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![]() The Most Valuable Form of Money Nobody's Seen--Yet July 1, 2022
What is "money"? "Money" is a claim on the essentials of life. Ration cards are claims on essentials.
Many people expect "money" will soon be tied to commodities. Agreed. It's called a ration card that grants the holder the right to buy a specific quantity of essential goods at a specified price. This right is a form of "money" directly tied to the value of commodities. Ration cards are the only fair way to distribute essentials in times of chronic scarcity. Markets work fine when there's a substitute for whatever is scarce, but there are no substitutes for electricity, food, fuel or fresh water, the FEW essentials (Food, energy, water). Leaving the distribution of scarce, no-substitutes essentials up to the market leads to the rich eating very well indeed and the poor going hungry. This leads to a little thing called the overthrow of the failed status quo and the destruction of a good chunk of its ruling class (Payback's a witch, etc.). No bread? Let them eat iPhones. We know ration cards work because a mass experiment in rationing essentials was conducted in World War II. Maybe fairness no longer matters (and if it doesn't, then prepare for the overthrow of the failed status quo and the destruction of a good chunk of its ruling class), but if fairness matters--or the ruling elite wish to keep all their power and all their goodies--then rationing and the ruthless suppression of price gouging are as good as gold. What is "money"? "Money" is a claim on the essentials of life. Ration cards are claims on essentials, enforced by the state to insure everyone has a minimum of the FEW resources. Beyond that minimum, the market will discover the price of extra goodies. But the point is that ration cards are a fair form of "money." With a little digital magic, ration cards can't be counterfeited or used by anyone but the person to whom they were issued. If you get your ration and don't need all of it, nobody's stopping you from selling it to somebody else. But at least everyone got the same amount at the same price. How valuable is ration-card "money"? Let's put it this way: if you're a wealthy, powerful member of the ruling elite, how much would you pay to avoid the overthrow of your regime? If creating ration-card "money" saves your bacon, then what other form of "money" has more value than that? The other form of "money" that will be valuable isn't even tangible. It's called self-reliance. More on that later. ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() Recent podcasts/videos: Tectonic Shift of Mercantilism Revalued (Gordon Long, Macro-Analytics, 42 min) My new book is now available at a 10% discount this month: When You Can't Go On: Burnout, Reckoning and Renewal. If you found value in this content, please join me in seeking solutions by becoming a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com. My recent books: Global Crisis, National Renewal: A (Revolutionary) Grand Strategy for the United States (Kindle $9.95, print $24, audiobook) Read Chapter One for free (PDF). A Hacker's Teleology: Sharing the Wealth of Our Shrinking Planet (Kindle $8.95, print $20, audiobook $17.46) Read the first section for free (PDF). Will You Be Richer or Poorer?: Profit, Power, and AI in a Traumatized World (Kindle $5, print $10, audiobook) Read the first section for free (PDF). Pathfinding our Destiny: Preventing the Final Fall of Our Democratic Republic ($5 Kindle, $10 print, ( audiobook): Read the first section for free (PDF). The Adventures of the Consulting Philosopher: The Disappearance of Drake $1.29 Kindle, $8.95 print); read the first chapters for free (PDF) Money and Work Unchained $6.95 Kindle, $15 print) Read the first section for free Become a $1/month patron of my work via patreon.com. My new book is now available at a 10% discount this month: When You Can't Go On: Burnout, Reckoning and Renewal ( $18 print, $8.95 Kindle ebook) ![]() I decided to write the guide I wanted but could not find. This is my experience of burnout, reckoning and renewal. This book is my account of what helped me. The intended audience is other burnouts and those who want to better understand the experience of burnout. Burnout is a life-changing experience in a good way, as absurd as that may sound to those in the depths of burnout. To paraphrase Samuel Beckett: I can’t go on but I must go on. There is a way forward. Read the first section for free (PDF). The Introduction
The Epidemic Nobody Talks About: Burnout
Global Crisis, National Renewal: A (Revolutionary) Grand Strategy for the United States ( $22.50 print, $9.95 Kindle ebook, audiobook) ![]() The threats to the republic are unprecedented, and conventional responses are an accelerant of collapse: the status quo is now the problem rather than the solution. We have an opportunity to redraw America’s Grand Strategy from the ground up. Should we fail to do so, the United States will fail, along with all the other nation-states that are incapable of grasping degrowth and social unity as solutions. This revolutionary Grand Strategy will be the deciding factor between nation-states that fail and the few (if any) that will not just survive but actually thrive. Read Chapter One for free (PDF). Read the Introduction Podcast discussing the book: A Grand Strategy to Address the Global Crisis (54 min., with Richard Bonugli)
Recent entries: The Most Valuable Form of Money Nobody's Seen--Yet July 1, 2022 Why the Housing Bubble Bust Is Baked In June 29, 2022 The Age of Discord June 27, 2022 The Global Power Shift Isn't West to East--It's Not That Simple June 24, 2022
Our No-Win "Kobayashi Maru" Economy
June 22, 2022
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