Throughout my life I’ve spent quite a bit of my time thinking about how to make things better, and more recently just stopping them getting any worse. But just like everyone else living in a capitalist society, I spend so much of my time and energy on getting money to eat and have somewhere to live, that I don’t have much left to actually do anything about it. Politicians know this, and count on it. This is the problem with money, it’s a trap. Maybe there are things we can do about the immediate situation like the privatisation of the NHS and schools, but in the longer term the only solution I can see for a better world is to move beyond money, because it corrupts everything, takes away our freedom and pits everyone against everyone else. As the saying goes: “The trouble with the rat race is even if you win, you’re still a rat”
For most people, with how the world works now as a starting point, a future without money is difficult to imagine. We are conditioned to think that humans are inherently selfish, but I think that actually the opposite is true. The powers that be would have us believe that without the need to work to obtain money, most people would do nothing. I think the reality is that given the chance, most people want to be useful and make a positive contribution to their community. So how do we get there? Well my idea is to buy our way out of capitalism starting with housing. I’ve been working on an idea called The People’s Trust. Using money to work towards a future without it sounds like a contradiction, but bear with me. The idea is that money is raised by people signing up for regular donations to a trust which gradually buys houses and people pay rent. As the trust grows, one by one, tennants can stop paying rent.
Imagine how much freedom and security you would feel if you didn’t have rent or a mortgage to pay. You could work part time, and spend the rest of your time doing whatever you like. Volunteer in your community, spend more time with your friends and family, or work on a plot to bring down the government. Whatever you think is useful or makes you happy. As more people have this freedom, more things that need to will get done, including things that aren’t done properly now because they’re not profitable. Also less people will waste their time doing work that only exists because money does. Through this process I think we can create a transition to a future where people need money less, and eventually not at all.
If people don’t need money, those who have lots of it no longer have any power.
Can you imagine a future without estate agents? Let’s make it happen!
The People’s Trust has a website which is here: People’s Trust