Have you Ever been Swept Off Your Feet?

In both cases – whether the bubble was inflated with positive or negative energy – the participants in the bubble are being swept away further and further away from actual physical reality and start to see everything either ‘extremely negatively’ or ‘extremely positively’ – neither experience is grounded in reality – because the physical is neither positive or negative – it just is what it is.

And Then You Crash – Meconomics

In this little series, we’ve been investigating the phenomenon of inflation, how we in our daily lives participate in ‘inflating our reality’ and so, how we are on a personal level participating in the same principles/dynamics that we see playing out on a bigger scale when it comes to inflation, speculative bubbles and financial market crashes.

Welcoming New Life with Living Income Guaranteed

Comfort, security and nurturing are all things we wish are present when a baby comes into this world. Yet, these conditions are not a reality for many babies, as parents themselves like these things in their lives. In Pietermaritzburg, the capital of KwaZulu Natal province in South Africa, 3 to 5 babies are…

Humanity Washed Ashore

This was an excerpt of just one of the stories about the boy. Over the last few days, dozens have been written and published on various major news sites. What is more striking than the content of the posts, is the comments that are left on these articles. What is humanity’s response to such images, to such news?

Voting Fun – What does it Feel Like to Have a Say?

Now – before such increased direct political participation is a reality – let’s do a little test to see what it feels like. So – here are some mock-questions where you’re asked to give your input. Imagine that this relates to your direct reality (eg. your town) – and your answer has a weight that influences the outcome of the decision. Of course, in reality…

Showing posts with label RBE. Show all posts
Showing posts with label RBE. Show all posts

23 February 2013

Day 195: Moneyless Societies and Equal Money Capitalism



















This blog is in response to a comment made on one of our previous blog posts.
We will be focusing on the bold segment from this comment made on: Day 162: EQUAL MONEY CAPITALISM - The Way Forward

The idea of equal contribution, equal share, equal this and equal that is probably doomed to failure form the beginning because it will require consent as to what an equal contribution really is. This is impossible to determine and thus causes conflict. Victor Schauberger develops a different viewpoint based on his observations of nature. Nature always produces abundantly so there is always enough for all. This idea is always adopted in the Venus Project. Taking these considerations into account, I believe it is possible to set up an "economic" system where all is indeed free and freely shared by all.


We are not questioning ours and nature’s ability to produce and provide for everyone. Even now in our world where many do not have access to basic resources to sustain themselves, there IS an abundance present. The problem lies not in the presence of abundance – but how this abundance is directed and distributed. Currently the majority of the resource are being directed and distributed to a select few which is problematic for those who are then denied those resources. Even if one decide to run a ‘resource based economy’


So even if you throw away the concept of money and work with a ‘resource based society’ – you will still require a system of distribution to ensure that everyone receives the resources they require to live a dignified life. Making a jump from a money-based society to a money-less society is a big one. That is why within both Equal Money Capitalism and Equal Money we still use ‘money’ – but where money is reduced to only having a numerical/accounting function to track, monitor, distribute and account for the production and distribution of resources. Money is then not any longer about ‘who wants what’ and ‘who can afford what’ – but a tool to monitor the flow of services and goods to ensure everyone access to the resources they require whilst simultaneously ensuring that resource are being used at a rate that is sustainable. So from this sense ‘money’ won’t be ‘money’ anymore as how we know it today – but will only be used as a tool of measure for practical purposes. We term it ‘money’ because it’s a point that everyone deals with in everyday life, everything revolves around money – simply removing money out of the equation will be too big of an adjustment to adapt to – but in essence, it’s just ‘numbers’.


Also realise that we are not saying that a moneyless society is impossible – but that it is merely impossible at this stage. We first require an interim stage of multiple stages to get to a point where we do not require an additional tool to manage and distribute resources responsibly. That is why we first look at what is here and what people believe has value – as money – and use that as tool to bring about equality through equalizing money. Once everyone realise that it was never about money but the value of Life and we have managed to integrate responsibility and respect for Life in our every day and every way living – then we can decide to remove money from the equation, but in the end whether you have money present as a tool in your system or not = it does not matter, because the outcome will still be the same as Equality for All.
Enhanced by Zemanta

14 August 2012

Day 67: The Functions of Money

Money as a Medium of Exchange

In a barter economy, one can only trade goods for other goods. If you want/require something like for instances clothes, and you only have wheat yourself which you cultivate, you need to find someone who can supply you with clothes and at the same time demands wheat.
For a trade to take place, a double coincidence of wants needs to be in place. Trading goods for goods can be limiting as one might have to first trade wheat with someone who has carrots, trade the carrots with someone else for spinach, and then go back to the person with the clothes because spinach is something he/she's willing to trade for clothes.

This type of inefficiency led people in even early primitive communities to come up with some form of money (for instance obsidian) to facilitate the exchange of goods. The advantage of a monetary economy is that the requirement of the double coincidence of wants falls away. As long as the wheat farmer can find someone who wants to buy his wheat, he can buy clothes with the money received for the wheat.
Money then serves as an intermediary to facilitate the process of exchange, making it more efficient.

Money from this perspective is anything that is generally accepted as payment for goods or services or that is accepted in settlement of debt.

What makes money "special" is that it is accepted as payment because people believe that it will be accepted as payment by other people. In England in the 12th century for instance, they came up with 'tally sticks' as a medium of exchange, which was basically a piece /stick of wood with notches in it. The use and exchange of money is thus completely dependent on its acceptance and belief of people as it being 'money' and it being 'valid'/'valuable' -- and so is completely based upon agreement.

Money does not have to be 'backed up' by anything such as gold or silver -- as again gold and silver are simply materials which we've decided to give value -- but that doesn't make them valuable in fact. Backing up money with 'gold' or 'silver' is then simply 'backing up money with another form of money' and does not make the money more 'real' / 'valuable' / 'better'.

Money as a Unit of Account

A unit of account is an agreed measure for expressing the prices of goods and services. In a money economy the prices of goods and services are expressed in monetary terms and so money also functions as a unit of account. The accounting function of money is secondary to that of the function as a medium of exchange.

Also note that money can lose its usefulness as a unit of account when going through a period of inflation, as when prices increase but your income/savings stay the same = you get less for the same amount of money.

Money as a Store of Value

Money also functions as a store of value. The most common form of holding wealth is money, as it is something which you can easily exchange for something else at any point in time.

There are other forms of storing value, such as property, stocks, shares etc. Of all the different forms of stores of value, money is the most 'liquid' one (since its easily exchangeable).

Holding / storing wealth in the form of money over long periods overtime also has very definitive disadvantages. Overtime, inflation progresses and your money will slowly but surely lose some of its value overtime (and will diminish a lot in periods of hyperinflation). In short, during inflation your money does not retain its value.
 n the long run, one is better off storing one's wealth in the form of property, Art, precious metals, etc. As prices increases, the prices of your Art pieces will also increase, and so will retain its value better than money in its simple form.

Money's function as a store of value also implies that it can be used as a standard of deferred payment. This practically means that money also works as the measure of value for future payments.