I thought of the potlatch society whilst reading this post, giving away ones wealth as a status symbol and power. "The word “potlatch” is the English version of the Nootkan word “p’alshit'” which means “to give.” Material wealth is important among the Indian nations of this area, but by giving things away at the potlatch, families and individuals gain status. The potlatch functioned as a means for passing around among the members the surplus wealth of the society; the only thing that changed was the status of the individuals. Some people feel that the potlatch was the functional equivalent of taxation in modern society. Vast amounts of goods and wealth were distributed through the potlatch." http://nativeamericannetroots.net/diary/631
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I also have read serfs and peasants of the feudal system were better off than the people are today. They also had more time off than us modern folk...
"During Europe’s Middle Ages even the lowliest of serfs had their own plot of land with which they could use for just about any purpose... This access to land acted as a buffer, providing security for peasants who otherwise were mostly subject to the whim of their “Lord.” Not only could they grow their own food, or hunt in the relatively plentiful forests which were still standing in that era, but connection to the commons also gave peasants territory with which to organize resistance movements and alternative economies outside the control of their masters.
[Land Enclosures laws in Europe in the Middle Ages] were a process by which land was taken away – closed off by the State and typically handed over to entrepreneurs to pursue a profit in sheep or cow herding, or large-scale agriculture. Instead of being used for subsistence as it had been, the land’s bounty was sold off to fledgling national and international markets. A new class of profit-motivated landowners emerged, known as “gentry.”
... The chief creation of the [Land Enclosures laws in Europe in the Middle Ages] was a property-less, landless working class, a “proletariat” who were left with little option but to work for a wage in order to survive; wage labor being one of the defining features of capitalism." Rebel Witches and the Creation of Capitalism book review of 'Caliban And The Witch: Women, The Body And Primitive Accumulation' by Silvia Federici, 2004 by Alex Knight .
Crypto currency is taxed as property? I don't know, I haven't looked into that, but taxation on property means we don't really own what is taxed. Bureau Of Land Managment has been confiscating commons, look up the "Bundy Ranch." I grew up herding cattle on commons land, which is now locked up and clear cut or mined, natural resources owned by transnational corporations and the Federal government.
These are some fascinating ideas - thanks.
For me, feudalism, whatever the apologists might say, left the world in the middle ages. When the system collapsed we left it and the enlightenment commenced.
Trapping ourselves in self-limiting social relations is the problem and the weakness for the platform at present.
Real progress started for societies when we pursued concepts of substantive equality, including in equality’s operation in the sphere of freedom.