manuel at gandalf.Berkele
01-11-1995, 06:59 PM
Having received feedback from a monetary proposal posted to
this and several other lists (Honest Money for the era of GATT),
I see the need to define the purposes for which a currency
may be spent into circulation. Any monetary system will de facto
direct human activity in some direction. The use of gold coins
will create gold mining. Since central banking currency is created
by bank loans, it supports the creation of financial bureaucrats
and the wealth of bank owners. Indirectly this supports the creation
of mansions, other luxury goods and standard philanthropic activities.
A local currency creates local activity of some unspecified type.
Our discussion Monday included a political refugee
from Georgia (Asia). This brought to focus an interesting
consideration. Local currencies so far have depended
on local solidarity to maintain integrity. Racketeering
and the creation of corrupt local institutions for the purpose
of capturing the value implicit in money creation may be probable
after a currency system grows beyond a critical size.
The ex-Soviet Union is daily facing these type of conditions.
A strong limitation on the types of purposes for which a currency
may be spent into circulation may be necessary to fight corruption.
A proposed solution is to create a process of setting priorities
by evaluating expenditures in terms of their effectiveness toward
creating a sustainable economy. Our University for the Earth
research has used three tangible goals that are central
to sustainability:
1) Making decentralized renewal energy sources the basis of
the global energy economy.
2) Stabilizing the ecosystem and climate through practices that
build rather than deplete soil fertility.
3) Redistributing work and earnings socially and geographically to
overcome the current maldistributions, with a specific goal of
establishing a 20-hour average work week as a cultural norm.
These could be used as a high level set of goals, with a lower
level analysis used to connect them to more immediate goals
set by local institutions. Though the stated goals are far
reaching, they are tangible enough to possibly create a community
of interest strong enough to defend a system of locally-created
currency against major corruption. Any comments?
[We understand that the above goals require redesigning most
of existing technology. We see an immediate need to reorganize
education, so as to support the skills necessary to perform
the tangible tasks implicit in meeting the stated goals. Our work
of last year mainly involved detailing the intellectual streamlining
and specific practices necessary to begin such a cultural revolution.]
larens imanyuel
University for the Earth
manuel@stat.berkeley.edu
This post transferred from the cdb-l mailing list
this and several other lists (Honest Money for the era of GATT),
I see the need to define the purposes for which a currency
may be spent into circulation. Any monetary system will de facto
direct human activity in some direction. The use of gold coins
will create gold mining. Since central banking currency is created
by bank loans, it supports the creation of financial bureaucrats
and the wealth of bank owners. Indirectly this supports the creation
of mansions, other luxury goods and standard philanthropic activities.
A local currency creates local activity of some unspecified type.
Our discussion Monday included a political refugee
from Georgia (Asia). This brought to focus an interesting
consideration. Local currencies so far have depended
on local solidarity to maintain integrity. Racketeering
and the creation of corrupt local institutions for the purpose
of capturing the value implicit in money creation may be probable
after a currency system grows beyond a critical size.
The ex-Soviet Union is daily facing these type of conditions.
A strong limitation on the types of purposes for which a currency
may be spent into circulation may be necessary to fight corruption.
A proposed solution is to create a process of setting priorities
by evaluating expenditures in terms of their effectiveness toward
creating a sustainable economy. Our University for the Earth
research has used three tangible goals that are central
to sustainability:
1) Making decentralized renewal energy sources the basis of
the global energy economy.
2) Stabilizing the ecosystem and climate through practices that
build rather than deplete soil fertility.
3) Redistributing work and earnings socially and geographically to
overcome the current maldistributions, with a specific goal of
establishing a 20-hour average work week as a cultural norm.
These could be used as a high level set of goals, with a lower
level analysis used to connect them to more immediate goals
set by local institutions. Though the stated goals are far
reaching, they are tangible enough to possibly create a community
of interest strong enough to defend a system of locally-created
currency against major corruption. Any comments?
[We understand that the above goals require redesigning most
of existing technology. We see an immediate need to reorganize
education, so as to support the skills necessary to perform
the tangible tasks implicit in meeting the stated goals. Our work
of last year mainly involved detailing the intellectual streamlining
and specific practices necessary to begin such a cultural revolution.]
larens imanyuel
University for the Earth
manuel@stat.berkeley.edu
This post transferred from the cdb-l mailing list