Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Resource Based Economy

Imagine living in a world without politics, war, class warfare, poverty, money, jails, crime, corruption, power & control, and systems, institutions, and establishments that perpetuate social stratification. Although not a utopian society because perfection does not exist and change is constant, such a world can be realized if everyone were to learn, understand, and implement change where humanity and the environment come before profit.

This type of world can exist if a resource based economy (RBE) replaces the monetary system. Once you declare all natural resources of planet Earth common heritage among all humanity, social stratification, wars, and poverty will disappear. Currently, nations go to war for resources and Governments are corrupted by corporations to privatize said resources for profit.

The phrase "resource based economy" was coined by futurist Jacque Fresco who has been working on such a society his entire career. Jacque realizes that.

"if all the money in the world were destroyed, as long as we have sufficient arable land, the factories, the necessary resources, and technical personnel, we could build anything and even supply an abundance."

Money produces scarcity because those who don't have it cannot buy and access basic resources to live. Currently we live in a world where 34,000 children die a day from preventable diseases and starvation due to the lack of access to necessary resources. This is unacceptable due to the fact that Mother Earth is plentiful with resources to provide all her inhabitants. Jacque gives a great example of money vs. resources:

"During the Depression, there were vacuum cleaners in store windows and automobiles in car lots. The Earth was still the same place. There was just no money in people's wallets and very little purchasing power. At the beginning of World War II, the U.S. had about 600 first-class fighting aircraft. We rapidly overcame this short-supply by turning out over 90,000 planes per year. The question at the start of World War II was: Do we have enough funds to produce the required implements of war? The answer was No, we did not have enough money or gold, but we did have more than enough resources. It was the available resources and technical personnel that enabled the U.S. to achieve the production and efficiency required to win the war."

It is access to resources people need, not money. You cannot eat money, shove it in your gas tank to make it run, or drink it for survival. With our financial system in free fall collapse due to its' own short comings, real change is needed and should be demanded. This is not a political movement because politics involves money whether it is capitalism, socialism, communism or the free market system. A resource based economy is about having access to all resources without cost. If we implement the scientific method into society towards social concern we can and will balance and sustain the environment and place people before profit.









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