C H A P T E R 6

What Can I Do to Help in the Transition Period?

THE GREATEST OBSTACLE to the transformation of the monetary system is that few people understand the problem and even fewer know that there is a solution. However, since October 1987, when $1.5 trillion vanished on Wall Street, people are more interested in listening. To be informed exactly about the way in which interest and compound interest works is the first step towards change. To be able to discuss the solution and its varied implications is the next step.

BE INFORMED, INCREASE THE AWARENESS OF OTHERS

Start among friends and family members to experience how far you can explain the issue. Then move on to people you know less well and finally don't hesitate to talk to your banker, insurance broker, local politician, journalists and media people. Many discussions with professionals, bankers and economists have convinced me that there are no "real" difficulties, except the mental blocks created by educa- tion and limiting belief systems about what money is and how it should function.

Be aware that money is one of the central issues in many people's lives. Therefore, it is linked strongly with people's perception of themselves and the world. Generosity or greed, openness or isolation, warmth or coldness - how people behave in other areas will be reflected in their at- titude towards money. Usually it is difficult to treat money as a separate issue. However, you have to explain the way in which interest accumulates wealth before you deal with the symptoms which appear, e.g., in the social and po- litical arena. Otherwise, the whole discussion may become more difficult.

Be aware that monetary reform, although it is linked to many other problems, is not going to cure all of them automatically. It will not by itself provide for the poor, the old, the sick or for other social needs. Monetary re- form will make it easier to help these groups. But that does not mean that we can do without special programs or mechanisms to solve other social problems. The same applies to ecology, conservation and other tasks. Just following what happens in the world through the media any day will increase your understanding of the urgency and feasibility of this change and the responsi- bility which everybody who knows of a solution carries in respect to making it more widely known.

SPONSOR MODEL EXPERIMENTS

The most important precondition for an interest-free monetary system is to set up some "real life examples" which will give us an idea about the effects this change may have on a larger scale.

Preferably, the regions or countries interested in a trial run should coordinate their action in order to achieve a greater validity in observing the results under different social, cultural and economic conditions. The areas se- lected should be large enough to provide relevant results for the whole country. A high level of autonomy would be desirable. That means that many of the goods and services needed should be available in the area where the experiment happens.

The other possibility is to choose a region which is depressed - usually because of lack of diversification - and create an impetus for a more differentiated and stable economy through the introduction of a new monetary system. The latter case may be the more tempting because where a situation is bad enough people tend to be more open to change, mainly when they see - as in the case of Wörgl (Chapter 2) - that they have everything to gain and nothing to lose in the process. On the other hand, a rela- tively active, diversified and economically healthy area may also see advantages in the introduction of a new monetary system very clearly and here the success of the change may be evident faster.

It would create more validity not to limit experiments to one or the other situation exclusively, in order to find out what interest-free money means in different social contexts.

START A LOCAL EXCHANGE TRADING SYSTEM

Of all the attempts to exchange goods and services outside the present money systems, the one Michael Linton has started on Vancouver Island, Canada, is the most easily adaptable to any locality and, therefore, the best known world-wide.

The LET (Local Exchange Trading) System operates quite simply as a system of accounts of "green" dollars, without a fee on the money, but a small fee on each transaction. People arrange among themselves how many "green" and how many "normal" dollars each item they sell or buy will cost. They pass on their credits and debits to a computerized accounting center. Their limits to go into debt can be determined, at the outset, and changed when necessary later, in order to minimize the risk for all participants. Obviously, the more people participate, the more rewarding the system will be.

In this way, a small community near Vancouver helped a dentist who was young and had no money to build up a practice. The community built a house and surgery, largely from green dollars. The dentist then treated people for a certain percentage of green dollars.

The LET Systems work well in the beginning but in some instances there have been problems or collapse (29) where large surpluses or deficits occurred. In part this is because with no circulation fee there is no incentive to recycle money.

However, it still makes sense to support experiments with different types of circulation systems than the one we have at present, in order to enable people to understand the functions and purposes of money better. Practical examples provide a better learning experience than any book or lecture.

SUPPORT ETHICAL INVESTMENT

One immediate step everybody can take toward transition is to see to it that their own surplus money gets invested in an ethical way. As more and more people begin to realize its social and moral implications, ethical investment in the U.S.A. has mushroomed into a multi-million dollar movement. In the words of Hazel Henderson, "a growing army of common folk have stood on their doorsteps, smelt the rot and can no longer let what they do with their money counteract with what they do with their lives." (30)

Ethical investors look at their potential investments in economic and social terms. People like Robert Schwartz, an early pioneer in socially responsible investment, started by eliminating from their list of possible investments the companies that were major defense suppliers or had unfair labor policies, polluters, including nuclear utilities, that were destructive to the environment and those firms who made their assets available to repressive government regimes like South Africa. (31)

Environmental awareness is not only a vital moral standpoint but in many cases also makes good money sense, mainly when the situation is bad enough through the previously ruthless exploitation of resources. The nuclear power industry, for instance, with its accidents and clean-up costs has proven to be a bad lemon for investors in the U.S.A., whilst alternative energy has done well lately. The greatest advantage of an ethical investment policy is that it can be put into practice right now. Whether we change the monetary system sooner or later, ethical investment is a splendid idea in any money system.