Federation Credits

[Johnny7oak]

I am now wondering if Federation Credits are not really a money system even though they act like it, but actually a "Rationing" System to which all resources are made available by request.

So Not a really a currency... just order from the catalogue with your stipend of ration. Other worlds could have currency or money but Federation credits would be Rationing points.

Negotiating with foreign worlds becomes we are willing to trade: Rationing Points for use of the wormhole. You can select anything our member worlds have to offer in exchange for the Federation Credits.

Entertainment credits for rationing of drinks? or maybe Guinan doesn't charge for synthehol she just gets her federation credits in exchange for being there.

 

[Tenacity]

If a "ration system" ultimately has the same function as money, then that ration system is money.

You perform work, you recieve "ration points" based upon ...
how long you worked,
how much skill you brought to the work,
\how much education you obtained to do the work,
how much seniority you have in the place of work,

Those ration points are money.

 

[Johnny7oak]

yes, it would be similar. What you did, gave you more rationing at your disposal... captain has a greater pool coming to him than a cadet or an ensign. He may also have more because he never goes anywhere. Some jobs are in high demand and would maybe offer an incentive of additional credits. Its possible people turn it into a gambling den or otherwise civilian credit exchange for favors non-sanctioned. The federation wouldn't have a stock market or a market at which they had floatable value. Only additional value from the federation stock/supply list is what you could barter or negotiate.

 

[Longinus]

My theory is that their main purpose is to facilitate interaction with primitive money based economies. They're not used internally in the Federation. Then people from those cultures can exchange them for Federation goods.

 

[The Old Mixer]

A place to put all your Federation Credits:

 

[Shawnster]

yes, it would be similar

How would it be different?

 

[Makarov]

they are monopoly money

 

[The Wormhole]

The Federation is a society in a constant state of self-denial. "We don't have money, that'll cost you ten credits, BTW." "Starfleet isn't a military, it's an armed uniform service dedicated to the defense of the Federation and fights its wars. There's a difference, probably." "We're a secular society that goes to church on Sundays."

 

[Tim Thomason]

The Federation is a society in a constant state of self-denial. "We don't have money, that'll cost you ten credits, BTW." "Starfleet isn't a military, it's an armed uniform service dedicated to the defense of the Federation and fights its wars. There's a difference, probably." "We're a secular society that goes to church on Sundays."

"We have no need for possessions," says Picard as he gently places his Kurlan naiskos next to his Ressikan flute.

 

[psCargile]

Credits? Why I'm paid in the satisfaction of a job well done!

 

[1001001]

"We have no need for possessions," says Picard as he gently places his Kurlan naiskos next to his Ressikan flute.

He wants them. He doesn't need them.

 

[Tim Thomason]

He wants them. He doesn't need them.

"We've eliminated want." - Jean-Luc Picard, The Neutral Zone

 

[1001001]

"We've eliminated want." - Jean-Luc Picard, The Neutral Zone

That's clearly meant as "poverty" not "all wants".

Come on...

 

[Kor]

"We have no need for possessions," says Picard as he gently places his Kurlan naiskos next to his Ressikan flute.

Having an artifact or three is much different than the crass consumerist culture of late 20th to early 21st century Earth.

Kor

 

[Tim Thomason]

That's clearly meant as "poverty" not "all wants".

Come on...

I'm just trying to make a cheap joke. You don't have to fight back on each and every point (although I started it). Picard's attitude in Neutral Zone was a little absurd and at odds with some of his own displayed behavior later on, but I think his heart was in the right place.

He was trying to present these people with an idealized vision of what his society is like, even if everyone doesn't always live up to it. Even with such a lofty position, I feel Picard (him alone, not Riker or Troi or Worf) still does live up to much of the party line as espoused in Neutral Zone, First Contact, and In the Cards.

This makes him a unique character in perhaps all of fiction, with very little failings, but still intriguing, and makes me want to see him tackled in whatever way in the next series.

 

[The Old Mixer]

as he gently places his Kurlan naiskos

That was TV Picard. Movie Picard chucked it aside like a bag of garbage.

 

[Tenacity]

The Federation is a society in a constant state of self-denial.

He was trying to present these people with an idealized vision of what his society is like

These two quotes go together so well.

An "idealized vision" of the society he lives in might be all Picard sees, or is capable of seeing. The are indication that the reality of Starfleet and the Federation isn't quite (or remotely?) as Picard believes it to be.

Movie Picard chucked it aside like a bag of garbage.

Meaning he picks it up, looks at it, and gently places it back down?

 

[SPCTRE]

View attachment 5784

 

[The Wormhole]

These two quotes go together so well.

An "idealized vision" of the society he lives in might be all Picard sees, or is capable of seeing. The are indication that the reality of Starfleet and the Federation isn't quite (or remotely?) as Picard believes it to be.Meaning he picks it up, looks at it, and gently places it back down?

No, he literally tosses it away in Generations when Picard and Riker are digging through the ready room wreckage. Consult 1:50 to 2:20 of this video:

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[JirinPanthosa]

The show says there's no money, therefore there is no money, regardless of our own personal beliefs about whether a moneyless society is possible. It's TV. Deal.