Quote Originally Posted by ApatheticNoMore View Post
And people have done a lot of thinking on currency and human values (Thomas Greco, Bernard Lietaer) and how currency could be used to value and encourage all that is valuable, and I think that's the desirable direction to head in.
Quote Originally Posted by kib View Post
There are a number of independent local currencies that basically head in that direction, ANM, individual human time, goods and services represented by an exchangeable certificate. I think when things get too global, what was a fair means of exchange becomes too nebulous and open to speculation, which ... basically negates any honest valuation of what a unit of the currency represents. It's a conundrum; local money will probably remain honest but it's impractical, global money becomes a casino currency favoring the lucky, the amoral and the rich.
I am sure this is well intended but I find it hard to see the point of it all. Currency is just an exchange medium. It doesn't matter if it is dollars or cattle or seashells or gold or whatever, all that matters is that people agree to use it. It is necessarily amoral and exponentially more useful the more people agree to use the same medium, which is contrary to creating illiquid local substitutes. What's the point of measuring "individual human time, goods and services represented by an exchangeable certificate" when you can do the exact same thing with dollars or Euros, only better? Currency is just a tool that solves the problems of scale and transferability in barter. No conundrums at all.

Now how you manage it to provide a secure store of value is also important, but that's a different kettle of fish.