Opinion: Currency Abolition

Theoretically, what if all currency was abolished? Would it be possible, in this situation, for society as a whole to function? Think: if any and all businesses stopped taking currency and people who would willingly hand over their money did, then all paper was used as fuel; all metal melted down into more practical uses, what would happen to society?

First, let’s look at what would have to be put into place in order for this to function. First, a system of trading goods for goods would have to be established to replace the old way of money. Things such as a “value sheet” of sorts would have to be written out to establish the system. The Value Sheet would be a database of categories of items, with general dimensions and weight, as well as functionality, to determine worth. Labor & residence would have an entirely different relationship as well, with no wages being available and instead being based off of the type of job: higher impact and tougher labor means nicer and more comfortable living, with lower-impact jobs like office work allowing for less comfortable living, often housing projects and such. A trading system for the new society would require being drawn up and planned for decades before implementing such a huge change.
 

Now, as for the real effect it will have on the people, anyone who owns and lives in an individual house can keep whatever they live in. However, the yuppies can’t keep their mansions and the homeless need somewhere to sleep. This means there will be some mild changes, but most people will keep where they are and anyone who lives in a single-family rental gets to keep the place/fix it up. However, in a lot of rental cases, the renters would likely end up simply switching houses and belongings with the person who rented the house to them, as renters are generally much worse off than those they rent from. Now, the labor system itself will be much different, as there will be no pay grade-marked hierarchy. Supervisors and management will be a thing of the past, as there will be no need for useless people in useless positions. The system of work we have today, in which those who work the lest get paid the least, would be a thing of the past. I believe this would be a dramatic improvement.

However, what would happen to the governments of the world, which rely on money for everything? There are quite a few possibilities that could come from this, such as all-out war that wipes out all humanity. Another thing that could happen is a much more peaceful life for everyone with the occasional United States coming through and wreaking havoc. There'd be no more wars for money, and instead wars for specific items/land of high worth. Oil and other fossil fuels would stop making the rich richer and the poor poorer, while instead making the workers who get the stuff richer and those who don't do anything need to work or die. Optimally, separate nations would dissolve and we'd be united under one Global power. Any of these options can work positively and negatively for the success of life here.

But, this whole time, we've been forgetting about the largest question of all in this scenario: How would anyone be able to make this work? The simple answer is that you can't. It's much too complicated for most organizations or individuals to pull something of this stupidly hypothetical magnitude off. While this is a fun idea, it's definitely not worth it to get all into one thing like this and end up ruining your life over it. In conclusion, be safe but have fun ideas!