Book Excerpt: Note to the Reader

“Money ranks as one of the primary materials with which mankind builds the architecture of civilization.”

— Lewis Lapham

“Every nation and every man instantly surround themselves with a material apparatus which exactly corresponds to…their state of thought. Observe how every truth and every error, each a thought of some man’s mind, clothes itself with societies, houses, cities, language, ceremonies, newspapers. Observe the ideas of the present day…see how timber, brick, lime, and stone have flown into convenient shape, obedient to the master idea reigning in the minds of many persons…It follows, of course, that the least enlargement of ideas…would cause the most striking changes of external things.”

— Ralph Waldo Emerson

The purpose of this book is to help establish greater understanding of the vital role that money plays in the ongoing evolution of global society. It was written during the onset of a global financial crisis where hundreds of millions of individuals have collectively lost trillions of dollars in wealth and remain very much unsettled and confused over future prospects.

Dubious investment patterns in our world’s financial centers combined with subsequent massive financial bailouts by governments have left the folks on Main Street watching the crisis unfold from the sidelines. This process is proving broadly unacceptable to engaged citizens the world over. This arbitrary, centralized bailout also has a strong likelihood to fail for it is operating from within a system and way of thinking that, itself, is failing to meet the complexities of our times.

The more evident the limitations of these actions become the more space for new ideas and ways forward will emerge to allow average citizens to consciously take matters into their own hands to co-create a saner and wiser world. Here, we shall see clearly that the solutions and true opportunities within this global economic crisis are wholly dependent upon the unprecedented involvement in economic affairs by an engaged global public who are no longer willing to blindly and unquestioningly leave essential financial activities and processes in the hands of a few.

It is my hope to provide a wider audience with a new way of thinking about money that makes it relevant to their values and to their aspirations to make the world work for all of humanity. Indeed, money creation directly impacts the lives of everyone, but for far too long the general public has taken for granted the importance of money in everyday life without ever establishing a shared context for understanding how it works, how it is made and how it could be different than it is today. Consequently, without a deep understanding of money the subject remains somewhat taboo and inaccessible and persons with interest in global affairs are left missing one of the most important pieces of the world’s puzzle.

In order to make money clearer and accessible to the layperson, this work will challenge some very basic and deeply held assumptions. To truly grasp the power and nature of money requires one to step out of the limitations of the materialistic Newtonian worldview and into an interconnected, interdependent and holistic world where human subjectivity plays an essential role in how we perceive money and give it meaning. This context allows us to explore the extraordinary impact the inner world of consciousness has on economic systems and tools. This in turn enables the construction of a coherent model for mapping the ongoing evolution of economic paradigms and human value systems throughout world history.

One cannot look holistically at economic paradigms or systems for long without coming to an appreciation of the essential role that money has played, and still plays, in catalyzing social transformation and determining the essential operating principles that characterize economic order. This perspective sets the stage for establishing a new paradigm from which money can be understood to be a powerful catalyst for supporting self-organizing systems and building a sufficiently complex economy equal to the challenges of the 21st Century.

We shall see that a circulation charge (also known as stamp scrip or demurrage) is of vital importance for enabling the creation of more resilient markets and solidifying emerging global values through effective global institutions and rule-sets. We shall see how this monetary tool offers considerable promise for resolving current systemic and paradigmatic problems that have led us into this global financial crisis.

While monetary tools such as a circulation charge have garnered the attention and captured the imagination of many prominent economists and social thinkers over the past one hundred years, it has for the most part remained on the periphery of mainstream economic thought. Today, it must come to the fore not only in economic theory but also into the households of concerned citizens and the creative minds of entrepreneurs, social activists, spiritual and religious leaders, community leaders and public servants. Why? Because money is a profound public good that directly impacts our lives and our devotion to the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.

A circulation charge is a fee applied to the money holder for hoarding money. As we shall see, among other things, this fee helps to ensure money remains in constant circulation during the natural ebbs and flows of economic activity. Most importantly, it also has proven to dramatically stimulate economic activity in the midst of financial gridlock and an economic depression by accelerating the velocity of money. We shall discover the theoretical soundness and documented real world successes that led to endorsements from John Maynard Keynes and Irving Fisher, along with several Nobel Prize winners over the years.

The overall context of this book is to develop and enable a perception of money and economic systems that transcends materialistic and mechanistic terms. The 20th Century’s failure to fully appreciate the value of a circulation charge might be understood to be at least in large part due to the limitations of traditional economic theory that emerge out of this way of thinking.

The main thrust of this work is not only theoretical, however. It is also highly practical for this subject matter directly affects the lives of all of us and it is well within our power to change. In a time when credit seizes—millions of small business owners are challenged to meet payroll and order inventory—money is at the heart of it all. This current credit crisis means that hiring new employees or keeping current ones can quickly become very difficult if not impossible. Collectively, this situation directly impacts billions of people around the world.

In most parts of the world, small businesses remain the primary engine for economic growth and prosperity. This work is about the means by which we can build an economy that ensures money remains in stable and dynamic circulation to help businesses of all sizes overcome the severe and ultimately curable challenges that arise when money and credit all but dry up during perilous economic times.

This work was written for a global audience, but it is also firmly grounded within the thought processes of Western civilization. I have intentionally drawn most examples from the United States of America due to its unique place atop the international financial system and because citizens from most countries have an interest and relatively thorough knowledge of its workings as evidenced by the recent US Federal election and the remarkable global popularity of President Barack Obama.

I shall argue that America’s position moving forward as the de-facto international reserve currency will become increasingly untenable. This is true not only for the United States but for any single country in the world given the overall complexities and emerging multi-polar geopolitical conditions. Increasingly, global responses are needed for global problems and we shall see that ultimately this will dramatically influence and inform new perceptions and possibilities with respect to money.

To help the reader fully appreciate this emerging understanding of money, this work covers the broadest sense of the word ‘currency’, and is equally devoted to understanding the interconnected nature of both ‘money’ and ‘meaning’. Ultimately, however, both are functions of the vast sea of consciousness itself. In this light, new currency presents itself as a challenge and an opportunity to change the world, as we know it.

Jordan MacLeod
November, 2008

Get New Currency: How Money Changes the World As We Know It