I have no problem with money existing in the federation . Frankly the show has been rather inconsistent whether or not money exists . I do think the economic situation should be very different though . Frankly it ' d have to be , given the possibly high levels of automation in the future . My guess is money is probably used for luxury goods . Food , housing , healthcare and basic essentials are free that includes access to a basic news service . They want a holomovie though , they ' d better pay for it . In turn you ' d probably get a lot of entrepreneurship , like you do with youtube now a lot of whom are jobless but want to turn something they enjoy into a job . People who would otherwise treat fashion design as a hobby would instead have the chance to turn it into a fullfledged occupation , without worrying they ' re going to end up homeless . So yeah , no problem depending on the form it takes .