[P2P-F] Money and Magic

Thu Nov 24 00:00:25 CET 2011

On Thu, Nov 17, 2011 at 8:24 PM, Sandwichman <lumpoflabor at gmail.com> wrote:
> The problem with all "money cures" (gold standard, credit-money, Utopian
> schemes) is that the critiques of each of them are basically correct. There
> is no "cure" for money because money is a symptom, not a disease.
>
> Money is symbolic, ritualistic, it has no inherent meaning. What it means
> depends entirely on the quality of human relationships. If there is trust,
> money means trusting. If there is domination and oppression, money means
> dominating and oppressing. This is regardless of the technical feature of
> the system -- gold standard, credit-money, modern monetary theory or
> moon-beam dollars.

While I generally agree with the idea that money is not a disease, but
a symptom or a signal of something more inherent, I think the
technical features do mean something, because they ENCODE those
inherent and deeper signals.  Money based on gold TIES it to the Earth
and something cosmic, in ways that are not necessarily easily
understood but present nonetheless.

In any case, I think it is premature to decide on a monetary system
until, like you suggest, we have an overarching purpose/agreement (or
perhaps just the "right" one) that binds us together.

mark j
Santa Fe, NM