented within a week of a financial collapse to ensure economic stability on a local scale. While the system I propose could easily lead into a venus project type economic module, the need for a simple way to track the resource consumption without a venus project city that mass produces everything, in the event of an economic collapse seems the goal of the system I propose.

Originally posted by ExPostFacto
Oh yes I love the Resource based economy module of the venus project, but you couldn't implement this without a massive step. The goal of the system I propose would be able to be implemented within a week of a financial collapse to ensure economic stability on a local scale. While the system I propose could easily lead into a venus project type economic module, the need for a simple way to track the resource consumption without a venus project city that mass produces everything, in the event of an economic collapse seems the goal of the system I propose.

Though fictional in framework, I present a possible path to the resource economy in my book (FREE, linked in my sig). I welcome readers and commenters.

I think we could "just do it" if we got the word out to enough people...soon enough. If we dally too much longer, most of us will be dead.

Originally posted by blujay
reply to post by dalan.

 

Thanks for that link... it is Awesome! I hadn't seen it before .. they are on the right track.

A drastic change is our only hope of survival as a species.

I couldn't agree with you more, and I am very pleased that you enjoyed their goals and ideas.