what we need...
2009-Mar-22, Sunday 11:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mellowtiggerThinking outside of the box for a few minutes...
(By "stars", I mean actors, directors, singers, evangelical preachers, and others who bring particular stories to our attention.)
I've been talking about how the US Dollar is ultimately doomed because it's based on an exponential function. For example, our economy is expanded by creating $1000 of debt but only $900 of actual, real dollar currency. The system is maintained by creating more debt (which is where you get the $100 you need to fully pay back the previous debt), at an ever-increasing pace (ever-increasing because that's the defining feature of the exponential curve). I was reading an article this week about how the wealthy don't bother using actual currency any more, their wealth is measured in stocks and other esoterica. Banks are doomed, after all, so it's better to have your value in something other than dollars. Imagine their worry, now that currency's doom might erase the corporations that give their stock its value. I'm very amused that a few poor people in houses that they can't afford might have been the trigger to get rich people to realize how interconnected all of this mess really is.
Nevertheless, I'm encouraged that people are experimenting already with replacements for the US Dollar... non-exponential replacements. I've already mentioned how Saudi Arabia is thought to be moving to a gold-backed currency. Well, here in the USA we already have a successful food-backed currency. It's called the "Mendo Credit", and you can exchange your dollars for them at some local businesses including a bank. It's being used in a community that has only a week's worth of food supplies in area grocery shelves with no other stockpiles available. Turning to food as the value indicator is an interesting idea that I hadn't considered before. It seems to be working well for them so far.
From this article, I found that regional currencies even have their own acronym, LETS (local exchange trading system). I think that a focus on local resources will become much more critical in future economic thinking. I think it's inevitable as we face the declining production of oil, uranium, gypsum, gold, and so many other limited (and dwindling) geological resources.
I'm actually very optimistic about the good things that can result from the coming crisis. There's still going to be a lot of deaths in the process, but that always happens when Nature insists that biological systems bent on exponential growth curves must suffer the realities of limited resources. But if you're okay with never being wealthy again, I actually predict good times ahead.
Entertaining stories, local food, practical clothing, functional tools, and money to reward your actual work (instead of "investing"). But no stars, no cuisine, no fashion, no technology, and no wealth. We'll get to keep all of our wonderful knowledge and start applying it to much more limited ("realistic") local environments. It'll be fascinating and wonderful. I can barely wait to see it. I think there's only one thing that can prevent this idyllic future... fusion energy. If we perfect that technology, then the energy limitation is gone and we'll again expand beyond Nature's normal boundaries of sustainable activity.
As long as I have blueberry beer and a good shovel, I think I'll enjoy it either way. I'm still feeling optimistic.
| Humans need clothing but not fashion. Humans need money but not wealth. Humans need food but not cuisine. Humans need tools but not technology. Humans need stories but not stars. |
(By "stars", I mean actors, directors, singers, evangelical preachers, and others who bring particular stories to our attention.)
I've been talking about how the US Dollar is ultimately doomed because it's based on an exponential function. For example, our economy is expanded by creating $1000 of debt but only $900 of actual, real dollar currency. The system is maintained by creating more debt (which is where you get the $100 you need to fully pay back the previous debt), at an ever-increasing pace (ever-increasing because that's the defining feature of the exponential curve). I was reading an article this week about how the wealthy don't bother using actual currency any more, their wealth is measured in stocks and other esoterica. Banks are doomed, after all, so it's better to have your value in something other than dollars. Imagine their worry, now that currency's doom might erase the corporations that give their stock its value. I'm very amused that a few poor people in houses that they can't afford might have been the trigger to get rich people to realize how interconnected all of this mess really is.
Nevertheless, I'm encouraged that people are experimenting already with replacements for the US Dollar... non-exponential replacements. I've already mentioned how Saudi Arabia is thought to be moving to a gold-backed currency. Well, here in the USA we already have a successful food-backed currency. It's called the "Mendo Credit", and you can exchange your dollars for them at some local businesses including a bank. It's being used in a community that has only a week's worth of food supplies in area grocery shelves with no other stockpiles available. Turning to food as the value indicator is an interesting idea that I hadn't considered before. It seems to be working well for them so far.
From this article, I found that regional currencies even have their own acronym, LETS (local exchange trading system). I think that a focus on local resources will become much more critical in future economic thinking. I think it's inevitable as we face the declining production of oil, uranium, gypsum, gold, and so many other limited (and dwindling) geological resources.
I'm actually very optimistic about the good things that can result from the coming crisis. There's still going to be a lot of deaths in the process, but that always happens when Nature insists that biological systems bent on exponential growth curves must suffer the realities of limited resources. But if you're okay with never being wealthy again, I actually predict good times ahead.
Entertaining stories, local food, practical clothing, functional tools, and money to reward your actual work (instead of "investing"). But no stars, no cuisine, no fashion, no technology, and no wealth. We'll get to keep all of our wonderful knowledge and start applying it to much more limited ("realistic") local environments. It'll be fascinating and wonderful. I can barely wait to see it. I think there's only one thing that can prevent this idyllic future... fusion energy. If we perfect that technology, then the energy limitation is gone and we'll again expand beyond Nature's normal boundaries of sustainable activity.
As long as I have blueberry beer and a good shovel, I think I'll enjoy it either way. I'm still feeling optimistic.