[GJM] Is Money Obsolete?

[Steve Consilvio]

On Mar 11, 2007, at 8:24 AM, discussion- 
request at globaljusticemovement.net wrote:
Dan Parker wrote:
> As well, as to say I'm wrong in my assessement because *just labour*
> is necessary to make the difference is akin to saying to someone that
> their life has no value (i.e. the person spending most of their  
> waking hours
> at work now).

There is not a problem with anybody's labor, per se, but how we  
"value" labor (which determines what we value.) Elvis Presley, for  
example, earns $20,000.00 an hour, even though he is dead, because of  
the privileges certain people get for their TYPE of work above the  
labor of a different type. We cannot be a society "where all men are  
created equal," where privileges like this are regarded as  
"commonsense," and are imbedded in the law.

To put it another way, it is the accounting system that is nuts, not  
the people. The people are only destructive because it is impossible  
to make your numbers balance, and destructive (of others and the  
environment) behaviors are the most profitable.

"We, us, and them" are all the same person. Everyone gets paid by an  
institutional organization, either directly or indirectly by churches  
and NGO's, Government or businesses. The individual can only get  
money AFTER it flows through one of these organizations, and after it  
flows out of the Federal Reserve. However, "wealth" is created by  
labor, not by organizations. An organization cannot create wealth, it  
can only "organize" human labor. Money, and profit are not wealth  
itself, they are just numbers within the accounting system.

Because of consumption, most wealth (labor) is consumed immediately,  
but the accounting system endures significantly longer, (unforgiven  
debts, etc.,) because profit is a numerical transaction, and people  
want to retain "advantageous" numbers. With the persistence of debt  
and poverty, there is also the persistence of Inflation within the  
accounting system as well. In my view, it is Inflation that is  
driving everyone to destructive behaviors of self-survival. (The  
Interest Mechanism) The only way to escape rising costs of living is  
to shift these costs to someone else (and thus to another  
institution.) We all end up playing the part of Scrooge, but we are  
battling a million other Scooges. There is no way anybody can win in  
the long term because it is impossible to cost-shift perpetually. The  
million Scrooges (and inflation) will always win. Everybody and every  
institution gets to experience loss. Thus, the system is rigged to  
make everyone a loser. The appearance of winners and losers is an  
illusion. Those moving up will eventually lose, and those that endure  
the most are those with government privileges (artists and inventors  
and landlords,) but they still have to live in an inflationary  
economy with increasing levels of paranoia and pollution. They cannot  
escape the blowback, either.

Inflation is related to all our political and social and  
environmental problems. Why do the numbers grow? If the organizations  
have a budget crisis, then the people must have one as well. Rather  
than seeing inflation as a separate phenomenon of "the marketplace"  
we should see it as a result of the marketplace. Since inflation is a  
man-made phenomenon, the question then is how? In fact, it is not  
just Interest, but it is profit as well that creates inflation. Both  
involve the math 2+2=5. (A bust is when 5=2+2) The battle of the  
Scrooges cannot end until we change what we "value" and how we value  
things. All labor must be regarded as equal if men are to be equal.

Another way to look at it: We are all suffering equally in a system  
that doesn't work because we share common ideas. If we change our  
ideas in regard to the thing that makes us suffer (money) then we can  
all enjoy the beneficial changes equally. Using money as an incentive  
(pollution credits, bribes, punishment,) simply perpetuates the  
importance of money and the need for money downstream. We need to get  
back to the idea of organizing labor for the common good and  
commonwealth, but it needs to be a change the individual can do  
without an institution, because the institutions are powerless just  
like everyone else.

The net effect is that we are all paying for the sins of previous  
generations. They indoctrinated us into their madness (as they were  
by their parents.) We can either repeat the same mistakes or correct  
them for the benefit of the next generation. One thing is sure, if  
the individual is unwilling to change, then there can be no change in  
society. In the case of Interest, people only need to change how they  
handle their surplus. It is a very easy change to make, since in most  
cases the money is already at risk. People need to risk changing the  
world, rather than just gambling pointlessly. The individual has to  
lead, not the institutions.

peace,
Steve Consilvio
www.behappyandfree.com

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: /pipermail/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net/attachments/20070311/4d7dfa6d/attachment.html