And maybe (dont kill me for this) some people need an adult in the room on occasions.
Maybe (again, hold yourself back) money given by the state should be spent in supermarkets, not on disco biscuits. A degree of control over that doesn't sound bad at all.
To some extent I agree. The problem is that historically the limit of this state control was technology itself. Except now we are far too advanced to keep technology as this limit.
Money given by the state is an entirely different thing. If you need the state's money, you are ought to play by it's rules.
What I'm worried about is the state meddling with personal financials with pinpoint accuracy.
Sure, so it seems reasonable to prevent people spending benefits on drugs. However is there not a slippery slope towards preventing people buying (say) unhealthy food?
I can imagine some 'luxury money' that can be spent on anything and 'basic money' that you can't use to buy a pack of crisps or a bar of chocolate, only carrots and apples...
This becoming a reality in my lifetime would convince me that time is a circle. My country had "dollar shops" before my time, where you could buy western luxury goods with foreign currency. Which was basically unobtainable for the average citizen.
https://bav-art.hu/blog/hello-tourist-dollarboltok-a-szocial...
Would that be such a bad thing.....? Again statistics would say people can't help themselves in that department.
I mean, this is what consumption taxes do. A tax on sugar makes it more expensive to buy a sweet drink, so you can buy less of them for the same money. By putting it into the programming of the money, you make the control more precise - you can only buy 1 sugary drink a day, for example.
I guess the horrible bureucratic solution would be to get a 'sugar license' or similar.
To be clear, this would be a nightmare, I think!
that’s a terrifying world of control
nothing like a perfect life of 90 years of eating grain and meat in the proper proportions
no thank you
The old pound isn't going away, you can still blow your own money on a corn dog and cocaine if you so wish (under this hypothetical system).
Would you agree to your town council deciding what things you can buy with your wages? No? Then why is an even more distant institution any more competent on that front?