This seems pretty much what MMT economists are describing, coupled with localization (michael schulman) currencies,
what I don't see is the 'cosmo' part, feasible, but politically without much traction for the moment, Michel
Message: 2 Date: Fri, 28 Dec 2018 10:17:13 +0100 From: Dante-Gabryell Monson <[email protected]> To: p2p-foundation <[email protected]> Subject: [P2P-F] + Cosmolocalization Scrip ? Re: What happens when a state doesn't control its own monetary creation ? Message-ID: < CAGaoiphwvZcNJHYtmC1isWJaby6vzktVUcwdpEQ7LGsSfm1Ang@mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
Places / real economies like Greece ( although Estonia would also be an interesting place as its government already invested in blockchain database solutions )
could imho benefit from a state guaranteed Cosmolocalization Scrip
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrip
For example, a government could decide to issue Scrip ( the state of California did issue IOU's, a few years back, that could be used to pay taxes )
and decide to spend it into existence in sectors of the local economy it could even decide to define and update ( using scrip in the form of a token / smart contract ),
ideally to generate access to currency in parts of the economy that are under served in currency, and especially to enable services and production that can reduce dependency on imports and/or bootstrap sectors that could also lead to exports.
It could also track usage of the scrip through analytics enabled by its tokens on its blockchain ( or holochain ? ) , understanding the effects and usage of the scrip. ( potentially anonymized ? )
This would fit perfectly within a Cosmolocalization narrative.
Such a Scrip could also function so as to reduce paper work ( online accounts, digital payments ) and be adapted, not to replace Euros, but as a complementary currency. For example, imported goods might only have a percentage of the price of the good related to local services in cosmo scrip.
The government(s) could also generate demand for the scrip by accepting it as a medium of tax payment. Although to avoid it replacing all euro tax income, the government(s - including regional or local ) could for example accept only a certain percentage of a persons or company's scrip as tax payment. Similarly to a dual complementary currency mode used for other goods.
It could experiment at first with anything that is locally produced, and also start by allocating an addition to the current euro salary of government workers, in scrip.
If successful, it could also enable loans in scrip, by local businesses that can use it to develop local production ( and ultimately reduce the need for imports ),
and it can also strategically enable clusters of interdependent businesses that can benefit from each others services,
and can also ultimately facilitate online markets and a c3 ( commercial credit circuit )
https://tradingeconomics.com/greece/balance-of-trade
https://tradingeconomics.com/greece/current-account
On Fri, Dec 28, 2018, 07:53 Dante-Gabryell Monson <[email protected] wrote:
Just brainstormed this on fb :
As long as there are foreign currency reserves ( usually trade surplus vs the currency ), the state could spend as much as it needs into creation, and as long as this spending meets development it doesn't necessarily mean inflation.
Hyperinflation happens so as to reduce the capacity of each to buy imported goods, in a situation of severe trade disbalance and a scarcity of foreign reserves. Deflation in the case of not having control on your own currency and monetary supply drying out.
Currently, limitations imposed on european states are meant to avoid inflation, and/or debasement, or rather, they are meant to enable private sector such privilege in creating markets and hence directing society in the direction it sees fit, rather than the state.
Although limitations on spending doesn't necessarily benefit the real economy, nor quality of life through access to currency in certain lower social classes.
What currently happens, is that we depend, in the Euro Zone, exclusively on a monetary monopoly controlled by private financial networks of corporations.
...
An additional aspect being credit peak, which works in the context of debt that has to be repaid.
Since the 70 ies, banks imposed on states not to create their own money into existence, and instead leave such monopoly to private banks, bringing us in a "state of submission" to private finance for access to currency.
Taxation, initially, could serve to control monetary mass. It was not needed to fund the state.
But in the current context, states are obliged to borrow from financial institutions, and hence politicians are pressured to make sure they can continue paying interest on the debt.
To oversimplify : not only is this theft ( transfer of property ), but it is depriving a large part of the population of the currency it needs to generate services between each other and hence increase each other's quality of life !