If you are an unpaid subscriber, like me, at least go over to YouTube directly and click “like” and post a comment. This will raise the visibility of these ideas, in a way that clicking through to her video here doesn’t.
From Wiki: A local currency is a currency that can be spent in a particular geographical locality at participating organizations. A local currency acts as a complementary currency to a national currency, rather than replacing it, and aims to encourage spending within a local community, especially with locally owned businesses. Such currencies may not be backed by a national government nor be legal tender.
There are several hundred complementary currencies, here is a link the those in the United States:
I joined seeds but made the mistake of joining them for a call and was quickly bored out of my mind and repulsed with their internal management discussion.
Most people just want a currency they can use – and do not care about the mechanics, the reserves, nor the operational issues. It is enough to have general agreement with the philosophy, and know someone else that is trusted is taking care of these things. So, you are back to a democracy to measure trust.
I’m enjoying your writing. No criticism, but – but you missed an opportunity to remind people to original meaning of eco is home – economics originally mean the system of running the household.
Another thought provoking column. Clearly I need to read your book, ass I still feel hazy on many of the details but I had multiple reactions.
First, I believe that we are approaching a time when we will focus more on friends, neighbors and local communities. The need for more resilience and sufficiency will cause greater reliance on neighborhoods and trade/barter of skills and products. I would prefer to live in an anarchy, as you describe it, than in chaos or feudalism.
On the other hand, Winston Churchill said, “Anyone who is not a socialist at 30 has no heart, and anyone who is still a socialist at 40 has no brain.” I deeply appreciate your approach which recognizes the role of “stivers”.
Tereza, you didn’t explicitly draw this out, but spending any length of time living in a country that has operated under a non-capitalist system for a generation or more causes the visitor to “grok” or deeply understand that capitalism is, at its essence, a set of assumptions about what motivates people. Those are assumptions and can be changed. And there are places where they understand the world differently.
For example, in Romania in the 1990’s, a CEO could not assume that the CFO would pay the electric bill.
Why would he use scarce cash for that? The government’s focus was employment, so the government would force the local power company to provide electricity either way. Btu the essential materials for the company’s products might or might not be a government priority or available on the open market. It might be opera tickets given to a friend of a friend that lubricated the transaction that resulted in the key materials the company needed to make its products, which then would be available to friends of the firm or its executives. That what the CFO needed to know, track and pay for. And that’s how socialism, 20+ years in works.
A monetary system, and individuals who strive to do more, make more and are aggressive in seeking to benefit from the monetary system are an essential driving force. Your system allows and encourages that type of behavior.
Jul 31, 2022·edited Jul 31, 2022Liked by Tereza Coraggio
That’s a really great explanation of anarchy Tereza; I appreciate and support its goals. I’m less keen about the peripherals.
“The next problem you’ll face are the Naive Do-Gooders, or NDGs as I call them. They’ll want you to solve all the problems that capitalism created, and you’ll be inheriting a lot of them. NDGs are, imo, more dangerous than the psychopaths in charge because they’d never get away with it without well-meaning, caring self-righteous people.”
It’s less than obvious to me that becoming a nonchalant or even malevolent uncaring prick would inhibit the psychopaths any more effectively or bring about capitalism’s demise any sooner. Some NDG’s recognize that capitalism imposes inequitable suffering, and as much as we wish it were otherwise, it isn’t going away for a while. Many well-meaning, caring, self-righteous people in the meantime want to militate the misery instead of watching it while waiting for a better future.
“One popular policy is Universal Basic Income, so let’s examine that. If you issue $1000 per month to everyone in your country, within ten years, this will raise the cost of housing by $1000 per bedroom, since we bid against each other for the maximum debt we can absorb.”
That doesn’t seem obvious to me either. In our current economic system, more money in peoples hands means more people can afford homes which leads to the making of more homes. Those building more homes receive wages for making them which - except for that portion appropriated by the rentiers - is spent on things the people buying homes produce for their own wages. Inflation won’t necessarily accompany a UBI unless there are no additional homes brought to market as the UBI is spent.
“Now let’s look at another popular policy—student debt forgiveness followed by free education because education is a human right, like food, healthcare, housing. So if you’re going to make all these things free, who are you going to make your slaves?”
That’s why education should be free: so students aren’t graduating into indentured servitude.
“And debt forgiveness will have a discrepant impact on students who went to a less expensive college or not at all or worked their way through, and on parents who took on a second mortgage or saved.”
I paid off all of my student loans long ago, and I was fortunate enough to put my daughters through university educations - one public and one private - without they or me incurring any debt. I didn’t want my girls to become slaves. Certainly other people love their children as much as I do; why in the world would I or anyone else not want everyone’s daughters and sons to be debt-free?
Student debt forgiveness wouldn’t negatively impact me or my daughters in the slightest. On the contrary, this NDG will celebrate the day everyone is liberated from the debt bondage, student or otherwise.
“You want to build up your reserves so the amount in circulation exceeds your debt by a factor of four. According to Benjamin Franklin, no more than 20% of the currency should be created through debt, the rest should be spent into existence by the government.”
So? Ben was a really smart guy, but that doesn’t mean we should just take his word for it.. Why 20% Why not 25%, or 250%, or 15%? He picked a number, but that doesn’t make it correct.
“When something is subsidized, it becomes as expensive as the deep pockets of the state.”
If so, then the street on which I live, the fire station down the road, the new high school, and the hospital in which I work would all cost $10,000,000,000,000.00 or more. Shortages more than government subsidies drive up prices.
I've never heard anyone speak of a Maximum Income: interesting concept. While I could go on for pages decrying the dangers of Early Doctrination (at the cost of a person's childhood), I feel even more strongly about higher education and student debt.
As Affirmative Action policies have watered down the curriculum of all colleges, as niche degrees such as Women's studies and WOKE history have made college educations worthless, it is time to make public schools educate children instead of simply graduating them to make room for more non-reading and non-thinking drones. College standards (with the rare exception of Hillsdale) have declined to the point that American students graduate with a far worse education that those of most other countries. If rigorous standards were established and students were expected to study and to think, there would be far more dropouts and, consequently, far less student debt. The payoff would be that college educated people would actually know things.
And good luck with the wedding planning. Society’s final stress test for the couple before they formally become a family unit.
We, Joan and I, attended many a protest hoping for the right to get married someday. It’s a powerful thing, for your daughter and her community.
If you are an unpaid subscriber, like me, at least go over to YouTube directly and click “like” and post a comment. This will raise the visibility of these ideas, in a way that clicking through to her video here doesn’t.
Second think of thinking
From Wiki: A local currency is a currency that can be spent in a particular geographical locality at participating organizations. A local currency acts as a complementary currency to a national currency, rather than replacing it, and aims to encourage spending within a local community, especially with locally owned businesses. Such currencies may not be backed by a national government nor be legal tender.
There are several hundred complementary currencies, here is a link the those in the United States:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_community_currencies_in_the_United_States
There are several near me, so I have some homework to do.
Are any of these tied to your ideas? How does this relate to Seeds? https://joinseeds.earth/
I joined seeds but made the mistake of joining them for a call and was quickly bored out of my mind and repulsed with their internal management discussion.
Most people just want a currency they can use – and do not care about the mechanics, the reserves, nor the operational issues. It is enough to have general agreement with the philosophy, and know someone else that is trusted is taking care of these things. So, you are back to a democracy to measure trust.
I’m enjoying your writing. No criticism, but – but you missed an opportunity to remind people to original meaning of eco is home – economics originally mean the system of running the household.
Another thought provoking column. Clearly I need to read your book, ass I still feel hazy on many of the details but I had multiple reactions.
First, I believe that we are approaching a time when we will focus more on friends, neighbors and local communities. The need for more resilience and sufficiency will cause greater reliance on neighborhoods and trade/barter of skills and products. I would prefer to live in an anarchy, as you describe it, than in chaos or feudalism.
On the other hand, Winston Churchill said, “Anyone who is not a socialist at 30 has no heart, and anyone who is still a socialist at 40 has no brain.” I deeply appreciate your approach which recognizes the role of “stivers”.
Tereza, you didn’t explicitly draw this out, but spending any length of time living in a country that has operated under a non-capitalist system for a generation or more causes the visitor to “grok” or deeply understand that capitalism is, at its essence, a set of assumptions about what motivates people. Those are assumptions and can be changed. And there are places where they understand the world differently.
For example, in Romania in the 1990’s, a CEO could not assume that the CFO would pay the electric bill.
Why would he use scarce cash for that? The government’s focus was employment, so the government would force the local power company to provide electricity either way. Btu the essential materials for the company’s products might or might not be a government priority or available on the open market. It might be opera tickets given to a friend of a friend that lubricated the transaction that resulted in the key materials the company needed to make its products, which then would be available to friends of the firm or its executives. That what the CFO needed to know, track and pay for. And that’s how socialism, 20+ years in works.
A monetary system, and individuals who strive to do more, make more and are aggressive in seeking to benefit from the monetary system are an essential driving force. Your system allows and encourages that type of behavior.
That’s a really great explanation of anarchy Tereza; I appreciate and support its goals. I’m less keen about the peripherals.
“The next problem you’ll face are the Naive Do-Gooders, or NDGs as I call them. They’ll want you to solve all the problems that capitalism created, and you’ll be inheriting a lot of them. NDGs are, imo, more dangerous than the psychopaths in charge because they’d never get away with it without well-meaning, caring self-righteous people.”
It’s less than obvious to me that becoming a nonchalant or even malevolent uncaring prick would inhibit the psychopaths any more effectively or bring about capitalism’s demise any sooner. Some NDG’s recognize that capitalism imposes inequitable suffering, and as much as we wish it were otherwise, it isn’t going away for a while. Many well-meaning, caring, self-righteous people in the meantime want to militate the misery instead of watching it while waiting for a better future.
“One popular policy is Universal Basic Income, so let’s examine that. If you issue $1000 per month to everyone in your country, within ten years, this will raise the cost of housing by $1000 per bedroom, since we bid against each other for the maximum debt we can absorb.”
That doesn’t seem obvious to me either. In our current economic system, more money in peoples hands means more people can afford homes which leads to the making of more homes. Those building more homes receive wages for making them which - except for that portion appropriated by the rentiers - is spent on things the people buying homes produce for their own wages. Inflation won’t necessarily accompany a UBI unless there are no additional homes brought to market as the UBI is spent.
“Now let’s look at another popular policy—student debt forgiveness followed by free education because education is a human right, like food, healthcare, housing. So if you’re going to make all these things free, who are you going to make your slaves?”
That’s why education should be free: so students aren’t graduating into indentured servitude.
“And debt forgiveness will have a discrepant impact on students who went to a less expensive college or not at all or worked their way through, and on parents who took on a second mortgage or saved.”
I paid off all of my student loans long ago, and I was fortunate enough to put my daughters through university educations - one public and one private - without they or me incurring any debt. I didn’t want my girls to become slaves. Certainly other people love their children as much as I do; why in the world would I or anyone else not want everyone’s daughters and sons to be debt-free?
Student debt forgiveness wouldn’t negatively impact me or my daughters in the slightest. On the contrary, this NDG will celebrate the day everyone is liberated from the debt bondage, student or otherwise.
“You want to build up your reserves so the amount in circulation exceeds your debt by a factor of four. According to Benjamin Franklin, no more than 20% of the currency should be created through debt, the rest should be spent into existence by the government.”
So? Ben was a really smart guy, but that doesn’t mean we should just take his word for it.. Why 20% Why not 25%, or 250%, or 15%? He picked a number, but that doesn’t make it correct.
“When something is subsidized, it becomes as expensive as the deep pockets of the state.”
If so, then the street on which I live, the fire station down the road, the new high school, and the hospital in which I work would all cost $10,000,000,000,000.00 or more. Shortages more than government subsidies drive up prices.
I've never heard anyone speak of a Maximum Income: interesting concept. While I could go on for pages decrying the dangers of Early Doctrination (at the cost of a person's childhood), I feel even more strongly about higher education and student debt.
As Affirmative Action policies have watered down the curriculum of all colleges, as niche degrees such as Women's studies and WOKE history have made college educations worthless, it is time to make public schools educate children instead of simply graduating them to make room for more non-reading and non-thinking drones. College standards (with the rare exception of Hillsdale) have declined to the point that American students graduate with a far worse education that those of most other countries. If rigorous standards were established and students were expected to study and to think, there would be far more dropouts and, consequently, far less student debt. The payoff would be that college educated people would actually know things.
Let me guess - this comes under the metaphysics heading?