Letters
Money must go
Dear Editors
The existence of money and property ownership has become a choke point in the further evolution of mankind.
We, in the United Kingdom, as one of the wealthiest nations on this planet, can’t afford to keep our pensioners at a level much above abject poverty, and over the next twenty years this will become more acute. We close down hospital wards because next year’s budget isn’t due yet, despite being able to fill them many times over with people who urgently require treatment. We allow people in the third world to die in the most degrading circumstances, because it is more profitable to cheat them out of their national resources. We stand by and watch helplessly, as the drug barons infect out richest resource, our children. Big business rapes and pollutes the limited resources of our planet and encourages us to keep buying, and wasting, to keep the cash flowing.
It doesn’t make sense.
Fortunately, there is a solution which can wipe out these ills and many more.
The two root causes of most human misery are money and violence, and the existence of money is the catalyst for most violence. By removing money and the individual ownership of any and all of Earth’s resources from existence, we instantly remove the barriers to the further evolution of mankind.
An evolution away from war, crime, and inequality.
An evolution toward global prosperity, universal peace and understanding.
So how could this be peacefully achieved, and what would be the net effect?
All we have to do is to decide, as a species, that at a pre-determined point in time, we will stop using money. From that time on, changes will begin to occur which will positively enhance our existence on this planet. All we have to do is keep working, to produce all the goods and services that we need and want. But instead of producing poor quality goods, we can take the decision to produce the best quality, most up to date goods we can imagine, for everyone.
Constricted only by the paramount rules of ensuring the safe availability of the raw materials we require, the safety of the people producing them and the overriding factor of its minimal impact on our planet.
With expert planning, and the positive will of all the people of the Earth, we can build new communities with safe, efficient, integrated transport, energy, waste management, health and entertainment systems, sited in the most geologically and climatically stable environments on the planet, using fully recyclable materials. For all of us.
We can detoxify areas of our planet which have been previously adulterated by industry.
We can grow unadulterated food all year round, using the most fertile and suitable areas of our planet for our crops.
We can provide first class training for everyone to carry out their job efficiently and knowledgably.
We can make those jobs as safe and pleasant as possible, with hours and holiday entitlements pre-calculated by statisticians, so that we do enough to maintain and improve our environment without it impinging too much on our new found social life.
We can gather the finest minds on the planet, equip them with all the materials and technology and help they require, and stand back in awe as they produce solutions to whatever befalls us. If it is humanly possible, and good for our planet and our species then why not?
We, the human species can have all of this, and so much more.
As soon as we realise that we are all intimately related. We are one family, estranged by time, distance, environment and philosophy.
And as soon as we realise that here on Earth, we are living in a life support system which is, to our certain knowledge, unique. Because it contains the only species in the known universe with which we can fully communicate, and it is composed of all the raw materials we will (hopefully) ever need.
We already have the world we dream about, we can award ourselves
undreamt of fringe benefits. The only questions you really need to ask
yourself are – why not…..and when?
Ken Scragg, Livingston, West Lothian
Reply: We of course agree that the production and distribution of wealth could, and should, take place without money, but we don’t think it will as easy to get there as you seem to imply. We will need to organise to struggle politically against those who currently own and control the means for producing wealth and benefit from the money-wages-profits system. There will have to be an (essentially peaceful) democratic social revolution to end their monopoly and make the means of production the common heritage of all, which will make money redundant. This done, the benefits you mention will become possible – Editors.