Can a free world exist

[Doofus McFancypants]

Communical life has some merits - united we survive - divided we fail.
That is fine for "getting by" - but it is the ones who DRIVE change - or are DRIVEN to change that can create / discover some trule remarkable things.

I am just an engineer - never studies Psych or any of those other sciences - But it seems to me that without the drive ( maybe it is $ drive - or prestiege - or just wanting to be the best) mankind would stagnate. Doing what you have to do to survive will allow you to survive.. it will not help you grow.

[markweatherill]

Money facilitates trade. The problem is when Money itself becomes a commodity to be bought, sold, traded etc. That leads to the world being run by bankers, moneylenders and userers. If your country has a 'national debt' then it means everyone is working to make a banker richer. The history of the Greenback Dollar is interesting to look into, for example.

[MazdaMatt]

Let me paraphrase...

No.

[Christ]

LOL - The dollar is dead, according to several large investment firms. Our dear-old government has over spent the federal reserve, and the gold-backer that has been held so dear for so long.

Granted, trade prices of gold keep going up, and each US-dollar is supposed to be backed by a dollar's worth of gold in US currency... when gold hits it's high in 2030, if we stop overspending ourselves (as a country) now, we MIGHT start working the deficit the other direction.

It's been widely stated that: "It's not what you own that determines who you are... it's what you have access to."

Or, in the words of my dad: "It's not who you know in this world... it's whose wife you keep happy." (as related to money... or maybe not.)

[tasdrouille]

What do you live for? Look at you right now and ask yourself the question. So, what's the answer? Whatever it specifically is, you probably live for what you dream of.

Now, in a world without possibility of accumulation of wealth, don't you think you'd have a much more limited range of dreams?

[Christ]

Originally Posted by tasdrouille

What do you live for? Look at you right now and ask yourself the question. So, what's the answer? Whatever it specifically is, you probably live for what you dream of.

Now, in a world without possibility of accumulation of wealth, don't you think you'd have a much more limited range of dreams?

I aspire to be monetarily wealthy, only because monetary wealth is viable. In that sense, my aspirations would be limited, yes. But only because aspiring to be monetarily wealthy in a world that wouldn't recognize such wealth is simply foolish.

Wealth does not only apply to money. Aspirations toward a wealth of knowledge lead to teachers. One does not truly learn until he teaches, as it is, to make sure what he "knows" is correct and true before passing it on.

Aspiration would not falter or change, only the means by which it came about.

[cfg83]

Christ -

Originally Posted by Christ

LOL - The dollar is dead, according to several large investment firms. Our dear-old government has over spent the federal reserve, and the gold-backer that has been held so dear for so long.

Granted, trade prices of gold keep going up, and each US-dollar is supposed to be backed by a dollar's worth of gold in US currency... when gold hits it's high in 2030, if we stop overspending ourselves (as a country) now, we MIGHT start working the deficit the other direction.

It's been widely stated that: "It's not what you own that determines who you are... it's what you have access to."

Or, in the words of my dad: "It's not who you know in this world... it's whose wife you keep happy." (as related to money... or maybe not.)

Is this true? I thought the USA-dollar gold standard ended in 1971 :

Nixon Shock - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In 1971 Nixon unilaterally canceled the Bretton Woods system and stopped the direct convertibility of the United States dollar to gold. The second shock was the 1972 Nixon visit to China that brought a surprising new twist to Cold War diplomacy.
...
Because of the excessive printing of paper dollars, and the negative balance of U.S. trade, other nations were increasingly demanding fulfillment of America's "promise to pay". That is, they were demanding gold from the U.S. in exchange for paper dollars. France, in particular, made heavy and repeated demands and acquired large amounts of gold in that manner.

In response, on August 15, 1971, Nixon unilaterally imposed 90-day wage and price controls, a 10% import surcharge, and most importantly "closed the gold window," making the dollar inconvertible to gold directly, except on the open market. Unusually, this decision was made without consulting members of the international monetary system or even with his own State Department, and was soon dubbed the Nixon shock.

I'm betting your Dad would love my unwritten PHD thesis :

1 - Title : It's not what you know, it's who you know
2 - Content : One blank page
3 - Proof: If the professor's sign it, you have proved the thesis.

CarloSW2

[Christ]

I love that thesis LOL.

Yes, the "gold standard" has ended, and has been a naught topic for quite some time. Think about it though. If there wasn't some sort of back up to the dollar, it would be officially useless.

Would you accept a check written on a napkin? (there's a trick question there, PM me if you want to know it)

Would you accept an I.O.U. before accepting collateral? What is the collateral for the paper dollar?

The US has spent so much time trying to make money in the cheapest fashion possible, that they've made it essentially worthless. When we run out of money, we print more. Throughout history, this has been true. Now, we just mortgage everything, and expect that our credit is good enough to pay back our debts.

When "money" was first issued, it was worth exactly what it said it was worth... if $10 was printed on a gold note, it was worth $10. There was something backing it up, to make it worth that $10.

These days, scrap prices don't even back up our metal monies... A penny is worth far less in scrap metals than $0.01.

That was all I meant to say there.

[trikkonceptz]

Originally Posted by tasdrouille

What do you live for? Look at you right now and ask yourself the question. So, what's the answer? Whatever it specifically is, you probably live for what you dream of.

Now, in a world without possibility of accumulation of wealth, don't you think you'd have a much more limited range of dreams?

Interesting question, I live for peace of mind. I want to live in a home that is large enough to accomodate my family. I would like a car that is safe and has the least impact on the enviroment. I want a job that allows for personal satisfaction at the end of the day.

I would not mind working in order to benefit others, maybe its my nature, but first things first our class structure needs to be destroyed, no man is better than another.

In its place we would work for the satisfaction that your product or service is benefiting someone else. This type of utopia would essentially eliminate crime and advance humankind to the levels we see in those "sci-fi" shows.

Unfortunately it would take a worldwide catastrophy to reset us and get us on the right course.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by trikkonceptz

Interesting question, I live for peace of mind. I want to live in a home that is large enough to accomodate my family. I would like a car that is safe and has the least impact on the enviroment. I want a job that allows for personal satisfaction at the end of the day.

I would not mind working in order to benefit others, maybe its my nature, but first things first our class structure needs to be destroyed, no man is better than another.

In its place we would work for the satisfaction that your product or service is benefiting someone else. This type of utopia would essentially eliminate crime and advance humankind to the levels we see in those "sci-fi" shows.

Unfortunately it would take a worldwide catastrophy to reset us and get us on the right course.

Do you subscribe to the writings of Michele d'Nostradame? (Nostradamus)

If you do, you might already see this catastrophe you speak of on the horizon. Working it's way toward fruition at an astonishing rate.