Rion D'Luz wrote:
On Tuesday 25 August 2009, Rene Churchill wrote:
Currently there's Onion River Exchange in Montpelier, which is a
time bank instead of a local currency. Members donate their time
to other members in return for services in return. A bit of a
socialist slant in that an hour of garden weeding is valued the
same as an hour of computer consulting, but you've got to define
some medium of exchange to get the ball rolling.
I wonder, since my wife asked same ? last night, what the resistance would be
in moving to a more Egalatarian society; where everyone's time spent was worth
the same, on par. rationalizing that exchanging services requires balancing a
need for tools (the dentist), or highly specialized knowledge (accounting,
computers, etc..), and would be measured differently than someone
giving/offering say produce (food), or proof-reading, or something less skilled.
I felt sad though for saying, and believing it.
While the socialist ideal of "From each according to their ability. To
each according to their needs" would result in a more Utopian ideal, it
just doesn't match up against reality. There needs to be some kind of
reward system to encourage folks to greater effort than just the minimum.
Ask any group of 1st graders. If the reward is the same for taking out
the trash vs lugging a cord of wood, they'll all choose to take out the
trash. They're generally good hearted and will all chip in to lug wood
for the kid with a broken leg. However if one child always takes out
the trash and another always carts wood, they'll sqawk about it being
unfair pretty quickly.
I looked into the Onion River Exchange and decided not to join. I just
didn't see any chance of being able to leverage my efforts to make a
time profit. If I could swap a couple hours of programming for a couple
of hours of plumbing or carpentry then I'd be interested. Doing that
plumbing or carpentry myself would take me much longer than a skilled
pro, so by bartering for the skills I'd potentially free up time to
spend with my wife & kids. Swapping consulting time for gardening or
lawn mowing just doesn't gain my anything.
Rene
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René Churchill [email protected]
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