The question may seem childish to some, but we want you all to really think about this. Why must we pay to live on our own planet? Why did we make an economic system that is completely decoupled from the laws of nature, when we know that we live on a finite planet? Why do we work for money that we then have to use to get access to resources we need, when the resources is already here? And why do some people inherit land and claim it their private property, making other people pay or work for having access to their property, even when everybody is born on the same planet and there is more than enough room for everybody? Again, why must we pay to live on our own planet? What a life it could be if we were not all forced to play this twisted little game called economics whether we consciously decide to participate or not at the end of the day our bottom line is the same, WE HAVE TO MAKE RENT THIS MONTH!!!
One way or another, people have always “paid” to exist on this planet. The payment, however, has always been made to society. Early on, it was much easier to tell that society existed to help you survive. Your contribution to it was crucial. Men hunted, and built shelters. Women tended crops and raised children. The entire tribe or village shared the bounty of this effort, and the entire tribe contributed to protecting all from predators and enemies. This is a simplistic breakdown, but it illustrates my point. Along the way, as humans became more skilled at dominating their environment, society started to striate and specialize ( hunters, leaders, builders, jewelry-makers etc. It still works in a fairly communal way as long as the society stays small enough. Trade of skills and barter of goods will work, up to a point.
We are now so numerous, and at such a specialized point, that contributing our effort (trade of skills) and bartering goods is not enough. OK, you’re a lawyer. Yeah, we need lawyers in this society. But we don’t need you to be a lawyer 24/7. So, in order to allow you to be a part-time contributor to this society, you will have to pay for your own demands on this society. Need a place to live? Pay the home-builder class. Need food to eat? Pay the farming class. Need transportation? Pay the car-builder class. Want entertainment? Pay the movie-making class etc.
The concept of currency is extremely handy in a society like ours. And it is only a concept. Currency – money, cash, checks, credit cards, debit cards, bank accounts – have value only because we grant them value. Which is really of greater value to a human being, a pea plant, which can produce food year after year, or a $100 bill? There was a time when this was a no-brainer; people would choose the food, hands down. Today, it depends on the person’s circumstances. Most people would take the $100 bill for its potential value, vs. the pea plant for its actual value. It’s an interesting world….
By making everyone practicing/focusing on producing/offering a particular service/good we have become much more efficient in society and it has helped us evolve and develop faster as an economic society. But with specialization, you have a lot of the things you produce/offer, how the hell are you gonna get the other essentials you need for life and living? By trading of course, we trade our goods/services as a means of exchange!! But then things get complicated! A possible theory for why money was created was exactly for that purpose! But also another theory was because when the government was instated we needed to pay off our duties for them to do such as repaving the streets or other civil needs through taxes and well you know the rest…