Money as Debt
Okay, I'm going to try something here. I'm going to ask my readers, few as they may be, to watch a 47 minute long animated video on monetary reform. I know, it doesn't sound like the best possible use of your time on the first day of summer and the longest day of the year, but I think it's worth it - it's a quick 47 minutes, I promise you. This is about as concise and entertaining as movies on monetary reform get, and I think it's essential viewing. Find 47 minutes - I'll wait.
For full disclosure, this movie was made by Paul Grignon, an artist from my home island, whose kids I went to school with. It is narrated by Bob Bossin, another island resident, who my dad performs with from time to time. I didn't know of the personal connection to the work till the credits rolled, however. More information can be found on the movie's website - please consider supporting the creator, if you found his work useful.
This is not a topic that I know much about, other than what I picked up from reading Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle - an entertainingly dense novel in 8 parts that wraps much of the history of currency into the story.
A quick search provided me with some public feedback about the video. At least one person disagrees with the calculation they used to show the 9:1 money creation ratio. Someone else disagrees with the proposed solution - the return to 100% government controlled and issued fiat currency. But the great majority of people that I read seem to agree that the film accurately portrays the issues, and correctly states the problem.
I took away two main points from this presentation:
What's most important to me is the examination of the three 'R's of waste management - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It's been long understood that they are listed in order of importance - that recycling is the last resort, when all other efforts to reduce waste have failed. The problem is that the first two (Reduce and Reuse) actually mean that people buy less - and as the video demonstrates, a society built on never-ceasing progress and debt demands never-ceasing consumption to fuel itself. The goals of the green movement are in direct opposition to the goals of the banks and industry, at the most fundamental levels. I know, you're shocked.
So, for me, monetary reform becomes wrapped into environmental reform, particularly the pursuit of sustainability. Our environmental leaders also need to be (or be surrounded by) great economists, who can address the economic impact of mass societal change. Or, they need to come to grips with the fact that their end goals may not be possible through evolution, but revolution, and address the problem from that point of view.
What do you think?
For full disclosure, this movie was made by Paul Grignon, an artist from my home island, whose kids I went to school with. It is narrated by Bob Bossin, another island resident, who my dad performs with from time to time. I didn't know of the personal connection to the work till the credits rolled, however. More information can be found on the movie's website - please consider supporting the creator, if you found his work useful.
This is not a topic that I know much about, other than what I picked up from reading Neal Stephenson's Baroque Cycle - an entertainingly dense novel in 8 parts that wraps much of the history of currency into the story.
A quick search provided me with some public feedback about the video. At least one person disagrees with the calculation they used to show the 9:1 money creation ratio. Someone else disagrees with the proposed solution - the return to 100% government controlled and issued fiat currency. But the great majority of people that I read seem to agree that the film accurately portrays the issues, and correctly states the problem.
I took away two main points from this presentation:
- We need to establish alternate forms of currency and value, to use if our current system ever collapses
- The demand for ceaseless progress and development necessary to keep the current system going is the greatest impediment to environmental reform, which favours sustainability over perpetual growth.
What's most important to me is the examination of the three 'R's of waste management - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. It's been long understood that they are listed in order of importance - that recycling is the last resort, when all other efforts to reduce waste have failed. The problem is that the first two (Reduce and Reuse) actually mean that people buy less - and as the video demonstrates, a society built on never-ceasing progress and debt demands never-ceasing consumption to fuel itself. The goals of the green movement are in direct opposition to the goals of the banks and industry, at the most fundamental levels. I know, you're shocked.
So, for me, monetary reform becomes wrapped into environmental reform, particularly the pursuit of sustainability. Our environmental leaders also need to be (or be surrounded by) great economists, who can address the economic impact of mass societal change. Or, they need to come to grips with the fact that their end goals may not be possible through evolution, but revolution, and address the problem from that point of view.
What do you think?