THE UNIVERSAL ECONOMY UNIT XIX: MONEY IS A CONCEPT – NOT A THING
Money is a concept – not a thing. We have the physical resources – the matter, the energy, the man power, the machine power, the knowledge – to rebuild our infrastructure, to repair our crumbling roads. We have the physical resources – the matter, the energy, the man power, the machine power, the knowledge – to provide healthcare for all. We have the physical resources, the knowledge, to put an end to the use of global warming fossil fuels and switch to safe alternative energies. We have the physical resources, the knowledge, to provide food for everyone on the planet. We have the physical resources, the knowledge, to clothe everyone on the planet. We have the physical resources, the knowledge, to house everyone on the planet.
But we are always told there is not enough money to take the constructive actions needed to solve the problems of humanity and protect the planet. We are told we can’t “afford” it.
But. . . do you need money to blow another nation and its people to smithereens? Not a problem. How much do you need? After all – those people are living on top of “our” oil. There is always money for destructive actions.
This series has been an attempt to point out how our terribly flawed thinking about “economics” and “money” is preventing humanity from cooperating to safely utilize the vast wealth of physical resources and hard-won knowledge at our disposal to make humanity an ongoing success in the Universe. It has been an attempt to point out how we always have endless supplies of money to develop ever more effective weapons to kill one another, but never have enough money to do the things necessary to care for one another, to do the things necessary to put an end to the need for any more war. It has been an attempt to point out how we always have endless money to dig, drill, frack, and transport more climate destroying fossil fuels, but never have enough money to develop climate saving alternative energies. In the end, it has been an attempt to say we do not need to head into nuclear annihilation and catastrophic global warming and it is only flawed thinking, flawed economic ideologies, that continue to lead us down this road.
We, the people of the world, the people of the world’s various “nations,” need to answer the question – Where does money come from? We are told it “doesn’t grow on trees!” Well then, where does money come from? Do we mine it from money ore in the ground? Do the clouds occasionally rain money on top of the world’s central banks so they can spread it into the various nation’s economies? Did God leave a big bag of money on Earth long ago and it has just been circulating throughout the planet doing business ever since? Where does money come from?
Money comes from nowhere. It is a concept – not a thing. It is created out of thin air by the sovereign nations of the world as fiat currency – a symbolic “dollar,” “yuan,” “ruble,” “euro,” “whatever” – backed by nothing. Yes, in some cases money is said to be backed by a scarce commodity such as gold, (pine cones would work just as well if they were scarce) but factually, there isn’t enough gold on Planet Earth to represent more than the tiniest fraction of the money actually in circulation. On top of this, ninety-seven percent of the world’s money doesn’t even exist. It is numbers on a computer screen.
It should also be stated that, for all practical purposes, “money” is also created out of thin air through “fractional reserve banking” by the world’s private banks. However, private bank “money” is always created as essentially parasitic, interest bearing debt. It isn’t really money – it’s debt. Only a sovereign nation with a sovereign fiat monetary system can create critically needed, debt free money.
We can have economic theories, beliefs, ideologies and doctrines to infinity. They are all manmade. We can alter them to benefit all humanity, or they can be used self-servingly to “profit” one group at the expense of another. But none of these “theories” alter physical – laws of physics – reality.
Mankind can afford to do whatever is necessary to support ongoing life on Earth. We cannot afford to do any more things that endanger that life. We cannot allow manmade “beliefs” about money, having no connection with physical reality, to continue leading us to oblivion.
Money is a concept – not a thing. All that prevents us from realizing universal success is a faulty concept. We need to alter the concept. Self-serving insanity will no longer do. Money is a concept—not a thing.