Before & After

Before

Business is the central component of capitalism. Supply and demand is the driving force behind the free market economy which rewards businesses which have successfully figured out what goods and services consumers need or want, and can deliver them at a price that they are willing to pay. Those businesses which fail to identify the right goods and services at the right price are punished, the end result being that the successful companies make a profit and reward their investors and shareholders, and unsuccessful companies close down and investors are left high and dry. The "invisible hand of the free market" as it is often called determines the winners and losers in this competitive free market which is often hailed as the perfect way to match the supply and demand.

The trouble with letting the market decide the winners and losers is that there is no real control over what businesses are started only what businesses succeed and fail. When a business fails, it is a huge waste of natural resources and human labor, and it has a detrimental affect on the environment as buildings lay waste, obsolete inventory is disposed of, and the effort that workers have put in to the business is lost when they lose their jobs.

Small businesses are started all the time, many because people can't find regular employment so they try their hand at a new business venture often putting their savings and money from family and friends on the line to get it started. The failure rate can be quite high, for example starting a new restaurant has only a 1 in 3 chance of surviving longer than 3 years. In the 21st century it is very difficult to come up with winning business ideas, and the internet is littered with online businesses for all sorts of goods and services, mostly that are not needed or even wanted, they are just failed attempts for people to make money to try and survive.

After

Nutopia promotes a “pull” not “push” model for goods and services. It is based on a Plato view (“necessity is the mother of invention”) not a Steve Jobs view (“people don't know what they want until you show it to them”). TV advertising, email campaigns, direct mail, web site advertising, and billboards are nowhere to be found because goods and services are only created if there is a need for them. Every citizen has their basic needs met and the Guardian System allows people to easily find goods or services if they have a need for them, and it allows them to put forward suggestions for other goods and services that might be needed in the community, which the community as a whole will decide on by voting.