In reply to OrionWorks - Steven V Johnson's message of Mon, 20 Dec 2010 20:55:33 -0600: Hi, [snip] >When a customer purchases any kind of product (physical and/or >virtual) from a seller, the seller automatically receives a fixed >amount of credits that are automatically deposited into his personal >credit bank account. Meanwhile, the customer who purchased the product >GENERALLY deducts the same amount of "credits" from his own personal >credit bank account. A key point that must be grasped here is the >subtle fact that the customer doesn't really GIVE or transfer his >credits directly to the seller. Likewise, the seller isn't getting his >"credits" directly from the customer.
The problem with this approach is that it completely removes the feedback mechanism from capitalism. IOW you could end up with many people doing things that are of no benefit to society, while few is any are doing the things that are really needed. The current system works reasonably well because of the law of supply and demand, which requires that only those goods which people actually want are paid for, and labour is included under goods. IOW if you produce a product that no one wants, then you either go broke, or you rapidly change what you are producing. This ensures that labour is applied most efficiently in the production of goods. As to the future of labour when automation is added, consider the fact that many things are already automated, yet we still mostly manage to find employment. It's just in different areas where automation is not prevalent, primarily in the service industries. A further effect of automation is that the productivity of the individual is increased thereby. IOW we all get wealthier because those machines are working for us. We just change from actually doing the work ourselves to telling the machines what to do. Something we already do now e.g. when we drive a tractor rather than mowing grain by hand as we used to do. Regards, Robin van Spaandonk http://rvanspaa.freehostia.com/Project.html
