Here is a quick overview of Bernard’s pop!tech talk. For more information on his ideas, go here.
Political democracy without monetary democracy doesn’t work.
Start with four questions:
Who creates our money? Government, Central Bank?
How is money created? Printing Press or Debts with Banks? The later — every dollar you see is someone’s debt.
How is the money monopoly enforced? Why do we only use US currency in the US? By law? NO — by taxes. Taxes purpose — to give value to currency.
What IS money? Store value? — That’s what it does, not what it is. Money is AN AGREEMENT in a community to something standardized as MEDIUM OF EXCHANGE, like a business contract, like a marriage. But with money, there is no divorce. It’s like fish in water.
Because we have a monoculture in money, that is why it is unstable. Complexity theory. Monocultures have high efficiency but low resilience.
We need jobs. We need business to business currency. 90% of private jobs are with small and medium sized business. Why is Switzerland so damn stable? WIR currency. No interest, no going to the bank. It’s barter but with multiple buyers and selling. There’s a website (that I
Convertible WIR — commercial Credit Circuit (C3) in Brazil in Uruguay.
Check out Gent, Flanders. They wanted a little garden. Currency — make up one a Torek — a B2B Currency. To earn, you need to clean up and you need to plant.
(side note: Look at the learning pyramid — national training laboratory from Bethel, Maine.)
Check out Doraland Economy, Lithuania. Lithuanian Learning Foundation. DORA flow. Dora account # = mobile phone #. How to earn Doras. National Wisdom Archive.
Check out the Terra; or the Biwa, an ecological currency in Japan. All of these various currency.
(side note: Matrifocal societies almost ALWAYS have used dual or multi currency systems, eg, Egypt).
Bernard Lietaer.
COA Déjà Vu 