From: "Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 09:11:19 +0800
To: cypherpunks@cyberpass.net
Subject: new money systems
Message-ID: <199706200103.SAA06874@netcom11.netcom.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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I've written frequently on ideas about money here. not too long
ago I suggested that stocks are actually becoming a kind of a
currency, and that a diversity of currencies is actually
preferrable to a uniformity.

after a lot of research, I've come across some neat new technology
that cypherpunks might be interested in.

the use of money lies at the root of social interactions. what
kind of properties does that money have? those properties are
likely to influence the social interactions that ensue.

in this country, our money supply is controlled by the federal
reserve, which is actually a private banking system. there
are some people who claim that key parts of it are being
kept secret from the public, such as the controlling interests.
there is definitely little doubt that board meetings of the fed
are held in the strictest of secrecy.

in the computer industry, all software and hardware is moving
toward open standards. could this ideal translate to our money system
as well? I suspect it can.

some very reputable people are beginning to reexamine our money
system and conclude that it is not that we are competing for
scarce resources via money, but that we are competing for scarce money
utilizing resources in the process. this involves the problem of
creating money and then charging interest on this fictitious 
entity, as opposed to charging interest on money that is actually
backed by energy and not debt.

after a lot of study I've concluded that the entire money system
functions like a massive electrical circuit. this is related to
ideas presented in a mysterious document called "silent weapons
for quiet wars" which I highly recommend to anyone on the list.
some will claim it is fraudulent, but I've decided the ideas
it presents are extremely genuine, regardless of the source or
motives behind the writing.

in an electrical circuit, you have the problem of resistence
gumming up the works. engineers spend their entire lives trying
to squeeze electrical efficiency out of their devices. yet
the largest electrical circuit of all, of the greatest importance
to the health and well-being of the entire planet, I believe
has gone largely unexamined. quite possibly the electrical circuit
that comprises our world economy has large amounts of undesirable
resistance. this manifests in a very subtle way-- not direclty as
inflation, not interest rates, but as a difficulty in obtaining money.
in a system with less resistance, money would actually be easier to obtain.

and in fact many have reason to 
believe the world economy has been intentionally designed/manipulate to have
undesirable properties, such as creating an invisible and
undetectable slavery.

imagine that I have a rat on a wheel, and I am using its power to
drive my machines. part of the energy the rat expends goes into 
moving food pellets into its box. but the remaining energy I siphon
off for my own ends. the rat does not realize that it doesn't in theory
have to expend as much energy as it is doing to live, and does not
question its existence as long as it lives. but I can use this energy
for my own agenda.

would it be possible to create such a system using money? are 
*we* the rats on the treadmill? is all our money energy going toward
feeding ourselves, or is some of it being siphoned off? others who
have written intelligently on the subject are suggesting exactly that--
that a system of invisible slavery is now in existence and actually
pervades our culture. it is involved in the way the fed creates
money and manipulates interest rates, charging interest on money
that isn't truly backed by energy.

consider these questions:

1. why is it that even as our economy becomes "more productive", we
have to work harder? families now require more than one wage earner
when before they did not?

2. there are statistics that show in earlier times, it took [x]
farmers to produce the food for the population, such that the ratio
was something like 1 to 2 or so. now the ratio is nearly 1 to 60
or greater. why does this not translate into more free time for
everyone? could it be there is a means by which some entity can
siphon off our spare energy and time?

3. if someone is siphoning off energy from *everyone* simultaneously,
could it be detected in our system? how?


==

what's the solution? some are looking toward "alternative" or "local"
currencies. there are some cases such that local communities experienced
more efficient economies when they resorted to local currencies out
of desperation. 

this has extreme relevance to the cypherpunk ideals of trying to
extricate oneself from the "powers that be" and be a sovereign 
individual, particularly using technical means. it is possible that
new kinds of digital currencies will flourish, and that will not
be tied to what appears to be a very sinister system involving
the federal reserve.

some interesting ideas in new money, including digital cash,
 can be found at www.transaction.net

also, there is a system called "LETS" (local exchange transaction
system) that is getting more exposure and acceptance.

I believe that in the future there will be more and more propaganda
relative to money systems, and I hope that those here will have
a head start in understanding the secret agendas of others.

I hope others will post on this subject in the future. as I say, I believe
it is of extreme cypherpunk relevance.