Federation Credit

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Revision as of 04:44, 6 August 2010

The Federation Credit is the basic monetary unit of the United Federation of Planets.

The economy of the Federation is quite unlike the economics of the 20th and 21st centuries - almost unrecognizably so. It is a post scarcity society: There is no poverty and no hunger, and the pursuit of money is not a driving force in society. According to Tom Paris, a "New World Economy" began to take hold on Earth and throughout the Federation in the late 22nd century, and eventually made money obsolete. He even mentions that in the 24th century, United States Bullion Depository, Fort Knox is a museum, apparently to money and capitalism.

In the United Federation of Planets, Replicators and other advanced technologies provide for virtually all basic material wants and needs equally and sufficiently to all. Every citizen of the Federation has plenty of food of virtually any type they want, clothes, shelter, recreational and luxury items, and has all their basic material needs easily met. A society based around self-improvement and collectively improving the human race instead of cutthroat competition, combined with heavy automation, means labor is essentially free and menial tasks are automated.

When the Federation Credit is shown, it is shown in one of three capacities:

• A bartering tool between the United Federation of Planets and other governments, presumably representing goods, services, or energy worthy of barter in a galaxy where physical wants often mean little. The Federation once made a large bid in Federation Credits in an attempt to purchase the rights to a stable wormhole.

• A means of internal budget allocation in the United Federation of Planets. While it has almost unlimited resources, they have been shown to be finite (such as having limited numbers of starships), and thus some method of allocating Federation and Starfleet resources must be used.

• A way for Federation citizens to barter for objects that cannot be replicated, such as live animals, or for services that are far too costly to be given away freely, such as hiring the services of an entire starship, or for the use of facilities (such as public transporters) that are in high demand and must have a method of rationing their access.

It is unclear how citizens gain credits, since they are not paid directly for their work in credits. As there is no poverty, there is likely a highly egalitarian and fair method of distributing the wealth of the United Federation of Planets to its citizens, such as a basic income guarantee.