The European Enigma (LSD, #9)

35. The Russian Revolution

The Russian Revolution

"Every person has two valuable things: Time and Money. Money is a result of the Time we dedicate to work, to solving problems for others, which makes Time our only valuable asset. Basically, the only choice you have to make in life is what to do with your time.

» Every person has seven basic needs: air, water, food, clothing, housing, medical care and love. If you have to produce all those things yourself, without the help of others, life would be like it was during the Stone Age. Everything above that level is the result of people working together.

» To motivate people to work together, society invented money: when you do society a favour, society gives you credit (money) that you can use to buy favours back from society. Money was the oil that made the working-together machine run smoothly and efficiently.

» But a money-based economy has its problem: only the owners of everything profit from it, while all the others have to do all the work without getting much in return. When a millionaire and a poor man get the same speeding ticket, they've committed the same crime, but they don't get the same punishment: it costs the poor man four weeks of his Time and it costs the millionaire four seconds of his Time to earn the same amount of money.

» The alternative is a system based on Time instead of Money: you get your credit from society for the number of hours you work instead of the amount of money you make. In return, you get the same amount of work-time from others. In a Time-based system, the millionaire and the poor man would both get the same punishment, doing an 8-hour task for their trespassing of the same rule. Both have about 70 years to look forward to, so both should get the same reward for dedicating 40 hours per week to do something useful for society.

» In a Money-based economy, all the power is in the hands of the rich elite. If the working class stopped working for the elite now, no matter how much the elite wanted to pay, tomorrow, that same elite would be at the bottom of society. The real power is in the hands of the ones who do all the work. All they need to do is choose what to do with their time. You can work for the ones who keep everything for themselves, or you can work for the ones who pay you back your effort.

» A Time-based economy would make that choice easy. Not the most greedy and aggressive people are respected, but the ones who are most productive and who are the best at taking care of others. War, violence and theft might be profitable in a Money-based economy, but they are useless tactics in a Time-based system: you won't live longer if you kill others. You can't own Time. Sloth won't give you credit. Wrath won't give you a better life. But Human Qualities like love and tolerance, modesty and wisdom, will improve your own life and the life of the people around you, like a kiss at the same time gives happiness to the one who gives it and to the one who receives it, priceless.

» A Time-based economy guarantees the highest reward for doing the right things for others. It motivates everybody to follow the right track to a better society with equal rights and chances for everyone. And you can start right now: do others a favour and tell them that more of that will follow if they pay your favour forward.

» A Time-based economy leads to world peace and to happiness for everyone. You don't have to believe me; it's not a religion. It's science. It's economy. All you have to do is understand. It's not a revolution. It's evolution."

After reading the final words of his now completely edited book, the journalist felt fantastic. He had done the impossible. He had written a book that would change the world, make the world a better place, save the world from greed and violence, and turn it into the Garden of Eden that humanity always had been capable of.

The journalist saved his work and turned off his computer. The old clock in his small room told him it was 3:30 AM. It was dark and cold. He felt lonely and exhausted. But he was also excited about finishing his work and felt he couldn't sleep until he'd relaxed a little. A cool drink would help.