Re: Heroes, causes and Marx

[Adam Shapira <vorlon@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Margaret Trawick wrote:

> >>   Capital (money) is the most convenient means of exchange.  It is also
> >> the most convenient means of domination.  I do not see any way to stop
> >> capitalist exploitation except from within the capitalist system itself,
> >> through anti-trust legislation and the like.
> >
>
> >There is a point here ... but eliminating currency and
> >going back to the barter system is not necessarily the
> >solution to our problems.
>
> I agree.  Did not mean to suggest otherwise.
>
> >Then again, though I do not advocate abolishing
> >currency, I *do* think it needs to be reformed.
> >
>
> Mmm.  Yes.  How?

To make a long story short, instead of abolishing
currency, it's a better idea to put it "in it's
place". The question is, how *do* we keep currency
from being such a pervasive element in society
without abilishing it entirely? To this, there is
no easy answer, but what follows is one possible
suggestion.

Instead of having fully-liquid currency (like dollars
and cents) that can be used for just about every
purpose, it should be replaced by a more controlled
alternative that can be used only for specific
purposes ... a coupon-type system of sorts.

For example, in a society with no currency at
all, the set of medicines a doctor can prescribe
for a patient is pretty much limited to what
he/she can grow in his/her backyard ... which is
not guaranteed to suffice the medical needs of
the patient. However, with a coupon-type system,
a pharmacist can be given enough coupons to
provide for the pharmaceutical needs of his/her
area. The pharmacist would send the coupons to
the pharmaceutical plant in exchange for medicines,
and the government would collect these coupons
from the pharmaceutical plant, and provide, in
turn, the needs of the plant workers, as well
as the resources needed to maintain the plant.

Of course, coupons would not be needed for
everything. Some needs could be taken care of
by alternatives (such as the barter system)
and others could be taken care of by the
neigborliness that would be more likely to
exist in non-capitalist societies. But some
things (like the example I mentioned above)
can't. Coupons are a form of currency that
provides the flexibility needed to perform
functions that can not be done without any
currency at all ... but which is rigid enough
to be prevented from permeating every aspect
of life.