We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Brave New Money

I just received two articles by Norbert Häring, a German economist and business journalist, who is realistically worried about the appearance of very convenient money either issued by central banks, which are owned and operated by the ruling class of capitalists, or issued by the new "socialist" governments of China and North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea).

I've watched the slow deterioration of US money (coin money is becoming nearly worthless) and the convenience offered by credit and debit cards which are now used with increasing frequency by ordinary people. They are certainly convenient, but this convenience comes with total control either by central bankers, top financial capitalists who are key players in the Deep State, or governments that are controlled by bureaucracies. Such control over an essential part of our lives is potentially extremely dangerous, and there is no reason to believe that ruling classes (especially those controlled by financial capitalists who already control capitalist economies) will not use this power to exercise more control and exploitation of ordinary people. 

Once again, we need to be aware that it is now essential (not merely desirable) that we create and implement bottom-up authority structures to prevent this abuse and all other abuses by powerful classes who either control nations with their extreme wealth behind fake "democratic" institutions, or by the new self-serving bureaucratic classes of "socialist" governments like we see in China and North Korea. They both make use of top-down authority methods to control their governments and societies. Only bottom-up authority power structures can make these new electronic forms of money a true convenience, and not a new form of oppression.

Part 1: PayPal, WeChat, Amazon Go - A Totalitarian World Currency in the Making 

Part 2: Brave New Money
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