Skip to main content


At least future generations will know that not all of us were self-destructive, shortsighted fools. Knowing folks like this exist gives me hope.

https://www.trade-free.org/

💕

#TradeFree

reshared this

in reply to Aral Balkan

say this were adopted globally and it was only demand ↔ supply (but no prices).

- how can we use scarce goods efficiently without a price mechanism?
- why would people produce goods that aren't fun to make?
- what would stop drug users from consuming but not producing?
in reply to Björn ⚡

@Björn Good questions. I'd like to recommend the book "automated autonomous world" that deals with the first 2 questions in detail: https://www.tromsite.com/books/#flipbook-df_6606/84/ and for the last one. It should be up to people what they do and I would say the saner the environment of people is, the saner the behavior will be. If people would have more access to what they need and want without having to trade that much anymore + be more educated, they might consume less drugs.
in reply to Aaron

that is a captivating vision for the future for sure.

But it seems like there's a fatal flaw in the logic.

All the proposed tech would require massive use of already-scarce goods — cobalt, lithium, silver, etc.

On top of this, they propose eliminating money, prices and trade.

The total effects of this lead to scarcity (see Bastiat https://mises.org/library/abundance-vs-scarcity), and the Trade-Free vision would be a non-starter.

For any chance of success, they need to thoroughly address this.
in reply to Björn ⚡

I spent a few hours reading through the PDF — and I feel like the price mechanism has been completely overlooked.

The technologies proposed are here and exciting, but I feel like the problem has been misdiagnosed as trade/money, and I can't overlook it — it's the achilles heel of an otherwise powerful idea.

Am I missing something? Appreciate the engagement.
in reply to Björn ⚡

This entry was edited (2 years ago)
in reply to Björn ⚡

All the proposed tech would require massive use of already-scarce goods — cobalt, lithium, silver, etc.

If you do not seek to trade, then you won't seek to destroy and overuse. Because there are consequences to this and you have more to lose than gain. Why would an organization overuse some resources unless there is an extreme need for that? It is a better incentive to not trade these resources, than to trade them.
in reply to Björn ⚡

You assume that if we removed money and markets everything would stay the same. It wouldnt.
And no its not human nature anything.
in reply to Marinus Savoritias

If the world relied on purely gifts, with no prices or trade, it’d be almost impossible to organise specialised labour to produce goods.

Gifts are produced through cooperation and a larger process. For a tribe built on love/trust in a tiny area with primitive goods, it’d be doable.
in reply to Björn ⚡

I can give you many examples, but here's one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_National_Lifeboat_Institution . These people save lives all around UK. All are volunteers. Their job is specialized. See a ton of examples here https://www.directory.trade-free.org/

You can have specialized labor based on volunteers. Even in today's very competitive and trade-based society.
in reply to Tio

Almost all the charities linked in that directory pay massive amounts in direct salaries.

Look at their reports for direct salary info:

St Jude — $600m/year
Red Cross — $972m/year
RNLI — £83m/year
Heart — $392m/year

For RNLI specifically, 68% of all their costs are salaries.

Almost all the non-charity examples there are for nonscarce items — software, where there's no additional cost for each additional item produced.

Scarcity is the physical barrier.
in reply to Björn ⚡

Of course Wikipedia also pays a few people and for the servers. But we re talking about human motivation here. RNLI, Wikipedia, and the like, rely almost entirely on volunteers. So, millions of humans, doing extremely specialized work, without wanting anything in return. In a society in which the opposite is enforced.

I am not sure what point you are trying to get across? That we can't have specialized work unless we force those people to do those things?
in reply to Tio

Good question — the point is clearly laid out in the RNLI report, and applies to all large and complex charities:

"There are a number of specific skills needed to keep such an organisation running as safely as possible and at peak efficiency." — and these are paid staff.

Volunteers mainly carry out the unskilled tasks — fundraising.

No force should ever be involved. When you hire someone, you enter a voluntary agreement to trade money for services,
in reply to Björn ⚡

Charities are not corruption-free — particularly at global scale, where corruption and waste naturally ensues.

Even UNICEF (mentioned in the Trade-Free directory) have a team dedicated to investigating their own corruption, fraud and wrongdoing.

https://www.unicef.org/auditandinvestigation/

This is an issue regardless of trade, markets and prices.
in reply to Björn ⚡

They can't be perfect in such a society. For sure. But you will find a lot less cases of corruption in regards to trade-free goods/services than trade-based goods/services. Another perk of trade-free goods/services is that you help everyone unlike a selected few who could trade for whatever you may offer.
in reply to Björn ⚡

Volunteers mainly carry out the unskilled tasks — fundraising.
No. The volunteers are saving the lives of humans there. Same as Doctors Without Borders. Same as White Helmets. Same as so many programmers doing complex software. Same as millions around the world. In, again, a society where the opposite is enforced.
No force should ever be involved. When you hire someone, you enter a voluntary agreement to trade money for services,
Not at all. When I am born on this planet I have to enter the trade-system else I cannot survive. This makes me no voluntarily do that, but forcefully. And you do not trade money for services. You trade your skills, energy, time - basically yourself - , for goods/services. Money is just a way to measure these trades.
in reply to Tio

While I appreciate you believe that Doctors without Borders, White Helmet personnel and RNLI crew aren't paid — however this is sadly factually incorrect.

They all pay salaries to their specialised workers. You can find salaries on Glassdoor or their websites.

e.g. https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/careers/work-field/pay-benefits
in reply to Björn ⚡

On being forced into trade — we are born into a world of scarcity. We work and contribute in order to get value from others in return. If we don't work, we don't live.

Civilised societies will never let those who are disabled/unable-to-work to die — but for those who can work, they should. It's how we contribute to advancement of the species.

We can't sit around, not work, and allow others to keep us alive. It makes us reliant on them.

And that's slavery.
in reply to Björn ⚡

in reply to Tio

Where is the scarcity? Everywhere.

Everything we need to reach a goal is scarce.

Time. Goods.

There is a finite amount, and this is a limitation of the physical universe — unfair as that may seem.

There isn't enough space for everyone to have a beachfront house.

There aren't enough semiconductors for us all to have an Xbox. (there's a shortage at the moment)

The idea that we have abundance does not stand up to logic or basic reason.

Abundance is an illusion.
in reply to Björn ⚡

"Why should we be forced to work"?

If we can't agree on the same physical reality of scarcity, this is going to be difficult.

In a world of scarcity, we must produce in order to create more goods/services (the "means" which help others reach their goals).

If you're not a producer, you're reliant on the production work of others.

This is why (while charity is noble) we should encourage people to be self sufficient and not reliant on charity.

This leads to growth 💹
in reply to Björn ⚡

So what is the answer to "Why should we be forced to work"?. The fact that we live in a scarce world and the only way to distribute this scarcity is to force humans to create endless and (many times) useless jobs for the sake of distributing the scarce resources? Is that the answer?
in reply to Tio

You're misinterpreting mass production for some items with abundance.

The beachfront example is a simple way to explain that there is a limited quantity of goods/services/time.

Today, because of the free market, we live better than the kings of old.

The solution to improving these issues is to minimise/eliminate the state, and encourage free, undistorted markets, which are the source of many of the challenges you've identified.
in reply to Björn ⚡

You are not answering that simple and crucial question: Why should we be forced to work?
Today, because of the free market, we live better than the kings of old.
In some regards. We also destroy more than anyone else in history, destabilizing the climate and biodiversity, and creating mountains of waste. Don't leave that aside.
encourage free, undistorted markets
You mean let google, facebook and the like compete without disturbing them? This seems more of a disaster than what we have today.
in reply to Tio

We are not forced to work. It is a voluntary choice.

Our human nature (we are not immortal) means we need food and drink. That is not a fault of trade or markets.

Destruction is primarily a result of the state. Largest polluter on the planet is the US military. And pollution is enabled within frameworks created the state.
in reply to Björn ⚡

I'd love to invite you to take this free 30 minute video course in economics.

It's trade-free (from a charity).

https://mises.org/economics-beginners

It's very difficult to debate topics on economics without both having a fundamental framework to work on.
in reply to Björn ⚡

I do not want to talk about economics as that's a human invention. I want to talk about how to take care of human beings and get rid of most of today's problems. How to create a better environment for humans, and so forth.
in reply to Björn ⚡

We are not forced to work. It is a voluntary choice.
You cannot make this argument, I am sorry. I have no choice other than trade in this system. If there are other ways let me know.
Our human nature (we are not immortal) means we need food and drink. That is not a fault of trade or markets.
It is the fault of markets (trade) that these basic needs are only provided to us if we trade, in a society in which we throw mountains of these resources.
Destruction is primarily a result of the state.
And why do states pollute?
Largest polluter on the planet is the US military.
Transportation, livestock industry, textile industry, and so forth. These are the largest polluters and destroyers. In the name of trade.
in reply to Tio

Nobody is forced to work, unless they're slaves.

The reality of human existence is that we cannot live without food, water and shelter.

These things are scarce, and the only way to reduce scarcity is to produce.

And to do this, each person should focus on doing what they do better than others. In economics, it's the law of association / law of comparative advantage.

This way, the entire of society benefits.

If nobody works, we will suffer, starve and die out.
in reply to Björn ⚡

in reply to Tio

If you provide value to others, and they provide value in return, that's great.

But if you're reliant on donations or charity, you're dependant on others... which is fundamentally unhealthy.

The food problem is a mixture of reality (if you buy brocolli and don't cook it in time, you'll throw it out) — as well as a lack of free trade infrastructure to distribute it in other countries.

The best way is to promote economic freedom in those countries.
in reply to Björn ⚡

It's 2am where I am, so I've got to bail. Thanks for the conversation.

It clearly needs a longer form discussion, as we're in two separate realities of understanding, and short posts can't cover it.

Really recommend investing time in that video course. It'd help strengthen the fundamental concepts of the Trade-Free project.
in reply to Björn ⚡

We can have a live chat via our TROMcast (podcast) if you'd like to. It is more direct and we can pay closer attention to our points. We can settle for a date/time. I am always open to other views.
in reply to Tio

Thanks for the invite — will definitely think about it. I'm in Australia and have a full workload at the moment.

Because I'm not an expert, I wouldn't be the best advocate for Austrian economics, but I could certainly give it a try. A Tom Woods-type person might be a more informative and well rounded guest.

Do you have a link to the podcast so I can check it out? Had a search in my podcast app but nothing showed :(
in reply to Björn ⚡

This is the Podcast https://videos.trom.tf/my-library/video-playlists/aaa670bd-91ff-460a-a24d-ec072290f633 - it is a video-cast. We do not post it on mainstream podcast "places". We want it to be ad free and easily accessible.

I wanted to start a series called "Trade is the origin of most problems. Change my mind." And invite anyone who disagrees with the statement. Maybe I will learn something new, maybe they will. It is good to challenge yourself and your views about the world.
This entry was edited (2 years ago)
in reply to Björn ⚡

We also have a public Matrix chatroom https://matrix.to/#/#chat:matrix.trom.tf where we invite anyone for discussing such topics. It is crucial for this TROM project to be challenged. Else we become cultish.
in reply to Tio

I'd be interested in that. I will endeavour to read the book you mentioned about money in the meantime.
in reply to Björn ⚡

But if you're reliant on donations or charity, you're dependant on others... which is fundamentally unhealthy.
Why am I reliant on these? Because I have no other choice, correct?
The best way is to promote economic freedom in those countries.
Economic freedom is as good as prison housing. The best way to feed the poor, is to feed the poor.
in reply to Björn ⚡

in reply to Björn ⚡

I do not believe, it is correct that people volunteer for such organizations and do it for free. And there are many who do a lot of specialized work. It is not news to me that these orgs pay some of their staff. I am also sad to have noticed for the past years how "volunteers" started to mean paid workers. A volunteer should volunteer, not be paid for their work.

Regardless, we are talking about trade-free goods/services no matter how they are created. I am not convinced that humans cannot do large scale projects with specialized humans, without them being forced to do so. Some are paid today because it is difficult not to pay them.
in reply to Tio

"we are talking about trade-free goods/services no matter how they are created"

This is the crux. Trade was a critical component in making these things.

The paid RNLI lifeboat crew willingly trade their time (and lives) in exchange for money.

And this goes the entire way through the complex charitable organisational structure. And this is a relatively small charity.
in reply to Björn ⚡

Trade was a critical component in making these things.
Trade may be necessary in some aspects of these orgs. You make it look as if it is all about trade. It is an inconvenience at best.
The paid RNLI lifeboat crew willingly trade their time (and lives) in exchange for money.
Unless I am wrong, they do not paid most of their staff. Like 95% of them are not paid. So they do not trade. And RNLI is a big org not a small one. Operates throught the UK.
in reply to Tio

Volunteers trade their time — and it's a transfer of economic benefit. It precisely fits the definition of trade.
in reply to Björn ⚡

Volunteers should not trade anything because trade is between 2 humans (at least). Or humans and organizations (still humans). A volunteer doesn't trade their time to get something from someone. If it does that for themselves that's a completely different monster. We are talking about our trade-based society where we give in order to receive, from others. I also create a lot of trade-free projects. But I do not trade my time in order to get something our of it. However if I were to have a job, I would have to trade my time in order to get food or whatever that job can get me. That's a trade example. If I just work but ask for nothing in return, that's not trade.
in reply to Tio

They absolutely receive something of value, which is why they do it.

Nobody carries out any action unless they believe it helps them achieve their goals, whatever they may be.

As Mises said in his great book, "The incentive that impels a man to act is always some uneasiness"

So whether it's a sense of goodwill, or a desire to give back after being rescued at sea — they do it for some personal benefit, and non-monetary reward is what we get for most actions we take.
in reply to Björn ⚡

They absolutely receive something of value, which is why they do it.
Not from the others. That would be a trade. If you get value out of helping others, then that's not a trade. It is like saying peeing is a trade because you get relief out of it. This is, of course, cartoonish.

If Mises helps me repair my bike and asks nothing from me, then that's trade-free (volunteering). If Mises gets pleasure out of it, this is still trade-free for me. I didn't give her pleasure unless she asks me to have sex with her in return for repairing my bike. That would be a trade.
Nobody carries out any action unless they believe it helps them achieve their goals, whatever they may be.
That is an absolute statement and I cannot take it seriously. I do a lot of free work for many years now, simply because I enjoy doing it, or enjoy helping others.
in reply to Björn ⚡

But on a planetary scale with complex goods that involve long supply chains, research, rare minerals & intricate processes all working in conjunction — productivity would plummet, and scarcity would rise.

Prices are the signal for the scarcity of the item you’re buying. Remove them, and the laws of human behaviour will still apply.

And scarcity will rise because a key signal in the market process would be removed.

Either way, the laws of human behaviour would still apply.
in reply to Björn ⚡

There are no "laws" of human behavior.
You dont need to organize anybody to produce anything.
People will organize themselves.
in reply to Marinus Savoritias

Plus i repeat there will be no markets.
You dont need signals or anything like that.
If by complex goods you mean cars and alexa speakers then good. Thats the point. People will decide if they need them.
in reply to Marinus Savoritias

Without markets, nothing exists. Markets don't necessarily have to involve monetary exchange, but they do involve exchange.

Maybe we have a completely different understanding on what the market is.
in reply to Björn ⚡

What is a market? Explain it for a 10 year old if you can. :)
in reply to Marinus Savoritias

The law of marginal utility is a good starter.

As for organising to produce, you might be interested to know the massive complexity in the production of a simple pencil ✏

https://fee.org/articles/i-pencil/

And that's just for a pencil.

Our society is far more advanced than this example ↑.
in reply to Björn ⚡

Prices are the signal for the scarcity of the item you’re buying
Not entire true, ofc. Prices fluctuate depending on how valuable we think that item is. How popular, and so forth. Paintings, NTFs, and so forth....
Either way, the laws of human behaviour would still apply.
What are the laws of human behavior?
in reply to Björn ⚡

in reply to Tio

Charity ("organizations that already have to deal with scarce resources without putting a price tag for them") still involves a market process. Staff, office. communications, infrastructure and supply chains.

There's a reason charities pay salaries for key staff — specialised staff are scarce, and they enable these charities to be more productive.

To the end user, it's free, but the complex processes behind this aren't.
in reply to Björn ⚡

Of course they can't 100% decouple from this trade based society. But the more you do, the better the chances to move this society into a different direction. The fact that we already rely heavily on such charity/volunteer organizations is a strong argument in favor of "people doing things for free".
There's a reason charities pay salaries for key staff
There are a lot who do not. Rely on volunteers 100%.
in reply to Tio

charity discourages self-reliance, and creates indebtedness to the giver.

Entrepreneurship and a marketplace to voluntarily exchange goods and services allows us to be self-reliant and develop an advanced society.

If everything was based on charity, innovation would be discouraged, and progress would slow dramatically.

Charity is of great benefit, and the welfare state should be returned to private charity.

Sadly, the state destroyed it.

It's fascinating:
https://mises.org/library/welfare-welfare-state
in reply to Björn ⚡

Entrepreneurship and a marketplace to voluntarily exchange goods and services allows us to be self-reliant and develop an advanced society.

There is no such thing as "voluntarily exchange" in a society in which you can die if you do not exchange. And all players are unequal. Plus, look at today's society, it is anything but "advanced". It is a destroying society.
If everything was based on charity, innovation would be discouraged, and progress would slow dramatically.
I do not understand what charity is but I am not talking about charity. I am talking about de-slaving humans from society. And let them get involved in whatever they want to without threatening them that if they do not, they may die. This can bread a lot of innovation. Look at the open source world, look at citizen scientists, and so forth.
in reply to Tio

On the drug user question, in our current world, the buyer must produce something in order to have the funds to buy scarce drugs.

Their supply is their demand.

Relying purely on charity, the user does not need to produce in order to consume. And there is no incentive for the drug producer to supply vast quantities to the non-paying user.

It again comes back to price as a signal of scarcity.
in reply to Björn ⚡

Are we talking about medicine or "drugs" as in psychedelics and such?
in reply to Tio

it works for both.

Drugs (pharmaceutical or otherwise) come at a cost, and it's paid through charity or otherwise.

But someone has to pay. Check out the Mises article linked in the other reply for more background on medical costs before state welfare.

Scarcity is a major driver.
in reply to Björn ⚡

So what is your question? Will humans be incentivized to create medicine? Or drugs? Why would they not be unless you force them?

Scarce drugs are today scarce because of artificial scarcity where you can't produce the same medicine since someone else owns the patent for trade reasons. When the guy who invented the Polio vaccine gave it away for free, that's an example of how we should do it. And he saved countless lives.
in reply to Aral Balkan

After learning about how "sustainable growth" and "surgical strike" are oxymorons, I started to wonder whether "fair trade" belonged to the same category.
in reply to sudonymouse

Fair trade says "humans should trade in a fair manner". It sounds nice, but in practice the incentive that trade creates is that of accumulating and so it results in a similar practice where there is no "fair trade", just trade. Look at the many examples of how fair trade is used just as a label to sell more stuff. It is a brand from my knowledge.

We say that we should not trade in the first place. To make trade obsolete.
in reply to Aral Balkan

I can't believe how underrated this project is considering the amount of stuff they do. If you're interested, I highly recommended you read their books from here (its trade-free) - https://www.tromsite.com/books

The first 2 books "origin of most problems" & "the money game and beyond" is a must read, everyone who question this system should at least read it once in their lifetime.

@tio is also working on a big documentary called TROM II. And I'm very excited for it 😀
@Tio

reshared this

in reply to Aral Balkan

Thank you @ar.al ! Maybe we should have a chat via our podcast in the near future so I understand more what your projects are about. I have it on my list to invite you to our podcast. But I was very busy the past months and we haven't done any.

It makes me so happy to see people sharing that project.