The people with the power to create our money and rule say they believe in a free market. They invest billions to promote their idea of a free market, which shouldn’t be necessary if the idea is truly beneficial to all. …

The difference between linear and exponential growth must be absolutely clear to understand our money system and its impact on our lives. Any growth by a percentage is exponential. When we talk about a 3 percent annual g…

Keep in mind there have been no 100% commodity money systems in primary, widespread use for at least 700 years – if ever. And, keep in mind how easy and how prevalent it has been to think money is a commodity, when it ha…

Here are the key questions to ask of any money system. It is helpful to clarify the answers before a group moves on to discuss the pros, cons, and specifics. Who Decides? What community will use this money? Who will de…

The exploitation that creates hard times is easy to sell and rationalize when the economy constantly cycles from boom to bust and jobs are of critical importance to so many people. Boom. Bust. Hard times. Repeat. This in…

Our money system makes a government of, by, and for the people impossible. We are not now created equal in the eyes of the law. However, we still have our Constitutional authority to elect people to leadership who will r…

It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning. —Attributed to Henry Ford, Sr. (1863–1947)…

The Banker Imagine you are very good at juggling IOUs from others with IOUs you issue. You are a person of stature, and exude trustworthiness; your IOUs serve as money in the community because people trust you will be go…

Our current money system is a choice. It’s not set in stone. We can choose a different money system that supports a prosperous, low-tax, high leisure, caring and creative society. To choose wisely we must understand the …

The previous section considered how the wealth of individuals is transferred to the wealthiest tiny percent. Let’s consider how publicly owned wealth is transferred to private wealth of the wealthiest Americans, too. Th…

Every revolutionary idea seems to evoke three stages of reaction. They may be summed up by the phrases: It’s completely impossible. It’s possible, but it’s not worth doing; I said it was a good idea all a…

In a privately run reserve money creation system, the pressure to expand the money supply is like the force of water carving out a canyon. Overtime, the canyon gets deeper and wider. First, the reserve requirements are w…

We cannot have a productive national dialogue if we think we are talking about money when we’re really talking about governance or economic policy. The beginning of a useful dialogue is to ask, What are we talking about? …

A money system designed for exponential growth cannot be sustained and produces predictable undesirable outcomes. Understanding the unbending mathematical reality of a pyramid scheme helps explain why this is true. A pyr…

Our money system choice has consequences. In this Chapter, I make the case for changing our money system to one that more closely matches the values we champion. The first five chapters of this book have been explanatory…

What is the impact of having a money system that constantly cycles between economic boom and bust? It unbalances the marketplace, making prices more volatile and speculation more prevalent. The privileged have the power …

An old Sufi story tells of a long ago king who heard stories about an enormous and strange animal in a faraway land. He was curious to know more about it and sent his wisest men to learn what they could and return to inf…

Clear thinking We have discussed the importance of being clear when we talk about types of government, money systems or economic systems. However, because authenticity and trustworthiness require some form of power and a…

Before we discuss the money systems prevailing over most of the past millennium, let’s make the distinction between a money system and a financial system. Nearly all money systems today are entangled with banking and fin…

We glorify exponential growth. Our current system plans to expand the money supply by 2 percent to 3 percent more than a stable money requires. The economy must grow to accommodate the ever-growing money supply. This me…

When we have a system growing the money supply by eight percent every year, and only a 3–4 percent increase in population and productivity, we need to get creative about ways to absorb all this money. We must consume mor…

Look at the slope of the exponential curve. Our rate of money creation means roughly half the new money created is more than a healthy – rather than feverish – economy can absorb. There is not enough population growth, n…

The US economy Our money system is going to collapse and take the economy with it. That is the system. The downturn is past due. We’re heading off the chart of the exponential curve of debt and money creation. Over the t…

Life is full of the unexpected. And as the saying goes, Shit Happens. Extreme weather, bugs, blights, and disease happen. Even too much of a good thing can create devastating and unpredicted hard times. In the natural w…

So, what makes money, money? What characteristics must an object have before communities use it to buy and sell with each other? Community-wide agreement A community must agree to use the token as an intermediary when t…

Money is a tool Money is a social technology that makes it easy to exchange goods, services, property and value. Money circulates, facilitating millions of exchanges every second of every day. A single unit of money can …

Just as money is created, it can be destroyed. How money is destroyed is generally a mirror image of how it is created, though it doesn’t have to be. If prices are rising in a fixed value money system or rising more tha…

I approach political issues with fervor. I love to gather information from all sides, and enjoy finding the underlying issues and agreements. I love the process of piecing together a coherent understanding of issues. I d…

Our current money system is designed to shift wealth from the people who produce goods and services on Main Street to the bankers and financiers who have the privilege of creating new money for our nation. The system is …

The middle class is shrinking and poverty is growing. Jobs are going overseas. The top one percent is getting richer while everyone else gets poorer. Our infrastructure is falling apart. Taxes and government debt are hi…

More laws could function as bandages, slowing the hemorrhaging as wealth flows from most of us to a tiny few. Use existing law Break up the banks deemed too big to fail The simplest and most immediate action we can take…

A healthy ferment around money systems exists on the edges of society and in small communities. People unhappy with the outcomes of the prevailing money system seek better options. Currencies that are complements, supple…

Our money creation system creates hard times by design in several ways. It creates artificial scarcity which results in a highly competitive, fear-driven economy. And, unfettered exploitation of natural resources creates…

There is a certain proportionate quantity of money requisite to carry on the trade of a country freely and currently; more than which would be of no advantage in trade, and less, if much less, exceedingly detrimental to…

An IOU can also be a promise of value that will be created and produced in the future. It’s a subtle, but important difference when it comes to money systems, and the common frame of commodity, commodity-backed and fiat …