THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

permanently unemployed part of the population who live at the
margin of society, where the only remaining choices are either to
become a welfare recipient or make a living in the underground
economy of drugs and crime.
This could very well become the blueprint of what happens with
First World workers when technology makes significant portions of
the population obsolete. The main difference is that the Information
Age would make that process geographically universal. This time we
are all potential victims.
This picture may appear too grim. After all, racism was an
exacerbating element. But this case study remains a stark illustration
of what normally happens within this framework when large groups
of people become economically irrelevant, at least if we remain
within the framework of the existing money system.
Traditional solutions
It should not come as a surprise that the solutions most commonly
presented for today's unemployment problem fall into different
camps, depending on from where the recommendation comes in the
political spectrum. The old political divide between right and left still
provides the easiest classification of the traditional solutions.
Solution from the political right
The Conservatives claim that employment is not something the
government should get involved in, and that over time free markets
will take care of this rather messy problem. They did so in the past,
and will do it again.
When Milton Friedman was asked whether the Information Age
might not outdate this approach, he answered - only half jokingly -