Does our civilisation really need money?

[Momo]

'Does our society really need money'

Another flawed question, Minx. Yes, 'our civilisation' requires money because it is defined by it. How could our bodies function without blood?

A different question could be, 'what other types of modern civilisation could prosper without money'?

[Nessus]

How do you make these people be productive member's of society. I take offense to the notion that you forcibly take the belongings of others who have earned them and give them to those who have not. Which is exactly what you are purposing. You are purposing we take a gun to the heads of the people who are working and force them to set aside some of their resources and pay for other's who are not working.

I take delight in your offence

Did you know I am taxed, too? And yet I don't think I've seen a gun more than two or three times in my life.

[LittleFuzzy]

I take delight in your offence

Did you know I am taxed, too? And yet I don't think I've seen a gun more than two or three times in my life.

How much time do you spend outside of what counts for urban centers in mostly-empty Finland again?

[Nessus]

How much time do you spend outside of what counts for urban centers in mostly-empty Finland again?

Well I spent the first 18 years of my life in a very small (even by Finnish standards) rural village, so...The majority of my life-time, at any rate?

[Lewkowski]

I take delight in your offence

Did you know I am taxed, too? And yet I don't think I've seen a gun more than two or three times in my life.

Try not paying taxes and see what happens.

[Nessus]

Try not paying taxes and see what happens.

It would be pretty hard given that it'd involve seducing the division secretary

Though she is pretty smokin'...

And bear in mind that this is liberalsliberalsliberalsliberalsliberalsliberalsli beralsliberals-Finland, what exactly do you think we do to criminals here?

[Lewkowski]

It would be pretty hard given that it'd involve seducing the division secretary

Though she is pretty smokin'...

And bear in mind that this is liberalsliberalsliberalsliberalsliberalsliberalsli beralsliberals-Finland, what exactly do you think we do to criminals here?

Well lets find out. Stop paying your taxes and tell us what happens.

[Nessus]

Well lets find out. Stop paying your taxes and tell us what happens.

I took the time, effort and hard work to learn your language, maybe you could pay the courtesy back by reading what I write to you?

[Lewkowski]

I took the time, effort and hard work to learn your language, maybe you could pay the courtesy back by reading what I write to you?

You want a pat on the back for learning the most important language in the world?

[CitizenCain]

I took the time, effort and hard work to learn your language

You don't speak Texan.

[Being]

You want a pat on the back for learning the most important language in the world?

You mean the one you refuse to learn? No pat on the back for you than...

[Aimless]

I took the time, effort and hard work to learn your language, maybe you could pay the courtesy back by reading what I write to you?

You want a pat on the back for learning the most important language in the world?

She wants you to show that you can read and understand a post written inyour own goddamned language. Jesus

[Nessus]

You want a pat on the back for learning the most important language in the world?

I think a punch in the face would be a more apt analogy here.

[Veldan Rath]

You want a pat on the back for learning the most important language in the world?

Gods Lewk...why do you always ruin a good point by stepping onto these landmines?

[CitizenCain]

Gods Lewk...why do you always ruin a good point by stepping onto these landmines?

For all the difference it would have made, why not? We've been down this whole government-and-physical-force road with Nessus a lot, and it always ends the same way. May as well be trying to teach calculus to a cat.

[GGT]

After reading this whole mess, and looking back at what minx was asking.....I'm gonna go out on a limb and say this isn't about money per se, or bartering services, but a fundamental question about credit.

Too many governments, institutions, industries, and individuals have come to think of "credit" in the same terms of cash transactions. Why not? That's the way "money" has been treated the last couple of decades. Credit isn't debt, and debt can be profitable. Just move it forward....to make IOUs look better than they are:

Use your credit card to earn cash rewards.
Buy a home with a mortgage loan to get big tax breaks.
Educational debt will pay for itself in future employment earnings.

These are the same things our government does with our money (taxes), but uses the rewards/breaks/earnings long before getting their actual "cash money". If we did this as individuals, we'd be prosecuted for theft, fraud or passing bad checks, and thrown in jail. When corporations do this, they can use fuzzy accounting to plump their valuations and get more shareholders. When governments do this, they 'throw the can down the road', and expect to be taken seriously when deficit spending exceeds GDP and revenue....

It's not about money so much as monetary and fiscal policy. Currency valuations that change by the minute, debts and credits based far in the future, as well as decades-old IOUs. The political definitions of money, as decided by politicians, has become so complicated that most tax payers and voters are protesting. Finally.