Beyond The Federal Reserve: Living on Less or no Money, Local Currency and turning the Scarcity Mantra to one of Abundance
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Beyond The Federal Reserve: Living on Less or no Money, Local Currency and turning the Scarcity Mantra to one of Abundance
by Alice Reinheimer
Money (and the lack of it) is a subject that is sure to conjure up emotions in nearly everyone. Distaste for filthy lucre, greed for greenbacks, the embarrassment of not having quite enough at the checkout counter, the excitement of gambling, the secrecy of personal finance, the seduction of money and power. Some work at jobs they hate for it. Some have it given to them with no effort. A few have as much as millions of people put together. Destruction of the planet’s ecosystems is fueled by the basic corporate reason for existence – to Make More Money.
On the scale of monetary policy and global economics, money is just plain bizarre. US money doesn’t come from the Treasury Department nor does much of it get printed at the mint. Money is lent into existence out of thin air by the Federal Reserve Bank. The Federal Reserve Bank is neither federal (it’s private) nor does it have a reserve of assets backing the money it lends out (it keeps only a small fraction in reserve). It is a group of private banks that, with little to no governmental oversight, have the ability to loan money they don’t have to the government or other banks and receive interest in return. Amazing! The power to manipulate the global money supply rests with these banks and with the IMF. It is not surprising that the boards of directors of the Federal Reserve Banks include CEOs of some of the world’s largest corporations. Money and corporate power go hand in hand. The requirement for interest payments ensures that debt will always be larger than the supply of money, which in turns requires that the economy must always expand to pay for the ever increasing debt. The financial collapse we are now experiencing is an indication of just how out of control the whole privatized for-corporate-profit monetary system is.
It is enough to make even the most fun-loving person not want to play any more. But what can you do? You can’t live without money, can you? Can you?
Some people are intentionally living without money – reducing their needs to match what the universe provides for them. “Moneyless in Moab” is a documentary film about a guy named Suelo who has lived without money since the year 2000. It can be viewed at: http://www.everythingahead.com/watch.html. Suelo’s fascinating blog is here: http://zerocurrency.blogspot.com/ and his website is here: http://sites.google.com/site/livingwithoutmoney/. One person commenting laments that but for his nine cats he’d be able to live a less moneyed lifestyle. Hmm, do cats create the need for money? Http://www.livingwithoutmoney.tv/ links to a soon-to-be-released documentary film about a 67 year old woman who lives without money, travels and lectures about her experience. Both of these intentionally moneyless people agree that there is no need to worry about the future – the necessary things will come at the time they are needed. Both also spend a lot of time in nature. They seem to find understanding in nature that is not available in human society.
Behind the ability to live without money lies the inherent generosity and abundance that is built into the universe. Bernard Lietaer has hypothesized that greed and fear of scarcity are simply a reaction to the suppression of the Great Mother archetype during 5000 years of patriarchy. (See http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/cc/Lietaer.html for an incredible discussion). Scarcity is a direct product of the money system that we use. As he correctly points out, although we produce enough food for everyone on earth to have enough to eat, the money to buy it is scarce in many places.
Living outside the greed and scarcity of the money economy requires giving and sharing. Out of this has sprung the idea of the gift economy. If you were lucky enough to have grown up in a family where everyone helps out willingly, you already have a basic understanding of how a gift economy works. Everyone gives with no expectation of immediate personal reward. Worth is due to one’s contributions, not one’s possessions. Wikipedia is a simple example of how this works – in it knowledge is freely given. It is based on principles already at work in scientific research. The most successful scientist is the one who makes the greatest contribution in her field, not the one who hoards knowledge. An interesting discussion of the gift economy and how it relates to the business world can be found at: http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/PinchotG.htm.
Exposure of the myth of scarcity also happens through the free distribution of the surplus of our very materialistic culture. Freegans (a combination of “free” and “vegan”) are people who participate in the conventional economy in only a limited way. They avoid buying anything and are perhaps best known for rescuing food and goods from the waste stream via dumpster diving. See www.freegan.info for an interesting blog. Freeconomy is promoted at www.justfortheloveofit.org. A freeconomy community is a moneyless society based on sharing with no bartering and no debt.
Locally in SLO county we have a very active freecycle group – see www.freecycle.org to sign up for e-mail alerts regarding free stuff you can have from your neighbors. A trip through the neighborhoods in San Luis Obispo shortly after Cal Poly’s June graduation can yield a cornucopia of off cast “stuff” from the departing student body. The recycling area at Cold Canyon landfill is also a good place to pick up perfectly usable stuff. It can be fun to set up a “free box” in your neighborhood – a place to release useful items for others to take. Of course it can happen that someone needs a box with the word “free” written on it….
Free stuff usually originates in the corporate world, not in the local community. But locally is where we live and where we need to have community thrive. Most of us would love to stay here on the beautiful central coast (but it is so expensive!). Now that the economy has collapsed, making a buck getting more difficult. Talent and resources are still as abundant as ever – it is just the medium of exchange that is missing. If we just had a local currency that we could use to trade at local businesses and with each other, we could raise the local economy and build community all at the same time.
There are many inspiring examples of successful community currencies. Take the case of Salt Spring Island, an island with 10,000 residents located off the east coast of Canada’s Vancouver Island. Their local currency, “Salt Spring Dollars”, has nearly universal acceptance at the island’s businesses and three banks. You can use it to buy groceries, gas or clothes as well as the art that the island is well known for. The currency is 100% redeemable in Canadian dollars and is backed by an asset fund that issues zero interest loans for worthy community projects. See http://saltspringdollars.com.
There are many alternatives to playing the Federal Reserve game. If we can separate money from the feelings of greed and scarcity we can see that it is just a tool, just a medium for exchange. Our worth does not need to be tied to it. We can build new tools for an abundant healthy local community. •
Alice Reinheimer / alicer1@charter.net
Arroyo Grande, CA
May 30, 2009
by Alice Reinheimer
Money (and the lack of it) is a subject that is sure to conjure up emotions in nearly everyone. Distaste for filthy lucre, greed for greenbacks, the embarrassment of not having quite enough at the checkout counter, the excitement of gambling, the secrecy of personal finance, the seduction of money and power. Some work at jobs they hate for it. Some have it given to them with no effort. A few have as much as millions of people put together. Destruction of the planet’s ecosystems is fueled by the basic corporate reason for existence – to Make More Money.
On the scale of monetary policy and global economics, money is just plain bizarre. US money doesn’t come from the Treasury Department nor does much of it get printed at the mint. Money is lent into existence out of thin air by the Federal Reserve Bank. The Federal Reserve Bank is neither federal (it’s private) nor does it have a reserve of assets backing the money it lends out (it keeps only a small fraction in reserve). It is a group of private banks that, with little to no governmental oversight, have the ability to loan money they don’t have to the government or other banks and receive interest in return. Amazing! The power to manipulate the global money supply rests with these banks and with the IMF. It is not surprising that the boards of directors of the Federal Reserve Banks include CEOs of some of the world’s largest corporations. Money and corporate power go hand in hand. The requirement for interest payments ensures that debt will always be larger than the supply of money, which in turns requires that the economy must always expand to pay for the ever increasing debt. The financial collapse we are now experiencing is an indication of just how out of control the whole privatized for-corporate-profit monetary system is.
It is enough to make even the most fun-loving person not want to play any more. But what can you do? You can’t live without money, can you? Can you?
Some people are intentionally living without money – reducing their needs to match what the universe provides for them. “Moneyless in Moab” is a documentary film about a guy named Suelo who has lived without money since the year 2000. It can be viewed at: http://www.everythingahead.com/watch.html. Suelo’s fascinating blog is here: http://zerocurrency.blogspot.com/ and his website is here: http://sites.google.com/site/livingwithoutmoney/. One person commenting laments that but for his nine cats he’d be able to live a less moneyed lifestyle. Hmm, do cats create the need for money? Http://www.livingwithoutmoney.tv/ links to a soon-to-be-released documentary film about a 67 year old woman who lives without money, travels and lectures about her experience. Both of these intentionally moneyless people agree that there is no need to worry about the future – the necessary things will come at the time they are needed. Both also spend a lot of time in nature. They seem to find understanding in nature that is not available in human society.
Behind the ability to live without money lies the inherent generosity and abundance that is built into the universe. Bernard Lietaer has hypothesized that greed and fear of scarcity are simply a reaction to the suppression of the Great Mother archetype during 5000 years of patriarchy. (See http://www.ratical.org/many_worlds/cc/Lietaer.html for an incredible discussion). Scarcity is a direct product of the money system that we use. As he correctly points out, although we produce enough food for everyone on earth to have enough to eat, the money to buy it is scarce in many places.
Living outside the greed and scarcity of the money economy requires giving and sharing. Out of this has sprung the idea of the gift economy. If you were lucky enough to have grown up in a family where everyone helps out willingly, you already have a basic understanding of how a gift economy works. Everyone gives with no expectation of immediate personal reward. Worth is due to one’s contributions, not one’s possessions. Wikipedia is a simple example of how this works – in it knowledge is freely given. It is based on principles already at work in scientific research. The most successful scientist is the one who makes the greatest contribution in her field, not the one who hoards knowledge. An interesting discussion of the gift economy and how it relates to the business world can be found at: http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC41/PinchotG.htm.
Exposure of the myth of scarcity also happens through the free distribution of the surplus of our very materialistic culture. Freegans (a combination of “free” and “vegan”) are people who participate in the conventional economy in only a limited way. They avoid buying anything and are perhaps best known for rescuing food and goods from the waste stream via dumpster diving. See www.freegan.info for an interesting blog. Freeconomy is promoted at www.justfortheloveofit.org. A freeconomy community is a moneyless society based on sharing with no bartering and no debt.
Locally in SLO county we have a very active freecycle group – see www.freecycle.org to sign up for e-mail alerts regarding free stuff you can have from your neighbors. A trip through the neighborhoods in San Luis Obispo shortly after Cal Poly’s June graduation can yield a cornucopia of off cast “stuff” from the departing student body. The recycling area at Cold Canyon landfill is also a good place to pick up perfectly usable stuff. It can be fun to set up a “free box” in your neighborhood – a place to release useful items for others to take. Of course it can happen that someone needs a box with the word “free” written on it….
Free stuff usually originates in the corporate world, not in the local community. But locally is where we live and where we need to have community thrive. Most of us would love to stay here on the beautiful central coast (but it is so expensive!). Now that the economy has collapsed, making a buck getting more difficult. Talent and resources are still as abundant as ever – it is just the medium of exchange that is missing. If we just had a local currency that we could use to trade at local businesses and with each other, we could raise the local economy and build community all at the same time.
There are many inspiring examples of successful community currencies. Take the case of Salt Spring Island, an island with 10,000 residents located off the east coast of Canada’s Vancouver Island. Their local currency, “Salt Spring Dollars”, has nearly universal acceptance at the island’s businesses and three banks. You can use it to buy groceries, gas or clothes as well as the art that the island is well known for. The currency is 100% redeemable in Canadian dollars and is backed by an asset fund that issues zero interest loans for worthy community projects. See http://saltspringdollars.com.
There are many alternatives to playing the Federal Reserve game. If we can separate money from the feelings of greed and scarcity we can see that it is just a tool, just a medium for exchange. Our worth does not need to be tied to it. We can build new tools for an abundant healthy local community. •
Alice Reinheimer / alicer1@charter.net
Arroyo Grande, CA
May 30, 2009
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