a robot, i am not » monetary system

money and life trailer

jritch — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 04:54:42 +0000

I’m excited to see the movement to reconnect monetary systems with ecological dynamics continue in gaining momentum. The upcoming Money and Life is an excellent example of how people all over the world are beginning to seriously discuss the particular method of money creation we currently use and how it affects our lives. Most importantly they discuss how we can use money, not as the root of all evil, but as a valuable technology to create a world that manages scarcity in a far more realistic manner.

Money & Life trailer from StormCloud Media on Vimeo.

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Post tags: documentaries, ecology, economics, humanity, monetary system, Movies, video

an alternate monetary operating system

jritch — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:45:10 +0000

Douglas Rushkoff isn’t always making the most economically popular arguments but I think he’s on to something when talking about currency. Thinking that the current incarnation of the monetary economy is the only system for money isn’t only dangerous, it is incredibly ignorant. As the energy supporting overinflated fiat currencies like the US dollar becomes more scarce, we’ll need alternatives to maintain order in society.

This speech by Rushkoff is great at introducing some of his ideas and even though you might be a skeptic after a listen, reading through more of his work will convince you he knows what he’s talking about,

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Post tags: economy, future, monetary system

a serious look at the US $ being replaced as the global reserve currency

jritch — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 21:00:22 +0000

An interesting paper from and NBER Conference back in 2005,

Might the dollar eventually follow the precedent of the pound and cede its status as leading international reserve currency? Unlike the last time this question was prominently discussed, ten years ago, there now exists a credible competitor: the euro. This paper econometrically estimates determinants of the shares of major currencies in the reserve holdings of the world’s central banks. Significant factors include: size of the
home country, inflation rate (or lagged depreciation trend), exchange rate variability, and size of the relevant home financial center (as measured by the turnover in its foreign exchange market).

The key from the paper is that,

Whether the euro might in the future rival or surpass the dollar as the world’s leading international reserve currency appears to depend on two things: (1) do enough other EU members join euroland so that it becomes larger than the US economy, and (2) does US macroeconomic policy eventually undermine confidence in the value of the dollar, in the form of inflation and depreciation.

[ via @planetmoney]

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Post tags: economy, monetary system, planet money