[Altruistic-Economics] (no subject)

Tue Apr 6 13:25:38 PDT 2010

http://abundanthope.net/pages/Other_Spiritual_Pieces_68/Be-Selfish-Be-Generous-Rekindling-the-Gift-Economy.shtml

At the bottom of the page is a link to the video that the transcript belongs
to. But there is some background information at the top of the page before
the transcript starts, so that might be interesting too.

Have you guys seen this? Or heard about Charity Focus? I first heard about
CharityFocus because I subscribed to their mailing list that delivers
heartwarming news stories often. But apparently CharityFocus is an umbrella
nonprofit focused on helping gift economy projects take off. And they've
done some great stuff. Theres a free restaurant on Sundays that is run by a
different cast of volunteers every week and serves its customers for free.
Theres a gift economy health clinic, too. These are both in Berkeley,
California, USA, but I'm sure it would be useful to get in touch so that all
the gift economy "enthusiasts" (or whatever you want to be called) can put
their heads together and get the ball rolling.

And while I'm at it, I thought I would let you guys check out a pamphlet
I've been working on. I've just been trying to think of how to very
concisely persuade people to give a serious consideration to the possibility
of a gift economy as a primary method of distributing resources, and I think
it's pretty good at this point. Simplistic, perhaps, but short enough that
people will actually read it :).

(The attatchments are all the same, just different formats so you can decide
how to read it. The .odt and .doc are in the form of a pamphlet while the
.txt is just the text without formatting.)

-Russell

-- 
http://www.onelovee.org - A place where you can offer goods and services to
others without asking for anything in return.
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The Gift Economy: Why a Gift to Anyone is a Gift to Everyone

In a market economy what you can get depends on what you already have. That means that wealth tends to flow toward existing wealth - where there is the least need. This causes wealth and power to become concentrated among a small elite while poverty worsens. Meanwhile, corporations continue their perpetual growth while all of us (including the elite) suffer their ever-increasing externalized costs in the form of misinformation, longer hours, stress, pollution, and poor health.

But if we made every transfer of wealth a gift instead of a trade by refusing payment in return for anything then we could eliminate the cause of all this institutionalized inequality and suffering. This way everyone's self-interest would be aligned with whatever is in the public's best interest because the only thing anyone would get in return for what they give would be the accumulative result of the ripple effects that their gifts caused. So the only way to improve your own situation is to improve everyone else's at the same time, and you would have to take every affect of your actions into consideration to be sure it is actually beneficial to society (and therefore to yourself). Wealth would tend to flow toward need since it is best for everyone to pull those in need up to a position from which they can better help others. This would effectively maximize the productive potential of humanity and create a culture of abundance. And because every transfer of wealth would be an act of altruism we would all feel a much stronger sense of community and unity than we ever could in a market economy.

The transition to a gift society will work because every gift we give reduces someone's need to rely on the market economy and increases the time and energy they have to give a gift. So as we give more to the gift economy, we'll slowly begin to receive more through the gift economy, reducing our own reliance on the market economy. The movement will take off as people recognize giving as a valid alternative to trading because the vast majority of the population is painfully aware of the inadequacies of the current structure of our society. Even if those with wealth and power try to prevent it, their wealth will be steadily losing power as less people use money and trade to meet their needs. And the movement will sustain because as we grow more aware of how we all benefit from the gift economy, and as our sense of community strengthens and we become a unified humanity, we will develop a global culture that maintains the proper etiquette of the gift.

Gift Etiquette:
1. Give.
2. Never offer or accept any payment or return gift. This should be considered a crime to humanity.
3. When you receive a gift, pass one on in it's place. Or, if it isn't a consumable, pass the gift itself on after a time. To show more gratitude to the person you received the gift from, pass on an even greater gift in it's place.
4. The further removed the person who receives your gift is from the person who gave you the gift you're paying forward, the better. We must prevent ourselves from grouping into smaller exclusive gift communities. For every gift you give to someone you know, try to give a gift to a stranger.

Transition Phase:
1. Give. Spend some serious time doing things altruistically and with each gift pass along the message of the importance of the gift.
2. Buy less. Try to buy as little as you can, because this also weakens the market economy. Try to hold out for your needs to be met through the gift economy - although at this stage that may mean getting something for free out of a dumpster rather than getting it as a gift from someone.
3. Create community items to encourage the communal/giving spirit. Make a hand-crafted utilitarian device that is meant to be used for a month or so and then passed on to another friend. As the gift is passed around, it will help build community as well as ease people into the idea of communal property over private property.
4. Never give up. Don't get overwhelmed and feel like you aren't doing enough or that it will never work - anything helps. Remember: the goal is constant improvement, not perfection.
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