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. This chapter offers analysis, opinion and supporting evidence. As I’ve worked on finding links to the evidence for the endnotes, I’ve discovered I was wrong about some things. Sometimes I could find multiple sources that repeated the same story, but I couldn’t find an original source for the data-facts, and had to revise or eliminate a point. It’s a challenging world out there of stories, facts, and alternative facts. We can help each other find a path to understanding and solutions. If errors in my arguments remain, please feel free to disagree and present counter-evidence on USMoney. US. I’d love to get a good discussion going; we’ll all learn more!
Our fractional reserve money creation system gives the extraordinary power to create new money to private banks, with few constraints on their freedom to choose how much new money is introduced into the economy and who gets it first. Because private bankers collect interest on the money they create for us, the supply must grow exponentially. What are the discernible consequences?
We know foundation systems push behavior in certain directions. As with the playing field example, sometimes the parameters and pathways are clear, and outcomes easy to see. But in very big systems, it is harder to distinguish consequences because anecdotal evidence can contradict an overall trend. It takes expensive resources to gather information beyond that which is right in front of us and impacting us personally.
The following consequences follow logically from a system that privileges a small elite group of people and exponentially increases the money supply. This section explains how our money system pushes us toward:
- Glorification of exponential growth in
- Debt,
- Population,
- Spending,
- Waste and war;
- A hard times economy, by design, that cycles from boom to bust,
- Fueled by testosterone;
- Corrupted by speculation; in which
- Everything costs more: and
- Our common wealth is lost.
- A wealth transfer system that
- Transfers our common wealth to a private and wealthy elite; and
- Compromises innovation.
- Rule by a wealthy few, which
- Diminishes competition and makes a free market impossible; and
- Eliminates rule of, by, and for the people.
- The idolatry of money, which
- Makes growing profits and getting rich our highest values;
- Leads to bailouts and moral hazard; and
- Produces bad decisions.
- An end to the road we currently travel.
By describing the consequences of our current money system in some detail I am doing my best to make a strong case for why it is critically important to change our money system. This chapter is full of bad news, which makes it hard to read. Grab a bar of chocolate and proceed, or, skim and skip ahead to the hopeful and practical solution in Chapters 7 through 10.