It all depends on the money we use ...

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THE END OF MY MESSAGE.

Elchanan

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Hi Erica,

 

To begin my response to your question, I introduce, from the wonderful world

of finance and accounting, the concept of " incentive effects " , and from the

Old Testament, the inspired concept of " just weights and just measures " .

 

People tend to behave as they are incentivized to behave ... all systems of

reward and punishment are predicated upon this notion. But a mountain of

research confirms that incentive effects are only short-term in nature. For

any incentive to evoke a sustained response in human behavior, that

incentive must itself be sustained, and over time increased.

 

Sound familiar? It should ... because I just described a class of chemicals

called " stimulants " . The ones some people so unfortunately and mistakenly

regard as food. In other words, those lofty ideas about which we hear ...

that everything is interconnected and so forth ... these ideas are

correct!!! The type of incentives we create for ourselves, or which others

create for us, affects us in EXACTLY the same manner as the type of

substances we choose to ingest.

 

When we use genuine money ... items whose intrinsic value equals their

stated value ... people know, at a visceral level if not cognitively, that

the world is a stable place: what is here today, will likely still be here

tomorrow. Such is the nature of gold and silver, for example.

 

In contrast, when we replace all the genuine money with either debased coins

and currency, or worse yet, with fiat money imbued with nearly zero

intrinsic value, then we all know, at a visceral level if not cognitively,

that the world is slipping through our fingers in every present moment: what

is here today will NEVER be here tomorrow ... at least not 100% here. Such

is the nature of " currency " which, by force of law (hence, " fiat money " ), is

accepted in exchanges even though it is intrinsically worthless. Such is the

nature of the " money " we now use ... and which we call " currency " and which

is accepted as " legal tender " . But legal tender is NOT necessarily lawful

money.

 

When we use, as money, substances whose intrinsic value equals their stated

face value, we save. We invest from our savings. We learn that saving is

constructive, indeed even a " virtue " . In a world of stability, we easily

seek and participate in win-win relationships, contracts, and transactions

of every manner and type.

 

When we use, as money, substances whose intrinsic value approaches zero, we

spend. We experience inflation, and we know viscerally that we are better of

to spend to day than to save for tomorrow, for our savings diminish in value

with every passing moment. We learn that maintaining an excellent credit

rating is constructive, indeed even a " virtue " .

 

And we experience a " side effect " ... we begin to realize, again at a

visceral level if not cognitively, that all our transactions, indeed all our

interactions, MUST be of a win-lose nature.

 

For a world of intrinsically worthless money is ALWAYS a world in which new

money is being printed into circulation without any corresponding increase

in overall economic output or worth. In other words, the value of all money

in existence is always being reduced through the issuance of new,

intrinsically worthless money.

 

In America today, money is issued upon the bases of signatures. This has

been so since passage of the Federal Reserve Act during the holidays, 1913,

when Congress was formally in recess.

 

Whenever you, I, any of us ... affixes our signature (as opposed to our

personal seal) upon any form of commercial loan agreement ... mortgage, car

loan, credit card transaction, or the like ... we PERSONALLY cause new

" money " to be created and issued. And the money so issued is not money at

all, but rather credit ... DEBT!!!

 

Look at any piece of American paper money in circulation today. Read the

title at the top ... " Federal Reserve Note " . It's plain as day ... this

piece of paper is owned by the Federal Reserve, a private corporation, and

it is a note ... a debt instrument. And of course, as with any debt

instrument, interest must be paid. Who pays it? We do ... through the income

tax, the social insecurity tax, and dozens of other taxes, use fees, and the

like.

 

Life becomes risky in such an environment, where all money is actually

credit ... debt. And so we favor insurance ... we spend a fortune to pass

part of our perceived risks to third parties. And then our standards of

behavior really begin to plummet.

 

I do NOT mean to wax religious here ... I am not a Bible-thumper AT ALL. But

I have learned that the Old Testament, in particular, contains some of the

most insightful observations about human nature ever recorded anywhere.

 

In several places, the text speaks of using only " just weights and just

measures " . Money whose intrinsic worth equals its stated face value ... a

one dollar coin actually contains one dollar's worth of silver, for example

.... exemplifies the use of just weights and just measures. Fiat money, whose

intrinsic value approaches zero, exemplifies the nonuse of just weights and

just measures. It's no different than going to a shop and using a scale

that's been altered to understate the amount of food we are buying. And it's

no different than using processed foods, whose intrinsic worth is diminished

by the processing. It's all the same!!!

 

In several places, the text admonishes us never to use insurance (engage in

acts of surety, depends on the translation used). Why? Because the quality

of human behavior ALWAYS descends whenever we are able to take a portion of

our responsibility for our own acts and transfer that responsibility onto

someone else.

 

You don't believe me? When was the last time YOU heard some parent say that

they " would " take their child to the doctor, if only the insurance would

cover it?? Now, obviously by now everyone here knows that I am not

advocating taking anyone to the doctor (except in the presence of severe

trauma). But if a parent does genuinely believe that his/her child " should "

go to the doctor, and that parent does not take the child simply because the

insurance does not cover the cost of the visit ... what does this say about

the course of behavior of parents in the presence of such insurance??

 

If you believe our mental health is integral to our overall health, which

Erica, I know that you do believe, then the nature of the money we choose to

use is at least as important to our health as is the food we choose to eat.

 

Interested parties may find the Web site www.LibertyDollar.org

<http://www.libertydollar.org/> of some worth.

 

Okay, enough for now.

 

Best to all,

Elchanan

 

__

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Written by Elchanan. Copyrighted material of The Presiding Emissary for

 

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________________________

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rawfood [rawfood ] On Behalf Of

Erica

Monday, October 15, 2007 8:36 AM

rawfood

[Raw Food] Re: It all depends on the money we use ...

 

 

> Erica,

>

> What would happen would depend largely upon the nature of the " money " we

all choose to use.

 

Really? How so? I'm not sure how that would be the largest influence on

society if everybody was alkaline, healthy, well-rested, etc. I think

it would matter more on what our values are. Money is nothing, really.

We put the value on it. We decide that strippers should be paid 10x

what teachers do. We get what we pay for.... Erica