follow the money.....

"credit crisis" inevitably derives from the nature of the money in circulation

 Three things ...     ... define money - legal tender, national currency - as we know it:      1    the money has to be valuable as a thing in itself, so it will be accepted anywhere,              which requires       2    the money supply must be limited, the money has to be scarce

            which requires      3    issuance must be by trusted authorities

            like central banks, and governments for instance. All three of these are required to establish a money that has in itself a value entirely independent of the users - who are of no account in the process of money valuation or credit creation.  A dollar's a dollar, a yen a yen - whatever your opinions.

In every sense, it's their money, that we get to use if we can earn it or borrow it. Credit is our opportunity to borrow their money.

 So just where does that leave us?

tankedMoney comes, money goes and the level in my tank rises and falls. Sometimes it's high and I have choices, sometimes low and I don't have so many. And it's the same for all - individuals, families, businesses, non-profits, governments and communities  We've all our money in our tanks, and it all comes from somewhere else.  We need the money for the stuff we need, so when we get the money, we spend the money, then the money's gone and we need another injection. It's a classic recipe for addiction.   

trickle down economicsThe economy is just a series of tanks (connected by a series of tubes?) and for every one of us, our particular tank sits below a multitude of tanks, some providing us with money, and below us there's a vast field of potential receivers.   Of the millions of tanks, we only connect with a few.Does anyone think that any of the money they spend somehow goes around and adds to their income?

- that we can somehow spend ourselves into work?

No chance.   Do the math if you need to.

But don't take it personally - it's the same for us all.

Whether an individual, a family, business, corporation or government, it's just the same. Each has their tank (or tanks, it makes no difference) and is getting from a whole bunch of tanks and is giving to a whole bunch of tanks and none has any significant control of the money flow.   NO control worth having.  All of us in the same sort of tanks, all of us running on our treadmills, all trying to survive, because we've got to try to survive, because there's no free lunch, you've got to have the money to do the deal, you've got to have the deal to make the life, so hustle, hustle, hustle.  This money system was founded on/in fear and greed and it's clearly very good in those sectors.  It does what it does very well.   But a full tool box needs more than a carrot and a stick.  There are things this money doesn't do very well, or can't do at all.   Like any systemic income security for users.   The money we spend isn't coming back.

totally tanked

gone

we don't know where it's gone we just know it's gone and not coming back even if we knew where, there's nothing we could do with that information

and it doesn't remember us at all, much less owe us any loyalty or care.

But this is common knowledge, so obvious that nobody gives it a thought

It's a deeply " duh!" reality.   "Of course that's what it does.  How else could money work?  Is this news?" 

"So it's always going away!  So what?"

So what if we had money that did come back?

what if we were to have money that would go round and come back again?   money that will circle around somehow out there when we spend it and come back to us in time it somehow circulates and swirls around the markets that use it and comes back we don't know the patterns, and that doesn't matter - the money comes back

sometimes in small networks it comes back quickly, sometimes in large networks it's slower  but it's always coming back, always there for the earning

what's that worth?

money go round

value proposition

the simplest form of evaluation is ranking - which do you prefer?  consider two $20 bills one is normal - you know it's never coming back. the other is not normal - and you think it will come back which are you going to spend first?

there is a differential between the dollar that goes and comes back and the dollar that just goes away

this is an example of Greshams law - "bad money drives out good".  But Gresham was thinking of competing commodity currencies - having no idea of circulating network or community currencies (cc).

that cc circulate makes Greshams "bad" money (lower commodity value) real good (it comes back)

wiifm?

what's in it for me?

if I (and my business / employer / community / etc) can make it in this crazy mixed up world with just the usual money (the hard stuff) then what's in this money-go-round for me and my interests?

how much value is there in moneys that come back? is it worth my time to explore this? what's my roi?That's case dependent, so the general answer offered is that using circulating moneys will have results that are positive, persistent, and substantial.    "Substantial" change is often considered a difference that's seen to be a difference, and that's quite commonly about a 10% change in something. Aim for at least 10%.  So you'll know when it's working for you. 

 

patterns

for all economic transactions - in the so-called formal economy - where things are paid for, bought and sold for money - there's a transfer of a good or service in one direction and a transfer of a piece of information, a symbol, a ticket in the other.hard goods, good services (or bad services) in one direction transferred from me to you, from you to him - at each juncture the money flows in the opposite direction - the two patterns are identical - they lay over each other - one would not happen without the other (If I had time I'd draw a picture if I could draw - I'm sure you can draw it yourself.)every economic event, every exchange between an A and a B, has something "real" going one way, and something imaginary going the other. the pattern of an economy is determined by the patterns that money is inclined to follow  different money forms support different patterns of trading   

test case

The community way is a new approach to locally based fund-raising that can provide substantial long term support to many areas of need.  Donations in community way $ connect three sectors of the local economy - community service organizations, business and people. Each gains from the recirculation of the money cw$, and nobody loses cash. This program - youtube / pdf - is a general application intended to not only do what it does - raise funds for community needs - but also act as ignition for local / regional open money development collaborations. It is designed for anywhere with a population over 100,000 (or less), for anyone with access to internet (direct or indirect), anytime they're ready (almost). All parts are well tested and the whole has been verified under adverse conditions, occasionally and briefly.

  normal money goes away         this we know, and we know that won't change         if there isn't a credit crisis, there will be soon enough   community currencies (cc) give us money that goes around

    how can that be a problem?

community way is a cost effective test case 

crisis ~ opportunity