Notes on the Philosophy of Money

A. Functions of money as a tool/ technology

(1) A medium of exchange

(2) A store of value

(3) A unit of measurement

(4) Source of political and social power

B. Essence of money

(1) as a commodity, such as gold or silver - Money as a thing

(2) as a legal concept created by legislation - Money as an agreement, I.e. an IOU.

(3) “Money has value because of skilled people, resources, and infrastructure, working together in a supportive social and legal framework. Money is the indispensable lubricant that lets them “run.” It is not tangible wealth in itself, but a power to obtain wealth. Money is an abstract social power based in law; and whatever government accepts in payment of taxes will be money. Money’s value is not created by the private corporations that now control it. As Aristotle wrote: “Money exists not by nature but by law.” [All citations from HR2990]

C. Source of money

(1) “In our present system, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, one of the 12 private Federal Reserve branch banks, begins the process by creating money out of thin air. Then using this money as a reserve base, the rest of the banks create about ten or more times that amount of money out of thin air by what’s called “fractional reserve banking.” When banks issue loans, they are creating money (as debt). By deciding who gets the money, and how cheap that money is, they get to decide the direction our society grows in.

(2) “Will society’s money be issued as credit/debt when banks make loans, and be controlled by the few, to favor the few; or will it be issued as money (not debt) by government, and be spent into circulation for the common good?”  

D. Ethical Problems with Privately-controlled Fractional Reserve Banking

(1) It’s immoral. It takes from the whole society and gives to a privileged few, apart from their not doing anything to deserve it. They get it for cleverly manipulating accounts, without creating any values useful for life. This has concentrated wealth to obscene levels in our society.

(2) Second, the interest on money created along with debt creates an unnecessary initial cost on all money in circulation. This is like a ball-and-chain on the leg of every person working to create values for living.

(3) Third, whoever controls the money system controls the direction of society; if it’s government, then in a democracy citizens can decide what to do with it, and it will function under our constitutional system of checks and balances. If it’s banks, then only bankers will decide what to do with it, most likely in their own interest.

(4) “Private money creation through “fractional reserve” banking fosters an unprecedented concentration of wealth which destroys the democratic process and ultimately promotes military imperialism. Less than 1% of the population now claims ownership of almost 50% of the wealth, but vital infrastructure is ignored. The American Society of Civil Engineers gives a D grade to our infrastructure and says it will soon be a D-; and estimates that $2.2 trillion is needed to bring it to safe levels over the next 5 years! That fact alone shows the world’s dominant money system to be a major failure crying for reform…”

E. “Usury” – abuse of the money system for personal gain, by charging interest on the use of money 

The historically-proven effects of charging interest on private money:

(1) makes money artificially scarce, forcing people to compete with each other

(2) Imposes hidden tax on society

(3) Makes rich richer and poor poorer

(4) Requires the economy to grow exponentially – unsustainably - in order to service debt

“Any time money is created through debt, a need to create even more money in the future is also created. The amount of money must grow over time, which means that the volume of goods and services must grow over time as well." (After Money, p.15)

(5) Creates permanent debt peonage for the masses

- Debt servitude - a person's pledge of their labor or services as repayment for a loan or other debt. 

- Has been the common lot for many people for 5,000 years

- An effective way to enslave people by making them feel responsible for their own indebtedness.

Solutions

F. HR6550: Nationalize the Fed, End Fractional Reserve Banking and Create Public Money

(1) Incorporate the Federal Reserve System into the U.S. Treasury where all new money would be created by government as money, not interest-bearing debt; and be spent into circulation to promote the general welfare. The monetary system would be monitored to be neither inflationary nor deflationary. 

(2) Halt the bank’s privilege to create money by ending the fractional reserve system in a gentle and elegant way. All the past monetized private credit would be converted into U.S. government money. Banks would then act as intermediaries accepting savings deposits and loaning them out to borrowers. They would do what people think they do now.

(3) Spend new money into circulation on 21st century eco-friendly infrastructure and energy sources, including the education and healthcare needed for a growing and improving society, starting with the $2.2 trillion that the Civil Engineers estimate is needed for infrastructure repair; creating good jobs across our nation, re-invigorating local economies and re-funding local government at all levels. 

Example: Abraham Lincoln’s “Green Backs” - silver-backed US Govt money issued during the Civil War.

G. Retrieving Gift Economics (Decommodifying Land, Labor and Money)

(1) The word "community" is derived from the Old French communité which is derived from the Latin communitas (com, "with/together" + munus, "gift"), a broad term for fellowship or organized society. 

(2) “Community is woven from gifts. Unlike today's market system, whose built-in scarcity compels competition in which more for me is less for you, in a gift economy the opposite holds. Because people in gift culture pass on their surplus rather than accumulating it, your good fortune is my good fortune: more for you is more for me. Wealth circulates, gravitating toward the greatest need. In a gift community, people know that their gifts will eventually come back to them, albeit often in a new form. Such a community might be called a "circle of the gift.”” [From Charles Eisenstein, “A Circle of Gifts”]

(3) Money creates separateness, can be hoarded and controlled, is quantified, promotes individualism and independence and selfish behavior. Gifting creates relationship, promotes cycling, is democratic, promotes community cohesion and self-full (vs. self-ish behavior (i.e. a more expansive experience of self. There are now many experimenting with how to balance out our monetary economy with more traditional patterns of gifting. When the way we connect with each other transcends fee-for-service, it’s more powerful than anything money can buy. Some Modern Examples: Pay-what-you-can policies, Complementary currencies, Gift Circles. 

H. Community-based Local Currencies and Mutual Credit Systems

(1) Designed not to replace but to complement bank-issued debt money

(2) Connect unused skills & resources to unmet needs

(3) Act as a community IOU system

(4) Build community through acts of giving

(4) Create a tool for people to give and to receive from each other

(5) Examples:  Berkshares - Issued by local banks and businesses, value pegged to the US$

Ithaca Hours - Issued by a non-profit organization, based on Average hour of human labor (=$10)

CT Sound Shares - Web-based exchange system, pegged to US$, tradable globally on CES platform

10/16 Philosophy of Money & Banking

Texts for this class

(1) HR6550 Bill to Reform the Banking Industry
(2) "Beyond Greed & Scarcity: An Interview with Bernard Litaer"

Recommended 

Notes on Partnership Societies: Riane Eisler’s analysis

(A) Partnership vs. Domination  

1. Two models of cultural organization: Power as domination (ranking) versus actualization (linking) (28) The opposite of patriarchy is not matriarchy, but rather partnership (gylany)

[ Note: All page numbers refer to Riane Eisler’s The Chalice and the Blade (New York: Harper Collins, 1995).]

2. Eisler’s new terms to describe fundamental modes of cultural transformation:

Androcracy - a social system ruled through force or the threat of force by men.

Gylany- a social system organized through the linking together of male and female through equal partnership.

3. Two kinds of hierarchy:  dominator hierarchy - system of human ranking based on force and actualization hierarchy - systems based on ability to actualize. (105)

4. Evolution as having (a) descriptive and (b) normative meaning: cultural changes are neither inevitable nor fundamentally desirable.

(B) Discovery of Old Europe’s Neolithic Civilization: the Goddess

5. Remained invisible to mainstream patriarchal scholarship with its assumptions about male dominance (12) Confusion about how to interpret the neolithic Goddess iconography, as a ‘fertility cult.’ (23)

6. Archeological data supporting a different model of society: partnership - equal size graves, no evidence of war, idealizing of female power to give birth. Females in charge of religious rituals, agriculture, social maintenance. (14) 

Matrilineal order (24)

7. Civilization as beginning before Sumer - women as the original agriculturists, domesticators of plants and animals. (68)

8. Crete: an example of a long standing partnership civilization with a non-violent state, (equalitarian, sexual equality, peaceful, abundant, focussed on spiritual, artistic and technological development) in contrast to standard view of western civilization as starting in Sumer c. 5000 BCE in Mesopotamia characterized by social stratification, constant war and women as non-citizens. Crete gone by 1100 BCE. (53)

(C) Four Arrow’s analysis of Anti-Indianism in recent American Scholarship

9. Calvin & Drury assert that the Lakota are not only patriarchal, but that “the “Sioux” men badly treated their woman who, according to the authors, were “closer to slaves than second-class citizens by modern standards of thinking” (p.65). But “Women controlled most of the tribe’s resources. When men married, they lived with the wife’s relatives. Women elders were highly respected and adult women had equal power in decision-making. The children belong to the mother’s clan. Today, in spite of the loss of language and culture and in spite of hundreds of years of anti-matrilineal propaganda, the Lakota women are still the backbone of the Lakota nation.” (7)

10. “Women are missing-in-action in nearly all studies of Native America, whether historical, social or anthropological. I believe this is because westerners are still reacting to the panic that European patriarchs felt upon discovering Turtle Island chock-full of self-directed, articulate, and confident Native women, all demanding to be dealt with as equals. The initial Euro-male horror was frank and obvious in first-contact records and the recoil remains, skewing discussion.” (8) 

11. Birth of the women’s rights movement in the territory of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) Peoples in 1848 by Elizabeth Stanton, Matilda Joslyn Gage and Lucretia Mott.

[ Sally Wagner, Sisters in Spirit: Haudenosaunee Influence on Early American Feminists (Native Voices, 2001), 28.]

12. Out-of-context emphasis on warfare: supports the idea that war is natural part of humanity: “by applauding the Indian’s warrior traits while also picturing them as dirty, blood-thirsty, women-dominating savages, they show that this part of human nature, i.e. being war-oriented, proves that it is a good thing modern civilization took over.” (9)

§12. Peace as the default condition of traditional societies: “Peaceable preindustrial (preliterate, primitive, etc.) societies constitute a nuisance to most theories of warfare and they are, with few exceptions, either denied or “explained away.”

(C) End of Neolithic Partnership 

1. The Kurgan Invasions starting c. 5000 BCE. (44) by the “Indo-Europeans,” Aryans (not actually from Europe - nomadic dominator tribes including the Achaeans and the Hebrews. First Evidence of Kurganization: large opulent graves for dominator-chiefs. (50)

2. Decline in cultural sophistication. Idealizing of brutality as a new norm. (51) Hesiod’s recounting of the Golden Age before the Kurgan invasion:  “All good things were theirs. The fruitful earth poured forth her fruits unbidden in boundless plenty. In peaceful ease they kept their lands with good abundance, rich in flocks and dear to the immortals.” But then enter the Bronze Age Achaeans: “The all-lamented sinful works of Ares were their chief care. They ate no grain, but hearts of flint were theirs, unyielding and unconquered.” (62)

(D) Mythology as record of cultural transformation and a technology for reprogramming society

1. The story of Cain and Abel as retelling of destruction of Neolithic agrarian society by dominator pastorals (64).

2. The Bible as de-sacralizing woman, expunging the spirituality of females: vilification of the serpent (80); Jehovah as an angry war god - teaching violence, male-dominance and authoritarianism. (94)

4. Women becoming property; virgins as commodities (97) Book of Judges - giving daughters to gangs (99); Lot spared in the destruction of his city for giving his daughters away (100) Childbirth as now ‘unclean’ (102)

(E) The Pendulum Swings: Historical appearances of Gylanic ideals

1. Jesus and Socrates as gylanists

Gnostic gospels as gylanic - equalitarian, promoting spiritual equality of all humans.

Central importance of Mary - leader of the post-Jesus Christian movement.

Partnership philosophy of Jesus ended by Paul c. 200 CE. (125)

2. Enlightenment values of progress, equality and freedom as proto-gylanic

Capitalism as a positive step but still androcratic

3. Right wing (fascism/neoliberalism) and Left Wing (Stalinism, Maoism) totalitarianism, Christian and Muslim fundamentalism as androcratic-dominator ideologies. (183)

(F) Need for a New Social Guidance System: Towards a Gylanic Pragmatopia

1. Overcoming dominator sexual stereotypes (relationship affiliations as an impediment to manhood - women as socialized to sacrifice to others) (189). A higher synthesis: “For everyone - men as well as women - individual development proceeds only by means of affiliation.” (190)

From things to emotionally-satisfying relationships; 

Ecologically-regenerative systems which partner with nature, 

Reintegrating ‘caring labor’ into the economic mainstream. (196)

Creating heterarchic/partnership institutions (e.g. decentralized worker cooperatives)

End of War and the Unproductive War Economy - massive development in technology.

The lowering of interpersonal tensions (hence reduction in rates of mental illness, suicide, abuse and terrorism.

Celebrating Life and Creativity versus Power and Control.

Questions

Is war rooted in human nature or the result of social programming?

Does civilization inevitably bring with it social inequality, violence and domination?

Have men always dominated western culture? If not, what evidence suggests the contrary?

Are Neolithic figurines some kind of fertility cult or do they have a deeper meaning 

for how we understand the possibilities for human culture?

10/14 Philosophy of Partnership Societies

Reading for this class
1. Riane Eisler, The Chalice and The Blade
Read up to the end of chapter 6 (p.89)

10/9 Ethics & Worldview of Traditional Societies

Texts for class
1. Interview with Helena Norberg-Hodge
2. Clare Brant, "Native Ethics & Principles"

Other documents for your interest
3. Four Arrows, "The Continuing Saga of Anti-Indianism in America"
4. Chief Seattle's speech to Chief Washington
5. Justin Vood Good, "Walking in Beauty: Why Higher Education should be Indigenized"
6. J. Good "Indigenized Education teaches Democracy" 
7. Peaceful Societies database
8. Iroquois Confederacy: Oldest participatory democracy in the world.

Ask of Me and I shall Give to thee the Heathen as Thine Inheritance and the Uttermost parts of the Earth for Thy Possession. -Psalms 2:8

Notes on Ladakh and the Social Ecology of Traditional Cultures

A. Thesis of Helena Norberg-Hodge’s study Ancient Futures

§1. The root of all key social and environmental problems: the global economy

climate change, loss of biodiversity and cultural diversity, shift from self-sufficient rural living to energy-intensive urbanism, communal belonging to consumerist image-making; monoculture commercialization of life promoting competition over cooperation, universalizable skills over local knowledge, individualism over community and consumerism over spirituality.

§2. Localism: A strategy for resistance and renewal, a “solution multiplier” which “reduces our ecological footprint, increases biodiversity, provides fuller employment, strengthens democracy and rebuilds community.” (xxi); not total communal self-reliance but rather “shortening the distance between producers and consumers whenever possible, and striking a healthier balance between local markets and a monopoly-dominated global market.” (xxi)

B. Themes from the study of indigenous societies (Helena Norbert Hodge, Ecologist)

§3. Health – holistic (restoring balance) vs reductive (controlling symptoms)

Almost everyone is fit and trim; The old are active until the day they die; very low stress, toxin-free, optimal diet lifestyle; Holistic energy medicine treats disease as imbalance; mental health issues are non-existent; No sense of narcissism (rooted in insecurity) in the Ladakhis, e.g. the example of the man ordered around by the kids in the truck; the mindfulness of the Ladakhis.

§4. Justice – restorative & DIY (focus on relationships) vs retributive, job of the state, focused on damages to individuals; Cultural focus on peace and non-violence, not expressing anger; “no fighting in the village in living memory”; the phenomenon of the “spontaneous intermediary”; Human scale villages (less than 100 houses), everyone knows everyone and is dedicated to “living together”

Restorative justice as based on an old, commonsense view of wrongdoing as a violation of people and interpersonal relationships. All indigenous cultures use restorative practices, as do many families. Whereas criminal justice sees humans as separate, autonomous beings, restorative justice sees individuals as part of an interconnected web of relationships. People who are harmed are centered in terms of their harm being seen and valued and addressed, bystanders are called in to encircle the person, the person who harmed is called in to take accountability for what was done.

§5. Social structures – egalitarian & heterarchical (matricentric) vs stratified & hierarchical (patriarchal)

(a) Minimal disparities in wealth, 95% of population in the middle class; destroyed by monetary economy (103); Democratic/consensus politics for collective decision-making, the representative for each village council (goba) appointed by rotation.

(b) Flexible marriage relationships to fit into land constraints (from monogamy to polyandry to polygyny) No word in Ladakhi for romantic love.

(c) Child- rearing: unlimited and unconditional affection, but it does not lead to children being spoiled, just the opposite; kids with great responsibilities.

(d) Parity of gender: women have lots of power; flexible gender roles in work and parenting

§6. Trade/Economy – gift-based, focused on group cohesion (principle of socialism) vs money-based, focused on individual consumption (capitalism)

(a) Self-sufficient farms owned by individual families, a steady-state local economy designed to fit within the ecological limits to population growth.

(b) Agriculture as resilient, nature-based, self-sufficient vs “efficient”, hydrocarbon-based, and specialized for export

(c) Private property (incl. land, houses, tools and animals) and labor which are shared. But ownership in usufruct (stewardship).

§7. The word "community" is derived from the Old French communité which is derived from the Latin communitas (com, "with/together" + munus, "gift"), a broad term for fellowship or organized society.

(a) “Community is woven from gifts. Unlike today's market system, whose built-in scarcity compels competition in which more for me is less for you, in a gift economy the opposite holds. Because people in gift culture pass on their surplus rather than accumulating it, your good fortune is my good fortune: more for you is more for me. Wealth circulates, gravitating toward the greatest need. In a gift community, people know that their gifts will eventually come back to them, albeit often in a new form. Such a community might be called a "circle of the gift.” (Charles Eisenstein)

(b) Money creates separateness, can be hoarded and controlled, is quantified, promotes individualism and independence and selfish behavior. Gifting creates relationship, promotes cycling, is democratic, promotes community cohesion and self-full (vs. self-ish behavior (i.e. a more expansive experience of self.

§8. Worldview – spiritual with a basis in shared identity vs materialistic with a basis in separate identity

Buddhism woven into the fabric of life - the philosophy of interdependency versus individualism; reverence for nature, praying to the spirits of water and earth before sowing seeds. Thanking animals for their lives

Time: not commodified but based on natural cycles

Nature as a living, conscious, sacred and intelligent being (Pachamana) vs. a non-living, non-intelligent mechanism which can be understood objectively.

10/7 Case Study in Partnership Society

Dear Philosophers,

Your guest philosopher Jen Taylor has caught the flu and can't teach tonight so we are going to commence our study of traditional culture as a case study for understanding better the concept of partnership versus dominator cultures. We will watch the documentary below in class today.

Ancient Futures: Learning from Ladakh from The Economics of Happiness on Vimeo.