I'm listening. I'm probably one of those people with the ingrained thinking you're talking about.
What kind of system are we talking about here?
This is something I slowly think about every now and then. Every time I mention it, someone pokes a hole in it and then I think about the hole. The implementation itself is the problem while the idea, I think, is sound.
All you have to do is show that you contribute, right? Kind of like a credit score shows you are supposedly responsible with money and debt. So like a "contribution credit score." That credit gets applied against what you do for a living. Like a replacement for salary, it says "This person can consume a maximum of this many goods and services per anum." It gets rid of money. And barter is gone except on a personal level (assuming you disallow it on any larger level).
It also gets rid of poverty and welfare programs, yes?
There are problems with this.
Everyone on the planet needs to be a part of this system.
This would require an insane amount of data on a person, country's population, etc.
Hackable. I mean, you need a computer system to track this. At some point, someone will get the idea of getting into the data and give themselves more than they're worth.
Disability. I suppose a workaround might be that once you are disabled, you either stay at your last "registered" consumer class or you get a fraction (kind of like how unemployment works now).
But the idea, simply put, is that you cannot consume if you do not contribute and you cannot consume more than you would be able in a capitalist economy. No more arguments about socialism, communism, etc.
Every time I mention it, someone pokes a hole in it and then I think about the hole.
That's how progress is made.
All you have to do is show that you contribute, right? Kind of like a credit score shows you are supposedly responsible with money and debt.
Who sets the values of individual contributions? How do we prevent that from being corrupted?
I'm going to need to think about your other points a little more.
What about savings, I assume you can bank unused credits?
Can I load my unused credits to another? What is the incentive? Can I charge interest on these credit loans?
Why do I open a business? First I have to starve self for years to accumulate credits if no loans, and then I open one, but what benefit do I get - I assume that the business gets assigned a credit value for opening? I am giving up high credit position to open business, and if business is low to start or goes gangbusters, what credit value does business get? I might be getting overpaid or underpaid based on current business value.
What if I have great new idea, but because it is new idea, there is no credit value, therefore I get none until idea is proven? What is process for assigning credit value?
Interesting thought exercise! I love brainstorming!
That's always the first reaction people have so they don't understand what I'm saying. As long as you use something as a currency object which conveys tradeable value, you will have the same problems. That's how ingrained it is in people to have money, barter: It becomes almost impossible to consider an alternative which provides incentive to contribute without the problems of measurable, tradeable worth.
Consider these "experiments" of a universal basic income. Just in reverse. Instead of giving everyone money, replace money with a system that does not require money or trade.