The No Currency Thing On Earth

[Kate Nichols]

So, I get that people can have all the food, clothes and other such items that they need and want via the replicators, but how about land and houses? And, Sisko’s father owned and operated a restaurant in New Orleans. How did people pay for their dinners if there was no currency?

 

[STEPhon IT]

I guess Earth in the future returned to a barter system.

 

[Nerys Myk]

So, I get that people can have all the food, clothes and other such items that they need and want via the replicators, but how about land and houses? And, Sisko’s father owned and operated a restaurant in New Orleans. How did people pay for their dinners if there was no currency?

Who says they have to pay?

 

[kkt]

If the writers really knew how to make such an economic system, they'd probably be advocating it instead of writing for TV

Everyone has a home, food, medical care. But there must be some way of allocating the house with a spectacular view, meals at the restaurant that serves the fine jambalaya, etc. Perhaps there are credits for luxury goods.

 

[Kate Nichols]

Exactly. So, everyone has a house, but who gets the beach houses? Why would Sisko's father spend night and day running a restaurant, which is hard work, if there is no compensation.

 

[Bad Thoughts]

Exactly. So, everyone has a house, but who gets the beach houses? Why would Sisko's father spend night and day running a restaurant, which is hard work, if there is no compensation.

Being able to live and work in the heart of New Orleans seems pretty awesome (even if it looks suspiciously like a generic New York set).

 

[Nerys Myk]

Exactly. So, everyone has a house, but who gets the beach houses? Why would Sisko's father spend night and day running a restaurant, which is hard work, if there is no compensation.

Because he enjoys cooking and meeting people.

 

[Unimatrix Q]

Maybe housing, replicators and replicated goods are free and luxory goods and special immobiles can be bought with credits, which one can get for doing something productive or learning something new.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Exactly. So, everyone has a house, but who gets the beach houses? Why would Sisko's father spend night and day running a restaurant, which is hard work, if there is no compensation.

Sigh! Oh boy!!! Read this, please?

bar·ter
/ˈbärdər/
verb
verb: barter; 3rd person present: barters; past tense: bartered; past participle: bartered; gerund or present participle: bartering

1. 1.
   exchange (goods or services) for other goods or services without using money.
   "he often bartered a meal for drawings"
   synonyms: trade, swap, trade off, exchange, give in exchange, change, traffic, sell
   "peasants with a surplus of food could barter it for vital equipment"

noun
noun: barter
1.
the action or system of exchanging goods or services without using money.
"it will be paid for by a mixture of barter and cash"
synonyms: trading, trade, exchange, swapping, trafficking, business, commerce, buying and selling, dealing; More

Because he enjoys cooking and meeting people.

So, no one thinks Earth had some sort of advanced form of a barter system???

 

[Nerys Myk]

So, no one thinks Earth had some sort of advanced form of a barter system???

Can't say that I do.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Can't say that I do.

Then please read the definition for Barter?

 

[Nerys Myk]

Then please read the definition for Barter?

I'm pretty sure I'm familiar with the concept.

 

[gakelly]

Remember, humans have evolved past acquiring physical things...so it's just as nice to live in a run down part of the city as it would be to have a house in Malibu overlooking the ocean.

 

[kkt]

Barter doesn't work very well though. If I train students in how to repair mechanical watches, that just isn't something that lets me compensate the cook who can make the jambalaya I crave...

 

[tomswift2002]

They're all using Canadian Tire money in the future!

 

[XCV330]

There are models for currency in the kind of meritocratic society the UFP seems to have become.
FIAT currency may simply have had to be abandoned because the concept did not work across all member societies so they had to chose a different medium of exchange + valuation and called it something different.

Ferengi clearly like a hard-currency standard. Whatever counts as currency to the UFP must have some kind of exchange rate to Ferengi. Jake had a hard time explaining UFP economy (nice dodge, writers ) to Nog. In a civilization where needs are met, currency would primarily be used for wants.

Now i will go with the supposition that Picard is full of crap. Not everyone works to better themselves and the rest of humanity. The Picard clan still keep their vinyards and chateau. Are they part of some grand multigeneral quest to make the perfect claret for the benefit of humanity? Sisko's family is also in the food and beverage trade with another aged multi-generational business. Lorca's family are in the fortune cookie business. I'm starting to see a trend here, actually.

So let's say Picard is only 50% crap by volume. If scientific pursuits are so important, you might get certain bonuses for being involved in scientific pursuits. Barclay has to earn that primo apartment in Frisco somehow. So you join Starfleet and ship out. could be like the old days of bounties for privateers only you get a standard bonus PLUS extra shared bounties for things like new discoveries, first contact, test flights etc. That makes being a 10 Forward Waiter or transporter operator pretty worth it. Makes it all the more compelling to want to get on a Connie for one of those five year missions, and might explain why people are willing to sign up for the sometimes horrific attition rate suffered by starfleet.

 

[ALF]

Thought this Money-in-Star-Trek mystery might have been cleared up by Mudd in Short Treks - Discovery: The Escape Artist. There was an interview with Rainn Wilson that flushed out the details, but I can't find it to cite it at the moment. The jist, with no spoilers:

The Federation will take care of all of your needs - and you'll want for nothing if you abide by all Federation rules and regulations of which there are no doubt many, many. (Romulan ale is illegal, etc) I believe this would include having a home or apartment, because the Federation wants to take care of its loyal, productive citizens.

However if you aren't interested in playing by the Federation rules, then you're on your own and then you'll have access to the 'real' market. The Federation suits won't ordinarily touch that world because it's dirty or ugly or that it lacks Federation ideals or something. Think gold-pressed latinum.​

Hence, two separate economies have evolved over time as a response to this mass social engineering.

 

[Kor]

Hence, Pike at one point toying with the idea of retiring from his cushy Federation life to go off and become an Orion pirate.

Kor

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Because he enjoys cooking and meeting people.

Yeah, there are few better ways to get people from all over to want to come to your place than doing something well that people enjoy, especially when the thing you do is something that few other people do, if any.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Exactly. So, everyone has a house, but who gets the beach houses? Why would Sisko's father spend night and day running a restaurant, which is hard work, if there is no compensation.

The drive for monetary gain is no longer what compels humanity, people follow their passions and do what they love doing, for Joseph that's being a chef whilst for Jake it's being a writer.

As for who lives in what house, if someone wants to live in a beach house but lives on the 60th floor of a city apartment I'm sure they could visit a holodeck for the experience when they want, or kit out their property with holo-emitters to give them the impression they are living on the beach.