This may be seen as an announcement that International Bankers do not actually have a stranglehold over the Economies of the world. As with all social realities – when you blow away the smoke, and ignore the misdirecting mirrors – all the Power, all the Activity, and all the Production on the planet is found at its source in the Individual members of whatever Group is being discussed. It is not Government which permits people to live together; it is not Corporations which empower men and women to be productive; and in this case – it is not Banks which allow people to exchange in the Marketplace. People live together, are productive, and exchange products and services in the Marketplace – because it is their Human Nature to do so!
And far from being guardian angels ensuring that Societies run smoothly, Governments and their Banks have created the very situations we find plaguing Societies. Currently we can’t go a day without hearing about how the Corruption in government here, and how the Banking Crisis there is threatening our well-being. Bankers may have carved out a very profitable Government-approved monopoly on changing Money – for 4,000 years and counting – but that is no reason to ignore a technologically superior way to grease the wheels of Commerce in the Marketplace. Computers, the Internet, and cellphones offer a new, better way for Individuals to associate and handle those economic problems traditionally left to Governments and their Banks. Technologically speaking, Governments and Banks are neolithic and outdated.
Given their accessibility to an MLG* Platform, any Group of people who were relatively self-sufficient economically could create their own Currency. A Group’s economic self-sufficiency would be determined by the fact that their daily Commerce was relatively confined to Exchanges amongst themselves. Such self-sufficiency would initially be geographically determined, but any Group in constant Commerce might utilize this same procedure to create their own Currency. And it would be a superior Currency compared to the debased Currencies awash in the world today. The new Currency would have real Value – it would be backed by their own pledged Labor to provide wanted Goods and Services.
What any Group in need of a stable Currency could do is to have a referendum on an MLG Platform. It would be an exercise in True Democracy: First to guarantee maximum Inclusivity, all folks interested would be invited to participate; then open Deliberation would take place in small groups of eight – hashing out the relative value of the Goods and Services already in ubiquitous Exchange in their Society; next they would have to review and assign relative value to the past production of each Individual who is exchanging in the Society; finally an Accord is reached as the end product of such Inclusivity and Deliberation.
1) What are the basic Goods and Services exchanged on a regular basis in the Society?
2) What are their relative Values?
3) For the last 3 months (or 2 months, or 4 months – some definable and measurable period) how much economic activity has there been in the Society, and what is its Value?
4) For the last 3 months who has been active in the Economy, what have they exchanged in Society, and what is its relative Value?
Once these questions have been answered to the satisfaction of the Group members, each Individual in that Group who wanted to participate in the new Currency, must agree to accept that Currency when tendered by others in payment for their own Goods and Services. It is the willingness of the participants to accept the new Currency in exchange for their own Goods and Services which is at the core of the feasibility of the program. (A, “This Currency is legal tender for all debts,” type of thing.) Then each Member would be assigned 3 months’ worth of his or her expected production in the new Currency.
It would be like starting a new Monopoly game, but with each player getting an initial quantity of Currency determined by what role he or she is going to play in Society. Voila! Society could immediately begin to function again – without the interference of International Bankers or Politicians. Each unit of Currency – styled LaborBits – would be shown to be assigned to this citizen or that. Whenever an Exchange took place using LaborBits, the assignment of the LaborBits used in the transaction would shift from the purchaser to the seller. It would all be done digitally on the Internet. (Compare Bitcoin.)
Keep in mind that the Currencies now used across the world are basically either just pretty pieces of colored paper of various denominations – or even less substantial – just bits and bytes in the memory of some computer somewhere. And with few exceptions, the accounting mechanism is the make-believe wishful thinking and promises of Politicians and Bankers – there is nothing of intrinsic value as a basis for their system. And those same Politicians and Bankers are regularly caught stealing from the very systems they are supposed to be protecting. At least with LaborBits, there is the backing derived from the promised Labor of the people themselves; and no one but the people involved can tinker with the quantities allotted.
Let us take Greece for example. They are currently (April 2015) in a Currency crisis relative to the Euro. Last month in the French magazine Philosophie, Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis is quoted as saying, “We cannot bluff anymore. When I say that we’ll end up leaving the euro – if we have to accept more unsustainable austerity – this is no bluff!”
The countries of Europe were sold the concept of the Euro by their Politicians and their Bankers. But the European people are not a socially coherent Group. There are many differences in culture, and importantly in this case – industrial development and work ethic. In stark contrast to the Greeks are the Germans. Neither is right, and neither is wrong – they are just different. Trying to bind Europe together with a common Currency isn’t working out. And Portugal, Ireland, and Spain are waiting in the wings to take their financial woes center stage to further make that point. The only folks who are really benefiting from the enforced European Union and the Euro, are the Politicians and Bankers with their fancy offices in Brussels, and most important to them – their control over Europe’s peoples.
Actually, the Greek economy would be an excellent candidate for this system. They have innumerable islands splashed out into the Mediterranean which are relatively self-sufficient. They could easily restart their isolated Economies outside the control of the busy fingers of foreigners – just by getting together and doing it. Once folks were back at work doing what they do, the Bankers and Lawyers could figure out how to get their cut – but folks would be working and eating in the meantime.
Ancient Greece was the cradle of Democracy – modern Greeks, of all people, should be able to recognize the benefits of True Democracy in action. Organically grown Currencies as outlined above, offer a far superior means for people to create and safeguard the Currency they require to facilitate their exchanges in Society. The Greeks do not need anyone else to tell them how to run their households. They can handle their own domestic accounting – International Bankers need not apply!
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*MLG is the acronym for MultiLevel Governance. Please see www.MLGov.org for further information.
