Thanks Mark. Yes, Aesthetically I can find attractiveness in such item, independently from owning it. Without wanting to discredit such potential, I also realize that it may not be exaggerated to say that sadly a lot of the bright golden color may likely be tainted by blood ( judging by history ). Unfortunately, it is so too with any tool of power, including current fiat currency. Hence, if I could choose some "ideal", without taking into consideration many other aspects, I guess I'd prefer remaining within gift economics, and better still, some forms of gift economics that do not stay attached to material value, with the awareness of supporting a holistic process, supporting commons. I am not specifically primitivist, and like to use technological solutions, yet I also feel attracted by certain cultures, including certain nomadic cultures, and remember an excerpt from a movie called "The Gods Must be Crazy" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gods_Must_Be_Crazy ) : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gCQIGiXf0JA "here is a thing that could not be shared..." /// Anyway, back to (alternative?) currencies, there is a proposal of a commodity backed basket currency, called "Terra" http://p2pfoundation.net/Terra I can imagine a world where each of such approaches can have its usage, while also hoping people will reduce their usage of the ones that concentrate power into the hands of a minority. On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 10:03 PM, Mark Janssen <[email protected]>wrote:
On Fri, Nov 11, 2011 at 4:48 AM, Dante-Gabryell Monson <[email protected]> wrote:
As for gold, I am personally ok with gold backed currencies for certain complementary currencies for those who choose to use them, but on a large scale, I do not wish to go back to a gold standard, because there is a very limited amount of gold in the world, and this makes it easier to centralize control, hence easy to control a monetary system backed by gold, by buying ( or taking by force ) gold reserves.
Hmmm, personally I like the idea of a currency tied to the Earth -- it makes the system less abstract, and perhaps even self-organizing. Being able to reproduce currency easy doesn't necessarily make it better (that's one of the grives of the #occupy movement against the Fed). It's limitedness is what gives it value. As for the idea that its limitedness making it easier to control, I don't think in the history of the world that there has ever been a gold "resevoir" that made such a danger likely. As far as I know, most gold is extracted piecemeal from thousands of sources, probably because the way it originates from stars and gets distributed widely. But, to be sure, it does "stack the deck" in favor of those who find it, but it takes work -- there are few "gold tycoons".
I would love to see gold coins in standardized weights used for a world currency, with each nation printing their unique traits on their own versions. How awesome would that be -- to be handed a gold coin from Namibia when you get your change from the laundromat and have it be perfectly legal tender?
marcos