we have been taught (most of us) to believe that we should become "productive members of society", and that can only be achieved through higher learning and a paying occupation. our society needs to unlearn this, that we can only be worthy citizens if we earn money so we can consume.
we also need to relearn what constitutes a job.
mother can be a job as much as engineer or street cleaner. friend, coach, gardener, cook, child minder, home owner? they are all jobs we dont get paid for. what if "citizen" was a job? making sure the government was being honest?
if people were assured of basic needs (clean water, healthy food, shelter), then anything beyond that would be at will employment for things beyond necessities. imho we would also need to add in other things to basic needs considering todays world; access to affordable internet, education, sanitation, energy and transportation.
I often wonder how many women (and men) would choose to marry and have kids if they could be independent on their own. if we actually paid people who chose to become stay at home parents, if we gave dignity to people like teachers and elder-care providers by paying them what they deserved. if we got rid of the distinctions between the classes monetarily.
if there was no financial perks to become president, would we then get an honest one?
This is so true. This is in my opinion the main reason for implementing a system in which ALL basic needs are provided for; what would we do, think of, create and invent when we do the thing we do for all reasons BUT survival? We now work because we (think we) have to, what would happen if we only did the things we love doing..? I believe it will make us want to do more, not less.
We are in 100% agreement here @torico. But the danger shown in the video is real I think; we're still trapped in the 'scarcity mindset', we still identify ourselves by our possessions, we're still thought to be greedy and take care of "number one" first and foremost.
That's a very good question to which I don't know the answer. I think it's "yes" when we're all made equally responsible for all we produce and consume. When we're made to FEEL that the affluence is produced by the efforts of everyone, including the mothers, fathers and friends...