Why are you so *angry*, Manny?

[BelgianMadCow]

246. Yes (X3). Are you familiar with the solutions Bernard Lietaer advocates?

He says we have a monoculture of fiat currency with the properties you mention, and that's inherently unstable, not to mention the rent-extraction property you pointed out. He argues for complementary currencies, which for example can have properties like: issued without interest, by the public, and become worthless when left unused for a longer time. So you can design money to have completely opposite goals to those it has now. There are many (but not nearly enough) examples already, but you won't hear those in the mainstream press. He's also shown that these currencies have a countercyclical effect.

Money is an agreement. The advantage is, when the agreement doesn't work, we can change it. I believe this is at the very core of why OWS was brutally put down.

Here's a TED talk from him,

and his website is here. I still need to read one of his books.

PS: are you the roberpaulsen that posted so much in Plamegate times? My memory isn't what it used to be.