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Smile Balls
(Grafixar, Morguefile)

The 9 Domains of GNH
(GNH USA; fair use, educational)

Smiles
(Prawny, Morguefile)

Mother Earth
(Comfreak,
Pixabay)
Classic Doughnut
(Wikimedia Commons)

Principles of Degrowth (Source: The political economy of degrowth by Timothée Parrique, 2019; fair use, educational)

Gold Globe
(hacaspi, Morguefile)


 		Smile ballsMoney System 
Introduction

What an evil money system we have where “...economic interests trump human rights in most instances.” (BBC, 1m54s, posted and accessed 4 April 2019)

So, this page looks at some alternatives to the current money systems of capitalism and communism. Until we can do away with money.

The conclusion is that the new money system be an integrated combination of approaches described herein, including: Wellbeing Economy; Doughnut Economics (living within planetary boundaries); UBI (Universal Basic Income); UBS (Universal Basic Services); Degrowth; PSPL (Private Sufficiency and Public Luxury); and more.

Wellbeing Economy/GNH vs. GDP

We need a Wellbeing Economy, like Gross National Happiness (GNH) rather than GDP:-
  • "The great breakthrough of the twenty first century will be to begin to assess success and failure in life other than merely through financial indicators." (Alain de Botton)
  • "We must rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered." (Martin Luther King Jr. 1967 speech, cited here, accessed 16 October 2012)
  • "The solution to the climate crisis is not going to be achieved with more green capitalism and more global carbon markets. The solution is to change the model of civilization and move towards an alternative model to capitalism, the concept of living well together in harmony with Mother Earth." (Luis Arce, President of Bolivia & Economist, COP26, cited at Common Dreams, posted/accessed 2 November 2021; watch here)
  • Universal Basic Income (UBI) is required - see here and here. This can reduce or eradicate poverty and slavery. It supports real freedom and the power to say "no". Also see here, here and below...
  • Subsistence Economy + UBI. Subsistence is supporting oneself at a minimal level. Here are some ideas:-
    1. Peter Taylor, an environmentalist, suggests a home with a plot and a basic income for those who farm that plot for themselves and the local community. (Based on a 2018 conversation; idea may not be accurately conveyed; also see here)
    2. Our lifestyles have detached us from nature and also our natural state of being. Many people yearn to live a simple life on their own smallholding. This is a desire to regain our natural state denied to us by historic acts of land dispossession. The past confiscatory actions of the powerful have driven the human race out of necessity to find and invent other ways of providing a livelihood - much of it incompatible with our true natures. It is also the fundamental cause of our current malaise in terms of economy, climate and biodiversity. We now have mass indoctrination by the propaganda of society's leeches to make us think that all economic activity is socially profitable. So much of what we make and do is fruitless, or even worse, harmful. Money based on negative, adverse and anti-social production is just as worthless as the activities themselves. Return the land to the people and many will choose again a healthy, environment-friendly "subsistence" economy. (oneness, posted 22 November 2019, accessed 23 October 2020)
    3. Also see 'Private Sufficiency, Public Luxury' below.
  • "To have enough is happiness, to have more than enough is harmful. That is true of all things, but especially of money." (Lao-Tse)
  • Love, Love, Love - NOT growth, growth, growth! Degrowth is the Love we need.
The 9 Domains of GNH diagram
The 9 Domains of GNH [click to enlarge]

The World We Deserve
  • Food - As a basic human right, everyone deserves healthy, organic food. Also see 'Universal Basic Services'.
  • Housing - Everyone has a home, supplied with clean water and sanitation. Also see 'Universal Basic Services'.
  • Energy - The Sun gives its energy for free and humans make sure solar energy is given free to everyone. Also see 'Universal Basic Services'.
  • Equality - The superrich and corporations need to be taxed heavily. This will fund UBI and UBS. Incomes need to be capped. The difference between highest and lowest incomes needs to be minimised. We need a Great Redistribution. And so much more...
  • Drudgery - Thank you for robots!
  • Happiness - In terms of money, it has been found that a person living in the Rich World needs no more than about $70,000 or £55,000 per year to be happy (see here). Anything more does not bring extra happiness. Perhaps we need to cap anyone's income at this amount and redistribute the rest?... 
Smiles graphic
  • Universal Basic Income - See above and consider:-
'A basic income (also known as a citizen's income) gives everyone, rich and poor, without means-testing or conditions, a guaranteed sum every week. It replaces some but not all benefits (there would, for instance, be extra payments for pensioners and people with disabilities). It banishes the fear and insecurity now stalking the poorer half of the population. Economic survival becomes a right, not a privilege.
A basic income removes the stigma of benefits while also breaking open what politicians call the welfare trap. Because taking work would not reduce your entitlement to social security, there would be no disincentive to find a job – all the money you earn is extra income. The poor are not forced by desperation into the arms of unscrupulous employers: people will work if conditions are good and pay fair, but will refuse to be treated like mules. It redresses the wild imbalance in bargaining power that the current system exacerbates. It could do more than any other measure to dislodge the emotional legacy of serfdom. It would be financed by progressive taxation...'
(George Monbiot, The Guardian, posted 1 April 2013, accessed 9 November 2020)

'If in the future human labour is less needed, keeping societies stitched together may require us to reinvent the welfare state. Not all economists think that's worth worrying about just yet. But those who do are reviving an idea that dates back to Thomas More and his 1516 book, Utopia - a universal basic income. It does seem utopian, in the sense of fantastically unrealistic. Could we really imagine a world in which everyone gets a regular cash handout, enough to meet their basic needs, no questions asked?
Some evidence suggests it's worth considering. In the 1970s, the idea was trialled in a Canadian town called Dauphin. For years, thousands of residents received cheques every month. And it turns out that guaranteeing people an income had interesting effects. Fewer teenagers dropped out of school. Fewer people were admitted to hospital with mental health problems. Hardly anyone gave up work. New trials are under way, to see if the same thing happens elsewhere.
It would, of course, be enormously expensive. Suppose you gave every American adult, say $12,000 (£9,000) a year. That would cost 70% of the entire federal budget. It seems impossibly radical. But then, impossibly radical things do sometimes happen, and quickly. In the 1920s, not a single US state offered old-age pensions. By 1935, Frances Perkins had rolled them out across the nation.'
(BBC, posted and accessed 13 November 2017)

'Some contemporary feminists argue that universal basic income would be a better way of compensating women for the unpaid work they routinely perform. It would give women the economic freedom to exit unfulfilling or abusive relationships more easily (although the basic income touted by supporters like Andrew Yang would need to be higher to achieve that) and rectify some of the inequalities inherent in a capitalist system that relies on the unpaid labor of women.'
(Sirin Kale, The Guardian, posted 8 February 2021, accessed 10 February 2021)
  • Universal Basic Services - These are basic public services that enable survival, that need to be provided to all by Government for free. They include: income (UBI), housing, food, water, health, education, transport, internet, clean energy. Read more here.
  • 'Private Sufficiency, Public Luxury' - A world where we all can access luxury, but personally we need little. It involves the restitution [the returning of something stolen] of land/resources to the people (i.e. they are not owned by either State or privately by investors), then these are managed for the good of all by communities. We become protectors of the land. It is a way of creating material security for all. Read/watch more via these links; also see 'Subsistence Economy + UBI' above.
  • Mother-centred world - The mother is the foundation of all things yet she is perhaps the least valued thing. If we must have a money system, mothers or those fulfilling that role (e.g. fathers, carers, extended family) need to receive a payment for their huge contribution to society. Indeed, a UK political party called Motherworld suggests this sort of policy. Mothers at the centre of any system, rather than being marginalised at the periphery. Mother Earth will then heal... Also see here.
Mother Earth marginalised and asleep in foliage

Wellbeing Economy/Happiness Economics/GNH (Gross National Happiness) etc.

GNH and a wellbeing economy are economic systems centralising the wellbeing of people and nature, social justice and equity. They de-emphasise financial indicators like GDP.
Doughnut Economics

"Today's economy is divisive and degenerative by default. Tomorrow's economy must be distributive and regenerative by design." (Kate Raworth)

"The Doughnut of social and planetary boundaries is a playfully serious approach to the 21st century challenge of how to meet the needs of all within the means of the planet." (Kate Raworth adaption)
A graphic of Kate Raworth's Doughnut Economics.
The classic image of the Doughnut (Wikimedia Commons)

UBI (Universal Basic Income) & UBS (Universal Basic Services)

"UBI is an income unconditionally granted to all members of a political community on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement. It is high enough to ensure an existence that preserves personal dignity and allows an individual active participation in society." (UBIE adaption)

UBS is a form of social security where all receive access to a range of free, basic, public services, funded by the Government. (Wikipedia adaptation)
"Universal basic income isn’t radical, poverty is." (Nina Turner, 11 July 2022 tweet)

"The concept of a guaranteed basic income might seem novel or neoteric, but it dates back to 1795, when the American founding father Thomas Paine suggested a “national fund” should pay every adult “rich or poor” a “ground rent” of £10 a year until the age of 50. Earth is “the common property of the human race”, he argued, so everyone has been collectively dispossessed by “the introduction of the system of landed property” and was entitled to compensation." (Donna Ferguson, The Guardian, posted and accessed 14 July 2024)

Degrowth

"Degrowth is a planned reduction of energy and resource use designed to bring the economy back into balance with the living world in a way that reduces inequality and improves human well-being." (Jason Hickel)
"In a degrowth world, the great majority would be just as well off. The problem is that the top 5% would no longer be able to exploit the majority by selling their crap to us. Unfortunately, this 5% control our media, corporations, and most of our governments." (JohnC, 6 August 2022 tweet)

"It’s not a case of carrying on as ‘normal’ vs Degrowth. It’s a case of losing EVERYTHING vs Degrowth." (Climate Dad, adapted 16 April 2022 tweet)
A graphic titled 'Principles of Degrowth': Sustainability, Circularity, Cooperation, Useful Production, Sharing, Local Production, Work-Life Balance, Relational Goods, Joie De Vivre.
(Source: The political economy of degrowth by Timothée Parrique, 2019; fair use, educational)
Private Sufficiency and Public Luxury (PSPL)

"Life on Earth depends on moderation. We need to build a world in which growth is unnecessary, a world of private sufficiency and public luxury." (George Monbiot adaption)
 Consumerism & Materialism - Transform It!
 Redistribution

Sharing is usually taught to children. So why doesn't the adult world share?
 The Gift Economy of Genevieve Vaughan

This gift economy is based on the work of Genevieve Vaughan.
Mother Nature - that gives us all our needs - is a central concept.
Two basic economic paradigms coexist in the world today.
  1. Exchange (capitalism): giving in order to receive; self-oriented; competitive; hierarchical. This paradigm is male, quantifiable, visible, valued. Money is its symbol.
  2. Gift Giving (indigenous): giving in order to satisfy another's needs; other-oriented; non-competitive; nurturing. This paradigm is female, qualitative, invisible, undervalued. Mother Nature is its symbol.
What we need to do is validate Gift Giving, causing a basic shift in the values by which we direct our lives and policies. Finally, we can phase out Exchange altogether.
 Other
Gold globe

Also see:-

No Money

Capitalism

Money articles

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Page last updated: 10 March 2025.