More evidence continues to emerge about just how corrupt the global financial system has become. No amount of regulatory reform can fix it. If we want to save democracy, we’ll need to rebuild the entire system of money, banking, and finance, from the bottom upward.
Watch this 5 minute interview of Eliot Spitzer on the Daily Ticker.
Paul Craig Roberts is a former Assistant Treasury Secretary. He is a knowledgeable and astute observer of geopolitics and the domestic and global economies. In the following article which appears in Counterpuch, he describes quite clearly, and I think accurately, the present situation and the prospects for America. It’s well worth reading in its entirety.–t.h.g.
American Freefall
by PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
Washington has been at war since October, 2001. This war took a back seat when Bush concocted another excuse to order the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a war that went on without significant success for 8 years and has left Iraq in chaos with dozens more killed and wounded every day, a new strong man in place of the illegally executed former strongman, and the likelihood of the ongoing violence becoming civil war.
Upon his election, President Obama foolishly sent more troops to Afghanistan and renewed the intensity of that war, now in its eleventh year, to no successful effect.
These two wars have been expensive. According to estimates by Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, when all costs are counted the Iraq invasion cost US taxpayers $3 trillion dollars. Ditto for the Afghan war. In other words, the two gratuitous wars doubled the US public debt. This is the reason there is no money for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, the environment, and the social safety net.
Americans got nothing out of the wars, but as the war debt will never be paid off, US citizens and their descendants will have to pay interest on $6,000 billion of war debt in perpetuity.
Not content with these wars, the Bush/Obama regime is conducting military operations in violation of international law in Pakistan, Yemen, and Africa, organized the overthrow by armed conflict of the government in Libya, is currently working to overthrow the Syrian government, and continues to marshall military forces against Iran.
Finding the Muslim adversaries insufficient for its energies and budget, Washington has encircled Russia with military bases and has begun the encirclement of China. Washington has announced that the bulk of its naval forces will be shifted to the Pacific over the next few years, and Washington is working to reestablish its naval base in the Philippines, construct a new one on a South Korean island, acquire a naval base in Viet Nam, and air and troop bases elsewhere in Asia.
In Thailand Washington is attempting to purchase with the usual bribes an air base used in the Vietnam war. There is opposition as the country does not wish to be drawn into Washington’ s orchestrated conflict with China. Downplaying the real reason for the airbase, Washington, according to Thai newspapers, told the Thai government that the base was needed for “humanitarian missions.” This didn’t fly, so Washington had NASA ask for the air base in order to conduct “weather experiments.” Whether this ruse is sufficient cover remains to be seen.
US Marines have been sent to Australia and elsewhere in Asia. To corral China and Russia (and Iran) is a massive undertaking for a country that is financially busted. With wars and bankster bailouts, Bush and Obama have doubled the US national debt while failing to address the disintegration of the US economy and rising hardships of US citizens.
The annual US budget deficit is adding to the accumulated debt at about $1.5 trillion per year with no prospect of declining. The financial system is broken and requires ongoing bailouts. The economy is busted and has been unable to create high-paying jobs, indeed any jobs. Despite years of population growth, payroll employment as of mid-2012 is the same as in 2005 and substantially below 2008. Yet, the government and financial presstitute media tell us that we have a recovery.
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in 2011 was only 1 million more than in 2002. As it takes about 150,000 new jobs each month to stay even with population growth, that leaves a decade long job deficit of 15 million jobs.
The US unemployment and inflation rates are far higher than reported. In previous columns I have explained, based on statistician John Williams’ work (shadowstats.com), the reasons that the government’s headline numbers are serious understatements. The headline (U3) unemployment rate of 8.2% counts no discouraged workers who have given up on finding a job. The government has a second unemployment rate (U6), seldom reported, which includes short-term discouraged workers. That rate is 15%. When the long-term discouraged workers are added in, the current US unemployment rate is 22%, a number closer to the unemployment rate of the Great Depression than to the unemployment rates of postwar recessions.
Changes in the way inflation is measured have destroyed the Consumer Price Index (CPI) as a measure of the cost of living. The new methodology is substitution based. If the price of an item in the index rises, a lower priced alternative takes its place. In addition, some price rises are labeled quality improvements whether they are or not and thus do not show up in the CPI. People still have to pay the higher price, but it is not counted as inflation.
Currently, the substitution-based rate of inflation is about 2%. However, when inflation is measured as the actual cost of living, the rate of inflation is 5%.
The Misery Index is the sum of the inflation and unemployment rates. The level of the current Misery Index depends on whether the new rigged measures are used, which understate the misery, or the former methodology that accurately measures it. Prior to the November 1980 election, the Misery Index hit 22%, which was one reason for Reagan’s victory over President Carter. Today if we use previous methodology, the Misery Index stands at 27%. But if we use the new rigged methodology, the Misery Index is 10%.
The understatement of inflation serves to boost Gross Domestic Product (GDP). GDP is calculated in current dollars. To be able to determine whether GDP rose because of price rises or because of increases in real output, GDP is deflated by the CPI. The higher the inflation rate, the less the growth in real output and vice versa. When the substitution based methodology is used to measure inflation, the US economy experienced real growth in the 21st century except for the sharp dip during 2008-2010.
However, if the cost-of-living based methodology is used, except for a short period during 2004, the US economy has experienced no real growth since 2000. The lack of employment and real GDP growth go together with the decline in real household median income. The growth in consumer debt substituted for the lack of income growth and kept the economy going until consumers exhausted their ability to take on more debt. With the consumer dead in the water, the outlook for economic recovery is poor.
Politicians and the Federal Reserve are making the outlook even worse. At a time of high unemployment and debt-stressed households, politicians at local, state, and federal levels are cutting back on government provision of health care, pensions, food stamps, housing subsidies and every other element of the social safety net. These cutbacks, of course, further reduce aggregate demand and the ability of income stressed Americans to survive.
The Federal Reserve has interest rates so low that retirees and others living on their savings can earn nothing on their money. The interest rates paid on bank CDs and government and corporate bonds are lower than the rate of inflation. To live on interest income, a person has to purchase Greek, Spanish, or Italian bonds and run the risk of capital loss. The Federal Reserve’s policy of negative interest rates forces retirees to spend down their capital in order to live. In other words, the Fed’s policy is destroying personal savings as people are forced to spend their capital in order to cover living expenses.
In June the Federal Reserve announced that it was going to continue its policy of driving nominal interest rates even lower, this time focusing on long-term Treasury bonds. The Fed said it would be purchasing $400 billion of the Treasury’s 30-year bonds. Driving interest rates down means driving bond prices up. With 5-year Treasury bonds paying only seven-tenths of one percent and 10-year Treasuries paying only 1.6%, below even the official rate of inflation, Americans desperate for yield move into 30-year bonds currently paying 2.7%. However, the the high bond prices mean that the risk of capital loss is very high.
The Fed’s debt monetization, or a drop in the exchange value of the dollar as other countries move away from its use to settle their balance of payments, could set off inflation that would take interest rates out of the Fed’s control. As interest rates rise, bond prices fall.
In other words, bonds are now the bubble that real estate, stocks, and derivatives were. When this bubble pops, Americans will take another big hit to their remaining wealth.
It makes no sense to invest in long-term bonds at negative interest rates when the federal government is piling up debt that the Federal Reserve is monetizing and when other countries are moving away from the flood of dollars. The potential for a rising rate of inflation is high from debt monetization and from a drop in the dollar’s exchange value. Yet, bond fund portfolio managers have to follow the herd into longer term maturities or see their performance relative to their peers drop to the bottom of the rankings.
Some individual investors and foreign central banks, anticipating the dollar’s loss of value, are accumulating gold and silver bullion. Realizing the danger to the dollar and its policy from the rapid rise in the price of bullion during 2011, the Federal Reserve has arranged offsetting action. When the demand for physical bullion drives up the price, short sales of bullion in the paper market are used to drive the price back down. Similarly, when investors begin to flee Treasuries, thus causing interest rates to rise, J.P. Morgan and other dependencies of the Federal Reserve sell interest-rate swaps, thus offsetting the effect on interest rates of the bond sales. (Keep in mind that interest rates rise when bond prices fall and vice versa.)
The point of all this information is to establish that except for the 1 percent, the incomes and wealth of Americans are being cut back across the board. From 2002 through 2011 the economy lost 3.5 million manufacturing jobs. These jobs were replaced with lowerpaying waitress and bartender jobs (1,189,000), ambulatory health care service jobs (1,512,000) and social assistance jobs (578,000).
These replacement jobs in domestic services mean that on a net basis US consumer income was moved out of the country. Potential aggregate demand in the US dropped by the differences in pay in the job categories. Clearly and unambiguously, jobs offshoring lowered US disposable income and US GDP and, thereby, employment.
Despite the lack of an economic base, Washington’s hegemonic aspirations continue unabated. Other countries are amused at Washington’s unawareness. Russia, China, India, Brazil, and South Africa are forming an agreement to abandon the US dollar as the currency for international settlement between themselves.
On July 4 the China Daily reported: “Japanese politicians and prominent academics from China and Japan urged Tokyo on Tuesday to abandon its outdated foreign policy of leaning on the West and accept China as a key partner as important as the United States. The Tokyo Consensus, a joint statement issued at the end of the Beijing-Tokyo Forum, also called on both countries to expand trade and promote a free-trade agreement for China, Japan and South Korea. “
This means that Japan is in play.
The Chinese government, more intelligent than Washington, is responding to Washington’s military threats by enticing away Washington’s two key Asian allies. As the Chinese economy is now as large as the US and on far firmer footing, and as Japan now has more trade with China than with the US, the enticement is appealing.
Moreover, China is next door, and Washington is distant and drowning in its hubris. Washington, which flicked its middle finger to international law and to its own law and Constitution with its arrogance and gratuitous and illegal wars and with its assertion of the right to murder its own citizens and those of its allies, such as Pakistan, has made the United States a pariah state.
Washington still controls its bought-and-paid-for NATO puppets, but these puppet states are overwhelmed with derivative debt problems brought to them by Wall Street and by sovereign debt problems, some of which were covered up by Wall Street’s Goldman Sachs.
Europe is on the ropes and has no money with which to subsidize Washington’s wars of hegemony.
Washington is becoming an isolated and despised element of the world community. Washington has purchased Europe, Canada, Australia, the former Soviet state of Georgia (and almost Ukraine), and Columbia, and continues its effort to purchase the entire world, but sentiment is turning against the rising Gestapo state that has shown itself to be lawless, ruthless, and indifferent, even hostile, to human life and human rights.
A government, whose military was unable with the help of the UK to occupy Iraq after eight years and was forced to end the conflict by putting the “insurgents” on the US military payroll and to pay them to stop killing American troops, and a government whose military has been unable to subdue a few thousand lightly armed Taliban after 11 years, is over the top when it organizes war against Iran, Russia, and China.
The only prospect Washington has of prevailing in such an undertaking is first use of nuclear weapons, of catching its demonized opponents off guard by nuking them out of the blue. In other words, by the elimination of life on earth.
Is this Washington’s program revealed by the neoconservative warmonger, Bill Kristol, who had no shame to ask publicly: “What’s the good of nuclear weapons if you can’t use them?
PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS was an editor of the Wall Street Journal and an Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury. He is the author of HOW THE ECONOMY WAS LOST, published by CounterPunch/AK Press. Dr. Roberts’ latest book is Economies in Collapse: The Failure of Globalism, published in Europe, June, 2012.He can be reached through his website.
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News of another mega-scandal broke last week reveling again the corrupt nature of the global system of money and banking. In the video below, former New York State Governor and Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer discusses the LIBOR scandal with investigative reporter Matt Taibbi. According to Wikipedia, LIBOR stands for “The London Interbank Offered Rate.” It is “the average interest rate estimated by leading banks in London that they would be charged if borrowing from other banks.” The LIBOR has wide ranging effects on the rates that ordinary people must pay on various types of loans. Falsification of LIBOR results in higher costs for everyone and illicit profits for big banks.
E. C. Riegel had an answer to the money problem, which he summarized in the following brief essay. The word valun is one he coined, which stands for “value unit,” and he pronounced val-yoon. My own work has been greatly influenced by Riegel, and my prescriptions for a decentralized, locally controlled network of interest-free credit clearing exchanges draws from and extends Riegel’s proposals (See my book The End of Money and the Future of Civilization).
I Am the Valun by E. C. Riegel
I am the valun, the universal money unit.
My mission is to unite all men on the economic plane, regardless of their political differences, and to enable them to govern government.
I bring to trade a common language and thus make commerce homogeneous.
I liberate the artisan and the trader from political money control and thus defeat authoritarianism.
I deny to government the power to finance war without the people’s direct and conscious financial support and thus fortify their will to peace.
I facilitate trade, induce technological improvement, increase wealth and leisure.
I conserve the profit motive in the production of wealth but deny it in the creation of money.
I am the creature and servant of every man who would render service useful to his fellows.
From his pen I spring, but by the monetary exploiter or the state I cannot be generated.
I am homogeneous because I am homo-generated.
I guarantee to everyman freedom to labor and the full rewards thereof with preservation of his right to freely choose his vocation and with full respect for the dignity of his personality.
I am the implement of freedom, prosperity and peace to all men throughout the world.
I am the surprise weapon against the enemies of private enterprise and human rights — the friend of the individualist, the foe of collectivist.
# # #
Dear friends,
I know we’re all overloaded with information these days, so I’ll keep this brief.
In this issue:
Summer in Tucson
Presentations and Interviews
Public Banking in America
Fall Tour
Recent Blog Posts
Commons Anthology
Nuclear Power
Summer in Tucson
Summers in Tucson can be a challenge. June is the hottest (and driest) month with daytime high temperatures averaging around 100 degrees, but with many days 5 to 10 degrees hotter than that. July can be just as hot, but by then we can expect the start of the eagerly awaited summer monsoons. These are not the sustained rains that fall in the tropics, but (usually) brief thunderstorms that provide some relief from the blazing sun and oppressive heat, and we can always count on the temperatures dropping by thirty degrees or more overnight. Like winters in the north, summers here are a time of reduced activity and indoor pursuits, like reading. A couple of the books that I’ve read recently that I highly recommend are David Sloan Wilson’s, Evolution for Everyone, and Malcolm Gladwell’s, Outliers. Both of these books challenge established beliefs in a way that I find fascinating, and both tells stories that are very engaging.
Presentations and Interviews
In March I conducted a teach-in for Move On and Occupy Tucson, presenting my ideas about The Emerging Butterfly Society, then, later in the month traveled to San Diego under the sponsorship of Activist San Diego & Women Occupy San Diego, where I gave a presentation titled, Occupy the Commons: Reclaiming Our Birthright. That was followed up with a workshop titled, Complementary Exchange Systems: Preparing to Launch, which I conducted for a small group of social entrepreneurs who are now in the process of starting up a local exchange system for their community.
Also in March, I was a guest on Catherine Austin Fitts’ monthly Solari Report program on which we discussed various approaches to value exchange and investments that bypass conventional banking and financial institutions. Catherine, who was Assistant Secretary of Housing in the first Bush administration, is a knowledgeable investment advisor. See her website at http://www.solariadvisors.com/ .
In April, I was invited to do a brief interview for Bloomberg TV’s program, In Business with Margaret Brennan. Later, I traveled to Philadelphia to attend the Public Banking Institute conference (see details below).
May and June included another presentation at the Sustainable Tucson monthly meeting, an interview by Jay Taylor on his webcast program, Turning Hard Times into Good Times, on Voice America internet channel (download it from https://beyondmoney.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/thomasgreco20120522jaytaylor.mp3), and an interview by Marcus Matthews from London, England, on his webcast program, The Money Maverick.
Public Banking in America
During the last weekend in April, The Public Banking Institute (http://www.publicbankinginamerica.org/ ) hosted their inaugural conference, Public Banking in America, in Philadelphia. It was one of the best conferences I’ve attended in many years—very well organized, excellent speakers, and intelligent and energetic participants. I had the privilege of having been invited to speak. My presentation was titled, A New Paradigm in Exchange and Finance: the End of Financial Crises, Trade Wars, and Economic Exploitation. Other presenters include Ellen Brown, PBI President and author of Web of Debt, Gar Alperovitz, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland, Paul Hellyer, former Canadian Minister of National Defence and founder of the Canadian Action Party, and Bill Still, producer of The Money Masters videos, among others. All presentations were video recorded and will eventually be posted. You can find them here: http://www.publicbankinginamerica.org/speakers.htm
PBI is all about promoting Banking in the Public Interest and is fostering the widespread establishment of state-owned banks modeled after the bank of North Dakota. This from the PBI website explains their main mission:
Public banking frees the credit potential of public revenues and then harnesses this public wealth to create sustainable, abundant and affordable credit. This credit — our credit – supports our economy and citizens if it is then used to build economic capacity (think renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, etc. — things that private banks do not fund). PBI is committed to public banking becoming a mainstay to support the new economy.
As PBI matures as an organization, I expect that the scope of its mission will expand to include other more fundamental approaches to community empowerment and economic development.
Fall Tour
I continue to enjoy good health and am considering the possibility of a Fall tour of Europe and the UK to conduct workshops and presentations for groups that have been following my work and have a serious interest in the approaches that I have been advocating. Preliminary discussions have been positive but my decision will depend on booking enough stops to cover my expenses and provide a small honorarium. If your group, or some other that you know of, would like to be included, please contact me at thgreco@mindspring.com .
Recent Blog Posts
I’d like to call your attention to some recent posts to my blog that I think are especially important. Two of these present some of E. C. Riegels most important ideas, along with my commentary on them. They are E. C. Riegel’s Money Quiz and the True Money System, and The Language of Money and Accountancy. I’m planning to post more of Riegel’s incisive writings over the coming months, so please watch for them.
I also suggest that you follow the insightful work of Tom Atlee, expert facilitator and advocate for group intelligence. I’ve excerpted one of his recent articles at, What and whom do we really depend upon?. Finally, my post about Cyclos, Cyclos, worth another look?? , has elicited a number of comments, including some from the Cyclos developers. These comments contain much valuable information for those of you who are searching for a suitable software platform for your exchange system.
Commons Anthology
The long-awaited English version of the commons anthology is now expected to be published in September from Levellers Press under the title The Wealth of the Commons: A World Beyond Market and State. At that time, I will be posting the text of my chapter on https://beyondmoney.net/. I think it is one of the best articles I’ve ever written, so please watch for it.
Nuclear power
This video featuring Ed Asner makes some powerful arguments showing the insanity of the proposed nuclear power plant in Florida. Please watch it and pass it on. It is not only Florida that is at stake, it’s the health and financial well-being of everyone on the Planet. http://tomazgreco.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/ed-asner-the-insanity-of-floridas-proposed-nuclear-plant/
Wishing you all an pleasant summer,
Thomas
How many people in the world really understand money—its essence, its purpose, its proper management, its potential either to free us or enslave us? Sadly the number is close to nil as Riegel discovered decades ago, an opinion that was shared by renowned monetary economist Irving Fisher of Yale University. According to Riegel, Prof. Fisher, in a public speech “indicated that most persons who undertook to discuss money did not understand the subject and that those ‘who understood the real meaning of money’ were very few.” That was sometime in the mid-1930s, but it seems that the same situation still prevails today.
A little later, Riegel wrote a letter asking Fisher to specify whom those few might be, to which Fisher responded with a list of ten names, along with the caveat that the list was by no means exhaustive, and that there were probably several other of which he (Fisher) was unaware.
Next, Riegel, under the banner of the Consumer Guild of America, prepared a questionnaire which he sent out to the ten “experts” that Fisher had named. Riegel then published, in 1935, the results of his survey in a book titled, The Meaning of Money. I’m not aware of the existence of any digital file of that book, but there are a few bound volumes and photocopies still available.
My intention here is not to review or summarize that book, but simply to provide some background showing Riegel’s diligent research of the subject and to set the stage for presenting some of his eventual conclusions.
Riegel died in 1953, but part of the vast legacy he left behind is a one page document that bears the heading, Are These Propositions Correct? This document bears no date, but was probably written late in his life, and seems to be a concise summary of what he discovered and came to believe as result of his many decades of research and cogitation in the areas of money and the exchange process. I have transcribed that document, and present it below for your consideration.
Are These Propositions Correct?
Conclusion
If the above propositions are correct, we must conclude that a true money system, not only may, but must be established as an integral part of the private enterprise system and the issuing power must be denied to all except private enterprisers, the exclusion to include all governments and non-profit institutions. The true money system must be based upon voluntary cooperation of the participants. Therefore no legislative or political action is required. Therefore, without political sponsorship or boundaries, the true money system is potentially universal and uniting all traders with one monetary language.
Sometimes Riegel’s statements require clarification and elaboration, which I have done in some of my own writings, and there are a (very) few points on which I disagree. But Riegel has given us here a clear view into the simple essence of money and the true nature of the exchange process, providing the material we need for building a solid foundation upon which economic democracy can be erected. –t.h.g.
Tom Atlee’s recent article (excerpted below) is a BRILLIANT statement of both truth and necessity. I believe that sharing, cooperation, and restructuring are now gaining speed. The impending disintegration of the money/banking/finance sector will force us to “take off” soon. Let’s hope that we can generate enough “lift” before we run out of runway.–t.h.g.
One of the key features of “the new economy” is sharing. More and more people are sharing housing, cars, bikes, tools, meals, skills, money, books, ideas, music, energy, recreation, projects, transportation, knowledge, problem-solving, visions, jobs, ownership, clothes, stories, time…
Sharing is a resource in hard times as well as a source of intrinsic meaning and satisfaction any time. To an increasing number of people, sharing offers compelling alternatives to the corporate-dominated money-saturated whole-society bustle we normally think of as “the economy”.
….
The existing economy is designed to get us to look out for ourselves so that we’ll consume, compete and work at paying jobs. It nurtures the illusion that we are independent, building lives for ourselves in a world where everyone else is out for themselves, too. Closer examination, however, suggests that such independence is largely a myth, a well-promoted appearance obscuring our profound dependence on the competitive buy-and-sell economy which, in turn, conceals our dependence on nature, culture, and each other.
….
In the existing economy we experience obligations not primarily to our neighbors, our communities or the natural world that supports everything we do. We experience obligation to our employers, to governments, and to banks, credit card companies, and other institutions of higher lending.
This entrenched economic dependence hides the fact that we are fundamentally INTERDEPENDENT: We need each other. We are intimately connected to intricately interdependent natural world. And we are co-creating the conditions of our lives and the prospects for our future, whether we know it or not.
….
…. Once we become grounded in quality of life rather than quantities of stuff or money, the possibilities for sharing expand exponentially, creating a sense of abundance even in the presence of some physical scarcity.
Whether or not we are inclined to share more with each other, one thing we all share nowadays is destiny.
I Just received a message from one of my advisee groups on the west coast. They are seriously considering Cyclos as the platform for their local exchange system.
Here is what they say:
Cyclos offers a complete Open-Source on-line banking system with additional modules such as e-commerce and communication tools. Check this out at http://project.cyclos.org/
The objective of the project is to develop open source complementary currency software that is easy to use and maintain, flexible, secure, and highly customizable. The Cyclos structure is entirely dynamic.
This means that it is possible to ‘build’ a monetary system from scratch. Organizations that want a standard system can use the default database that comes with basic configurations and can be easily enhanced. Cyclos is used for mutual credit systems like LETS, Barter systems, administration of Micro credits or remittances, Time banks and backed currency systems such as a C3 (consumer and commerce circuit). Cyclos just started to be used as a back-end for mobile banking services in Africa, and various Universities are studying the possibility to use Cyclos as a campus payment system.
It seems that the newest version of Cyclos may have the functionality, ease of use, and customizability that we have been looking for.
I’d be interested to see or hear expert reviews and people’s actual experience with using the Cyclos platform. Please send them as a comment to this post.
The video below (300 Years of FOSSIL FUELS in 300 Seconds), from the Post Carbon Institute, is very well done. It tells the story about the development of industrial civilization based on fossil fuel energy, and the mega-crisis that now confronts us. While it is inaccurate in pointing to fossil fuels as the main driver of economic growth, it is well worth the five minutes it takes to watch it.
As I’ve been saying for a long time, the availability of cheap fossil fuel energy has been the enabler of continuous economic growth, but it is not the driver. The driver of the growth imperative which has been operating for about the past 300 years is the political interest-based debt-money system. It is a system that creates money based on interest bearing “loans.” It is the compound interest that is built into the global money system that requires the continual expansion of debt, which in turn forces the physical expansion of economic output. Now nature is putting on the brakes, telling us it’s time to STOP.
We can make the transition to a regenerative economy consciously and deliberately, or we can try to deal with the developing problems on an ad hoc basis in the midst of inevitable chaos. The end of the industrial era should not be mourned, nor does it need to be painful. We have before us the opportunity to create a happier, more peaceful world, one in which we all have enough to live a dignified and fulfilling life with enough time and energy to restore our communities and our environment. For more about that, see my presentation on The Butterfly Society.—t.h.g.
Few people are yet aware of it, but there is a new form of organization that seeks to transform the behavior of the corporation to make business a force for change that servers the common good. The B Corporation is “a new type of corporation that meets rigorous and independent standards of social and environmental performance, accountability, and transparency.”
Here’s a letter from the B Lab team that recounts the recent history and announces the upcoming retreat.—t.h.g.
It was twenty years ago today . . .
Actually, it was five years ago this week that the curtain rose on the B Corp movement.
At the invitation of then BALLE executive director and current RSF Social Finance CEO Don Shaffer, we were given an opportunity to share the vision of B Corp in a plenary setting before we had any business being given the stage. As if sensing the moment, 13 leaders of the sustainable business community with whom we had been gestating the concept for more than a year, said that if the curtain was rising on B Corp, then they wanted to be on stage for the first performance.
Our memory is (other than Jay being uncharacteristically brief in his introductory remarks) mostly of being humbled that these leaders, already recognized as such by their peers, were willing to stand up and lend their credibility to something so unlikely and audacious. But, then, that is what leaders do.
We remember (perhaps correctly) Jeff Mendelsohn characteristically bounding to take the mic first to explain why New Leaf Paper was becoming a Founding B Corporation. Or maybe it was Mike Hannigan (Give Something Back) who led off as our unofficial local host? Or maybe everyone appropriately deferred to Judy Wicks (White Dog Café) as BALLE’s co-founder? They were joined by Matthew Bauer (Better World Telecom), Ben Bingham (now 3 Sisters Sustainable Investments), Jason Salfi (Comet Skateboards), Scott Leonard and Matt Reynolds (Indigenous Designs), Elizabeth Guman (now Strategy Arts), Mal Warwick (Mal Warwick Associates), and competitors cum collaborators Adam Lowry (Method), Gregor Barnum and Jeffrey Hollender (Seventh Generation). We are sure (and sorry) that we are forgetting some who were leading that day.
It is wonderful to be here. It’s certainly a thrill.
It’s hard to believe this all began from a standing start five years ago. Although, it wasn’t a standing start was it. The sustainable business movement, the local living economies movement, socially responsible business and investing movements, microfinance, clean tech, organics, green building et al were all long-standing and vibrant. Myriad thought and action leaders too numerous to mention have inspired and influenced each of those on stage and the now more than 500 Certified B Corps in countless ways. The community of B Corps will hopefully inspire and influence the next generation of leaders whose names we don’t yet know and whose ideas we can’t yet imagine.
With the 5th anniversary of the B Corp on our minds and our October Champions Retreat approaching, we are feeling the need to reflect and to hear your reflections on where we’ve been and where we may be headed. Whether you’d like to share a memory, a vision, or a concern, a hope, an idea, or a suggestion, please share it with us or post it on our internal B Corp community listserve – which you can access here.
In five short years, together we have built a vibrant and diverse community of more than 500 leading businesses across 60 industries, 40 states, and now 8 countries. More than 2,000 other sustainable businesses are using the standards we’ve developed together to measure what matters most and to help them benchmark their performance and increase their impact. Together, we have passed legislation — that a former president of the American Bar Association calls ‘the first, real, original, constructive thought in the corporate governance world in 25 years’ – in 7, no, now 8 states, as today benefit corporation legislation was enacted in Louisiana by Republican Governor Bobby Jindahl. Much more has been accomplished (the launch of GIIRS and a national ad campaign to name a few) and, of course, since much more remains yet to be done.
I don’t really want to stop the show.
So stay tuned, enjoy the summer, share your reflections and visions and make sure you put October 3rd-5th on your calendar to join your fellow leaders in Half Moon Bay for our Champions Retreat as we focus our collective energy on the power of collective action and create plans for what we can do together that we can’t do alone.
Thanks to all who have led the way and given this community an opportunity to serve. Thank you to the 13 who taught the band to play. And thank you all for making playing so well together.
Be the change,
Jay, Bart, Andrew and the B Lab team
jay@bcorporation.net
One of E. C. Riegel’s most important published articles is, Money Is the Language of Accountancy, which was published in The Journal of Accountancy, the official publication of the American Institute of Accountants, in November 1945 (pp. 358-360).
In this article, Riegel outlines the benefits of a proposed “Private Enterprise Money” system (which I have highlighted), explains its elegant simplicity, and shows how it can be the key to solving myriad economic, social, and political problems.
The article achieves Riegel’s usual high standards of incisive reasoning and eloquent expression, but there are a few points on which I disagree. I therefore find it necessary to write and publish my critique along with it. While Riegel’s explanation of the nature of money is superb, I have some serious disagreements with him regarding the measure of value and the requirements for implementation of the mutual credit system. We now have the advantage of six decades of actual experience with clearing systems of the sort that Riegel envisioned. I also find it necessary to clarify a few of Riegel’s points. I urge the reader therefore to read both the article, which appears below, and my critique which follows it.
Anyone who truly wishes to understand money and to discover the way forward toward justice, freedom, and economic democracy should study Riegel’s works starting with his book, Fight From Inflation. These can be found at http://www.newapproachtofreedom.info/—t.h.g.
Money Is the Language of Accountancy
By E. C. Riegel
Proceeding from the assumption that the study and comprehension of money is an integral part of accountancy, this author explains his own conception of the function of money and credit, proposes the establishment of a “private-enterprise money” system, outlines it’s operation, and lists some of the advantages which he believes would result from the point of view of accountants, in particular, and the national welfare. Mr. Riegel, who is president of the Valun Institute in New York, describes himself as “a non-academic student of credit and money.” He is the author of several books, including a recent volume entitled “Private Enterprise Money,” which develops the proposal outlined in this article.
SINCE money is the language of accountancy, an unstable unit plagues the accountant with a confusion of tongues. This year’s statement is written in a tongue different from last year’s and perhaps even last month’s. Figures are not merely black and red; they are also gray and pink. Taxes are impossible of estimation because when the government runs a deficit there is a hidden tax that manifests itself in inflation. Depreciation cannot be gauged because property may show appreciation in terms of the changing dollar. Profit-and-loss figures are deceptive. Reserves may depreciate or appreciate in terms of the unit. All is confusion. Is accountancy futile?
The problem is serious enough to challenge the profession. If it is not solved accountancy must suffer. If accountants master the problem the profession will be raised to new levels of prestige in the business world. The study and comprehension of money is an integral part of accountancy and must not be left to the voodooism of monetary economics.
Money can best be understood by inquiring into the purpose of it. In simple or whole barter there is no need of money. When barter is to be split into halves, i.e., one trader is to receive full satisfaction in value, and the other is to receive only a promise of value, there arises the need of an accounting system and money is a system of split-barter accounting. It is essential to remember that in the process of trading by means of money, there is no departure from barter, but merely a facilitation of barter by splitting it into two parts, one half finished and the other half prospective. Values still continue to exchange for values with money acting as an interim device, but itself having no value.
Perhaps the easiest way to comprehend money is to imagine ourselves in a position where we had to initiate a system that would enable us to escape from the rigidity of whole barter to the flexibility of split barter. Let us approach the problem as one purely of accountancy, completely divorced from politics.
The problem would be one of providing the means whereby trader No. 1 could receive value from trader No. 2 by the former giving the latter an order for an equal value which order would be acceptable to any trader at any time. An IOU would not be sufficient; it must be converted into a WeOU. In other words there must be a conversion from private credit to composite credit underwritten by all the participants in the trading circle. Obviously, this calls for a pact of all the traders agreeing to honor the promises of each as if issued by all. Mutual or social or composite credit is, therefore, the foundation of a money system and the device that liberates traders from the limitations of whole barter.
Before such common agreement can be obtained two questions must be determined: (a) what is the promise of each that is to be credited by all? (b) what is the limit of such promises? In other words we must define the meaning of the credit and the limit of it. Since the purpose of money is to split barter in two parts with one trader receiving value and the other “holding the bag,” it is obvious that the money must issue from the former (the buyer) and must pledge not money but value and the buyer-issuer promises to deliver value when any money is tendered to him from whatever quarter. Thus we see that the essence of credit under a true money system is not to promise to pay money but a promise to receive money. To comprehend this is to liberate private enterprise from the control of finance.
As to the limit of the credit of each participant, this can be agreed upon on the basis of the needs of various trades, and industries, and professions rather than passing upon the applications of each member thereof. This being done, each participant would be authorized to draw checks against his assigned credit without giving any note or other instrument. The credit would have no term but would be in the nature of a call credit since the pledge is to deliver value on demand by tender of money.
Realizing that we have a mutual credit agreement whereunder the credit can be offset only by delivering value (selling goods or services), it is obvious that we cannot afford to admit to our money exchange as a money issuer any factor [entity, ed.] that is not engaged in the business of buying and selling. Ipso facto governments are excluded since they have no way of making good their promise which is implicit in the issue power. This explodes the delusion that governments back money. It is only private enterprisers that back money; governments merely depreciate it by freely issuing it but never backing it by over-the-counter transactions.
Establishing a Monetary Unit
Before we can give meaning to our agreements we must determine the size or power of the money unit. This may seem formidable but is quite simple. Few people realize that our dollar was given its meaning by merely making it par with the Spanish dollar already current in the colonies and the states. Thus we can agree that our unit (I suggest the name “valun” from VALue UNit) shall be equal to the current dollar or some multiple thereof and set our prices in valuns accordingly.
Having agreed upon the three essentials: (a) the definition of the credit, (b) the extent of the credit, (c) the size of the unit, we are ready to set up a clearing house through which our bookkeeping can operate and to provide the means of covering its expenses. This latter can be accomplished by the simple device of a check-clearing charge. No investment is needed, the
Exchange being able to equip itself on credit based upon its prospective income from check-clearance charges. The Exchange itself would have no money-issuing power but could draw only upon accrued income. To provide currency in bills and coins would be very simple. The Exchange would purchase the bills and coins and they would be subject to requisition by members by cashing a check. Such requisition would bring a debit to the account of the check writer and a credit to the account of “the currency controller.”
A deposit of currency would, of course, bring the reverse action. The cost of printing the currency and minting the coins could be charged to each drawer or thrown into overhead and covered by the check-clearing charge just like the cost of printing check books.
Private-Enterprise Money
These are the general outlines of the establishment and operation of a private-enterprise money system. For details I must refer the reader to my book, Private Enterprise Money. Since the substance of the whole plan is mutual credit there is no occasion for anybody to pay interest to anybody and, of course, there is no place for the promissory note. Check drafts and deposits are the only instruments of record and the “money-makes-money” principle is absent. Money is made the instrumentality of the private profit system but of itself is valueless and profitless. This revolution has tremendous significance in the issue between private enterprise and collectivism because the criticism of the former is due entirely to financism.
The reason a private-enterprise money system assures stability of the unit and gives definite meaning to accountancy is that no units will be issued except for value received since each trader in self-defense must restrict his issue to selfish purposes. There could be no issues for boondoggling, or relief, or subsidy, or war, because the government would have no issue power. There could be no inflation or its reflex, deflation. This does not imply that the government could not carry out any project that the taxpayer approved, but it does mean that such approval would be necessary since the taxpayer would be the sole source of money and the government would be powerless to tax by the deficit process of changing the power of the unit through inflation. In brief, we would have government of government—democracy at last. The private-enterprise money system would accomplish the following:
Provide a stable price level.
End the debt-money system. Credit would be extended solely on the promise to pay with goods and services.
Abolish interest within the system.
Take the money-creating power out of the hands of government and banks and place it in the hands of private enterprisers.
Make government operate on a cash basis; prevent deferred and delusive taxes through inflation.
Assure distribution of goods by distributing money power.
Prevent inflation and deflation.
Defeat bureaucracy, fascism, and communism by taking the money power from government
Defeat hidden money control from any quarter.
Assure full employment and a high standard of living.
Give the people the veto power over war and all government extravagances.
Supply the perfecting element in democracy and private enterprise.
If the accounting profession will interest itself in the establishment of a true money system it will render an incomparable service to business and the public. The study of the subject is not extra-curricular; it is part and parcel of accountancy. No profession can gain so much from its solution; none must suffer so much from its non-solution.
Money and Reconversion
The reconversion problem with which the nation is now engaged is basically a problem of dollar-power conversion from the prewar power to the current power. By rationing and restraints upon spending, the action of demand upon supply has been cushioned. This cushion must be removed and since there are now about eighteen available dollars for each dollar of consumer goods (at 1939 prices) we face a tremendous potential inflationary price rise. If through the self-restraint of the people, or by artificial restraints imposed by government, the accumulated dollars are not permitted to come into the market, industry will stagnate and relief and public-works payments will increase the unbalance between a dollars and goods. When the flood breaks prices will skyrocket into runaway inflation. The dollar must be converted, sooner or later, from its prewar power to its natural current power which will grow progressively smaller and I believe will not be arrested short of complete fade-out.
The creation of a private-enterprise money unit is, therefore, imperative if we are to escape chaos and bloodshed. The subject is one of greatest urgency and I hope that the accountants will actively participate in the project.
This article was published in The Journal of Accountancy, November 1945, pp. 358-360. (Official Publication of the American Institute of Accountants).
# # #
A Brief Critique of E. C. Riegel’s article, Money Is the Language of Accountancy
By Thomas H. Greco, Jr.
Riegel says,
“Having agreed upon the three essentials: (a) the definition of the credit, (b) the extent of the credit, (c) the size of the unit, we are ready to set up a clearing house through which our bookkeeping can operate and to provide the means of covering its expenses.”
I agree that “the essence of credit under a true money system is not to promise to pay money but a promise to receive money,” but I cannot fully agree with his proposals for b) and c).
Regarding b), he says:
“As to the limit of the credit of each participant, this can be agreed upon on the basis of the needs of various trades, and industries, and professions rather than passing upon the applications of each member thereof. This being done, each participant would be authorized to draw checks against his assigned credit without giving any note or other instrument.”
Surely, the nature of the member’s particular business must be considered, but it cannot be the sole criterion for determining credit limits. I would want each account limit to be based, at least, upon their historical volume of business, plus perhaps one or two additional factors, like their reputation and overall contribution to the welfare of the community. Also, he does not make clear that there must be some formal underlying agreement defining rights and responsibilities of membership in the clearing exchange.
Regarding c), the size of the unit, it is not enough to set its initial value equal to the dollar at the time of commencement, as Riegel suggests. That is only a logical starting point, considering that dollar valuation is what we are all accustomed to. Dollars is the value “language” we understand. But unless the system unit is defined in physical terms, it will simply depreciate along with the dollar as debasement of the dollar by the monetary authorities continues. I’ve written about that before in my books. In order to maintain its value over time, the credit unit (Riegel calls it a valun) must be defined in terms of something other than the dollar. My choice of definition has long been a “market basket” of basic commodities, because that will be the most stable measure over time and is impossible for any group of entities to manipulate.
Further, I think it is naive and inconsistent for Riegel to say that, “No investment is needed, the Exchange being able to equip itself on credit based upon its prospective income from check-clearance charges. The Exchange itself would have no money-issuing power but could draw only upon accrued income.”
I agree that the system should support itself through transaction fees, i.e., what he calls “check-clearance charges,” but if the Exchange itself has no money issuing power, how is it to cover its start-up costs? Either some up-front investment will be needed, or the exchange must be given a credit line. I favor the former as a safer alternative, but if the exchange is given a line of credit it must be strictly limited on the basis of its anticipated near-term revenues.
Regarding Private-Enterprise Money, Riegel is quite correct in saying, “Since the substance of the whole plan is mutual credit there is no occasion for anybody to pay interest to anybody and, of course, there is no place for the promissory note.”
By way of clarification, what he means is that mutual credit does not require that anyone borrow money into circulation. Thus, there is no need for the issuer of credit to sign a promissory note to a bank or anyone else, or to pay interest on negative account balances. There is however the need for each member of a mutual credit exchange to sign a general agreement that outlines the rights and responsibilities of their participation. I have provide a draft of such an agreement in my book, The End of Money and the Future of Civilization.
The key provision, as Riegel states, is that “no units will be issued except for value received.” That means no monetization of government debts or the inflation of credits on the basis of valueless or non-marketable assets. It is Riegel’s objective and mine to deprive government of the power to exceed its budget by debasing the currency, but Riegel’s insistence that “the government would have no issue power,” may be both impractical and overly restrictive, especially with regard to lower levels of government, like counties and municipalities. Nonetheless, government spending at all levels must be strictly limited to their legitimate tax revenues as approved by the people. Their participation in a mutual credit system must limit their credit issuing power to some small fraction of their annual anticipated tax revenues.
Finally, I wish to make a point about one of Riegel’s predictions. In the final section of the article titled, Money and Reconversion, Riegel says, “The dollar must be converted, sooner or later, from its prewar power to its natural current power which will grow progressively smaller and I believe will not be arrested short of complete fade-out.” Obviously, he was wrong about the “complete fade-out” of the dollar in the post World War II era. There was, indeed, a significant increase in prices at that time, but the tremendous increase in productive capacity that America achieved during the war enabled an unprecedented flood of consumer goods to reach the market rather quickly and absorb the very large savings that people had accumulated. While dollar debasement has continued up to the present day, and the purchasing power of the dollar has continued to decline, the monetary authorities have found many ways to forestall an acute crisis—until recently. Now, concerted action can no longer be deferred. The usury-debt-money system must be transcended, the credit commons must be reclaimed, and a decentralized and democratic network of mutual credit clearing circles is within our power to create. Riegel has provided us a torch to light our way.—t.h.g.
The first edition of my book, The End of Money and the Future of Civilization, was published by Chelsea Green Publishing in 2009. While it remains
as relevant today as it was when first published the printed book has been out of print for several years. But, having had the rights reverted to me by my publisher, I am making the entire book available for free in PDF format. You can read it or download it HERE. If you would like a hard copy of the first edition used copies can still be found on Amazon.com, Abe books, Thrift books and elsewhere.
Better still, you can avail yourself of the new revised and expanded 2024 edition which I have been working on for almost two years and is almost complete. Eighteen chapters have already been posted and can be freely read or download HERE.
My previous books, as published, may be freely accessed in digital format by clicking the title below.
Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender (2001)
New Money For Healthy Communities (1994)
Money and Debt: a Solution to the Global Crisis (1980)
Collectors may find used and some new print copies of my books as published, on amazon.com and elsewhere online. Start by clicking on the title below:
Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender (2001)
Beyond Money
Beyond Money 