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Money "In part of our minds, we know perfectly well that money is not the same as wealth. In the other part, we organise our lives as if it was. Even if we don't actually measure our own success in terms of money - and most of us do - we are still part of an economy which measures nothing but profit. We all vote for governments which measure money but not the other aspects of life that we all want to achieve - happiness, beauty, fulfilment, health and so on. We teach our children that money is not the most important thing in life and then behave as if it was - insuring our lives up to the hilt, urging them towards well-paid careers and bright shining mortgages and squabbling over our possessions when we get divorced. It is a kind of schizophrenia, because we daren't quite admit how much money is playing an all-embracing religious role for us. "Which brings us to the second part of the solution - using our power to create new kinds of money which have our values embedded in them. Depression-beating local currencies are back and at the same time barter has been growing as a means of world trade. One American economics professor has found that bartering grows in times of recession and shrinks when the economy is booming. This is what economists call counter-cyclical which is considered a hopeful sign: it means that not everything collapses when the economy dips. But it was Albert Einstein who really rescued the idea, 'If I had my life to live over again, I would elect to be a trader of goods,' he said. 'I think barter is a noble thing.' |
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| "He
would presumably welcome the rise of local currencies both
in America and Europe - especially the explosion of LETS
(Local Exchange Trading Systems) in the UK. Getting on for a quarter
of the local authorities in the UK - desperate for something inexpensive
to do about poverty - are finding ways of supporting their local
money. They are finding that LETS has the potential for organizing
affordable childcare, building the confidence of unemployed people,
rebuilding what economists are calling 'social capital' and much
else besides. "All
this spells out a revolution in the way we understand money. Whether
or not we accept European monetary union, there will soon be euros
circulating in British shops, not to mention air-miles, reward cards,
loyalty bonuses, Mondex and all the range of new corporate currencies.
Don't be taken in by the single European currency: we will soon
be living in a multi-currency world where DIY money and corporate
currencies - probably backed by unit trusts - compete for our attention.
'The world-wide conspiracy over the issue of money will finally
have been smashed,' information technology professor Ian Angel told
Channel 4 viewers in 1997.'" Links: Books / Resources: |
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