Eine Email von der 'Gang of 8' speziell für @R.Deutsch - Store of Value

verfasst von Popeye, 27.09.2002, 21:10

-->This message was posted to the ijccr yahoo list. (International Journal
Community Currency Research) Links at the bottom. The message was
written by Leonardo Wild of Ecuador

**** Good enough to bear repeating! **** message below ****

The problem with money as"store of value" (whether real or unreal) is
a problem of how we define value. The value of money is inherently
cultural... unless the medium of presentation of money is in itself
useful beyond cultural boundaries. Rice, in a culture, may be looked
upon as a medium of exchange (that is, money), while in another, though
not being money per se, it is still valuable and useful, it can be eaten
and a real need satisfied with it. The value of rice-as-money goes
beyond the practical use for it to be eaten to a value of function (as
it becomes a joker in the card-game of real needs). So too, we can see
that the medium of presentation"tobacco" was valuable as a thing that
could fulfill real needs when a person actually smoked (considering the
quality was of the smoking-grade tobacco). It was useful (valuable) as
money when it was used as a joker (proxy).

Today, as we speak of money as"store of value" it's not something
invented by those who use money to store value. The Swiss National
Bank's (SNB) booklet WHAT IS MONEY REALLY ABOUT?: A Brief Introduction
to the Swiss National Bank" states, on page 7:"The three functions of
money: a means of payment, a store of value and a measure of value." So
the Social Agreement (sort of imposed by habit and the use of legal
power) is that money is a"store of value" whether we like it or not.
No, whether this is"real" is an entirely different matter. When gold
and silver coins were the"means of payment" they were also the"store
of value" accepted at the time... culturally. Gold and silver can be
used for various things besides minting money. Spoons, electronic
circuitry, jewelry, etc. But the Social Agreement a la Cresus of Lydia
(This Is Freaking Money) imposed from above and accepted from below or
else your head rolls (or your stomach remains empty), is what made
little circles of gold (more or less pure) coins that could be used to
store the value of gold (as valued by society). Nowadays the Social
Agreement (similar to Cresus' masterstroke) is that paper is a"store of
value" at face value (don't ask how much it costs to print one dollar
bills, twenty, fifty, one-hundred... you might be disappointed). We
even"store value" on computer screens that can be called up by clerks
sitting behind desks in buildings referred to as banks. In that sense,
if a culture"trusts" banks to hold that value for us, then the money
"stores value"... unless we begin doubting that. That's when a light
bulb comes on and we say:"Hey! Has Mandrake been around here or what!"
He has, he has, and dressed in a suit and a tie.

The problem with money's function of"store of value" is that it is
placed at the same level as the value inherent in all the things that we
need to survive, such as water, food, clothing, housing. Ups, Housing?
Yes, housing. Sounds like mortgages, when houses"become" money in terms
of loans given by banks which"monetize" the value of a house (a value
in terms of shelter with some add-ins) and then take away your valuable
house when you cannot pay back the money. Maybe money's function, when
the Social Agreement is imposed, is not one of"store of value" but one
of"theft of value."

Which brings us to the problem of"store of value" (recurrent, huh?).
When value is not defined properly, or when the process of storing value
is not clearly stated for all to see, when Mandrake does the
rabbit-out-of-hat-thing, when language is used to confuse instead of to
clarify, is when the scam of this illusive function"store of value"
begins to dissipate like a cloud of smoke dumped during an alchemistic
ritual. So yes, I think Graham was right, money doesn't store value per
se, but this doesn't mean that it isn't *declared* (in a court of law?)
as a function of money by those who make money (like the SNB) or those
who back-up money as a"legal tool for means of payment"... the
Cresus-kings of Today (hell of a Social Agreement in this age in which
fight of freedom stands above human life).

The problem with money's function of"store of value" is that money as a
physical entity (gold, silver, rice, tobacco, shells) used or still is
scarce. It's closely linked with Newton's thermodynamics. It was that
real scarceness that was then transferred, as a paradigm, onto money
that is not in itself scarce (numbers on a computer screen). The problem
of scarcity was transferred, alchemistically, onto something that
doesn't need to be scarce. Money has become a mathematic definition and
this mathematic definition and system of accounting is being declared to
"store value," carrying through the ages a real problem turned virtual
and saying it's still real. Yes, gold was scarce. Yes, tobacco was
scarce. No, grains aren't scarce today, not in terms of how many we can
eat (3000 calories per day times 6 billion inhabitants). But money
continues to be scarce! Holy smokes! Scarce by definition, scarce by
imposition, scarce by the laws of economics, scarce by our idea that
money still stores value... (cultural value)... stores value, scarce
value, how scarce are our cultural values? Scarcer than food. So scarce,
in fact, that people die of hunger for scarcity of money when, whithin
24 hours, Jumbo Jets that have left well-fed managers, CEOs, tourists,
etc. stranded, could be carrying tons of food to those who are hungry
... except, money *for that* is scarce because we've been convinced that

it is. Value and scarcity go hand in hand in our age of"the more scarce
the more valuable" so let's scarcefy biodiversity to raise the value of
the few species left on the planet that are still left alive.

Monetary value is cultural value. The monetization of a policeman on a
border town between Ecuador and Colombia is set at 45 US Dollars. People
in the arms-dealing business call it"recycling." How much will the
monetization of Iraqui mothers cost? How does the value stored in human
lives relate to the value stored in money that will be earned through
the oil on Third World soil or First World toil?

I think that the idea that the world is round does not agree with
certain people. They want to flatten it and turn it into a coin. Mint
it. Monetize it. Hurra for Juno/Moneta. All roads lead to Rome.

Saludos,

Leonardo

PS: Lightning monetized my computer two days ago (and my stereo, and my
fax machine, and my laser printer, and a few meters of telephone wire, a
couple of peak supressors). I'm using a borrowed, un-monetized machine.
Monetization smells of burned electronics and nearly pirolized pvc
wire-coatings. Now, in order to get my monetized computer back, I must
borrow money and pay the company. I have a need for a logic board to be
installed on my computer, and the company that has them things needs the
money. Can the deal be carried out without scarce money?

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• Eine Email von der 'Gang of 8' speziell für @R.Deutsch - Store of Value - Popeye, 27.09.2002, 21:10