A Different Reset. The need to abolish money.
Whenever I think about how the world could be a better place, I always reach the same conclusion — the abolishment of money. Money is the most destructive invention of the human race. It is the biggest cause of poverty throughout the world. The hoarding of capital, and material goods, contributes to the suffering of billions across the planet. Poverty causes atrocious standards of living the world over.
The founder of the World Economic Forum, Klaus Schwab, has come up with the idea of the Great Reset, a way to improve the world following the COVID-19 pandemic. The World Economic Forum holds an annual event at Davos to discuss the big economic issues of the day. This event has done nothing to end poverty and is just a gas house for the wealthy to pretend they are doing great things and to give themselves and each other a pat on the back. The event is invitation only, and generally it is only the rich, powerful and famous who are invited to attend.
In one of the Great Reset discussions, rebuilding the social contract was examined. However, there is a problem with this. These discussions generally involve people and groups who are at the “upper-echelons” of society. Rarely do these discussions involve the people who are affected by such discourse, and their outcomes. The top-down way of doing things is becoming redundant and increasingly rejected by marginalised people across the world. There is an increasing global shift of power and influence towards the “lower strata” of society. The more we educate ourselves the more we will allow ourselves to reach up and pull the one percent down to our level and attain true equality for the human race.
When reading an article or listening to the news, how often are things measured by its monetary/economic value? Ever since money was invented, it has ingrained itself so deep into our psyche that we subconsciously measure every aspect of lives on its monetary value. For example, an article on Big Think about Anti-depressant withdrawal states ‘The global antidepressant market is expected to reach $28.6 billion this year’. Why measure anti-depressants, or any other medicine by its monetary value? What we should do is measure life by other means. For example, why not measure life by a happiness index or a social usefulness index? All the while we continue to allow ourselves to be slaves to money, the longer we will find it harder to liberate ourselves. However, there is hope. The younger generations, millennials and gen z in particular, tend to have a more open and inclusive outlook towards the world than the generations that came before.
Globalisation is not a bad thing. There is too much competition and not enough cooperation worldwide. Once we have unity on this planet and work together on a planetary scale, we will then begin to unlock the potential of the human race and solve the biggest problems we face, whilst ensuring the planet can support us in a sustainable manner.
Technology can be used to better our lives. This is an increasing trend. However, it is not a trend that is moving quick enough. Most jobs can be done by automation or by smart technology. For example, Amazon has recently opened shops where a shoppers can walk in, pick up what they want/need and then walk out without the hassle of going to a checkout. An app on smartphones automatically bills the shopper for what they have brought. Additionally, we are seeing an ever-increasing use of delivery services for takeaways and shopping. With the advent of smart cars and drones, the delivery driver will soon become obsolete, and it cannot come quick enough. As soon as AI, smart technology and drones can replace humans, the sooner we can actually begin to enjoy our lives and take the time to do what we want with our leisure time. We could travel, educate ourselves, enjoy the nature of the planet and take part in community projects, and much, much more. No longer will we need to earn money to afford a decent standard of living.
The Venus project attests that we can have this life, not in the distant future, but in the near future. A resource-based economy, where we produce what we need, rather than what we want, is the ultimate goal of the Venus project, and many other groups across Earth. We have enough resources on this planet to live happily in abundance. What is needed is a new way to manage the resources that are available to us. This cannot be done whilst capitalism runs roughshod across the world.
Capitalists will tell you that money has done so much for humanity. Money is not an enabler. It is a disabler. In our current economic system, we cannot do most things in life without having to use money. Take the Covid vaccination research as an example. The funding was there for this to go ahead and to produce vaccines we so desperately needed. Usually, the process of applying for and receiving funding for research can take years. As a species we knowingly hamstring ourselves from reaching our full potential — the potential to look after the planet and each other.
I am aware that money is not the only issue that afflicts our society but it is the illness that could be the most easily treated. Inequality is running rampant across the globe. For example, the British Royal family is just one institution that promotes inequality and injustice just by virtue of its very existence, yet people still support it. What is this inequality measured and caused by? Money.
Many companies/corporations have side hustles in making the world a better place, virtue signalling if you will. In the Is a capitalist-socialist economy inevitable? Video on BigThink.com, Anand Giridharadas states corporations ‘tend to create harm in the billions and do good in the millions’. Essentially, profits come before anything else and by doing some good, corporations are hoping their supposed goodwill turns into revenue and profit. Of course, there are companies out there who do genuinely want to give something back and help people out but as stated above, profit always comes first.
This is the problem with the World Economic Forum’s Great Reset. Whilst it is commendable that the World Economic Forum has recognised the issues that plague the globe, it is primarily focused on retaining a capitalist society that adheres to a hierarchical structure, and as such, maintains the status quo as much as it can. Rutger Bregman said it best in an interview after his famous speech at the 2019 Davos event, ‘This is about saving capitalism’.
The World Economic Forum states ‘we need a “Great Reset” of capitalism.’ Clearly this is not a Great Reset of the world by solving its problems for the greater population. Instead, the elite have recognised the era of Covid-19 has caused a problem for their wealth and they see this as an opportunity to mould the post-Covid world in their financial image, and to increase their profits and wealth. This is already happening. The four richest people in the world, all white men, has increased their wealth by a quarter during the pandemic. Obviously, their wealth could only increase by our participation in buying the services and material goods they offer.
A different reset does not only call for the world system to change, but to recognise that ordinary people need to change too, especially in where we spend our money and our behaviours. The environment must come first, ahead of profits and the accumulation of materials goods. This will not happen until there is a clear and powerful shift in the thinking and behaviour of us all. We need to realise we can go on with life, and be happy and equal, after the abolition of money.
Bibliography
https://bigthink.com/videos/is-a-capitalist-socialist-economy-inevitable Big Think, Anand Giridharadas.
https://www.picfair.com/pics/06052907-shanty-town-in-luanda-angola
https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/now-is-the-time-for-a-great-reset/
