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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 1:54 pm
I'm not really going to make a first post, because I'm lazy. But here is a thread to discuss Communism in. Yay! divineseraph that is why i am communist- i want a society with no money. *sigh* In theory, I agree. Money is an almost useless thing, which people forget is just a fancy way of exchanging services/goods for other services/goods. As people are naturally greedy, and since we live in a society that pits individual against individual, it does seem like having no money would be better. But I just don't see Communism working in practice anytime soon. Humans can't help but be humans, and Communism doesn't seem to work very well for humans. Maybe someday, Pure (True) Communism will just happen, and it will work. But it can't be made to happen, and I don't feel that it really takes into account human nature.
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 2:17 pm
Jeeze, I mean, I would have mentioned Communism (I almost wrote Condomism xd ) if I'd seen that thread... it sounded like it really, really led to the subject.
It's hard for me to imagine a society without money. I only know a little bit about Communism, but I love money, it's so stretchable and interesting, you can put it in cards and give it to your kids for allowance and it smells good. I can't imagine what communism would be like. sweatdrop I think money's going to stay for a long while, too...
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 3:01 pm
gonk I just posted in the other thread... sweatdrop
There's nothing wrong with money--it's just a standardized way of bartering. Humans wanted to make bartering easier, so they decided on an economically stable standard that could be exchanged for anything and used as a measure of value.
The core necessity of socialism, as seen in the name, is society. Community. People willing to work together DESPITE "natural" greed and competition.
This is why it has and does work in small groups:
E.g.: My family, and most people's familes, could be seen as a miniature version of a socialist society. I'll occasionally pay for my sister if we go to a movie together, or she'll pay for me if we go out to eat. My mom and I both do grocery shopping, and the food in the house is collectively ours. We all probably owe each other some money, but we don't really care because we know if we fall on difficult times another will help us out. You're all probably familiar with this "laissez-faire" (no pun intended) setup.
The problem arises when people are forced to live that way with an entire country of thousands if not millions. People can be mistrusting, they can be hateful to those they don't even know. So they don't want to cooperate.
I think the planet is actually moving closer to a state in which communism and socialism are more viable--see Friedman's "The World Is Flat." Communication is getting better at a ridiculous pace--on Gaia I talk to people not only all over the same country and continent, but those on the other side of the planet. I get to know them, get to like them, get to see them as part of my personal world.
I don't mind paying taxes to support people I've never met as it is. Why should I care if my taxes are raised to give them more? Our tax money already goes, in part, to feed the starving in rural Africa. The U.S. is capable of eliminating hunger completely. Why not do it? What will the rich miss? Their 37th Balenciaga bag? Their 21st day of vacation in Bermuda?
Am I trying to legislate morality? Hell yes, that's what the government's for.
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 4:14 pm
i propose an even newer system, one with no profit, no money, nothing to lose or to gain, a world in which there are no wealthy, and there are no poor.
here's how it works- everyone makes things, as they do for a capitalist society. everyone produces someting which they put into the stores.
this is where the similarities end.
there is no pay for the work, not in money. not in cash. there is no trade from, say, one farmer to individuals. merely, the farmer to the entire system. there is no governer or ruler, no military or leader. simply people working, helping eachother, maintaining the society by watching over everyone else. mch like a neighborhood watch system, but instead of keeping thieves out, putting food and clothing and cars in.
factories would be built by builders, who would have homes built by other builders, who would be paid in the food produced by the famers, who would have their homes built by more builders. produce and be served.
when a job was saturated, when there was no more room for workers, say all theh omes were built for a while, they would produce in fields or factories, wherever they were needed.
and since all items are pre-paid by work, (think of working, if you must, as paying a million dollars an hour, since you could literally go in to the store, take what you want, and leave) there can be no poor so long as they are willing to work.
where do ideas of slavery show up in this plan? to me, it looks like unbridled freedom. All items are free, there are no poor, no rulers, no governing, no republic, no taxation, no profit, no war or abortion or starvation.
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:05 pm
How do you make people work?
There will still be poor, because some people will choose not to work.
How is this different than working for pay? (You work, you get objects...sounds kinda similar, doesn't it? Well, except that you've got less freedom this way...more on that below.)
Who regulates how much people work? Does everyone have to work 40-60 hours a week? What about someone who only works 10 hours a week but consistently works? What about different levels of work? Basically, you're proposing people work where the state TELLS them to work, not because they have skills for it or want to work there but because that's where the jobs are available and they're not allowed to compete for jobs they actually want. What happens to women on maternity leave? Sick people? Old people? Children? Do they all get a share in this vast wealth?
If there are no rulers, what happens when someone breaks the rules? Who enforces it? For that matter, who enforces the rules of the society?
There WILL be abortion because some women just plain don't want to be pregnant. You can ban it if you want, but just like here if it gets banned, it'll still happen.
Someone telling me where I need to work, what I need to do, products that aren't up to snuff (due to people who don't want to work there not working very hard since they have no reason to....it's kinda like in math when you need to just have something done, instead of having it done right, so you get perfect scores for homework by writing down random numbers but it's completely wrong), a place where there's no way to enforce the rules, no thanks, I'll take capitalism. It may suck, but it sucks less.
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:40 pm
again, who is telling anyone where they need to work?
i'm sure you've had a factory or low-end job, burger king or a warehouse. we all have one at one point. why did you have it? because that's the job that paid the most and had great benefits?
no. because it was available and that reason only.
there will be no telling where to work. only open jobs which people can take- first come, first serve, of course.
and the difference is- people make more money than others in capitalism. simple as that. some work hard and still don't have enough, while others never work and get everything. again, paris hilton.
there will be police, and the most basic of basic laws- no killing for any reason (including war, abortion, mercy killing, suicide), no stealing, the likes.
and those who choosen ot to work don't need to be involved in the society. some pople are poor here because they are simply unlucky. once you fall down that slope ,who will hire you? you can't jsut tell a hobo to get a job, where will he get one? which mcdonalds, even, would hire a man who can't afford a pair of pants, who smells from months of exposure?
and again, a worker's union would ensure that people work- every worker would, hopefully ,take pride in their work and their workplace. they would all individually ensure that the others work, everyone would be a manager and a worker.
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 6:49 pm
divineseraph again, who is telling anyone where they need to work? You did: Quote: when a job was saturated, when there was no more room for workers, say all theh omes were built for a while, they would produce in fields or factories, wherever they were needed.
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Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2007 7:28 pm
divineseraph again, who is telling anyone where they need to work? i'm sure you've had a factory or low-end job, burger king or a warehouse. we all have one at one point. why did you have it? because that's the job that paid the most and had great benefits? no. because it was available and that reason only. there will be no telling where to work. only open jobs which people can take- first come, first serve, of course. and the difference is- people make more money than others in capitalism. simple as that. some work hard and still don't have enough, while others never work and get everything. again, paris hilton. there will be police, and the most basic of basic laws- no killing for any reason (including war, abortion, mercy killing, suicide), no stealing, the likes. and those who choosen ot to work don't need to be involved in the society. some pople are poor here because they are simply unlucky. once you fall down that slope ,who will hire you? you can't jsut tell a hobo to get a job, where will he get one? which mcdonalds, even, would hire a man who can't afford a pair of pants, who smells from months of exposure? and again, a worker's union would ensure that people work- every worker would, hopefully ,take pride in their work and their workplace. they would all individually ensure that the others work, everyone would be a manager and a worker. So that means that someone is making the rules, and enforcing them, and thus, that group has more power than everyone else. The police and the worker's union have more power than the other people. And the judges, unless the police act as judge, jury, and executioner. And honestly? I wouldn't work my hardest. I'd just work to get by. Why put the effort in when you get the same thing no matter how much you put in? I might if I was in a job I was happy with, but even then, if I can get the same thing by showing up that I can get by working my butt off, which one am I going to choose? The one that doesn't involve as much effort, put me at more risk, take away from my happiness, etc. If I enjoy my work, then I might work my hardest because I'd enjoy it. I'm certainly not going to do my best at a job I hate and am only taking because it's available, not if I get paid the same when I just get by. If I was the only selfish b***h in the world, that'd be okay, but I'm not. I honestly haven't had a job like that. I've taken odd jobs, but I'm not healthy enough to take a steady job...or really, I haven't been since before I was old enough to work. I'm getting well enough though, so soon I will, but I don't intend to spend my entire life working in retail. I have a plan to go to school, do my best, and eventually get a PhD. Some people like working retail and they're happy doing it, but I wouldn't be. Why go to school for 4-10 years to learn something you're not ever going to use because you won't get to prove you're the best for the job, you'll just be stuck somewhere, and someone who's 10 times less qualified than you gets the job because either you feel an obligation to not just up and quit your job at the drop of a hat or you don't get there fast enough? How fair. You get assigned something to do according to what's available, not according to your skills, knowledge, and just plain being the best person for the job. What about people who CAN'T work? What happens to them? Are they put out of the society because they're useless? On a side note, I always thought it was really silly to make suicide illegal. "You're dead, let's arrest you now."
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Posted: Fri Mar 23, 2007 2:56 pm
listen here.
where do i ever say that anyone would assign anything? there would be open positions, and whoever chose to work there would work there, unitl the slots were full. EXACTLY like the jobs now.
know why everyone isn't a rockstar? because there aren't enough slots in that position.
know why not every teenager works at mcdonalds? same reason. not enough positions. so, they may work at wal mart or a gas station or a clothes store. they still choose where they work. it's not like anyone assigns a job here, what;s the difference?
a workers union is EVERYONE in the factory. EVERYONE. not a select group. not 5 people. all of them. all of them share and contribute input, and work to ensure that everyone else works at maximum efficiency.
the legal system would work like this one, all criminals tried by a jury of their peers. if that system is bad in your eyes, than so is the one you are fighting for in dissing mine.
think of it in two ways- either, taking this economy and removing the concept of money from it, or, if that is too hard to grasp, taking our economy and paying everyone a million dollars an hour.
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:27 pm
You're wrong, though.
The way it works now is NOT "This many slots, first come first serve." It's, "This many slots, most qualified gets the job." So yes, you ARE saying that people need to be in jobs they hate even if they can do the job they want 100 times better than the people already working there. You are assigned to any job that's available. Go take it, do it, because you can't do what you were trained to do since someone else got their first. It doesn't matter that you're the best brain surgeon in the world, someone much worse than you is operating on people because he happened to apply first. If you don't want to spend the rest of your life flipping burgers despite your PhD, then get out because you're not willing to work.
That's what I mean by jobs being assigned. People need to take jobs or they get kicked out. They can't save up money to sit on in case such a thing happens where they go without a job in their field for awhile. In your system, these people will have to take other jobs. You ARE telling them where they need to work, because if they don't work, they're out of the community, and if there are only a few places to work and none of them are in the field of the person searching for a job, too bad. Some freedom.
I also love the assumption that everyone qualified to build is qualified to work in the fields. To be done well, both of them require study, technique, and dedication. Is everyone going to go to school to learn to do everything since they can't really choose what to do with their lives (since, you can't work where you want to work, you just work where you have to work, and you never know what's going to be open so there's no point in picking a profession, chances are you won't be allowed to work there since there is no competing for jobs and you get in based on luck)?
Know why not everyone is a rockstar? Because most people suck at it. Of course if you want someone to be a rockstar based on possessing a set of vocal chords, then I suppose you'd like this system. I'll invest in earplugs and steer clear of radios.
If you think the current system is, "Show up first and you get the job," then I must ask. Have you ever written a resume? Have you ever seen the stacks of resumes employers get now when there's a job opening? Why are those stacks there, what's the point, if it's "first come, first serve?"
If the union encompasses everyone, then it doesn't really change anything if no one is heading the union. It's just giving the same group of people another title...nothing is accomplished unless everyone wants to work their best, and if the union really does have no more power than the average workman, they can't change it when someone decides not to put in 100%, or even 70%. So what's the point of having one? So a group of people can be powerless together?
In your system, though, you're claiming no one would have more power. I do not claim this about mine. But in your system, people DO have more power if it works the same here. Judges would. Police officers would. Average citizens certainly don't have the power to arrest people, or take them to jail against their will. Average citizens can't make a determination of what punishment to give.
So yes. Some people will have more power than others do, whether you want to admit it or not. The worst part is? These people won't have it because of responsibility, respect from the community, dedication, etc. They'll have it because of pure dumb luck of getting there first.
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 1:55 pm
for production-based jobs, yes, it is basically first come first serve.
we have less choice than you would think, as jobs fill up in utopia just as quickly. a world of brain surgeons forced to use stones and pine-needles wouldn;t do too well either.
again, the economy would be based on production. nothing that involves skill.
this is simply because at this point, it is impossible to create an entirely self-sufficient machinery-based factory. we still need workers.
i admit, doctors are not as easy a thing, as they are valuable.
perhaps, as a requirement to be a doctor they must take classes and courses, which open when there is a need for doctors?
try this for a change- work with me. help me thhink of solutions to these problems, instead of trashing an otherwise perfect system.
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 2:53 pm
The reason I'm not working with you is because I think it's not otherwise perfect. I think it's far from perfect and I'd shudder to have to live in such a society. There's so much room for corruption.
And almost everything requires skill. That's what makes products good. It encourages mediocrity to say in anything, first come first serve. Here's a slot, let's fill it. Good products are made by good people. Even right now, for production based jobs, it isn't first come first serve. Otherwise it'd be completely plausible to tell a hobo "Go get a job," and have him go get one. If it's really first come, first serve, then your comment about people like that not being able to get jobs is false. If an employer gets 10 applications, and one of them has had extensive factory experience before, the employer isn't going to say, "That's the best person for the job, but unfortunately, I picked up another application first, so I'm taking that guy."
I think it would be a good idea if everyone truly was equal, but we're not. As human beings, we're each unique. We don't all have the same aptitudes and abilities, everyone is different. Some people are wonderful at factory jobs, and some people really do suck at it. Some people have the kind of self-motivation it takes to make your system work in terms of working and taking from the communal store, but many people don't. Someday, I think it will be possible...I just don't think it is now.
If I found something in your system that I liked and thought was possible, then I'd certainly work with you...but I don't. I also have a lot of questions still unanswered. I also think it's oversimplifying things to say there will be no more starvation, abortion, theft, or war. Problems in life don't always come from want of possessions or lack of finances. There are many people who steal just to steal, who go to war to defend themselves, who wouldn't be willing to work and will therefore be denied access to food, who just plain don't want to be pregnant and or mothers. People can want things that can't be replicated and mass-produced, like other people or an original work of art.
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 3:43 pm
divineseraph again, the economy would be based on production. nothing that involves skill. How is that not based on skill? Quote: this is simply because at this point, it is impossible to create an entirely self-sufficient machinery-based factory. we still need workers. Keep in mind that would be a goal, though--reduce the dependence on manual labour. And for that to happen, skilled engineers are required. It's a common misconception that in a communist economy, everyone is paid the same. Not true--you're rewarded for your contribution, but to a reasonable extent. I.e., no one earns $100 million a year, but no one earns $5 an hour either. If you check out any communist party, in the U.S. or elsewhere, one of their primary goals is a living wage. Being paid what you're really worth. Is it fair to pay a nurse $20,000 a year? No, but it's not fair to pay someone $200,000 to sit on their a**, either. At this one auto plant, I believe it was GM but I may be wrong, plant management was essentially turned over to the assembly line workers. They were trained, obviously, but they all rotated shifts working as both skilled laborers and managers. Morale went through the roof, and people thoroughly enjoyed working there. There was no labour vs. management, because labour managed themselves. This is the goal of communism and socialism. When workers own the means of production, when they're compensated fairly for their work, they want to work. Let's say you owned a business, one that you created because you liked the field. Even if you earned a meager wage just for existing, would you really want to just sleep all day with the business closed? You'd want to work, you'd want your business to be successful because it's what you enjoy doing.
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 6:34 pm
exactly- now just take the money out of it. if there is nothing to steal and noting to trade- it is perfection.
i just hate money, really. it controls people, enslaves them, makes them do disgusting things. not only for opulence, but for a societal neccesity. it is NEEDED, and i find it wrong that some people can be born into a life with no want or need, while others can lose everything through scams and loopholes and regulations and accidents.
how could a system in which thete is no gain or loss be corrupt? there is nothing to pervert, nothing to take advantage of.
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Posted: Sat Mar 24, 2007 7:20 pm
La Veuve Zin divineseraph again, the economy would be based on production. nothing that involves skill. How is that not based on skill? Quote: this is simply because at this point, it is impossible to create an entirely self-sufficient machinery-based factory. we still need workers. Keep in mind that would be a goal, though--reduce the dependence on manual labour. And for that to happen, skilled engineers are required. It's a common misconception that in a communist economy, everyone is paid the same. Not true--you're rewarded for your contribution, but to a reasonable extent. I.e., no one earns $100 million a year, but no one earns $5 an hour either. If you check out any communist party, in the U.S. or elsewhere, one of their primary goals is a living wage. Being paid what you're really worth. Is it fair to pay a nurse $20,000 a year? No, but it's not fair to pay someone $200,000 to sit on their a**, either. At this one auto plant, I believe it was GM but I may be wrong, plant management was essentially turned over to the assembly line workers. They were trained, obviously, but they all rotated shifts working as both skilled laborers and managers. Morale went through the roof, and people thoroughly enjoyed working there. There was no labour vs. management, because labour managed themselves. This is the goal of communism and socialism. When workers own the means of production, when they're compensated fairly for their work, they want to work. Let's say you owned a business, one that you created because you liked the field. Even if you earned a meager wage just for existing, would you really want to just sleep all day with the business closed? You'd want to work, you'd want your business to be successful because it's what you enjoy doing. See, this is why Socialism and Communism aren't inherently evil; they are, in essence, the best solution for worker's. They provide the best benefits, the best pay, the best situation and environment. On the other hand, they also have a bad tendency to stagnate and decay with little to no initiative or drive when improperly handled, which is often the case. Capitalism, provides drive, is socially transitive, and provides an economic driving force. And negatively (of course, because no pure system is perfect), Capitalism is the proverbial Jormungandr, and provides the least protection of worker's and their rights.
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