The following is an updated version with a new title:
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What is your guess as to the percentage of people who can say: "I love my job, I will be there until I retire. And I am happy to say that I know I will retire mortgage-free and with enough income to live well until the end of my days on earth."

Are you among the fortunate few who are able to say the above? If not, you need help. If so, would you like to help people who, for one reason or another, are unable to compete in the market place.

There are those who believe that the best form of welfare is for one to have a full time job doing meaningful work, until they are ready to retire. I agree. But, unfortunately, this is not true for far too many people. Even CNN is lamenting the plight of the middle-class--many of whom are being driven into poverty. If the middle class is getting poorer and poorer, what must be happening to the poor?

A CREATIVE SOLUTION
For those who are interested in a creative solution to the economic problem faced by many people I want to introduce you to the work of Professor Bernard Lietaer. He is a Belgian who did his studies in computer technology and economics at MIT decades ago. I connected with him in 1998. Check out http://www.transaction.net
For a summary of his ideas on money, and what I like to call, complimentary and community currencies (CCC) check out what he says. The following is an intro to a full aritcle on his ideas:

http://www.odemagazine.com/doc/
Lietaer's pages are at http://www.transaction.net

What you think?

Very interesting. I like this quote:

"Health care devours money. It is a remarkable system: It’s in the system’s interest that people get sick. After all, it can’t earn money otherwise. Healthy people are of no use to the health-care system, or more accurately, medical-care system. A complementary system can work the other way around: For instance, only a century ago in China, doctors were paid by their patients when they were not sick. And he paid them, and took care of them, when they were."

It seems the money system puts people on a treadmill they can't get off. I liked the example of borrowing $100k to buy a house, creating $100k in the process, but having to pay back $200k, and that is destroying $200k.

Okay, let's--a pun on LETS--Let us explore this and let's see what we can make of it, okay?

You mention what happened in China, way back when: "For instance, only a century ago in China, doctors were paid by their patients when they were not sick. And he paid them, and took care of them, when they were."

I remember hearing about this, but is this a fact? Did some Chinese doctors actually function in this way? If so, why did it not catch on?

I am glad that you recognize that: "It seems the money system puts people on a treadmill they can't get off."

In order for all of us to understand what you mean, you will need to expand on the following comment which you make: "I liked the example of borrowing $100k to buy a house, creating $100k in the process, but having to pay back $200k, and that is destroying $200k."

Money, unlike mass-energy, can be created and destroyed. When a bank lends money, it doesn't actually give out greenbacks. It writes a check, creating money. The irony is that paying back the loan destroys the money. Any more questions?

Rick, I take it from what you say that you are somewhat sophisticated as to the nature and function of banks, money and their role in economics. Here are my first questions: What is your definition of economics? Money? How much studying have you done in this important subject?

As a rank amateur, since the 1960's, I have been reading and studying, on my own, what Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) referred to as the "dismal science" . Dismal? Not to me it isn't!! Forgetting about all those graphs, I find those parts having to do with the history of money, banking, and the nature and function of money, very interesting. IMO, no one should be allowed to graduate from high school without a basic course banking and economics.

My definition of economics? The study of value in production and consumption. My definition of money? A medium of exchange that reduces the friction inherent in barter systems. How much studying? Two college economics courses and a couple of books (The Money Game by "Adam Smith" and There's No Such Thing as a Free Lunch by Milton Friedman), and the reading of magazines such as The Economist, Scientific American, Business Week, Time, etc.

All people should study economics, law, government, etc. in order not to have any major deficiencies in their abilties to fulfill their political responsibilities.

Our society seems to have existed "inside the belly of the beast" long enough that we take certain issues for granted. Money is not created and destroyed. Currency is created and destroyed, which is the circulating medium. We don't use money anymore. We circulate IOU's. IOU's are not money. They may be used as money , but they are counterfeits of the real thing. Commodities are real money.

This is simply an issue of language and symantics as you may see, but one that is important if others , particularly our kids, are going to catch on to these important distinctions.

We don't?

Morph, is the above statement of yours one of fact and one our financial experts and governments would take seriously? Or is it your opinion?

If you are right, does this mean the encyclopedias are 100% wrong? For example, here is what Wikipedia, and others like it, says Interestingly, World Book--Keep in mind that my edition is one published before the Nixon era--says that there are three kinds of money: 1) currency, including coins and paper; 2) gold and silver bars; and 3) deposits in banks.

It's my opinion and it's supported by fact, Lindsay. Much of this is based on what money really is and how we define it. Creating a distinction for currency and money is important too, with currency being the circulating medium.

Why would you ask me about "our finacial experts and government" when they cling to power like desparate addicts looking for their next power fix which is predicated on the very debt system that we have now ? We trade with IOU's. That's not an opinion. That's a fact. Where it might get subjective is whether the market participant regards an IOU as real money. Do you ? You may be able to trade with it, but that means that you are USING it as an asset. That does not make it an asset in of itself , within the nature of the debt currency in of itself. It is an encumbrace of someone's labour, and a value YET TO BE REALIZED. It is a speculatory future value, based on fulfillment of a promise, at best.

Now, here's my opinion. Real money is not an IOU. Real money is an asset, whose value has already been created and realized. It is a hindsight concept where there is no promise to pay. An asset, such as gold, as one example, IS PAYMENT. It is not an IOU. It is unencumbered, sovereign and free. The debt has already been paid. It cannot be artificially inflated in supply because it adheres to all market laws in terms of production , costs and the law of supply and demand, rooted in the law of honest weights and measures.

Do I use fiat, debt based currency ? Yes. Why? Because I know I can find a bigger fool ........... while also realising that we are all fools as long as we empower and maintain this financial scam that picks all of our pockets.



Lindsay ......... Currency is a medium of exchange, yes. The medium is distinct from the money, however, they can be one and the same. Let's look at the USD before tricky Dick had the gold window in closed in 1971 leaving the world on promises inked on paper, promises that could be created in limitless fashion, hense the inflationary 70's. When the dollar was pegged, the circulating paper was the currency. You migh call it a proxy. The gold was the money. The paper was simply a convenience based on the historical problems that gold used to present, LOGISTICALLY. The age of information has overcome those logistical challenges, BTW.

Going back to when gold and silver coins circulated, they doubled as both the currency (circulating) and the money (real value).

Now we have paper that is a promise of nothing that is pegged. It's an unpegged currency. Paper floats against the economy based on its own supply fundamentals ( Such as M3, which the government of the U.S. has just started to conceal, BTW) There is no real value peg and a central bank can dilute the value of existing currency by creating more and issuing it into circulation.
Your book is free to call it money if they like. Ring them up and ask for their rationale, based on the facts of history as I've presented them.

I'll be damned if I'm going to call unpegged debt currency "real money" when it can be created on a printing press or a computer in limitless amounts with no backing to real assets.

I disagree with your book. Was it created by the American people or an established interest that has been assimilated ?

I think that I understand what Morph is driving at, here. I will agree with him on condition that we can agree that there are other kinds of assets, other forms of collateral, which is as good as GOLD. For example, even banks accept property, in many forms, including art, houses, etc., as collateral on loans.

I'd like to think that people, with no hard assets as such, would be able to borrow money based on their being willing to offer their skills and/or labour as being of real value.

Morph admits

Okay Morph, Are the encyclopedias 100% wrong? For example, here is what Wikipedia, and others like it, say about currency



Morpheus rants

BTW, my major quarrel with the banking system is having to pay interest to a bank or mortgage company on money which does not belong to them in the first place. Will some economist among us explain to me how banks get away with this? I admit that I could be wrong, here, but as I understand it, banks loan borrowers money based on the assets of the borrower --

In his book, TOWERS of GOLD, Feet of Clay (Collins, Toronto, 1982)--on the Canadian banking system, the late Walter Stewart, a columnist and knowledgeable writer in this field, explains all this.

WHAT A SCAM!
He explains how, by the simple creation of fiat money, almost as if by divine decree, the friendly banker monetizes the collateral of borrowers who come for a loan. Fiat money is money created with no backing other than the promise of the borrower to pay. No silver, no gold is used to back a fiat system.

On page 20 of his book, WS tells us where the bank gets the money it puts out to loan. He writes, "It make it up, creates it out of thin air...the only magic that there is to banking." In another place he writes that though they deny it, "...banks are also in the inflation business". And, ironically, bank interest is one of the main causes of inflation--theft from your future. Think about it.

To understand what is happening here, let's keep it simple: Let us assume you borrowed $100,000 for one year, at 10% per annum. What would this mean if you let it sit there, in your non-interest-bearing chequing account, for one year? At the end of the year you would owe the bank $110,000, plus bank charges. Note how simple it is for banks to make money. In less than a minute it can chalk up $10, 000 profit.

On the other hand, for you to survive, you have to buy a house--in Toronto (2006) this is a minimum of $300,000--using borrowed money. Naturally, you have to have a job which will pay you enough to pay your expenses, plus enough to pay off the capital on your loan, plus the interest and charges. Not hard to imagine what causes inflation.

Meanwhile, all the smart banker has to do is write a few numbers in a column and say: "There, if you want to have a place to live, for next number of years, this is what you will pay."

Does this sound, fair, to you?

In 1993, because of my interest in all of the above, I belonged to a federal party, here is Canada, called The ABOLITIONIST Party of Canada, and I ran for election to the Parliament of Canada.

But this is another story, for later...if anyone is interested.

THE LATEST NEWS ON THE CCC IN TORONTO
In case some newcomers missed it, I hope it is okay to bring an updated version of some information foreward from six months ago.

I do so in the light of a letter I got, recently, from Mayor David Miller of Toronto--Canada's largest city, over two million--highly approving of the idea of using the Toronto Dollar, a form of local complementary community currency (CCC), which is employing the poor.

We started off small in one area of the city needing help. As an experiment, the Family Life Foundation,
check out http://www.flfcanada.com
helped start the system in 1998.

Mayor Miller was just newly re-elected, and with his strong support we vision that the system will now experience the kind of acceptance it needs, all over the city. If this happens, who know where CCC will grow from there?

ANNUAL MEETING ATTRACTS NEW BLOOD
BTW, on Wednesday last, I attended the 2006 annual meeting of the Toronto Dollar Board. Check out http://www.torontodollar.com
It looks like that some new young blood will make things happen.
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What is your guess as to the percentage of people who can say: "I love my job, I will be there until I retire. And I am happy to say that I know I will retire mortgage-free and with enough income to live well until the end of my days on earth."

Are you among the fortunate few who are able to say the above? If not, you need help. If so, would you like to help people who, for one reason or another, are unable to compete in the market place.

There are those who believe that the best form of welfare is for one to have a full time job doing meaningful work, until they are ready to retire. I agree. But, unfortunately, this is not true for far too many people. Even CNN is lamenting the plight of the middle-class--many of whom are being driven into poverty. If the middle class is getting poorer and poorer, what must be happening to the really poor?

A CREATIVE SOLUTION
For those who are interested in a creative solution to the economic problem faced by many people I want to introduce you to the work of Professor Bernard Lietaer. He is a Belgian who did his studies in computer technology and economics at MIT decades ago. I connected with him in 1998. Check out http://www.transaction.net
For a summary of his ideas on money, and what I like to call, complimentary and community currencies (CCC) check out what he says.

HERE IS THE QUESTION I ASKED THE MAYOR DURING HIS CAMPAIGN FOR RE-ELECTION:
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To the Mayor I wrote: Your Honour, as one of the founders (October
1998) of the Toronto-Dollar system, I ask: Do you support this system in
principle, and in practice?
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The Mayor, David, Miller replied:

Thank you, Lindsay, for writing in about the Toronto Dollar program. First,
I'd like to thank you for your hard work and dedication to improving our
city. The Toronto Dollar program is a wonderful example of community and
business leaders working together for the well-being of the most vulnerable
Torontonians.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Toronto Dollar program, it allows
people to exchange Canadian dollars for "Toronto Dollars." The Toronto
Dollar can be redeemed at par at participating businesses, which are
generally in the neighbourhood surrounding the St. Lawrence Market.
Businesses then redeem their Toronto Dollars for ninety cents on the dollar.
The remaining ten cents goes towards a community grants program.

I support this program and encourage others to, as well.

Mayor David Miller
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BASIC GOAL OF THE FAMILY LIFE FOUNDATION:
We are in the business of helping families be families, of helping individuals look after themselves, and, at the same time, be willing to help others do likewise.

Unless you are already involved doing similar things in you own area, we invite people to join the FLF. We will show you how to start one in your area. If you are already involved, tell us about it.

The fee? Without passing any kind of judgement, your being willing to love and respect your own family, and help--even with just a kind word--someone near you. That is, be willing to share knowledge of and act on the Golden Rule--as you understand it.

Hmm, I am very interested in this idea. It could use a bit twinking to work in the modern world, but the basic concept is great.

Can you please offer some references?

Have you taken a look at http://www.torontodollar.com and
http://www.transaction.net

CHECK OUT THIS LINK below. There you will find a list of the merchants, in the St. Lawrence Market, Toronto, who are part of the Toronto Dollar system. Representing the The Family Life Foundation--which helped establish this system--a group of us were present at the Market, in October, 1998, when the system was founded. Economic history in Canada was made that night.
http://torontodollar.com/merchants/particbus.php

Also look at the work of Hazel Henderson: http://www.hazelhenderson.com/ particularly her writings such as:
http://www.hazelhenderson.com/editorials/p...s_of_money.html

COMPLEMENTARY COMMUNITY CURRENCIES (CCC's) The use of CCC's is not about doing away with the national ones (NCC's)--which, by the way, are local at the national level. CCC's help national currencies, like the American and the Canadian dollar, the British pound, whatever, work better. Also, CCC's can be used in cooperation with NCC's.

CCC's are especially useful for the trading of goods and services which are produced locally. NCC's are used to pay for things we have to import from outside the local area.

For example, my wife is a retired teacher. She specialized in teaching the art of reading. You are a mechanic. In return for tutoring your child how to read, she agrees to give your child a measured amount of tutoring. You agree to give her car a measured amount of mechanical services. However, if you have to pay cash (NCC) for any parts required she agrees to pay that in NCC.

TAKE NOTE: Internationally recognized writers such as Margaret Atwood
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Atwood There you will find a very interesting biography. She lives in Toronto and supports the Green Party, politically. If she were an American she would probably be a liberal Democrat.

One of her professors, at Victoria College--which was ounded by the Methodist branch of the United Church of Canada--of the University of Toronto, was the late the Rev. Northrop Frye--a world renowned literary critic--positively speaking--( of English literature .

THE BIBLE And LITERATURE
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Years ago, after I had read his book, The Great Code--The Bible and Literature--I corresponded with NF about it. I sent him some articles I had written for the media about my interest (since 1964) in pneumatology--a spiritually-based approach to psychology and the power of the human spirit (pneuma, in Greek) to heal the sick mind (psyche, Greek) and body (soma, Greek).

He responded that he read with interest what I sent to him about the healing power of the PNEUMA. He implied that he found it to be quite congruent with his own understanding regarding most of the healing miracles mentioned in the Bible. Over the many years he taught at the U of T, he influenced thousands of students--including, I presume, Margart Atwood--not to hang up their brains when they read any of the "little books" called the Bible.
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Another pioneer in the development of the Toronto Dollar is the writer and poet, Joy Kogawa. She is also a volunteer and supporter of the Family Life Foundation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joy_Kogawa

FROM PAGE A 20 0F T0DAY'S NATIONAL POST
http://digital.nationalpost.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
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PIG TUSK: DON’T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT
CURRENCY REVIVED [I will add: To save community, CCC revived.]
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BY NICK SQUIRES
The Daily Telegraph
PORT VILA , VA N U A T U • They cannot be folded into a wallet or withdrawn from a cash machine but ancient forms of currency such as pig tusks are undergoing a renaissance in the South Pacific.

The tiny nation of Vanuatu, the former Anglo-French colony known as the New Hebrides until independence in 1980, is spurning the cash economy and instead reviving traditional forms of exchangeable wealth such as pigs, woven grass mats and shell necklaces. The government declared 2007 the Year of the Traditional Economy (“kastom ekonomi� in Vanuatu’s quaint brand of pidgin English) and has extended the campaign into next year.

The initiative has been driven by concerns that the harsh imperatives of capitalism could destroy Vanuatu’s centuries-old way of life, based on subsistence farming and complicated cultural exchanges.

“The traditional economy has served us well for thousands of years,� said Ralph Regenvanu, a former head of the Vanuatu cultural centre and a driving force behind the campaign. “We’re trying to preserve our cultural heritage in the face of development.�

As part of the renaissance, schools and clinics are allowing villagers to pay fees in kind — for instance with sacks of vegetables or bundles of kava, a peppery root used to produce a narcotic drink.

In the words of one islander: “We’ve realized that money isn’t everything.�
[I will add: Money can be anything, of value in any community. In this sense, money is everything and every thing is money.]
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