We used to kinda have that back in Yugoslavia. There was this national agency called Narodna Tehnika (it translates to technical resources for the people… more or less). It was mostly meant for kids to learn the basics of how things are produced and made, but it also had some production facilities with some larger scale machines at disposal to the people (lathes, engravers, welding appliances, etc.). They were free for use, you just had to schedule a time when you’d like to use them (time share concept basically).

I had this idea proposed to our local community. Every parking zone should have 1 car floor pit that can be used by anyone that is a paying customer of that zone (mostly locals in mind, but anyone that has paid to park there, can use the pit). You could do simple fixes there, like oil changes or maybe just check for leaks. You park your car there, bring your own tools, that was it. Their main concern was bad drivers and them failing to park the car correctly above the pit (not drop one of the weels in the pit), which is a valid point, but this could’ve been avoided with some intelligent engineering of the pit (sensors that will tell you that you’re not approaching the pit from the right angle and you might drop the car in the pit). It was shot down as being too complicated to put into practice.

I just hate how capitalism works. If it’s easy and has a lot of benefits, implement it. If it’s a bit more complicated, drop the idea 😒.

What about social labor, we used to have that back in Yugoslavia, it was a nice way to meet people, plus the food was good and it was also paid in some cases (not much, but enough to cover expenses as a student - education was free back then, so don’t compare to how much uni is worth now in the US).

Sorry for editing my post so many times, it was a long time ago, memories fade, takes time to remeber certain things.

It’s kinda frustrating that no one outside of the ex Yu states believes us when we say “things were a lot better back then”. People just think we’re brainwashed. Every family, regardless of status, could afford basic luxuries, like being able to go on a vacation at least once a year (I can’t afford that right now, I save up for 2 years to go on 1 vacation every 2 years), had 1 car per household (more than enough considering that most people lived in apartments near to where they worked, like maybe 3 to 7km away, public transport took care of these go to work/get back home trips), food was far from scarce, most people had decent meals, not to mention healthier and cheaper meals, almost everything was locally produced, so no VAT, no imported stuff, plus it was really cheap to buy vegetables and fruits, almost no preprocessed products whatsoever in the markets (maybe things like salami and sausages, but that was about it), and even those were fairly cheap (also locally produced).

Some did have more than others, but this was not by much. Wealthier families that were a part of the communist party and had some higher roles in society (polititian or maybe a CEO of a factory, stuff like that) had like 2 cars per household and maybe a house, not an apartment. They also most definitely had enough money to go on 2 vacations per year, but that was about it. Those were the wealthiest people in the country.

My granma was a housewife that lived off the salary of her dead husband (he died while working), had 4 kids, managed to get all of them through uni, aford a car and a large apartment for all 6 members of the family (she remaried). This was all provided by the state, because her first husband died on the job, so it was considered an honor that her husband died while helping the state grow.

I try and explain this, people say I’m lying 🤦.

Macedonia, one of the Ex Yugoslavian republics.

I try and explain this to most westerners, they don’t believe me, say I’m lying 🤷.

If you were a blood donor back then, everything regarding health care was free. Weelchairs, orthopedics, operations, drugs, everything. You just went in a pharmacy, show your blood donor badge and just hand over your perscriptions, they give you the drugs, no charge.

I know, it’s hard to believe, but it really was like that.

In general, the healthcare system in the US is just nuts. Most of you never lived in a socialist/communist country where the government really did take care of your health. Everything was free back then (regarding healthcare). I remember I had to have my tonsils removed when I was young, my mother’s health care paid for 90% of the costs. The other 10% were covered by her being a blood donor, so basically, we paid nothing. 4 days at the hospital, plus the operation, all paid for by the state.