Let’s be clear.  Money is an invention of the human mind.

According to Wikipedia “The creation of money is made possible because human beings have the capacity to accord value to symbols. Money is a symbol that represents the value of goods and services.
And, most importantly, the acceptance of any object as money – be it wampum, a gold coin, a paper currency note or a digital bank account balance –involves the consent of both the individual user and the community.”

Let’s repeat it: “The acceptance of any object as money, involves the consent of both the individual user and the community.” Why do you think this is important to remember in today’s world? (Read it as many times as needed until you come up with an enlightened answer and PLEASE Share it with us.)

Yes, I believe this deserves some meditation and good personal analysis, especially when (if we don’t study money and only use it) our understanding of Economy is limited to what we see on TV, read from “Economy experts” and  hear from Stock Market analysts. Considering the dynamics used by mankind to convinced others we are unique holders of the truth even when the truth can’t be claimed as an exclusive heritage, it’s my rule when I look for understanding to always go to the source. In this case ~ Money.

So Wikipedia, a free wonderful on line encyclopedia, gathered the history of money for all of us to access to. And here I should remind myself that when we break the word history down,  it comes down to: “His story”. Maybe if we remember this it becomes easier to be aware that WE are making history moment by moment, and that our social/phycological/political/material reality is all our own doing as humankind – and humankind its known to be another animal species. We are born, we survive, and we die.

Like animals do, evolution requires for the weakest to disappear and the strongest to remain. A very 1.0.1 understanding of life that could help us a lot in our present times in America. What we call an Economic “Crisis”  could very well be the depuration of an old human interaction that has become weak and obviously needs to evolve into a strongest one. Now, we can choose to make the changes needed at will, or we can be forced by our resistance to take responsibility as individuals, keep blaming the ones we gave power to expecting somebody else we’ll make it better for us until we disappeared under our own destructive force. It is always our choice.

Reading about the history of money I learned that “Before the invention of money, barter was the primary medium of exchange. An individual possessing a material object of value, could directly exchange that object for another object perceived to have equivalent value. There was no standard which could be applied to measure the relative value of various goods and services.”

So basically – as the present American Mortgage crisis clearly shows us ~ the value of money raises from human speculation about its worth. “In the story of evolution of money, People accepted foods and metals as money because they were sure of their value to themselves and to other people.”

“The next stage in the evolution of money involved a further transition from money as an object with inherent usefulness and value to money as a pure symbol of value, a significant evolution in human consciousness. Psychologically, the individual had to transfer the sense of value from a usable material object to an abstract symbol. Socially, groups of people had to agree on the common usage of the same symbol.

The invention of representative money had profound effect on the evolution of both money and society. It directly led to the creation of a new social organization, banking. 
More importantly but less obviously, the introduction of banking by the pharaohs made possible the creation of money. Until then new money could be grown as a crop, raised as an animal or discovered as metal in the earth. Now it could be created by writing a warehouse receipt. At first these receipts were issued only when additional grain was deposited and cancelled whenever the grain was withdrawn from the warehouse. But it required only a small step in imagination for the bankers to realize that they could also create new grain receipts on other occasions. If someone applied to the bank for financial assistance, the bank did not need to provide it in the form of grain. It could simply create and give to the borrower a new warehouse receipt that was indistinguishable from those issued when grain was deposited. Although the new receipts were not backed by additional deposits of grain, they were still backed by the total value of grain on deposit at the warehouse and, therefore, readily accepted in the market as a medium of exchange, so long as the public had trust and confidence in the overall financial strength of the grain bank.”

Again, it’s always our choice.
“This stage marks a crucial transition from money as a thing to money as a symbol of trust. This shift required a psychological willingness on the part of the individual to accept a symbol in place of a physical object and a social willingness on the part of the collective to evolve organizations and systems of account that could gain and hold the public trust.”

We are the public.

“These ancient girobanks went even further. They introduced standardized accounting methods and bank accounts for their depositors. Deposits could be recorded as numerical entries in their books of account. Large transfers of money from one account holder to another could be done without even exchanging warehouse receipts, simply by changing the account balances in the bank’s record books. The number in the record book became a symbolic form of representative money, an ancient forerunner of modern electronic forms of money.”

Who are these people? What do they believe in? Who empoweres them? If they are people as we are, why should we accept their ideas as flawless and keep using their design as a unique way of economy?

“The primary business of the grain and goldsmith bankers was safe storage of savings. The primary business of the early merchant banks was promotion of trade. The new class of commercial banks made accepting deposits and issuing loans their principal activity. They lend the money they received on deposit. They created additional money in the form of new bank notes. They also created additional money in the form of demand deposits simply by making numerical entries in the ledgers of their account holders. The money they created was partially backed by gold, silver or other assets and partially backed only by public trust in the institutions that created it.”

Again, we trust.

“Since 1971 the US dollar is not backed by anything. It is pure fiat money. Fiat money is neither backed by a commodity nor convertible into a commodity. Banknotes issued by private banks are backed by the total deposits of the banks that issued them, however inadequate those deposits might be to reimburse all depositors. Notes issued by the US Federal Reserve or other central banks are backed only by the perception of public confidence in the stability of government and the productive capacity of the country that issues them. The transition from bank notes to government-guaranteed currency marks the evolution from trust in a financial institution to trust in the economic capacity and future prosperity of the nation. The greater a country’s production and productivity, the more the goods and services it offers in exchange for legal tender, and therefore the greater the confidence and trust in that currency. That is a major reason why the value of the euro has risen as the European Union had expanded to include more countries with greater productive capacity.”

Think about this: The greater a country’s production and productivity, the more the goods and services it offers. Be creative and choose simple work my friends, work compatible with who you are and the talents you were given; and first support your family and community, then China, not the other way around.

All this I learned thanks to Wikipedia and its compilation of the history of money. After reading it, I, raised in a third world country always in “economic crisis” according to analysts, a country who taught me to honestly talk to the neighbor in times of need and to exchange creative work for bread when money did not pass through our hands, a country who taught me to, before eating the cake, made sure everybody in the house had eaten a piece, to cooked for all who might be hungry when in charge of cooking, a country who taught me to not trust in government and to not empower the abuse of power, a country to taught me to believe in family and community values as a tool to make it in difficult times; I, a complete believer in positive change and promoter of the phrases “when we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change” and “be the change you want to see in the world” , suddenly had a clear answer to our first question: “Why is this important in our present times?” 

If we had the power and intelligence to create money, we have the power and intelligence to transform its value. As far as I understand it, all that’s required is an exercise of individual transformation and understanding of our liberties as individuals and our freedom as a country. It should not sound “idealistic” to say that those who own businesses and are considered the producers of our goods should sit down and speculate again on the value they place on those goods and lower prices from the highest level of production. If money is an invention of the mind, it should not be a hard decision to just change the value of money in a way that basic common trade becomes our tool to deal with what we qualify as an economic crisis.  After all all the money we are talking about can’t even be printed, its all an speculation of the mind. Why then would be hard to see it different? IF its transformation is not physical but imaginary? Those who qualify as consumers can create local conscious awareness of consumption, finding the opportunity to create new fields of work as a natural consequence of community needs. Simply put, if you make bread and you make knifes, exchange with each other so you can cut the bread and you can eat it. 

If you think this is impossible, maybe you should have a conversation with yourself and re asses your priorities in life, write down a list of the material things you think you need but you don’t really, and clearly identify which of those needs are only a creation of the speculative economy system you were raised in, which of those needs are only a socially created standard of measure to your “social acceptance” as a “kool” person, and which of those needs are really necessary to maintain your wellness, physical health and peace of mind. As far as I know, the body needs food, water and shelter from climate, love and a stress-free daily life, nothing else.

These are times of transfomation, the era of Quantum Physics and the power of intention. America has chosen a new political era based on positive change, by empowering a leader that believes its most powerful tool is Hope. This speaks of the power you and I have, because like Eric Francis wisely said: Now we have a moment of awareness. I would propose you not let anything shake your faith in democracy, because if such exists, it begins and ends with you.”

As far as I understand, all this negativity in the air is a depuration needed to cleanse the toxins that have polluted our universal values of creation. Let all this “shit” hit the fan without for one minute loosing your hope and strong spirit which make you such an genuine American, believer in the american dream. Let the dinosaurs of corrupt politics, greedy economy and abused power exterminate each other or by natural law of change. Go to the source, clear your energy, go back to nature, to simplicity, to your community, to your family, to your friends. Keep your vitality and believe in the universal values of our creative force. After all, ours is the power of a Green Peaceful Generation and America still represents freedom. Appreciate it wisely. Be the change you want to see in the world.

When it comes to money, remember this scientific truth: money is as everything else in the universe, a vibrational energy. Energy needs to flow in order to not stagnate. As long as it passes through your hands, its yours. Don’t hold on to it, use it for what it was created: give it to others in exchange of meaninful goods and services, and be generous about it. If you keep its flow healthy and uninterrupted, it will always come back to you, it is a natural law, not just a good idea.

Love

yeye