“Why do we have to choose between Left and Right? All we want is to go Forward.” (Ronaldo7)

“How do you change fiction (based on science) into reality? Together.” (Ronaldo7)

“We’re not here to be punished. We’re here to be educated.” (Andrew Matthews)

“Be the change you want to see in the world.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

“Can you help me with my homework, Dad?”

Dad has an instinctive first line of defence when someone asks him to help; he puts a worried look on his face and comes up with a list of excuses: “I would love to, but I have to fix the car and I have to mow the lawn and I have to buy things for dinner and when your mum comes home from work she expects that dinner to be on the table too, and after dinner… You know tonight Spain plays against Italy, right?”

“So football is more important then homework. Okay, Dad. I’ll remember that for the next time I have to do homework.”

Dad didn’t expect that: “No, I mean…”

“It’s OK, Dad. You go fix the car and do the shopping. Meanwhile I’ll do you a favour and mow the lawn. That will take me an hour, so you’ll have an hour available to help me with my homework. Do we have a deal?”

Dad is surprised. He almost looks proud of me, suggesting this practical solution. And, of course, it helped that I’ll take over the job that he likes least of all. He smiles: “We have a deal. I’ll make sure I’ll be back at… 4 o’clock. Okay?”

Mowing the lawn is not my favourite entertainment, but this time I don’t mind because it gives me the opportunity to think my homework over one more time.

At 4 o’clock I have prepared tea and Dad has bought cookies, so the team is prepared to start under the best conditions. I kick-off: “At school we have a project that’s called ‘Forward’. We have to come up with an idea to make the world a better place and write an essay about it. I gave my idea the title ‘Favours’. It works… well, like I just proved to you: I do you a favour, and you pay me back the favour by doing something for me. I mow the lawn and you pay me back by helping me with my homework. My idea uses favours to solve indirect problems.”

Dad tries to understand: “Indirect problems? What’s that?”

I explain: “A direct problem has a negative influence on your life, but you can solve it yourself: when you’re hungry you grab a cookie or prepare a sandwich, when there is nothing to eat you can go to the supermarket, when your car doesn’t start you fix it… Indirect problems are problems too, but you don’t solve them because they don’t have a direct negative influence on your life or it is something you can’t solve yourself.

For people with a job, unemployment is just an indirect problem. Their neighbour or their friend loses his job and all everyone says is: ‘There is nothing we can do about it.’ They could buy local products on the street market instead of imported products, to support local labour, but they just think about the lowest price and don’t care much about the consequences of their choices.

Perhaps a better example is how we think about our own health. When we catch a cold, we notice a direct problem that makes us run to doctors and pharmacies immediately, but in cases of an indirect problem like avoiding a heart attack, the number one killer of our time, we prefer to smoke, to eat too much and to move as little as possible. We’re not focussed on indirect problems and when they start becoming direct problems, it might be too late.”

Dad summarises my explanation to show he has understood: “So indirect problems do have a negative influence on our lives, but we don’t solve them until they become direct problems. I’m without a job. That was not caused by my own behaviour, but by the indirect problem of the bad economy, that caused bad financial results for the service station I worked for. They fired me and solved their direct problem by giving it to me.”

I confirm: “That’s right. You only try to solve your direct problem, find another job, and you don’t feel responsible to solve the indirect problem that caused it. The company you worked for fired you and solved their direct problem, but they don’t feel responsible for solving your problem, caused by their decision.

So the next question might be: who is responsible for the economy? Who does solve that indirect problem? The answer is: nobody. Everybody only works on solving their own direct problems. Even the government is only taking care of getting enough income, especially during a downfall in the economy, to pay the bills that they have to pay. When our money-driven economy is no longer capable of solving our problems, we should think of an alternative way.”

“That part is clear. This is where the ‘favours’ come in?”, Dad asks.

“That will have to wait one more step. First I want to explain something more about solving problems.

Being happy, the highest goal for every human being, means ‘having no problems’. We have two ways to solve our problems: do the work or buy the solution. When you fix the car and I mow the lawn, we work to solve a problem. When we need food, we go to the supermarket, where we buy what we need and pay for it with money. That money doesn’t fall from the sky. We work for it, most of the time by solving indirect problems, the direct problems of other people, who give us money in return for which we can solve our own direct problems. So work is our only tool to solve problems, both problems of others and our own. Money itself doesn’t solve anything; it’s just a calculation unit with a value that is accepted by society. Money is like the oil that the machine needs to keep running.

Here comes the real problem: some problems will not be solved, because there is no money available to solve them. If others don’t pay us, we don’t solve their problems and therefore we can’t solve our own problems. Lots of indirect problems are in the packages of what I call ‘social parties’, non-profit organisations that provide public services like education, taking care of old and sick people, protecting animals or environment and other important things. Examples of ‘social parties’ are universities and schools, hospitals and residences for old people, but also organisations like Red Cross, Greenpeace, Help Fugitives, the A.A. or the local animal shelter or soup kitchen.

There is work-power available (there are lots of people without a job) so the problems could be solved, but there is no money to pay those people for their hours. Money should come from society and society needs more money every day to solve its own direct problems of a third car or a fourth vacation. Taking care of yourself has become more important than taking care of others, so the money goes to the monkey on top of the rock while the ones below suffer cuts of budgets to pay for it. A residence for old people and a school are not commercial institutions, so they don’t benefit from the money-driven economy and they can’t generate money either.”

Dad tried to follow me, but he needed a little help: “It sounds logical, but I think I need some examples to understand it better.”

“No problem. The government has lowered all budgets for public services. Hospitals have to cure the same amount of patients with fewer nurses. Schools have to do the same amount of teaching with fewer teachers. So now a nurse and a teacher are without a job, while patients and students get less attention and service.

Solving those problems has been too expensive for the government. In return government has invented a system of taxes to pay the jobless teachers and nurses for doing nothing. I think that people who work deserve a reward and that we should discourage people from doing nothing. Governments punish workers with taxes, and award that tax-money to others who do nothing. That’s not solving problems; that’s creating them.”

Dad is grateful for the explication: “That’s what I thought. So now we have direct problems for teachers, nurses, patients and students and they are all caused by the indirect problem of the bad economy and the government that cuts budgets.”

Dad nods while he sips his tea. I can continue: “The problem is not the money. The problem is that people without a job can’t use their hours, and that social parties can’t hire help to solve their problems. The machine is there, fully operational, but it needs oil to run. Both sides will be helped if the hands available would find the work that needs to be done, but without money involved. That’s where my idea starts: Favours. I do you a favour, so you can do me a favour. You solve my problem and in return I solve yours. Only the ‘you and I’ changes in ‘you and society’.

I’ll give an example: You are a car mechanic without a job. At my school they stopped giving the course ‘technique’ because there is no money to hire a teacher. You could do that work for free, but… you are only interested in doing so when it would solve a direct problem for you or when you get paid for it. Keep that in mind. You don’t get paid in money, but you get one Favour per hour.”

Dad laughs: “Yeah, I’m really motivated to start working for free at your school.”

I try to stay serious: “Nobody is motivated to work, Dad. If work would be fun, you’d have to pay for it. The motivation to work comes from the results: not only the financial reward but also what you do, for whom and why you do it. I work hard at school, every day, without getting paid for it. My motivation is my dream to study at the university, to become a medical doctor. I work for my own future and to fulfil my desire to help others, and I’m very motivated to do all the work that it takes.

Motivation comes from three sources: A.R.C., which stands for Autonomy, Relatedness and Competence. You want the Autonomy to choose where you want to work, you like to be Related to other people by doing things together, to be part of something that’s bigger than yourself, and you like to do something you are Competent with. All we’ll need is an internet application with a database where you can choose what to do, who you work for, during which hours and how many hours per week.

Motivation consists of three elements: M.V.P. Mindfulness, Values and Purpose. Mindfulness is that you are aware that your Purpose, what you do and why you do it, is useful for others and for yourself, and that it matches your Values, your belief in Good and Bad.

When those elements of motivation are filled properly, you’ll feel successful and happy and that’s one basic need that every person on earth wants to fulfil, even if it doesn’t give an additional fee in the form of money. When you do work for society, for social parties, responsible work that you picked yourself, work you can do well, work that gives you the possibility to meet others and do things together, work that you consider ‘good’ and that is appreciated by the ones you work for, you will be highly motivated to work.

That’s why I study, every day. That’s why you like to fix your own car, or your friend’s car, although you don’t get paid to do it. And the best news is that you’ll get paid for the work you do for society: you’ll earn Favours, one Favour per hour.

Those Favours can not be spent like money; you can’t buy food or tyres for the credit you have in Favours, but Favours can help in social issues to solve your direct problems.

When you work at my school for Favours, you can use them to hire a jobless gardener to mow the lawn for you. When that gardener has earned his Favours, he can pay you back the Favours when you fix his car. You can solve your problems by solving other people’s indirect problems, so you and the others will have a happier life, and it will not cost one penny.

When everybody trusts the value of a Favour, we can get things in return that money can’t buy. When your child wants to study, universities can give a year scholarship in return for 600 Favours. When your mother needs an operation and there is a one year waiting list, hospitals can offer an immediate treatment for 1.000 Favours. Society and social parties should fill the list of services that people can ‘buy’ with their Favours and… society and social parties should make that attractive because the people do Favours to public services, they help others, they do something good and nice that otherwise will not be done because there is no money available to do it. Society and social parties should be aware of that and give something valuable in return to the people who do them a Favour. It works like buyers and sellers who find each other on the market and form the price of the products together.

And there is more. When a company is looking for a car mechanic and 100 candidates show up, they would be interested to see who has more Favours because it shows who wants to work. When there is a disaster, people who help the victims can be paid in Favours, as an extra motivation and reward for the people who care about others. When we want to clean up the neighbourhood, we ask everyone to contribute a few Favours for the jobless people who want to do that work and we organise it. Nobody will need to beg for money anymore: you can work for Favours and use them to get a bed and three meals a day.

It’s important that Favours keep their value: one Favour is one hour of help. So if you decide to work every Saturday afternoon in the garden of a home, you’ll earn a shipload of Favours. Later, when you’re old and need help with your own garden, you can hire a jobless person and pay him with the Favours you have on your account. A Favour is a way of saving for your pension, free of inflation, free of taxes, free of greedy insurance companies and free to buy any service that is important for you.”

Dad needed to think this over. He refilled our teacups and nibbled a cookie: “So you want me to do a more-or-less voluntary job in my free time and in return you could go to university? I know you want to become a doctor and you know we can’t afford it because I’m without a job, so you just invent a plan to make it possible anyway? I have to admit that it sounds amazing…”

“Or I could do that work myself: I could work for 12 hours per week in a hospital in return for my scholarship, so I can study and help people and get experience in the field at the same time. It works two ways. Hospitals cook for thousands of patients, so offering meals against Favours for students or singles would be just a matter of organisation and not of costs. People who live in homes can baby-sit or organize cooking classes in return for Favours, so their home can use those Favours to hire people who give them extra services like cleaning their room or taking them for a walk. It has to be a circle, not a line. Anyone who just wants Favours from others and gives nothing back would run out of Favours sooner or later. If you want something, you’ll have to do something to get it.

One Favour equalises one hour against minimum wage, so around 10 euro. Any public service should be able to contract a maximum of a fixed number of Favours, for instance 1 Favour for each student of a school, or 10 Favours per inhabitant for an old people’s home. It should be something fixed and it should be voted for by everyone who uses the system.

It could even work with goods. Imagine that the people in a home like to have cookies with the tea, but the budget cuts made that impossible. They contact baker Jones and in return for 10 euros of cookies they offer a favour of one hour to baker Jones, free of costs. So if you want to do something for the residence, you can help them indirectly by making a delivery for baker Jones when his help has the flu.”

Dad sees problems: “You don’t want commercial companies to get involved. If it is possible to buy Favours with money, you can bet that rich companies will abuse the system and it will result in them hiring help for the minimum wage an hour.”

“I’m glad you helped me with this, Dad. You’re right. Only private persons and social parties can have an account of Favours. If commercial companies want someone to do a job, they can hire him and offer money in return. We should not put a bomb under that system. Favours can not be changed against goods or money. If the residence wants cookies, they have to bake them or they have to get the money to buy them. Favours are hours. No money involved. Never.”

Dad foresees another problem: “And there is something else: your home could decide to fire the cleaning lady, save the costs of her salary, and hire free help against Favours instead. That way you cause unemployment instead of solving it.”

“That’s something I also thought about, when I was mowing the lawn. Are you aware that you could hire a gardener to do that? You don’t have the money, so you mow the lawn yourself. The home would save money, but… how would they get the Favours to pay for the service? If society would give the home the money to hire the cleaning lady, both would prefer that. When society causes a problem by not generating money, they should be aware that it’s not the home that causes the unemployment, but society itself who chooses to spend money on other things that they find more important. The people with the money want to decide everything, even decide that people without money can’t solve their problems. That’s not right, Dad. Favours are just a secondary option. Everyone would prefer to have a real job and get paid with real money, but if that real job is not available, which is not the fault of the jobless nor of the one he could work for, then society should accept that Favours are a great option to solve problems too.”

Dad thinks it over and does agree with me: “You’re right. I’m sick of those millionaire bankers who caused a world wide economic crisis with their greed. Thanks to them, I lost my job. Governments supported the banks with money and let us pay higher taxes in return. We are not cattle. We are people. We have a right to live and be happy. We don’t need their help, we can solve our own problems, doing Favours to each other, but they should not cross us when we try to solve the problems they caused.”

Dad is right. The financial crisis started with greedy bankers and too much credit. That reminds me of something else: “No credit on Favours. Workers can only have a positive balance of Favours. They have to start giving favours and will get favours back later. You have to invest first and get the results later. No credit, no loans, no ‘get first and do the work later’.

Social parties have credit, but we should agree about a maximum. They have to invent something to pay back the Favours, or they’ll run out of people who will do them a favour. It’s not only a matter of trust, but also of payback. If you only give favours but never receive anything back for them, you stop doing the work. Do you understand?”

“Fully. What you are trying to explain is that you have invented some kind of bank, ruled by everyone who is a client there, both workers and social parties, which administrates Favours instead of money. I as a worker can start doing work and increase the credit I have with society, with all the social parties that are part of the bank, and I can change my amount of Favours against special services that those social partners give me in return. It’s like money, but without money. It’s really not that difficult, now I think about it.”

“Thanks, Dad. That’s a great name for the project: the Bank of Favours. But not a Swiss bank with secret accounts. On the contrary: everything should be open and public. When you have time and energy to do something for society, you can check the local hospital or the residence or the school, see what services they need and see how they worked with others before, how many favours they got and what they gave in return.

Your account number at the Bank of Favours can be a combination of the ISO-code of your country and your social security number. That way, everybody can identify himself and it’s easy and safe to transfer Favours from one client to another. Every social party can transfer one Favour for each hour from their account to the social security number who worked for them. When the Bank of Favours decides to block someone’s account for bad behaviour, he can’t open another one.

Everybody else can see how many Favours you did to others. Your positive balance of Favours would be like a Purple Heart for good, hardworking people. People like to show others that they do a lot of good work. It would help motivation and acceptance of the system.

Therefore the administration of Favours given and Favours asked for should be open, via an internet application that one class of students of my school could make in a few months. All we need is the domain the-bank-of-favours.org and a few nerds who invest their time and knowledge to build the app, against Favours of course.

We’ll have to make one exception on companies: the Bank of Favours itself needs credit; it needs Favours of people who believe in the project and who want to spend their time and energy to start it up and make it a success. In return the Bank could ask the first Favour that every new client earns as a fee for their services, to pay back the Favours of the Nerds who build the app. And, of course, the shareholders, the clients of the Bank, decide to which organisation those Favours will be given, after the starting loan has been paid back. The lifeline of Favours Given and Favours Asked should be a circle.

You log in and have all the info available: help needed against Favours, help and qualities offered against Favours, you can send messages or contact by phone, you can see what other people have been doing, you can be really proud when everybody can see that you did 1,000 Favours to society and you can even decide to give away your Favours to an organization that really needs some additional help. It’s all free of taxes and inflation. You do something for others and all the others will make sure you get something back.”

Dad’s enthusiasm is still there, but he’s a bit reserved too: “And you think this will work?”

“Similar things already work, Dad. Wikipedia is the largest encyclopaedia in the world, written by volunteers. Wattpad is the biggest library, full of free-to-read books, written by millions of authors. This is the 21^st century. This is the age in which smart people can unite, combine forces and all benefit equally from the result. This is the age of Truth, of the internet, of openness, of sharing. The age of Power, of ‘everything for the leader’, is over. The leader doesn’t know it yet, but he’ll find out when nobody needs him anymore.”

“And who will organize all this? The government?”

“Now you disappoint me, Dad. This is not a national issue. This is global. This is an idea to improve the world, not just for the benefit of the chosen dictators of a country. Everyone who takes part in it will benefit, so everyone should help to organise it, be responsible for it and make it a success. This is a comedy, Dad, so people will get what they want. If they want to be happy, they have to do the work.

The Bank of Favours represents ‘society’, world wide. You can work one week in a hospital in India and get a room and dinner in a residence in London in return, or a fugitive can work in a hospital in London to earn the Favours that are needed to pay the teachers of the school in his home-town in India. We have a worldwide problem with fugitives: they cost money and do nothing in return. With Favours, we can give them the opportunity to do something for us, for themselves and for the people in their home-country at the same time, and it doesn’t cost one penny!

An hour is an hour. All we have to do is make sure that we trust each other. Every favour-doer and favour-getter promises to return the favours when needed. Your promise is your entrance-ticket to get an account at the Bank of Favours. Honesty of each client / shareholder / co-director of the Bank of Favours is the only condition needed: if we can all trust each other, it will work and we’ll all benefit.

A Favour is one hour: no commission, no taxes, no inflation, and no percentage for somebody else who did nothing. I do you a favour and you do me a favour, or I do you a favour and you do the favour back to someone else who can return that favour to me. The Bank of Favours adds the administration and the security that your Favour is worth more then just the word of honour of the one you did a favour for.”

Dad’s imagination takes over: “One Favour is one hour. One person can travel all over the world, without money, doing favours wherever he can and getting back a room for 3 Favours per night, a dinner for 1 Favour or breakfast and lunch for 1 Favour at the local social party that offers that service. No paperwork, no taxes, just solving problems and helping each other. When there’s no work, there are no problems left: everybody is happy. It sounds like a fairy tale, world peace and paradise at the same time. Only… I still can’t see the government in this.”

“That’s correct. I can’t see it either, because we don’t need them. It depends on government itself. They can ignore it, so we can go on with the project without being disturbed. They can try to tax it, profit from it for their own benefit, cut back more budgets because the problems get solved now by the Bank of Favours without spending tax money; if that happens, the Bank of Favours just stops giving information about clients via the internet. We work for each other, not for the government. If the government wants to become part of it, they have to do the same as everybody else: give something in return and accept that we do this together. Governments should