Posted by David Searles on June 01, 2009 at 15:57:59:
In Reply to: Re: Money as the root of all evil? posted by Lillia Frantin on May 31, 2009 at 11:32:18:
Lillia - this is what I see happening-
rather this is what I don't see happening first.
I no longer believe in the big bang theory - that one fine day (as the song goes) we'll wake up in Socialist heaven (with or without a whole lot of "class struggling" on the eve of that dawning.)
I see rather an awakening, albeit begrudging, of rationality. Something like how it was explained in Looking Backward.
I do expect that the political state will do some of the organizing and the placing of the workers into collective control of the industrial means of production and distribution.
I expect that the political govt. will continue to issue its conceded fiat currency during a long transition period, quite possibly for generations, if only to buffer the effects of a transition to a total labor credit economy.
I don't see much reason why fiat currency and labor notes couldn't exist simultaneously. And contrary to some bugaboo that some find in Marx that says that labor notes ought not to "circulate" I am of the opposite opinion. Moreover if someone chooses to work for cash - that's fine too.
eg. you as an artisan could choose to transfer a painting to someone else for cash or for labor notes. And I would fully expect that all transactions, whether cash or labor note would be taxed - just as transfers of goods to workers from the social store in exchange for their labor ought to be taxed. But that's another topic.
Hopefully this will spur some more questions.
Dave