NEW FORMS OF VALUE
FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL KINDS OF EVIL | 1 Timothy 6:10
FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL KINDS OF EVIL.
1 Timothy 6:10
MONEY, IT’S A GAS. GRAB THAT CASH WITH BOTH HANDS AND MAKE A STASH. Pink Floyd
RUN FOR YOUR LIFE FROM ANY MAN WHO TELLS YOU THAT MONEY IS EVIL. THAT SENTENCE IS THE LEPER’S BELL OF AN APPROACHING LOOTER. Ayn Rand
NEW FORMS OF VALUE
I’ll divide this into two sections.
1. Money.
2. Everything else.
1. MONEY
Money is a fundamental technology we use to store and transport value around the free market system. It serves three purposes:
Medium of exchange - it allows us to transact for goods and services of a commensurate market value.
Store of value - it retains and, ideally, increases its value over time.
Unit of account - it provides a standard numerical unit of measurement that can be used for accounting purposes.
We need sound, reliable money as a foundational technology to support social and economic development.
The purest form of money is Gold, or other forms of precious metal. Our current monetary system is no longer linked to precious metals, as described by the Bank of England:
Since its foundation in 1694 the Bank of England (the ‘Bank’) has issued notes promising to pay the bearer a sum of money. For much of its history the promise could be made good by the Bank paying out gold in exchange for its notes. The link with gold helped to maintain the value of the notes, although the link was sometimes suspended, for example in wartime.
The link with gold was finally broken in 1931 (see in particular The Currency and Bank Notes Act 1928 and The Gold Standard (Amendment) Act 1931) when the UK came off the gold standard, and since that time there has been no other asset into which holders have the right to convert Bank of England notes. They can only be exchanged for other Bank of England notes. Nowadays public faith in the pound is maintained in a different way - through the Bank of England's operation of monetary policy, the object of which, by statute, is price stability.
In this statement The Bank describes what is known as a 'fiat currency', whereby the value of money relates solely to an order (or fiat) handed down by a person in authority (in this case, the Governor of the Bank of England) without any underlying assets to support its value.
This issue, coupled with The Bank's ability to create 'new money' at will out of thin air, is the reason for inflation and the associated 'cost of living crisis' that we are currently experiencing.
This is not a sound money system. It is fundamentally unsound, and open to increasing amounts of outside interference and control.
Central Banks, like The Bank of England, are in the process of attempting to rollout a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC). This would remove cash from our system entirely, and allow extraordinary powers to be placed in the hands of, what is in effect, an extension of the Treasury (aka HM Government). The same is true in all other nations on earth, each of which maintains a central banking system controlled by the Bank of International Settlements (BIS).
We need to migrate as quickly as possible to a sound money system, backed by precious metals or similar real-world assets, outside of the control of Central Banks and petty bureaucrats in Whitehall.
Importantly, a short term solution can be facilitated through any kind of digital or crypto currency. The key challenges are 1) getting system-wide agreement to its usage (i.e. we all need to agree it has value and we'll transact with it), and 2) having the infrastructure in place to facilitate payments across system.
Putting this new payment system in place is one of the most urgent tasks that needs to be delivered in order to facilitate a functioning parallel system.
2. EVERYTHING ELSE
CASH. RULES. EVERYTHING. AROUND. ME. CREAM. GET THE MONEY, DOLLAR, DOLLAR BILL Y’ALL.
Wu-Tang Clan
We live in a paper chase.
Modern culture idolises the rich and celebrates greed above all else.
The most venal and corruptible are promoted to the upper levels of the system.
For the record, I see nothing wrong with accumulating wealth and ensuring prosperity for yourself and those around you. But when wealth accumulation is the sole driver of our actions, we end up doing unspeakable things.
FOR THE LOVE OF MONEY IS THE ROOT OF ALL KINDS OF EVIL
1 Timothy 6:10
The most important transformation of the 21st Century won't be technological, it will be spiritual: relating to what we value and how we treat each other as sovereign individuals in our wider society.
I'm happy to say this transformation is already well under way. We are currently living through a profound shift in consciousness at an individual and collective level that promises to unlock a bright new future for humanity.
We are elevating ourselves from being mere passive Consumers in a profit-hungry, capitalist system, to active Citizens invested in the future of our nation and all that goes with it.
Community, spiritual connection, artistic expression, freedom, patience, tradition, heritage and the need to live in symbiosis with nature are all in the ascendent. They will be placed front and centre in the new world we are building.
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E pluribus unum.
Ben Rubin
PATTERN