Many people are annoyed by the super-rich.
Of course, we have to ask ourselves who made the super-rich rich. Actually, it must have been a lot of people. Have you ever ordered anything from Amazon? Then you have at least given a few cents to Jeff Bezos to make him a few cents richer. Well, we’ve all made Jeff Bezos and all the other super-rich people rich.
The basic principle of capitalism is to shop where it is cheapest so that you get the most for your money. It’s a natural instinct and that’s why we can’t persuade the mass of citizens to go to the local dealer. It’s like water, which always finds its way down and never flows up on its own.
Just as we shop at Amazon because it’s the cheapest there, many companies have their products manufactured in low-cost countries. It is precisely for this reason that entrepreneurs use the cheapest means of (fossil) energy production and exploit the last natural resources instead of recycling the waste at great expense.
This natural human instinct gives rise to super wealth. And once you have become super-rich, you cling tightly to your money. Globalisation already provides enough tax oases.
The only thing that could break this vicious circle would be if people were given all goods for free. Then there would no longer be this instinct to buy the cheapest.
Of course, that sounds like utopia, but it could be realised at any time. All we would have to do is persuade everyone around the world to work voluntarily. Then there would be no costs in the economy at all and all goods could be given away. Logical, isn’t it?
Light on the horizon
There is light on the horizon. We are currently successfully testing an economic system that is naturally sustainable. It is the principle on which the peoples kitchen works. Everyone gets something, no one is excluded. You are not asked to take as much as you can, like on Black Friday.
But the most important thing is: if you only take a little bit, you don’t feel it as a sacrifice or injustice, you just don’t have as much appetite. And if everyone only has a small appetite, then you simply cook less, that’s it.
Unemployment is not an issue there, everyone can join in. The principle works because the raw materials come out of the containers for free* and are processed by volunteers.
This form of economy based on the peoples kitchen principle has successfully passed its test and we could convert the global economy to this principle by 2025. All the prerequisites are in place, because everything that is needed in the economy is provided by the earth and the sun. We don’t have to pay the earth or the sun anything for the natural resources and energy.
The only thing we need to do is to ask all people whether they are ready to work voluntarily if they are given everything they need as a gift.
Pillars of the sustainable economy
The three columns of the sustainable economic system are:
- Free availability of all raw materials needed in the economy,
- Voluntary work of all workers in the economy and thereby the
- Free distribution of all goods produced.
Due to the complete absence of profit, all goods can then be distributed according to the natural and uninfluenced needs of the people. Advertising and the invention of new needs will then no longer exist. This leads to a strong reduction in production and thus to a drastic reduction in the consumption of resources, of the biodiversity loss and the drastic reduction of the creation of waste, exhaust gases and sewage as well as the oppression of disadvantaged people.
Through the free distribution of all goods, every person is automatically supplied with all the necessities of life and the question of unemployment is thus permanently solved. This also makes taxes superfluous, as teachers and cultural workers are automatically provided with everything they need.
Are all the raw materials needed for the economy free?
Of course, all the raw materials needed are free. Unfortunately, these gifts are privatised as soon as they are withdrawn. The costs today start because of the ownership of the land on which the raw materials are extracted but this has nothing to do with the actual provision of the raw materials by the earth and the sun.
Originally, all raw materials are free, because we don’t have to pay the earth for them.After the changeover to a voluntary economy, the owners of these properties, as well as the owners of all the facilities of the economy, will receive all necessities free of charge. Therefore, these owners are no longer forced to earn money because they are automatically provided with everything they need for a happy and contented life.
Will there be sufficient willingness to volunteer?
The latest Volunteer Survey conducted by the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs in 2019 found that about 40 per cent of people are willing to volunteer, with an upward trend. The World Giving Index of the Charities Aid Foundation comes to the same conclusion. If we assume that much less work will be required after the transition because production will drop sharply, this condition would be met.
How does it actually work?
First of all, there is no difference at all to our current life. A cut-off date is set, e.g. by the UN, and from this date onwards everyone continues to go to work, but without receiving any money for it. In return, of course, you don’t have to pay for the goods you take from the supermarket or shopping center.
The only preparation is that everyone is motivated to do everything in the same way as before. When I think of my friends and acquaintances, there isn’t really anyone who would lug as much as they can carry out of the stores. Sure, a bit of discipline is required, but is that too much to ask given what will happen to our planet if we don’t change?
On this date, the financial system will be decoupled from the economy. As it will no longer be possible to make a profit the more is sold, no one will be tempted to take more than they need. Within a short time, we will change our lives because everyone knows that we are not happier if we buy more and more things. We can then simply get off the hamster wheel.
Because we will no longer be influenced by advertising to spend our money, there will of course be much less production and transportation. Renewable energy sources will then probably be completely sufficient.
Today, far too little is recycled, but then it will no longer matter how long it takes to take apart an appliance that no longer works. As a result, far fewer raw materials will be needed and neo-colonialism will come to an end. It also no longer matters how much effort is required to develop new tools. We can therefore use all available resources to have unpleasant work that is currently done by low-wage workers carried out by machines or robots.
There are no more taxes, because the teachers are then automatically provided with everything they need to live a happy life. Hospital staff will also be provided for, as will public transport workers and everyone in the world. Nobody has to be afraid of unemployment because everyone has access to the goods they need every day.
Inventions or new software are simply used by everyone, simply because no one has to market their property rights any more, everyone is provided with everything.
The most important thing is that we don’t pay for a product with money, we receive it as a gift. We give thanks for it and unconsciously we give thanks for the treasures of the earth. As long as we receive goods for money, we have no reason to think about the origin of these goods. It is different with a gift.
It is also very important that there may be no more wars. On the one hand, this is because raw materials will no longer be in short supply and, on the other, because no one will be able to make a profit from the production and trade of weapons. It would actually be the only way to prevent wars in the long term.
Why will only this form of economy be able to help shrink the economy to the necessary level?
In the global North, we are currently producing three times as many goods as we need. This can be seen on Country overshoot day, as Germany has already consumed everything that should last until the end of the year at the beginning of May.
We are only doing this so that the economy can grow, there is no other reason for this stupid behaviour. If we only produced a third of the goods, we would have much more time. We could take care of our children’s education ourselves and wouldn’t have to leave it to other people. Or we would have three times more time to make a product. We could do a job that we enjoy and that suits our talents. The fields could become smaller again and industrial agriculture could be converted back to peasant farming.
Of course, today’s scientific and technological achievements would remain intact. The internet will be used to transmit people’s current needs to businesses in real time, robotics will no longer be used primarily to manufacture cars but to relieve people of the work that low-wage labourers have to do today. Advances in medicine will then serve people rather than financial efficiency.
If the economy were to shrink, the financial system would collapse. We can see how sensitively this system reacts to economic fluctuations and how it then drags the economy down with it. That’s why we need to switch to voluntary labour so that we are independent of the financial system. The financial system can then simply be disconnected and disappear without leaving a trace because it does not create any material value. But the many employees can then help out in the economy so that we have even more time at our disposal and the palaces of the banks and insurance companies that are freed up would eliminate the housing shortage in one fell swoop.
If anyone doubts that it can work, they only have to look at how well voluntary production works in the thousands of kitchens for all, the Küfas or the supply structures of the many grassroots initiatives around the world. The voluntary economy also ensures that there are no more unemployed people because these people are provided with all the goods and are automatically included in this greatly reduced economy.
How will people behave during the transition to the voluntary economy?
In today’s business life, people use their elbows but in private family life, people behave cooperatively. There are enough sociological studies on this. We can think of the switchover of the economy on a certain date as if we are finally coming home for good. We will automatically behave only cooperatively after the changeover.
Who’s going to do the dirty work if it’s all voluntary?
Yes, we are happy that there are people we can force to do the dirty work for us with a few cents.
But seriously, if we had to work less, two to three days a week would probably be enough. We mustn’t forget that all the employees in the financial system, in the insurance companies, in the tax offices, in the legal sector, of course, would then also would help. If 20 people would share the dirty work, they would only have to do one day of dirty work a month. In addition, many heavy, dangerous and monotonous jobs that are now done by low-wage workers could be taken over by robots, since there would then be no need for cost calculations.
What happens to property in the transition to the voluntary economy?
In the voluntary economy there is no money and therefore no need for profit. Therefore, property is not harmful because you can no longer exploit anyone with it. In this respect, what happens to property is also irrelevant in the conversion to the voluntary economy, because the owners will lose interest in it over time, because they have no advantage but only the responsibility for it. Therefore, this conversion will also happen completely non-violently. Property then automatically becomes commons again.
Does the „Küfa” economy have anything to do with socialism?
No, it has nothing to do with socialism. Even under socialism there was money and trade. The states that call themselves communist today contribute to climate change just like the capitalist states.
All we have to do is ask every person in the world:
„Are you willing to work voluntarily if you are given everything you need for a happy and contented life for free?„
Because all the prerequisites are in place and no other preparations would be necessary, it could happen as early as 2025.
What is urgently needed now is a broad discussion of this idea. I ask all readers to help with this.
* This is only about the closed system of peoples kitchen and the free availability of raw materials. Of course, this is actually waste from a previous life cycle.
Here is a free, easy-to-read book on the political, economic and philosophical foundations of this idea.This is my private website.
Eberhard Licht info@kuefa.info