Without Economics

I think you are confusing "economics" with "the economy".

When I try to edit - this: You can't edit this post now
- just the money. the monetary system. Can't update the title either. Can update this post apparently.

You want a modern society to exist without a monetary system?

Would I have to trade my engineering skills for eggs?

Dental work, a chicken coup, a trip to Florida - remember, everything's without cost. The idea of trade is obsolete. You do your work because you enjoy it. Our primary focus as a nation and planet should be the care of life. We should be able to enjoy our lives to the fullest, rather than spending it serving the mentally unstable arms dealers. I think it's time for a look at the economic system for either replacement or removal, and time to judge weather our systems are helping or hurting people on balance.

Who will do the work that nobody enjoys?

Goats. Much more durable.

I'm with centrox on the question of what happens with the jobs everyone hates to do? You might say, oh, we'll just invent robots to take out the trash, clean the cat boxes, change diapers, etc. Well, except the state of our technology isn't there yet. And even if it was, diaper changes, for infants or for the elderly, are an opportunity for personal interaction, even the smallest amount. Want to depersonalize the elderly? Then have robots care for them, rather than people.

As for work which people enjoy, we see people coming in here every few months or so who are trying to break into acting but have no training whatsoever. Are you telling me that every lousy singer on America's Got Talent gets to sing for their supper? And that we treat off-key Oscar from Oshkosh the same as we do people like opera singer José Carreras, Beyoncé, Adele, and Bono?

Under your system, there are no rewards for either quality or hard work, so why should anybody want to do anything, or improve themselves?

But I don't need goats. I rarely have any use for goats other than the cheese... and I am an engineer without any time to be a cheese maker too.

I need eggs. Is there anyone with some chickens that needs a speech recognition infrastructure set up?

Our economic system works very well for doing what it is designed to do. It is an "efficient" system (where "efficient" is an economic term meaning that transactions can be made with little effort) that rewards work and education and investment and sometimes sacrifice.

Yes, our modern economic system has some injustice. It is not perfect. But I would argue that it is the best system possible.

But if you have something better in mind that would let me focus on being an engineer without having to make my own cheese... then I am open. So far you haven't suggested any alternative.

How about if I just give you pieces of paper and metal which represent the value of my goats?

I do. My chickens are always yapping away and I need some software to help recognize what exactly they are trying to say!

And I could trade those for some eggs?

Of course I don't need that many eggs... so I would want some paper that represent a fraction of a goat. And we would need to have some sort of trusted central authority to make sure that these pieces of paper and metal so that the egg guy trusts their value.

You completely fail to understand. Somebody will give you the eggs because that's their job and they will just love to do their job. You, in turn, will be perfectly to donate your engineering talents because that's what you do, and you love doing it.

What if no one loves making goat cheese... or if the person who likes making goat cheese would rather play the piano (even though she isn't very good at the piano)? Goat cheese is important too.

Tough titty, Kitty. No more goat cheese for you. The goat guy is probably happy, though.

Obviously, we are stuck with economics regardless of what we call it.

I have always wanted to be a male model. Currently, I don't think I could get paid for it... but if money didn't matter, I would show up and strike a pose for a couple dozen eggs (I am a little bummed about the cheese though).

Still not with it, are you. You don't get eggs for modeling. You get them because somebody has a lot of chickens and has fun collecting eggs. You model because you think it's fun - at least that's how I understand the OP.

It ain't gonna work, and we both know it.

Without money this world would be nothing barter goat hell.

"Yes, our modern economic system has some injustice. It is not perfect. But I would argue that it is the best system possible."

Is it the intent of our society to enrich the top 1 percent? Don't we have a responsibility as a society to formulate, moderate, and guide the intent of our society?

Ethical responsibilities of a society
Ethics are agreements. Law formalizes those agreements, and society is bound by its body of laws. We have the responsibility to add, modify, or delete portions of the societal body of laws in the direction that serves the intent of our society.

We can also view law/ethics as producing the status quo. President Trump is a product of United States society, his family, the guidance given him through life, and his own free will. Can you blame him without asking if the society is intentionally directed toward producing his output?

The rich get richer, and the poor get poorer. Can society moderate that? Yes, through first aligning intent and direction, putting focus on goals that will attain the agenda, and codifying the rules used to successfully accomplish the tasks in the agenda. Society is not created for us. It is created by us.

So my first inclination is to gut the economic system, but the inclination is given over to reform. That reform begins by considering the intent of our society, and aligning the economic system to it.

Would you define a point of change in our 'best system' that would indicate that the system had been effectively replaced? I think we need to consider that changing the economic system enough to get it on track with societal intent would approach that point. Most important though, because of the failure to move toward that change over the years, while engorging the very very wealthy at the expense of everyone else, the change needs to fast track.

As voters look toward Congress, they should have this in mind, rather than any casual propping up of the status quo, as is intimated by the phrase "it is the best system possible." It sure is not.