Let's abolish money

I recently read a comment on WND that made me blink in astonishment. It read as follows:
____________________________________

There are only good people in the world. There are no evil people. We are all born inherently good. Good people do bad things when they are negatively impacted by some aspect of society.

Even Adolf Hitler was a good person! He turned bad when he was poisoned by the power that was given to him by his people.

I have met some really nice people of varying religious affiliations. I have absolutely no problem with any of them as long as they keep their religious beliefs private - and out of government, especially legislation that can impact my life.

What are you going to do? Get your gods to stop gun violence? Two hands working accomplish more than two hands clasped in prayer.

I have a lot of faith in humanity. I believe we will adapt to and overcome all our problems (without gods). There are only good people in the world. There are no bad people. We must improve the quality of life for all people. We are the human collective - brothers and sisters of humanity MUST unite and take care of each other. With love for one another, we can put an end to the quality of life issues that force people to do bad things.

You seem to think that we should just give up on attempting to stop gun violence, because you think it is inevitable due to the existence of 'evil'...

You are wrong. But we must go beyond simple gun legislation.

The only way to stop this is by improving the quality of life for all people. We must do all that we can to evenly distribute resources among all humans, so that the quality of life is very good for all. People should not be subjugated to the 'paid' slavery of Corporations. Some say that people would be unmotivated in such a world - but that is a lie. If you found something that you were very good at doing, and the rest of the world supported your efforts - you would self-actualize and be self-motivated by something beyond money. If we did that for ourselves... this world would be much better off.

Money needs to be abolished - the concept of 'wealth' should be nonexistent. As a civilization, we will only succeed if we join together and share our resources. We must adapt.

With things the way they are, the world is split up into "Corporate Empires" that enslave the masses. The leaders of those "Empires" sit on all the world's bread as they sprinkle crumbs to the ones they enslave. It is time for that to end.
____________________________________

Tell me, who is “self-actualized” and “self-motivated” to clean the toilets or mop the floors in this mythical money-free world this person advocates? Without the motivation of money, I’m afraid these unpleasant but very necessary jobs wouldn’t get done.

Putting aside his views on religion and history, what I found remarkable are the words I put in bold. Considering that wealth in one form or another has existed for ALL of recorded human history, it seems naive and simplistic to think that abolishing money will cure all the ills in the world, or that no one would ever re-emerge wealthy.

Frankly when someone says "Wealth should be nonexistent" and "all resources should be evenly distributed," I believe that to be code-talk for "What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine."

Absolute pure barter doesn’t work because if I want the shoes you make and you don’t want the cheese I make, then we’re out of luck for any bartering transaction. Money is merely a neutral bartering item to make an exchange easier.

Money is also the tangible value of time. If I work and receive money for that work, it is merely compensation for the time I spent working. But redistributing wealth is akin to slavery because it steals my time and compensates someone else for time they didn't work.

Please don't misunderstand, I'm not suggesting it's moral or ethical to exploit poor people. That's not my point at all. My point is that by employing forcible wealth redistribution (because the only way wealth can be redistributed is by force) and "abolishing money," you'll do nothing more than make a lot of hard-working people lose interest in working at all. And remember, only a government entity is capable of forcing this kind of distribution.

But hey, if this person wants to try and abolish money and live in universal harmony and mystic crystal revelations, then I wish him well… as long as he doesn’t try to pass legislation to impose his will by force.

Activist or freeloader?

Here's an interesting article which caught my eye this evening.

It seems a young German couple couple is managing to live without money. "A Berlin family of three has been living on practically nothing but love and the goodwill of others for more than two years and counting," says the article, "not as a victims of the rough economy, but as activists who are on a money strike to protest what they call our 'excess-consumption society.'"

I thought, "My goodness, how lofty and resourceful they must be." However upon further reading, it seems this "resourcefulness" largely depends "on the goodwill and excess resources of others."

In other words, mooching.

The profile of this couple blows hot and cold. On one hand, I certainly can't argue with many of their philosophic points about how wasteful, materialistic, and over-consumptive western society is. I have shelves full of books arguing that very point. And they are unquestionably doing odd jobs and freelance work to "pay" for living spaces and doctor bills. There's a certain attraction about being so free-spirited and unencumbered in a world where most people are laden down with possessions. And it's not like they're forcing anyone to barter with them or share their "excess resources" (except, arguably, government resources).

But at what point does this free-spirited lifestyle descend into mooching? How convenient that Germany offers "universal medical care" (paid for by...whom?) as well as "child support" received from the government (which, the article hastily adds, is "granted to all children" -- paid for by...whom?).

As one commenter posted at the end of the article, "This guy reminds me of someone who's trying to quit smoking - they still smoke, only they smoke other peoples cigarettes."

In fact, most of the comments were negative. "Who are these hippies?" someone posted. "Money is hampering our dreams? How do you think the people who show you goodwill and charity are ABLE to show you goodwill and charity? Though the money they earn at their jobs."

Am I misjudging these folks? Are they being truly resourceful or merely freeloading? Where's the dividing line?