Or just be a farmer. It's not western propaganda when it comes from the horses mouth.
http://faminegenocide.com/resources/quotes.html
Is it the Federation, or Just Earth that Doesn't Use Money
- Thread starter DeimosMasque
- Start date
http://faminegenocide.com/resources/quotes.html
It's contradictory and all over the place, here are yet some more no money quotes;
Tom Paris: "When the New World Economy took shape in the late 22nd century and money went the way of the dinosaur"
Deanna Troi: "Poverty was eliminated on Earth, a long time ago"
Like I said, either one of these is right, or Star Trek's canon is on the same level as an 80's cartoon show.
If the fans do think that, it's because the show itself strongly implies it. Just saying "material needs no longer exist" is practically saying humans live in some type of post scarcity society. Showing a device that can instantly materialize food, music instruments, clothing ect- is strongly implying "post scarcity".
Saying that poverty is eliminated, there's is no money, and material needs don't exist, from 5 different people, implies "post scarcity".
Maybe they're exaggerating, but dollars to doughnuts that is what the show was strongly implying to the tv viewers. (To impress us about the future)
If this device can operate for decades on end, and provide food, water and clothing, it basically can. Enough to keep them alive and reasonably comfortable.
Just for another example in a similar situation, Janeway and Chakotey were stranded on a planet and couldn't leave without getting sick.
TUVOK: We will of course, provide them with everything they'll need for their survival and comfort. I am arranging for a modular shelter to be transported to the surface. They'll have all the technology they need. Weapons, tricorders, a replicator.
Not that they're using older devices, only that it's implied that fed technology can operate for decades to centuries, without running out of energy/power.
Like the 80+ year old ship and transporter Scotty rigged up to continually operate for 80 years. Or the USS Essex , a downed 200 year old ship that was still sending out distress signals. And other examples from other shows.
It's saying that even damaged Fed devices can operate on power for centuries, so it's not a stretch to think a modern replicator can operate for decades, if not centuries.
Problem there is the show makes clear that material needs do still exist.
Because you (again hypothetically) can't pay for the meal, and someone else who has both the ability and the willingness to pay for your meal does so.
This is the philosophy of the charity kitchen, buying meals for people who can't do (or have problems doing) so themselves.
Where? Not on Earth it seems. Nor does it seem to be a problem on other Federation homeworlds.
If the meal's costs basically nothing because either no work went into the production of the meal, or the cost of labor is no longer worth anything because the job can be done by a machine for "free", than the "customer" doesn't have to pay for anything, because the end product cost nothing to provide. With so much potential automation and the cost of production being reduced to basically zero, there is no amount of money needed to be invested in the employees because the produce costs are less than worth the price of printing or even accounting for the money that would be spent on it. Therefore the Earth tossed the currency based economy aside because it cost more to keep track of or produce the money than not to.
If the actual production cost of a ham sandwich and coffee is .00001 of a penny, is it worth tracking? Would it cost more to even track than to not track? Several countries are in the process of or considering removing their smallest denomination of currency because it costs more to make than it is worth. Other are considering the removal of currency because the cost of producing, transporting, and keeping it costs more than the money itself is worth.
Part of the high cost of things today is related to the costs of energy to transport items from one place to another (fuel costs/inflation), which because of the expense going up and up requires higher pay rates to employees for cost of living due to the prove of essentials going up and up due to the price of fuel and the labor cost to move it going up. But if the Federation uses basically a mix of solar, geothermal, fusion, and antimatter reactor power systems that are relatively low maintenance or exceptionally reliable (a power system that that operate with no maintenance for seven decades or even multiple centuries would be very cheap on labor cost for sure) would cut the bottom out of currency and cause a massive amount of deflation. If this deflation goes on far enough to the point were things become so cheap that it isn't worth the time to even have currency to get them, than why bother with currency at all?
Your explanation above certainly explains why the Federation wouldn't have a physical currency, and certainly I think we can all agree that for the purpose of internal trade within the Federation you are absolutely correct as far as the 'essentials of life' (food, shelter, medical care). However, the ability of Federation personnel to trade with currency-using cultures definately implies the existence of some form of standardized electronic medium of exchange (the 'credit') that can be used to purchase latinum, other currencies or barter goods, possibly similar to bitcoin.
All that would mean is that the Federation has something they can offer other species/empires for trade value, even if the Federation itself uses no currency of its own internally. Earth would have no currency. Neither would any other member worlds that don't see a point in using currency anymore given how pointless any of it would be to have, track, or account for with the cost of things being essentially zero. The Federation Credit may be what the Federation uses when dealing with other powers (like say the Klingons back in the 23rd century) so it might be common on border areas, but in the core regions, it be uncommon, or even pointless to have. It would not have any particular value within Federation Space since whatever you could get with it you would be getting "free" anyway. It only be worth anything to traders who deal with other powers and planets outside of Federation space (such as a border outpost space station like Deep Space K7).
Deep Space 9 might use Federation Credits verses bars of Ferengi Gold Pressed Latinum if the Ferengi see value in the Credit. They may not, and insist of something more tangible like dilithium, or valuable such as trade rights or having operation costs/rent waved on Federation run stations and outposts.
But that would be on a nation verse nation level, or nation verse business level. Individuals? There seems to be no known exchange of currency from Federation citizens to other species. Crusher billed it to the starship for dealing with the Bandi, so that could be just about anything, plus we don't know what the Bandi were even using for a currency. Gambling Starfleet officers have a tendency to get a loan of Latinum to start and if lucky (like Dax or Riker....or even Data) pay back the loan wit the winnings and keep the rest to play later whenever they feel like it. Or they trade their services or some good they can acquire for Latinum like Jake and Nog were doing on I believe two occasions. But as far as we can tell, not one exchanged any Federation currency for Latinum on the personal level. I suppose it could be like Data in the American West and they use their communicators as collateral.
No idea what Harry Kim had or was going to use before Tom Paris pulling him out of Quark's. It seems like a glitch just to show that Harry is a bit gullible and rookie/noob, while Tom is more savvy and experienced, while also starting their friendship. For all we know Kim's mom backed for him a few strips of Latinum or a dilithum crystal to exchange to local currency before he headed off to USS Voyager, because that sounds like his mom.
Deep Space 9 might use Federation Credits verses bars of Ferengi Gold Pressed Latinum if the Ferengi see value in the Credit. They may not, and insist of something more tangible like dilithium, or valuable such as trade rights or having operation costs/rent waved on Federation run stations and outposts.
But that would be on a nation verse nation level, or nation verse business level. Individuals? There seems to be no known exchange of currency from Federation citizens to other species. Crusher billed it to the starship for dealing with the Bandi, so that could be just about anything, plus we don't know what the Bandi were even using for a currency. Gambling Starfleet officers have a tendency to get a loan of Latinum to start and if lucky (like Dax or Riker....or even Data) pay back the loan wit the winnings and keep the rest to play later whenever they feel like it. Or they trade their services or some good they can acquire for Latinum like Jake and Nog were doing on I believe two occasions. But as far as we can tell, not one exchanged any Federation currency for Latinum on the personal level. I suppose it could be like Data in the American West and they use their communicators as collateral.
No idea what Harry Kim had or was going to use before Tom Paris pulling him out of Quark's. It seems like a glitch just to show that Harry is a bit gullible and rookie/noob, while Tom is more savvy and experienced, while also starting their friendship. For all we know Kim's mom backed for him a few strips of Latinum or a dilithum crystal to exchange to local currency before he headed off to USS Voyager, because that sounds like his mom.
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That's all very good, but the question I was asking was:
Why would anyone want to run a charity soup kitchen?
Remember, this was a question about Tom Paris' favorite bar giving out drinks for free because the proprietor (arguably) doesn't have to pay for her basic drinks either and can just pull stuff out of the replicator -- or just their ingredients if she's mixing cocktails -- so nobody on Earth pays her except for her exotic, off-planet, top-shelf stuff.
The question was asked "She's running a business. Why would she give out drinks for free?"
The answer is the same as "She's running a soup kitchen. Why would she give out soup for free?"
It's made clear that the replicator does use energy, so there would be that cost in using the replicator.
My impression is that the antimatter reactor (warp core) is neither low maintenance or exceptionally reliable, in fact it apparently is troublesome and requires a lot of attention.
And we see individuals using money, so it isn't only the Federation.
Picard himself purchases something while on vacation on a Federation planet, a financial transaction that in no way was mission oriented or with a extra-Federation species.
Uhura (a human), offers to buy a tribble, from a human bartender.
K7 was administer by a human, and when there was a perception of trouble a Starfleet vessel was summoned. Not a starship of a extra-Federation power.
"Send it to our starship when it arrives, charge to Doctor Crusher."
No, she didn't bill it to the starship.
Kim "How much for the entire tray?"
Quark "Cash or credit?"
Then Paris said, "You know, there's a shop at the Volnar Colony that sells a dozen assorted shapes for one Cardassian lek." So Harry could have gone elsewhere to make his purchase, but he still would have had to pay, just less.
Apparently Harry couldn't have simply replicated the items back on the ship.
Just that, as act of charity.
She wouldn't, she was selling drinks. Although perhaps in Paris's fantasy version of the bar the bill never arrives.
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The antimatter reactors we see only seem to have issues when used at high warp speeds, not when they are being used just to power the ships systems. Regardless of that, the other power systems would seem to be low to no maintenance if even a 20th century era ship can still be powered three or four centuries later without any effort form anyone. Such a low maintenance cost means that the cost to get energy out of the system would be worth practically nothing per user. If the cost of energy over the lifetime of a human on the Earth power grid is less than one cent a year, is it worth even tracking, much less actually bothering to pay with any form of currency (be in physical or electronic), as the act of tracking or paying said bill would likely cost more for labor or computer memory than the actual bill is worth.
We also have no idea if Picard or Crusher used any form of currency for these actions. We can't even tell how Risa works on that level, or if "purchase" is an antiquated term for what actual happens. Though given how they sometimes treat Risa, it seems more like it is not even a Federation planet, but more a neutral world were people from all corners of the quadrant go to relax, and this why no one bothers to take it for themselves. As we saw on ENT, Risa was already a vacation hub and already had a weather control system long before the Federation existed.
The Bandi were on the frontier of Federation space and attempting to become useful with Farpoint Station, but they were not Federation members since they were offering the station to the Federation, but also threatened to offer it to the Ferengi or anyone else.
Deep Space Station K7 is a civilian border station on the Federation-Klingon Border. Also the events seen take place in the 23rd century, which is noticeably different from the 24th century due to the significant lack of replicator technology on starships.
Volnar Colony would I assume be in the DMZ given Tom's work with the Marquis and the mention of a Cardassian currency. Deep Space Nine is not only in Bajoran Space, but also between the Federation and Cardassian border and within the influence of the Ferengi.
As for a bar on Earth though? If the cost to produce and handle the drinks equals less than a cent...why even track the cost anymore?
@Crazy Eddie:
You really don't understand why people run soup kitchens? It's partly to lessen the chance of people having to deal with dead bodies - the people who, for lack of nutritious food, either get sick(er) and die, or who literally starve.
From the way you keep asking this same question, I can only assume that you've never done charitable work, and/or never had to use a food bank, social agency, or accept help from a charitable organization.
Back when I was active in the SCA, our branch donated any leftovers from our feasts to one of the social agencies in town - the women's shelter or youth shelter. Did they appreciate it? Damn right they did - it was good, nutritious food that was well-prepared, and depending on what theme we'd used for the feast (Chinese, Irish, Spanish/New World, or something else), a few of the dishes would be unusual ones that would definitely be a different sort of treat.
We gave the food away for free, not expecting anything more than a verbal "thank you" in return... and the ingredients sure hadn't been free for us, unless some of it was donated from our own cupboards (which had had to be purchased in the first place, unless this was the October feast and the ingredients had been grown in someone's garden).
You really don't understand why people run soup kitchens? It's partly to lessen the chance of people having to deal with dead bodies - the people who, for lack of nutritious food, either get sick(er) and die, or who literally starve.
From the way you keep asking this same question, I can only assume that you've never done charitable work, and/or never had to use a food bank, social agency, or accept help from a charitable organization.
Back when I was active in the SCA, our branch donated any leftovers from our feasts to one of the social agencies in town - the women's shelter or youth shelter. Did they appreciate it? Damn right they did - it was good, nutritious food that was well-prepared, and depending on what theme we'd used for the feast (Chinese, Irish, Spanish/New World, or something else), a few of the dishes would be unusual ones that would definitely be a different sort of treat.
We gave the food away for free, not expecting anything more than a verbal "thank you" in return... and the ingredients sure hadn't been free for us, unless some of it was donated from our own cupboards (which had had to be purchased in the first place, unless this was the October feast and the ingredients had been grown in someone's garden).
Where are you getting this "one cent?" More likely power plants cost tens of billions to build and many millions for yearly operation costs, these cost being past along to the consumers..
Replicators eat power, and the same for holosuites, same for use of transporters, other things too, future civilizations will use energy.
Generating this energy will come at a cost, there no such thing as "too cheap to meter."
Not according to MemoryAlpha, or Star Trek Star Charts, or the Stellar Cartography, or StarTrek.com, all place the colony near Bajor. Which makes sense, Tom gives Harry a alternate close to where they were.
And the point was, Harry possessed money to make a personal purchase.
Where do you get less than a cent? Replicators would take power to change something at the molecular level into the intended drink, and real liquor would have to be produced "the old fashion way."
Bartenders and waiters/waitresses will want to be paid. Mortgage-lease-rent to be paid. Utlities to be paid. And don't forget insurance.
And the point was, Uhura possessed money to make a personal purchase.
Are you admitting that there was money use in the 23rd century Federation?
"Navy beans to credits."
DS9 dialog makes it clear that Risa is a Federation member.
Nicely stepping around definitions of "currency," the point was, Picard and Crusher possessed money to make personal purchases.
Oh okay, if we're going to be changing the meaning of words then when Picard says there no money he specifically meant Confederate War Bonds.
You are assuming the energy still has a cost or that labor still has a value in monetary terms when the states ideology and appearent usage of said systems would appear to have no remaining costs do to the supply being far, far greater than the demand and the energy sources being primarily sources that will not dry out within the life span of at least three species (meaning millions if not billions of years).
Having actually run one myself, I surely do. Just like I understand why someone would run a bar without actually charging someone for the drinks. If, for example, you were exceptionally rich and didn't need the money but loved being a bartender and contributing to the drunken good times of your entire community, "for the lulz" is as good a reason as any.
It's not why QUARK runs a bar, obviously. But it's probably a good enough reason for Sisko's dad.
Probably NOT for Picard's brother, since he's likely to export some of his wine off world in exchange for cold hard cash which he can then use to buy interesting and exotic crap from outside of Earth's single-payer economy.
And Tom's bar probably charges money too for its top shelf imported stuff (Guinan probably does too), but like the drinks at Quarks, the BASIC stuff is free.
From the way you keep implying that the only reason anyone would run a bar is "to make money" I can only assume you have never watched Star Trek.
In a single-payer economy, the government pays for the power plants on behalf of the consumers. The consumers only have to make sure they're contributing enough in their day-to-day work and labor that the government has enough to make all of those payments. Apparently Earth is productive enough that they have all of that and plenty leftover, so nobody worries about it.
Earth is such an insanely rich planet that they never have to worry about the cost of things like powerplants and food production because no matter how much it costs, they (collectively) have WAY more wealth.
That's what it means to live in a post-scarcity society: you have such an abundance of everything that the costs don't matter anymore, and you can afford to be sloppy in managing your resources. It's kind of like how some people are rich enough that they can go out to eat at a restaurant and never once give any thought to how much anything costs, because they know that no matter how much the bill is, it won't even come close to making a dent in their bank accounts.
And Earth has such an abundance of energy and material wealth that they don't CARE how much energy is used, because they have 100x the money needed to pay for it all. They aren't going to nickel and dime the end-user consumer at replicator terminals because even if they COULD distribute all of Earth's wealth evenly throughout the entire population, they'd all basically be multi-billionaires.
Thus asking them to pay 5 credits for the use of a replicator would be an unnecessary nuisance. There isn't ANYONE on Earth who can't afford to use a replicator, and if there is, there SHOULDN'T be, because Earth has such a ridiculous abundance of wealth that we might as well just GIVE that poor sucker a million credits just for being such a swell guy.
It's a really simple concept here: Earth can afford to go without money because Earth is insanely RICH.
Not in the 24th century on Earth. Being a bartender (or a chef, for that matter) is basically a hobby and probably subsidized by the Earth government for all of your expenses. Mortage-lease-rent also implies the need of land owners to make money from their control of the land; if land owners don't NEED money, they have no reason to charge rent.
Money was in use everywhere in the 23rd and 24th century. Just not ON EARTH.
In fact, this is a good rebuttal to Timewalker's curious argument about this being purely a "Starfleet" thing. Even Starfleet officers sometimes use money when dealing with foreign nationals, mainly because they're too far from Earth for the Public Pool to cover their expenses. So they have to use their own personal cash for that. It's not clear HOW they acquire that kind of spending money, but I'd venture a guess that Starfleet actually DOES pay its officers a salary that they can either accept (as Worf and O'Brien obviously do) or donate back to the Earth Universal Purchase Fund (as Picard and Riker probably do).
Here's an interesting question: Who paid for Geordi's visor? I actually kind of doubt that's standard Federation technology since he's the only one we ever see using it and Dr. Crusher isn't totally familiar with it. I'd bet he had to hire a specialist from another Federation or allied world, and he probably had to pay up front for it.
Maybe it came out of his mother's salary?
It's no assumption that main character have money to make personal purchases, because we see and hear them making purchases. We also hear of main characters selling things.
And yes, main characters who are in Starfleet, civilians in the Federation, right inside the good old Federation, and right on Earth.
People arrested and held on 24th century Starfleet starbases can be charged a monetary fine prior to being released. A strange requirement on Starfleet's part if money doesn't exist.
That energy is generated at a cost yes, that there would have to be considerable infrastructure on planets to generate that energy for populations in the billions, and this would come at a cost, yes.
In "Homefront," power to individual homes on Earth could be knocked out by the opening power relays, this means energy isn't being generated in the individual Earth homes.
Yes, this being how the main characters (in the Federation) acquire the money that we see/hear that they repeatedly are shown to both have and use to purchase things and sell things.
There is no indication that the "state" has any such ideology.
Why would a society generate more energy that there is a foreseen demand for?
Antimatter has to be either collected or created. Hydrogen has to be either collected or separated from more complex compounds. Solar collectors have to be manufactured. Generators for wind, tide, and geothermal would have to be manufactured.
All of these have to be maintained (we see power equipment maintenance on the show), maintained by people who would need to be paid and trained. Facilities would need to be constructed.
Power distribution means would need to be brought into existence and themselves maintained.
All this at a cost, which would be passed to the energy's consumers.
Er... POST-WAR, as I mentioned above. Not immediately, of course (the late 1940s were tough), but in 1950s such a problem simply did not exist anymore.
Because they can. Human built power systems seem to be extremely resilient, able to power devices for centuries with no human involvement, and they seem to use solar, geothermal, and fusion reactors that are low to no maintenance. Either the automation is really good, or the systems have become very robust and reliable since the 21st century that they can more or less build something and then forget about it and it will run perfectly fine for generations. Antimatter reactors seem to only give problems when being run at very high power output for high speed warp travel. Their basic power generation output is great even without pushing the system. This is also how they could have more power than they need. Antimatter reactors can put out a lot of power for warp drives, while a planet doesn't need to go to warp, but such a system could put out a lot of power. Just how many cities could one Galaxy-class warp core power just at idle? How many cities could it power if pumping at the output for a cruising speed of warp six, which is considered quite safe. How many could it power if pumping at the requirements for warp 9.2, which is considered less safe, but not dangerous? And this is potential for emergency power for a planet, that uses solar, fusion, and geothermal power for everything normally. They got a lot of potential power output.
The idea that these things have a cost is very corporate ideology. Where profit is the goal. The 24th century seems to not be driven by this notion as the actual cost of things is far, far lower than the for profit price. In a Federation were the demand for worker is far, far, far less than the supply of humans, much less all the other species out there, than the price for wages in basically nothing. If the cost to produce energy is next to nothing because there is little to no labor cost, and most of the energy is produced by renewable resources on robust collection platforms that don't need maintenance for decades and won't need replacement for centuries....why bother charging for it anymore? Who's going to collect it....and for what purpose?
At some point the idea of collecting currency for services becomes pointless when the cost of the services dwindles to next to nothing due to the demand being far far less than the supply (the reverse of today's energy market, but the general direction of the labor market as more things become automated. More labor is available than there is a supply of jobs to fill.)
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i know i am late to this but this is my piece. You dont need money when you are on earth or any other earth like planet in the federation. As pretty much everything is free, i have a feeling that the federation has latnum stored somewhere that they use for trade with non federation worlds. I think perhaps federation citizens are probably allowed monthly credits for things like transporters and holidays etc. Everyone gets the same monthly credits but it refreshes every month and no body gets more than others to prevent anyone accumulating credits or wealth. I am sure star fleet officers that are expected to interact with non federation cultures and economic syestems probably have a limited amount of latnum backed credit for social interaction and trade.
The way i see the federation is so, commerce is not banned if you wanna open a bar maybe there are guidelines you need to pass, courses you need to take and what open free bars are available. If you wanna be a chef you work in a restaaurant and learn from the cook. I think the federation doesnt outlaw latnum based trade, however good luck trying to buy stuff on post scarcity planet where almost anything is free from a replicator, including the energy used to replicate it. if u spent ur latnum on replicator based goods it would be a waste of mone, same goes with trying to sell replicated goods for latnum. That is where things like picards family wine comes in.
I see the federation on economy as a competitior to privately owned businesses, eventually ppl trying to sell stuff realised it was getting harder and harder as ppls every needs where slowly being catered for by replicators. So if u wanted to stay in busines you either started trading non replicated products that where niche, opened ur business for the sake of it with no profit, or packed up and moved to a non federated world or finally just packing up and just enjoying your replictor catered world and found another skill that was fulfilling and helped the benefit of humanity.
I have a feeling that a lot of post scarcity federation worlds were full of bored ppl that didnt feel fulfilled, whicjh would lead to either joining star fleet or try to start a new colony. the possibilities are endless, imagine living in a world where all ur needs are catered for, you woulld be free to pursue all kinds of pursuits, academic, spiritual etc. This is the kind of world where advancement would be based mostly on your performance and ability not your wealth or social standing. The failures in this kind of world of abundance would probably have themselves to blame. Most ppl that are discontent would probably go and found new colonies with newer and more exciting challenges.
As for latnum you could go your whole life without needing it but i am sure it wouldnt be too hard to get your hands on. take replicated stuff and sell in a world outside the federation without access to replicators. If you have a unique skill maybe charge latnum for it but good luck finding customers from federation worlds to pay for something they might be happy replicating for free, your latnum paying customers will probably be from non federation worlds. Hell maybe every federation citizen that is an adult or a functioning member of society has a latnum amount that is allocated to them as long as u can prove that you are spending it on something that isnt illegal or maybe your on holiday in a non federation world and you will probably need to show receipts when u come back to the federation.
There are so many explanations on how an economy that is not based on money can work, ppl here keep quoting human nature. That is like saying a klingon cannot be peaceful or a romulan cannot be trustworthy. The humans are different from us, they have lived in peace for generations and have all their medical, economical, academical and nutritional needs met. They are waaaay more educated and civilised than us to the point that they dont even consider their only national defence force starfleet a millitary but rather an exploratory organisation. Plus they live in a society that if you dont like the values there is more than enough space for you to go start your own society that is based on latnum on another planet if u want to. Lol the federation would probably give you the latnum to start. The majority of humans in the federation remind me of buddhist monks in temples, very zen like and against worldly materialism but after spiritual and intellectual advancements. If in our present ugly and harsh world ppl like those monks can exist. Then imagine how much easier it would be for ppl to be non materialistic in a future as advance as star trek, hell they hardly have anyone in prisons. They are as far removed from us as we are to cavemen, Who would find our current levesl of violence and coexistence shocking compared to theirs.
In fact i believe that other non federation economies that are not free have either have artificially created scarcity by limiting what replicators can do, maybe big business controlling their govt and trying to stop free replicator technology from getting to the masses. Or maybe the economies are not advanced enough to sort out the federation cheap energy required for their replicators, which i suspect probably occurs on bajor.
The way i see the federation is so, commerce is not banned if you wanna open a bar maybe there are guidelines you need to pass, courses you need to take and what open free bars are available. If you wanna be a chef you work in a restaaurant and learn from the cook. I think the federation doesnt outlaw latnum based trade, however good luck trying to buy stuff on post scarcity planet where almost anything is free from a replicator, including the energy used to replicate it. if u spent ur latnum on replicator based goods it would be a waste of mone, same goes with trying to sell replicated goods for latnum. That is where things like picards family wine comes in.
I see the federation on economy as a competitior to privately owned businesses, eventually ppl trying to sell stuff realised it was getting harder and harder as ppls every needs where slowly being catered for by replicators. So if u wanted to stay in busines you either started trading non replicated products that where niche, opened ur business for the sake of it with no profit, or packed up and moved to a non federated world or finally just packing up and just enjoying your replictor catered world and found another skill that was fulfilling and helped the benefit of humanity.
I have a feeling that a lot of post scarcity federation worlds were full of bored ppl that didnt feel fulfilled, whicjh would lead to either joining star fleet or try to start a new colony. the possibilities are endless, imagine living in a world where all ur needs are catered for, you woulld be free to pursue all kinds of pursuits, academic, spiritual etc. This is the kind of world where advancement would be based mostly on your performance and ability not your wealth or social standing. The failures in this kind of world of abundance would probably have themselves to blame. Most ppl that are discontent would probably go and found new colonies with newer and more exciting challenges.
As for latnum you could go your whole life without needing it but i am sure it wouldnt be too hard to get your hands on. take replicated stuff and sell in a world outside the federation without access to replicators. If you have a unique skill maybe charge latnum for it but good luck finding customers from federation worlds to pay for something they might be happy replicating for free, your latnum paying customers will probably be from non federation worlds. Hell maybe every federation citizen that is an adult or a functioning member of society has a latnum amount that is allocated to them as long as u can prove that you are spending it on something that isnt illegal or maybe your on holiday in a non federation world and you will probably need to show receipts when u come back to the federation.
There are so many explanations on how an economy that is not based on money can work, ppl here keep quoting human nature. That is like saying a klingon cannot be peaceful or a romulan cannot be trustworthy. The humans are different from us, they have lived in peace for generations and have all their medical, economical, academical and nutritional needs met. They are waaaay more educated and civilised than us to the point that they dont even consider their only national defence force starfleet a millitary but rather an exploratory organisation. Plus they live in a society that if you dont like the values there is more than enough space for you to go start your own society that is based on latnum on another planet if u want to. Lol the federation would probably give you the latnum to start. The majority of humans in the federation remind me of buddhist monks in temples, very zen like and against worldly materialism but after spiritual and intellectual advancements. If in our present ugly and harsh world ppl like those monks can exist. Then imagine how much easier it would be for ppl to be non materialistic in a future as advance as star trek, hell they hardly have anyone in prisons. They are as far removed from us as we are to cavemen, Who would find our current levesl of violence and coexistence shocking compared to theirs.
In fact i believe that other non federation economies that are not free have either have artificially created scarcity by limiting what replicators can do, maybe big business controlling their govt and trying to stop free replicator technology from getting to the masses. Or maybe the economies are not advanced enough to sort out the federation cheap energy required for their replicators, which i suspect probably occurs on bajor.
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