Still, that doesn't solve all scarcity. Some people still own restaurants and mountain cabins and lavish beachfront homes. Not everybody can. Sure, maybe you can use holograms to simulate the effect, but somebody still gets the real thing. The Picards own real vineyards in La Barre, France. What happens if somebody else decides they want those vineyards?
>>Still, that doesn’t solve all scarcity. Some people still own restaurants and mountain cabins and lavish beachfront homes.
But, in a society where all material needs are met by the matter replicator why would you want to own and work in a restaurant or own and maintain a primitive mountain cabin? The answer is that a minority of the population choose to do that and most of the people are content to live with the replicator products.
In the UFP society, you only see the cream of the crop in Starfleet. These are people who are willing to risk their lives when all the needs of everyone are already met. They are the really the individualists.
I’m sure that back on Earth, in the cities, are people who just exist and nothing more. Perhaps there are strict birth limits and energy allowances to keep them content, but controlled. We never get to see that side of the Federation. I’m sure its very Brave New World-ish.