The problem with the market economy

From the market to direct supply:

The driving force behind our current economic system is the market.

• All goods produced must be sold again so that companies can finance wages, profits, taxes and social security contributions.
• The benefit to people is of secondary importance in this context.
• Production and consumption must continue indefinitely to keep the system stable.

If we want to avoid ecological collapse, the mere will to operate ‘more sustainably’ is not enough.

To do so, we would have to overcome the logic of the market itself – that is, the necessity that people can only secure their livelihoods through buying and selling.

Direct supply according to need

Historically, the market was indispensable because production and distribution could not be coordinated in any other way. Today, however, we are globally connected. Technically, it would now be possible to request goods directly from the producer as and when needed. This would also be far more efficient than relying on the market with its compulsion towards overproduction.

This form of direct supply will therefore eventually emerge of its own accord, but certainly too late if we do nothing now.

Prerequisite:
Unconditional availability of goods

The key factor here would be the unconditional availability of goods.

What costs stand in the way of this?

It is not nature that issues invoices, but the owners of the raw material sources.

But if goods were available unconditionally, then the owners of the raw material sources would no longer need income from the sale of raw materials. The resources could thus be provided free of charge. The only remaining cost factor would then be the labour of employees and entrepreneurs, i.e. wages and profits.

Neutralising profits and wages

If we simply assume that, in the face of impending collapse, it would be possible,…

… for employers and employees to agree to forego both wages and profits (as a form of defiance against the market), then there would be no costs at all, and all products would be free.

As a result, everyone would be provided for unconditionally; wages and profits, as well as social benefits and taxes, could then naturally be dispensed with. The comprehensive automation of production would no longer be prevented by the threat of unemployment.

Production could continue quite normally for the time being. The only prerequisite would be that this step must take place globally and simultaneously, as there are several conditions that must occur at the same time.

This would not be an abolition of capitalism. On the contrary, companies would be freed from the market’s compulsion to maximise profit and could then devote themselves entirely to the well-being of people and our environment. Nothing would need to change regarding ownership structures.

Information on the market’s allocation function or organisational issues: https://simple.economy.nu/appeal/