Friday, July 27, 2012

What if time was money ?


"Time is money" they say. But what if it really was ? Imagine that instead of Euros we earned the Hours we worked. What would happen ? Let's explore this idea.

Well, first of all most inequalities would be gone. One hour of work would simply be worth one Hour of money. No matter what work you do, it all has the same value, which is the amount of time that you into put in. Interestingly there are only 24 hours in a day, so noone could possibily earn more than 24 Hours per day (there you go, a natural limit for the maximum income).

Now, let's see what else could happen. Today, most of the money circulating is created by banks through debts (with all the negative consequences that has, if you are interested in knowing more, check out this documentary). Imagine that there is no organism that can issue Hours, but that Hours can solely be created through work. So you work 3 Hours and « puff », 3 Hours are introduced into the system and they belong to you. It's not government or banks who have the power : it's just us and our ability to work.

This means that the whole power structure of employer and employee crumbles at once. Let me explain. What happens today is that you look for a job so you can earn money. However, for someone to hire you, that person (or company) needs to own a lot of money, or to have borrowed it from a bank. So you are dependend of those who 1) have accumulated wealth, or 2) have borrowed tons of money (and thus are in fact paying you with debt). In this new Hour system however, your employer does not give you Hours in exchange for your work. You create the Hours through your work (i.e. as you work, new Hours are introduced into the system and they belong to you).

What does this mean ? That anyone can hire anyone for any kind of task ! (without the need to have accumulated wealth first) Which means : an abundance of work (there are so many things that can be done today, but are not being done for the lack of money). Which means : gone is unemployment (and probably also gone are the majority of crimes). Which means : gone is also slavery. Cause, if there are so many tasks that you can choose from in order to earn some Hours, you will think twice before doing a job that is degrading, that exploits you, or harms others and society. All those things we accept to do today in fear of loosing our precious income are gone : cause income we can generate by doing any work we choose! And work is in abundance !

It sounds crazy doesn't it? But I like it !:)


PS : I am very curious about your reactions. I feel like I have stepped into some kind of  "mind-trap" and thus can't see a "very obvious problem" with this Hour system. Sure, it's not a thought through system. It's just a crazy idea which I hope points towards new possibilities. It's an idea for discussion. :)

2 comments:

gmsmc said...

Let's try this: regard work as a product, just like a shirt.
In order to make a shirt, you need cloth, buttons, and sewing line. So, what if the shirt was sold by the price of the cloth only? You'd have to get three raw materials and only be paid for one, which obviously wouldn't work out (if not for anything else, because you'd go bankrupt).
The same goes for work. Work is the result of time spent doing it, education spent in learning how to do it, and experience (which allows you to improve the way you do it). So, if you only reward time, just like with the shirt, you'll be paying for one input whereas you'll be getting three inputs combined into one product. So, workers would go "bankrupt" in the same way that shirt factories would go bankrupt: because they'd be inputting three raw materials and only getting the price of one back.

Philo said...

Hmmm, time investment indeed... True. I guess that we want to be compensated for having studied, for having more experience. Then again, I personally enjoyed studying very much and would find it absurd if someone wanted to compensate me for it. In the current system however, studying costs money, so I see why we like to see it compensated.