Human society in Star Trek is effectively communist
Is there anything you can point to (dialog, situations) to back this?
Earth is a post-scarcity society
I don't think so. There's enough mentions of money use on Earth and in the Federation to believe that they do have a market economy. And we hear of them going to far away star systems to acquire resources, this implies that they have to.
It's a comfortable society, but there's no indication that it's "post scarcity."
Now, while it is noted in ENT and TOS that Starfleet officers earn their pay, I don’t think it is meant to be taken literally.
I do, even Picard made mention (Captain's Holiday) of having the ability to make a purchase.
Dr. Crusher had a account with which she could make a private purchase.
VOY (episode "Dark Frontier") mentioned something about the New World Economy taking hold in the late 22nd century and money becoming nonexistent.
And after the 22nd century Humans have money, we hear them talk about it.
The absence of greed seems to be the main philosophy behind the origins of a moneyless society.
The problem I have with this is what is sometimes call "the planet of hats." Where the entire population of a planet have a single culture, philosophy, society.
And while this might be a conveniance for lazy writers, it unlikely that multiple billions of individuals are all going embrace a single philosophy. More likely in the 24th century there are going to be people who reject greed and others to whom it is the driving core of their lives, with the bulk of the population falling somewhere inbetween.
Unless you want to stipulate a brutal "thought police" enforced societal system.
I believe to truely understand what the system for Earth/Humans is, you have to somehow reconcile all the verbal statements and actions concerning money into one cohesive whole. Which to be honest is difficult. But to (very) simply accept some, while summarily rejecting other, I don't think is going to give you a accurate picture.
Kirk said money doesn't exist, yet he speaks of selling a house. Somehow both are true statements.
I favor "no money" to mean no physical money, personal assets (without using the term money) are present as electronic bookkeeping.
Which would work quite nicely with Kirk's words to Gillian, and his earlier observation of the woman buying a newspaper from a vending machine. Also would allow Kirk to buy and sale a house.
It would also work with Dr. Crusher, and her reference to her "account."
But is a little more difficult when it came to Picard's conversation with the late 20th century businessman. The businessman would have been throughly familiar with the concept of money solely as bookkeeping, and having no physical existance. However Picard, with his obvious distain for the time period, might not have known this.
Jake (In The Cards) as a minor child might not have had a separate account of his own yet. But this doesn't completely work with Jake's words.
