Like-Money
Feb
16
Written by:
2/16/2009 8:35 AM
Have you wondered if printing money is the same as creating money by making a loan? Is money supposed to have intrinsic worth, or is it supposed to be solely a facilitator of trade? And, how explain that a financial system considered to be essential to civilized life has ruined countless farmers, cast families from their homes, plunged nations one after the other into poverty like dominoes? Perhaps it is time to ask of what nature is money.
Permit a detour into evolution. The miracle of life emerged slowly until sexual differentiation evolved one fine night upon which evolution sped up with a passion.. Yet in its later, mature, years sex has been taken over by industry and sullied. Return now to money, where a somewhat similar pattern is found. An easily portable substance having value transformed barter into the far more lucrative trade. Yet in its later, mature, years, that easily portable etc has brought out from the human soul limitless evil. Ponder a quality common to sex and money: in both a need was met by inventing a pleasurable surrogate with a consequence that pleasure got ahead of need. Now, hold on, the simile isn’t perfect so don’t accuse me of dissing birth control. To sum up, then, as sex is misused to sell stuff so is money misused to make money.
So what we have is sex-like merchandizing and money-like finance. Money-like finance is about as close to the bone as I can get to describe the industry of greed entrenched in Wall Street. In support of this view recall the astounding fact that the amount of “money” circulated by financial instruments is greater than the amount of money circulated by the stocks of hard industry.
The real threat of the present financial crisis is that disaster in Wall Street’s like-money will spread to cause disaster in real money. This is the historical paradox of famine in the land of plenty.
With all that in mind, it seems fair to ask the true nature of the stuff we tender for food at the market. Moreover, it seems fair to conceive of a currency designed just for trade and free of money-making. This kind of currency has been highly developed and is ready to be put to use on Vashon. The time could not be more opportune.
(Submitted to the Loop February 16)