Source: https://nfs.net/en/what-we-do/the-nordic-region/the-nordic-model/
I do not have the figures (and would appreciate if someone does), but if the amount of risk capital that went into FoodTech were to have been invested in feeding people and alleviating poverty, that into FinTech were to be used to create a Universal Basic Income, and that into EduTech in giving away education for free, would we have been a happier planet?
No, I am not a communist, though I do believe that a democratic social welfare state (like the Nordic model) is the most stable, equal, and just way to organise oneself politically. But, be that as it may, as a committed capitalist and a democrat (and believing that democracy is a non-negotiable for capitalism to flourish), I often wonder if the best allocation of my funds, if I were the one investing into Food, Finance, and Education Tech, is to charge the users.
What do I mean by this?
I mean to ask whether there exists a model where the actual consumers of these three services may not be the customers of them, in the same sense that while I am a consumer or my local newspaper or of Facebook, I either pay nothing or too little of what it costs to actually run the thing, and most income comes from using my eyeballs and the data that I produce. I am not saying that an exact same model will work in Food, Finance, or Education, but is there a similar model that can be built for these fields?
I was about to post this, when a friend called and after we finished speaking of other things, I put this question to them. They are one of the smartest humans I know, and their answer was interesting and insightful. It was thus: Real Democracy + Free Markets + Strategic Taxation = No Hunger + No Poverty + Universal Financial Inclusion + Universal Education + Universal Health. There is no need to invent new models or become a communist for what we know already exists and may be used. So, what pray, I asked him, is the problem? And I could almost see him smile across the phone: ‘Good leadership, an involved citizenry, a free press, impartial courts, and a uniformed force that is strictly apolitical. Indeed, the basic pillars of a good democracy. Democracy and its implementation are never perfect without any of this. Correct that and you will not have to want. Don’t go looking for answers when you haven’t yet tried the old solutions properly.’
What do you think?
Do you think there is a way to improve the imperfect democracy we have? Do you think the Nordic model approach can be ‘VC’ised and made into some sort of capitalistic model where startup entrepreneurs could help create such societies with Venture Capital and still be able to give great returns to their investors?
No, wait. Just struck me: If the amount of money we spend on our military and machines of war and murder were to go into making people happy and supply them with enough food, medicine, healthcare, education, and a Universal Basic Income, we would not need to ask such silly questions.
No, wait again. I read that sentence above once again. And I realised that being ‘happy’ to many people is having the ability to kill and impose themselves on others, even if it means going hungry and cold, staying illiterate and unhealthy, and remaining penniless and shelterless. Indeed, I realised that if people were to really decide what ‘happy’ meant to them in the context of the money spent on the military, we’d be a species that ends up being the cause of its own extinction.
Oh, wait! Shit. We’re fucked already, isn’t it?
