[jesuscript]

We are about to enter a new age of social welfare as Gen X and Millenials enter old age. We don’t expect anyone to start dying quickly. Boomers are here too. Start doling out the coupons digitally to subsidize life. Instead of printing money constantly, devalue the coupons (social security) and set rates for what life actually cost (e.g get everyone used to accepting 1 unit for food, 1 unit being whatever the government decides). Otherwise we have to keep manipulating a real world global economy with debt printing. If we do it, China does it, and the global economy gets whacky. It’s much better if China and America and India can just get their people to start looking at 1 dollar/euro of digitally money as worth 1 piece of … food.

But I hear you saying, “no, the cake is definitely $10”. Uh, no? No it’s not.

And that’s how we can pay for everyone, by convincing everyone to stop charging each other for everything. Take care of your elders for free Westerners, like every other country.

This is roughly China’s plan. They want to directly send money to people that need it. It stops graft and the black market, but the inevitable end game is that it’s state welfare, which is the easiest currency to manipulate (vs debt markets). You all wanted capitalism to die, it will, and it’s because no one is going to die. Welfare is the dystopia no one ever told you about, not the hedonistic capitalism wolf we’ve all been crying about.

[idiotsecant]

So...price fixing? That definitely hasn't worked so well in the past.

[jesuscript]

Whether it works well or not will not be of concern, it will be the only choice.

[idiotsecant]

except that it's not. Every government who ever did price fixing said literally the same thing. Then people make black markets trading chickens for goats. It's literally impossible to prevent and the first time someone does it your price fixing scheme evaporates.

[jesuscript]

Has it been done at the scale we’re about to enter? I honestly can’t see an alternative here, but I’m happy to hear your thoughts. We’re talking most of the Western world, and to a lesser extent China/India, but they traditionally keep the elders at home for free anyway (which means they will have to subsidize the average working age people - front loading the problem essentially).