From: "John Zube" To: "Thomas H. Greco, Jr." References: <01f701c234f3$9f144c00$d650c043@v4dq1> <000701c24f3c$40a85180$553ecacb@e1d9k7> <008a01c252ae$24f63ea0$399db3d1@v4dq1> Subject: 020906 Greco, 3rd batch of 7 (notes on free banking) Date: Fri, 6 Sep 2002 20:37:09 +1000 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0003_01C255E5.2C209600" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0003_01C255E5.2C209600 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Dear Thomas, no rest for the wicked. Attached is the 3rd batch, also with only some of its worst flaws eliminated. Some topics to be dealt with are merely shortly indicated. Perhaps such notes should be offered in selected batches: 10 notes: They would be the most difficult to select. 100 notes 1000 notes 10,000 notes - or even more ! PIOT, John. ------=_NextPart_000_0003_01C255E5.2C209600 Content-Type: application/msword; name="FBCOMPI3SorRTF.rtf" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="FBCOMPI3SorRTF.rtf" {\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\uc1 = \deff0\deflang1033\deflangfe1033{\fonttbl{\f0\froman\fcharset0\fprq2{\*\p= anose 02020603050405020304}Times New = Roman;}{\f2\fmodern\fcharset0\fprq1{\*\panose = 02070309020205020404}Courier New;} {\f16\froman\fcharset238\fprq2 Times New Roman = CE;}{\f17\froman\fcharset204\fprq2 Times New Roman = Cyr;}{\f19\froman\fcharset161\fprq2 Times New Roman = Greek;}{\f20\froman\fcharset162\fprq2 Times New Roman Tur;} {\f21\froman\fcharset186\fprq2 Times New Roman = Baltic;}{\f28\fmodern\fcharset238\fprq1 Courier New = CE;}{\f29\fmodern\fcharset204\fprq1 Courier New = Cyr;}{\f31\fmodern\fcharset161\fprq1 Courier New = Greek;}{\f32\fmodern\fcharset162\fprq1 Courier New Tur;} {\f33\fmodern\fcharset186\fprq1 Courier New = Baltic;}}{\colortbl;\red0\green0\blue0;\red0\green0\blue255;\red0\green25= 5\blue255;\red0\green255\blue0;\red255\green0\blue255;\red255\green0\blue= 0;\red255\green255\blue0;\red255\green255\blue255; \red0\green0\blue128;\red0\green128\blue128;\red0\green128\blue0;\red128\= green0\blue128;\red128\green0\blue0;\red128\green128\blue0;\red128\green1= 28\blue128;\red192\green192\blue192;}{\stylesheet{\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\= adjustright \fs20\lang2057\cgrid=20 \snext0 Normal;}{\*\cs10 \additive Default Paragraph = Font;}{\s15\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright \f2\fs20\lang2057\cgrid = \sbasedon0 \snext15 Plain Text;}}{\info{\author John Zube}{\operator = John Zube}{\creatim\yr2002\mo9\dy6\hr19\min49} {\revtim\yr2002\mo9\dy6\hr20\min23}{\version3}{\edmins34}{\nofpages71}{\n= ofwords55524}{\nofchars316489}{\*\company Libertarian Microfiche = Publ.}{\nofcharsws388670}{\vern71}}\paperw11906\paperh16838\margl397\marg= r397\margt397\margb397=20 \widowctrl\ftnbj\aenddoc\makebackup\formshade\viewkind4\viewscale97\viewz= k2\pgbrdrhead\pgbrdrfoot \fet0\sectd = \linex0\headery1440\footery1440\colsx709\sectdefaultcl = {\*\pnseclvl1\pnucrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta = .}}{\*\pnseclvl2 \pnucltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta = .}}{\*\pnseclvl3\pndec\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta = .}}{\*\pnseclvl4\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxta = )}}{\*\pnseclvl5\pndec\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta = )}}{\*\pnseclvl6 \pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta = )}}{\*\pnseclvl7\pnlcrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta = )}}{\*\pnseclvl8\pnlcltr\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang{\pntxtb (}{\pntxta = )}}{\*\pnseclvl9\pnlcrm\pnstart1\pnindent720\pnhang {\pntxtb (}{\pntxta )}}\pard\plain = \s15\qj\sb120\sa120\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright = \f2\fs20\lang2057\cgrid {\f0\fs24 AAAA fbCOMPI3.497 Alphabetical = Entries, rough notes towards an fb\- handbook. - SUBJECTS NOT YET DEALT WITH: They should at least be = included, \-in catchwords, with an appeal for contributions to them. - = DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THE SAME ARTICLES MIGHT BE OFFERED LATER: \- 1. A short version. 2. A medium sized best version so far \-compiled or = found. 3. The complete treatment, at lengths that are \-often boring to = many and with many repetitions, too. Articles to\- complete monographs. = But full books merely to be r eferred to, with details on \-where they can be accessed, if they are = rare titles. \par ABC AGAINST NUCLEAR WAR: It contains some entries which might be\- = worthwhile including here. (Now digitised as PP 16 & 17.) \par ABILITY TO PAY: Freedom to pay your debts with whatever means of = \-exchange medium or clearing process and value standard is acceptable = to your \-creditors, be they your employees, your suppliers, your \- financiers or your bank. - J. Z., 18.4.93, 15.4.97. \par ABILITY TO PAY: Desperate sellers of goods and services, as well = \-as unemployed and underemployed should cease to think that their\- = only rightful and sensible action would be to consider themselves\- as "hunters" for the scarce "game" of a government's exclusive\- and = forced currency. Instead, they should consider themselves as rightful = and potential buyers first, who could freely and widely\- purchase, when they have no government monopoly money at all or \-are = short of it, - with assignments upon their own readiness to = \-immediately supply wanted goods, services or labour for all the notes = that they issued. Especially if at least locally \- they combined their readiness to accept their own token money at \-par = from anyone. Then, and to the extent that they could thus offer a = convenient and attractive enough local currency, they\- could first "import" and then, and automatically, balance their = \-import expenditures by "export" in which their issued money\- tokens = stream back to them in payment. They would thus have made \-possible = extra sales and jobs and would even hav e been able to\- anticipate their returns from them. To prevent them = from engaging \-in such self-help steps is a great wrong and one they do = not \-always have to put up with. At least under certain circumstances = \- monetary revolutions are not only desirable but possible and one might = even say obligatory. - As \-Ulrich von Beckerath used to say: Combined = purchasing power is\- one of the potentially largest and yet least = appreciated\- revolutionary powers in this world. It can e.g. be used to \-purchase = the enterprise one works in and to supply oneself with \- jobs and sales. - J. Z., 19.11.92, 14.4.97. - It does not only apply to = combined savings but also to combined issues of currencies, that oblige = only the issuers. The acceptors are thus offered the combined redemp tion capacity of the issuers, with their goods, services and ready and = willing labor. - J.Z., 5.9.02. \par ABILITY TO PAY: The ability of most people to pay their debts, \-to = find employment or sell their goods and services, does become \-greatly = improved once they become free to offer to pay for all \- their expenditures with their own optional money, freely rated \-against = an agreed upon value standard, which is also used in \-pricing out their = labour, services and goods. They should not be\- forced to ask for and accept only the government's monopoly money\- or = non-cash payments ultimately based upon it. Their own money, thus = \-issued by them, would inevitably return to them. Only they would = \-have to accept it at any time at p ar. The combination of several \-potential issuers of private money = tokens, e.g. in a shopping\- centre's bank of issue association, would = make their alternative \-private or cooperative exchange medium even = more acceptable, as a\- local currency, to many if not most of the local people. Territorial = government stands helpless before the economic crises which their = \-monetary and other economic despotism has caused in the first\- place. It does not see or admit its own mistakes - but has\- outlawed = monetary self-help steps. Thus something like a monetary \-revolution is = required to get rid of its monetary despotism. Such\- revolution requires a prior sufficient monetary enlightenment, one = \-not offered by governmental educational institutions and also a\- = careful choice of opportunities for it and timing and speed of = \-execution, so that its successes would be rapid and\- , under sufficient publicity, overwhelmingly convincing. Then = politicians and judges would no longer dare to suppress monetary freedom = self-help steps but, \-rather, jump on this band wagon. Those already = fighting any\- oppressive government, somewhere in the world, would, naturally, not = greatly add to the \-penalties that their despotic government would want = to put upon them, if they \-made use of monetary and financial freedom = steps to finance their \- resistance or revolutions or insurrections properly and overcome \-the = existing crises, whether deflationary, inflationary or\- stagflationary. = Thereby they could win with greater certainty,\- faster and with much = less bloodshed. Dozens of revolutionary=20 \-attempts occur every year in the World. The revolutionaries are, as a = rule,\- not monetarily enlightened and thus the fighting and bloodshed\- = becomes prolonged and even when they win, the economic problems \-they = suffe red under will not be solved by them when they only \-know the rules of = monetary despotism and thus will practise them \-again. - J. Z., 19.6.93 = & 15.4.97.=20 \par ABOLITION OF MONEY & ABOLITION OF PROPERTY & ABOLITION OF FREE = \-TRADE & FREE ENTERPRISE: Many consider this kind of utopia still \-to = be an ideal. They do not distinguish e.g. between the abolition \- of the money of monetary despotism, the abolition of all monopoly = \-property, e.g. in land, or public utilities, the abolition of = government ownership of its whole territory and of all its \- inhabitants as tax slaves, military and brain-washing slaves, the\- = abolition of the protectionist variations of international trade\- and = the abolition of privileged or monopoly enterprises, - from\- the = optional, competitive, cooperative a nd voluntaristic alternatives of monetary freedom, self-managed and = cooperatively\- owned and run productive capital, free trade and free = market\- alternatives and the limited territorial State options from the = \- almost unlimited options of panarchism or voluntarism that are all = \-based on exterritorial autonomy for all volunteer communities, in = \-which they could even practise freely all their anti-capitalistic \- and anti-individualistic ideals - at their own risk and expense. - I, = too, would find the abolition of all forced and exclusive\- currencies = very desirable and that of all special privileges, \-grants and = subsidies granted by governments to some of their \- subjects, at the expense of others. And I would not want to see any = form of government to government "trading" and "enterprise" \-continued = otherwise than at the expense of consenting victims. - \- From the wrongful application of the property rights principle to = \-property in people, slavery, all too many descendants of former\- = slaves or serfs seem to have inherited an emotional aversion\- against all property claims, even quite rightful ones. Perhaps \-there = is something physical remaining in their genes, an \-inherited memory of = their ancestors standing on the auction block, as \-slaves, at a slave = market. Our p resent economic system has \-not made it easy for them to acquire and = maintain productive\- property and to profit from it. The class warfare = mentality, the\- split into employers and employees and the = anti-industrial\- warfare between them for their "right shares" in the added value\- of = production, has coloured most of their thinking and their\- actions. But = from the admitted and so far all too neglected evils\- and wrongs of the State paper money of monetary despotism and of \-the = scarcity problems with any forced and exclusive rare metal\- currencies, one should not conclude that all kinds of monies must be = alike despotic and difficult to attain. The situation would be\- = completely different under freedom to issue, clear, accept,\- refuse, = rate and discount alterna tive currencies, with legal\- tender confined to the issuer and his own = notes. Least of all \-should supposed enemies of property discard = "self-ownership" and \-self-management and cooperative ownership options = and render \- themselves the helpless victims of central planners,\- decision-makers = and owners of themselves and of all other\- "public" property. Without = monetary freedom all the other rights \-and liberties and opportunities = were incomplete and one's \- potential could not always be fully realized. One restriction and = \-suppression led to many others. The full release of all creative = \-energies (Leonard E. Read) can only be achieved when monetary freedom = is realized, \- too. Otherwise we all live in nation-wide prison-yards, confined \-to = the productive and exchange activities permitted to us and\- which we = can manage to arrange with the exclusive and forced\- prison currency provided by the authorities of this prison. That\- = situation does, often, provoke strong anger, even destructive and\- = riotous behaviour and terrorist and mass murderous actions based\- on the "principle" of collective responsibility. Then scapegoats \-are = sought and prosecuted or even brutally abused and murdered as supposed = culprits: supposed conspirators, members of other races\- and religions = or nations, as immigrants and settlers and\- competitors for jobs and = business opportunities. - Money,\- property & trade must be liberated = rather than abolished or \-suppressed. The forms in which they presently = do exist do not \- really deserve their names. However, volunteer communities should\- be = at liberty to keep them for themselves, as long as they are \-not forced = upon any dissenters. - J. Z., 17.4.97. \par ABSTRACTS COMPILATION OF ALL MONETARY FREEDOM WRITINGS:=20 \par ABSTRACTS: Should be asked for of all monetary freedom writings = \-and schools of monetary freedom thoughts. \par ACCEPTABILITY OF MONEY, REJECTABILITY, REFUSABILITY,\- = DISCOUNTABILITY, READINESS TO ACCEPT FOUNDATION, MARKET RATING,\- LEGAL = TENDER, SEPARATION OF VALUE STANDARD & EXCHANGE MEDIA \-FUNCTION: = Currency cannot be acceptable unless it is \- rejectable. Liberty to use or refuse it is essential to \-desirableness. - Ezra Heywood, Hard Cash, 7. - Money should be optional, refusable and = discountable, in its exchange medium function as well as in its value = standard function. Only the issuers should always be obliged to accept = it at par with their nominal values. - J. Z., 6.9.02. \par ACCEPTANCE VS. REDEMPTION FOUNDATION: When paper money is not = \-redeemable (by the issuer in gold) then it will suffice, in \-order to = preserve the parity of the paper money with gold, to \- arrange for the acceptance of the paper money like gold money - by = \-institutions which sell goods in daily and general demand. (Such = institutions are e.g. the taxation department - when it "sells"\- tax = receipts, the railway, the P.O., and s hops which owe \-something to the bank issuing that paper. Their = indebtedness may\- arise out of the discounting of sound commercial = bills and the \-corresponding contractual obligation to accept the notes = of the \- bank like gold money. Naturally, in all such cases, the bank must\- = concede its debtors the right to pay back all their bank debts\- with = that paper money as soon as they receive it, at par,\- regardless of the = exchange rate of the paper money.) - Ulrich \- von Beckerath, 25.1.52. \par ADDRESSES OF MONETARY FREEDOM SEEKERS, INDIVIDUALS & = \-ORGANIZATIONS:=20 \par AGGRESSION & MONETARY DESPOTISM:=20 \par APHORISMS ON THE MONEY PROBLEM, by Ulrich von Beckerath, 1932, in\- = BANKWISSENSCHAFT, also in PP 587/588: - The question whether one\- could = utilise non-interest bearing, long-term loan certificates \- and mortgage bonds in small denominations, e.g. "Wagemann Money", = \-"Feder Money", etc., as a means of exchange, could perhaps be put = \-into the following formula: MONEY IS A MEANS OF TRANSPORT. It\- serves to overcome spatial distances. With money one exchanges \-values = that do already exist in the present. The exchange of \-harvested grain = for clothing, household goods and hay forks is\- done through MONEY. - MONEY is necessarily interest-free. Both\- = justifications for interest, namely a) difference between future\- and = present services and b) a just share for the creditor in the\- production of the debtor, do not apply to MONEY. - The notes\- issued = by a note-issuing bank or clearing bank are, by their very \-nature, = clearing certificates (settlement scrip). As such they \-should not = remain in circulation as long as possible but,=20 \-instead, disappear from it as soon as possible. - To oblige any\- = issuing centre (Zettelbank, note-issuing bank) to exchange its = \-clearing certificates at any time for metal, is not only \-superfluous = but harmful and contradicts the nature of this=20 paper-\-money as a clearing certificate (or settlement scrip). - The = interest rates charged by a note-issuing clearing centre are not\- = interest but fees. Insofar, a properly conducted issuing centre\- operates INTEREST-FREE. Only when any customer of the \-note-issuing = centre delays the clearing (settlement), does the \-bank charge INTEREST = FOR LATE PAYMENT. This interest is something \-quite different from = clearing, although both are CALLED interest \- and are ACCOUNTED as interest. (It is more in the nature of a = contract fine. J. Z.) - Credit instruments that are FORCED INTO = \-CIRCULATION, like e.g. interest-free mortgage bonds in small\- denominations, must lastly DESTROY credit. They amount to putting\- = warehouses on wheels and wanting to drive in them. That is\- POSSIBLE = but the goods storage business is thereby ruined -\- although it appears, at first, as if one had solved two problems \-with = one stroke. It reminds of the famous rifles that were to be\- at the = same time useful as umbrellas, telescopes, lances and tob acco pipes. But they were somewhat IMPRACTICAL. (Lombard loan = \-certificates do often represent present goods, in large \-quantities, = that are kept out of the present market in the \-expectation of future = price rises. If such certificates are \- monetised then, obviously, the present purchasing power is \-increased = but the present goods offered on the market are not\- correspondingly = increased. - J. Z. ) - Inflation is impossible \-without forcefully = equating future services with present ones. \- Many do not realize this as yet. - Interest bridges differences\- in = time. It makes possible the just exchange of FUTURE services\- with = present ones. Between the present and the future neither\- TRANSPORT takes place nor CLEARING. Consequently, to bridge the = \-present and the future is not a task for a CLEARING INSTITUTE\- like a = note issuing bank (Zettelbank). - Indeed, a credit \-instrument with a = properly certified interest claim, does have a \- value in the present and can thus be exchanged for other, present\- = goods. Such a credit instrument (mortgage bond, annuity\- certificate) = is even the natural means of payment for goods that\- exist in the present but are not PRODUCED in the present, e.g., \-for = REAL ESTATE. For this reason, mortgages are often used as\- means of = payment in REAL ESTATE PURCHASES. But goods PRODUCED in the present do = require scrip as means of payment (notes or=20 \-clearing cheques), if the producer wants to consume the\- equivalence = in the present. If he does not want this but wants to\- consume only in = the future, then the proper means of payment is, \- again, the credit instrument, e.g. the standardised mortgage \-bond. - = Feder wants to create a means of circulation that at the \-same time = bridges differences in SPACE and in TIME. That can NOT\- be done. (A = sound commercia l bill does it, to some extent, in a\- limited circulation sphere and = only for a short period. Moreover, the bill debtor has immediately a = corresponding quantity of goods \-for sale, payable in banknotes, with = which the real bill had been\- discounted. - J. Z.) A railway has to overcome e.g. the distance = \-between Berlin and Hamburg as fast as possible, if it is a GOOD\- = railway. But if, at the same time, it is to act as a STORAGE facility, = too, then it can no longer serve as a means of\- TRANSPORT.=20 \par APHTONIOS' SCHEME: Various ways of filling it with monetary = \-freedom proposals. \par ASSET CURRENCY: Just because the law has permitted or even = \-prescribed it in some or many instances does not make it rightful\- or = economically sound and a desirable and predictable practice \-under = monetary freedom. "Modern" views on this are often mere ly a\- revival of the ancient "land-bank" and "assignat" fallacies that = \-have been refuted by their practice and several scientific \-studies. = - J. Z., 8.4.97. \par ASSET CURRENCY: See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par ATKINSON, EDWARD, Pamphlet, title unknown, referred to by TANDY,\- = Voluntary Socialism, p. 103, stated on a legal tender act : "...\-an act = by which bad money may be forced into use so as to drive \- good money out of circulation." - All correct versions of\- Gresham's = Law, with their author, title and date of publication,\- preferably also = page reference, are wanted by LMP, towards a \-monograph on this = subject. - J. Z., 12.4.97. \par AUTHORITY, AUTHORITARIANISM IN MONEY, MONETARY DESPOTISM, CENTRAL = \-BANKING, EXCLUSIVE & FORCED CURRENCY, PROUDHON : The fundamental,\- = decisive idea of this Revolution is it not this: NO MORE \-AUTHORITY,=20 neither in the Church, nor in the State, nor in land,\- nor in money? - = Proudhon, General Idea of Revolution in the 19th\- Century. - Alas, in = his practical proposal he always spoke only\- of THE Bank of the People, not of banks of the people. - Maybe he spok e and wrote in this way because he had only a particular model for = mutual banking in mind, the one for which his drafted his bank statutes. = It would have been quite inconsistent for him as an anarchists to demand = a monopoly for his Bank of the People. Ala s, not all of his papers and correspondence seem to have been published = as yet. That would help to settle this question. - J. Z.,\-15.4.97. \par BANK FAILURES: Those, who are all too readily and = undiscriminately\- prepared to accuse past and present banks of bank = failures, have \-usually not distinguished e.g. between 1.) Failure of = the\- issuing bank to redeem its notes upon demand fully and to their\- = nominal value in rare metals, or, nowadays, in legal tender money\- or = even in government insecurities. 2.) Failure to cover notes\- issued and current deposits granted, by means of short term and\- = self-liquidating securities that represent goods produced and\- already = sold and on the road to consumers, 3.) Failure to provide \- sufficient clearing facilities or debt foundation for all notes \-to = keep up a strong demand for them, that could keep them at par\- until = they are withdrawn in the final settlement or payment. 4.)\- Failure via = dishonesty, corruption or embezzlement among the \-bank's officers. 5.) = Failure due to malinvestments, large ones,\- in unprofitable = enterprises, so large in relation to the whole \-bank business, that = this single failure could send it broke. The\- lending risk was then not sufficiently distributed, in accordance with = insurance principles. 6.) Failure \-through lending short term or medium = term funds on long terms,\- instead of only on the terms they were = deposited on. 7.) Failure in\- such cases to make contracts that would allow them such \-investments = but also allow them to postpone repayments until they \-would be liquid = again and in the meantime only offer to pay-out\- s in bank-bonds, transferable ones, that would cover the remaining\- = outstanding loans. 8.) There are also various other forms , e.g. = \-"option clause" notes that would cover the risk of any temporary \- illiquidity in normal business, when debt and credit terms and amounts = do not exactly enough equal each other. 9) Failure of\- other banks than = the central banks of issue due to the \-inflationary, deflationary or = stagflationary policies of a \- central banks. 10) Failure to sign up a credit insurance policy \-for = the ordinary risks of lending or undertaking sufficient\- self-insurance = precautions, alone or in association with other \- banks. - J. Z., 11.4.97. - Runs on banks could have been prevented or = greatly reduced in many ways. For instance, by starting a list for those = who wanted to withdraw their money, in which those on the top of the = list would have the=20 top claim to monies received in payment of debts to the bank. The banks = could have offered limits on the amounts of cash withdrawable = immediately, without notice. Or it could have insisted on having been = given sufficient notice for all withdrawals. (In th e meantime, it could have accumulated the funds from repayments and by = reducing further lending.) There is not fixed limit for the kinds of = contractual safety clauses that could have been agreed upon. To promise = something to all that could never be fulfill e d if all suddenly claimed what was promised to them, was always wrong = and bad business practice, even though, in normal times, they could get = away with this for considerable periods. Generally speaking, banks and = bankers do mostly not really comprehend th e sound business of banking, or the "banking principle". Like = politicians, they do engage in many wrongful and harmful practices, and, = due to insufficient competition from alternative political and banking = systems, they go on and on with their wrongful and =20 harmful practices, all in accordance with all too widely spread popular = prejudices, supported by supposed academic experts. Can one teach them = to proceed morally and rationally in spheres where they imagine = themselves to be experts? You try it! - J. Z., 5 .9.02. \par BANKNOTES AS "CUT UP" REAL OR SOUND COMMERCIAL BILLS FOR GOODS = ALREADY \-PRODUCED & SOLD & ON THEIR ROAD TO THE CONSUMERS: Just = \-because SOME paper claims can in bill discounting be exchanged \-into = bills or banknotes suitable for temporary and local \- circulation - and a short term later be withdrawn from \-circulation, in = payment for the real bills they were issued upon, \-and then, preferably = cancelled, rather than issued again in new\- transactions (thus = facilitating the control of the circulation, \- issues and their reflux, e.g. by numbering and issues of series\-), = does not mean that ANY kind of paper claim can be thus and successfully = discounted, especially not mere financial bills,\- speculative and long = term securities, or notes representing=20 \-speculatively warehoused commodities, not available on the \-present = market. Only goods, services and labour ready or very\- soon ready for = sale, can give a real and immediate purchasing \-power to any kind of = currency. Without it no currency is more \- than a speculative security certificate that may or may not be = \-ultimately redeemed, one day, with interest, or that may lose its\- = value fast. No one is obliged to redeem it with his ready for \- sale goods, services and labour - although at any time some fools \-or = speculators can probably be found to accept some such notes\- for a while. A free market will not value them as currency at all or = not for long and not at par. Seemingly, many issues had no \-other = foundation than long term securities or assets - because \- the other foundations were overlooked or not reported. In these \-cases = the own capital of the bank or the private "securities" or\- "government = insecurities" deposited, were nothing but an ultimate \- guaranty or insurance funds in case the currency had no other and = sounder \-foundation and did fail. Especially their other debt, credit = and \-clearing foundations were all too often overlooked, although\- without them all banks would have immediately failed, i.e. would\- have = been driven into bankruptcy and closure. That sound money is\- merely a = clearing certificate and does need no other value \- than the acceptance or clearing readiness of its issuers, acceptors and = users, \-for the payments of all their debts and the receipt of all = debts \-owed to them, is even today not yet generally seen. Only \- Professor Heinrich Rittershausen has based his unfinished work on = \-monetary theory upon this insight. And it is hinted at or implied\- in = all the writings of Ulrich von Beckerath and the monetary\- writings of = Dr. Walter Zander.=20 \par BANKNOTES: How many wrong or only partly correct theories exist\- = on their origin, nature and function? See BANKING THEORIES & FREE\- = BANKING THEORIES, BANKING PRINCIPLE, REAL BILLS DOCTRINE, \-CURRENCY = PRINCIPLE. - I hold that all of th em should be listed\- and either proven or refuted. The same terms have = all too often \-different meanings for the banking traditions in = different\- countries and for different authors. Whenever such terms are = used \- then the origin or definer ought, perhaps, to be included in\- brackets = or the different definitions should be offered in a \-numbered list and. = whenever the term is used, then the meaning should\- be indicated by its number being added in a bracket. - I hold\- with = Ulrich von Beckerath that banknotes should mainly represent \-the = consumer goods and services offered for sale now, within their private, = \- voluntaristic and competitive payment circles or payment\- communities. = Therefore, no "currency" should be issued that\- merely represent = "cut-up" medium or long term securities or\- commodity or real estate = capital values, whose medium or long\- term value is merely speculative and whose equivalent is anyhow\- not = immediately available in form of ready for sale consumer goods and = services and labour, at least not by the issuers of\- such "asset = currencies". Why should the issuers of capital\- securities be allowed to thus dispose of goods, services and \-labour = of others, without the consent of the owners or providers\- of these = goods, services or labour? And why should these \- providers accept such "currencies", when they are not prepared to = \-invest in the capital market? There is, indeed, room for small\- and = standardised shares, bonds and other securities, but only in\- the = capital market, not in the currency market . The two should be kept quite apart, in theory and in practice. A = mortgage bond or a\- share does not have any immediate purchasing power. = It does not\- oblige any storekeeper or department store or shopping = centre, \- bus company, petrol station etc. to accept it, unless such\- acceptance = is contractually provided for. And then these \-readiness to accept = declarations would form the real and \-immediate cover or foundation or = reflux option for such \- banknotes. But why should such providers depend upon others \-supplying = them with notes - when they could issue them \-themselves? - Free after = MFNL&MF 3/4, Feb. 89, & 8.4.97. \par BANKS: Alternative names: Debt-shops. - Ezra Heywood, Hard\-Cash, = 7. \par BANKS: Some banks really lock your money away from you. I\- noticed = in Los Angeles, near Union Station, a branch of the Bank\- of America. = It is only open on 3 week days and then only from\- 11.30am to 2.30pm,=20 at least that was its schedule indicated on 20 \-Dec. 1990. And this in = a country where many shops, e.g. photocopy\- shops, are open 24 hours a = day! - J. Z., 16.4.97. \par BARTER, MONEY & CLEARING: Any money transaction is essentially\- an = anonymous and multilateral barter or clearing transactions,\- one = spanning time and distance, in which goods, services and labour \- are exchanged for goods, services and labour. - Any attempts to \-issue = monies that are not based such turnovers are condemned to failures. But = debts that are shortly due can keep money issues \- based upon them at par with their nominal value, so that they, \-too, = are considered as acceptable in payment for daily wanted\- consumer = goods and services. Both, the goods and service cover\- and the short term debt foundation, do establish a strong demand \-or = "reflux" for the money involved, that keeps it at par with its\- nominal = value expressed in some or the other value standard. For \- money issued upon long-term assets there exists no strong enough demand = or \-reflux right away and continuously. It will occur only once that = debt is soon due. \-In the meantime, no supplier of daily wanted goods = and services\- is obliged to accept it, if he has not issued it. - J. Z.,\-5.12.90, = 16.4.97. \par BECKERATH, ULRICH VON, 1882-1969, See: GERMAN SCHOOL ON MONEY. See = the main literature list of LMP. \par BECKERATH, ULRICH von, 1882-1969. From ca. 1913 onwards, possibly = \-already from 1908, he has, more thoroughly than anyone else that I\- = ever heard of, knew or read about, explored and described the \- monetary freedom options. Alas, most of his correspondence before\- 1943 = has been lost with his library in an air raid on Berlin. \-Recipients of = his letters and papers from before that time, who\- preserved them, = should make themselves known to me. I would like \-to microfiche his whole = correspondence, to the extent that it\- is or becomes available to me. - = J. Z., 9.4.97. \par BECKERATH, ULRICH von, Monetary Freedom teachings. See e.g.: = \-Aphorisms on the money problem, 1932, in BANKWISSENSCHAFT. Also \-in = PP 587/588.=20 \par BECKERATH, ULRICH von, See: ECONOMIC & HUMAN RIGHTS ASPECTS = \-IGNORED BY MOST MODERN AUTHORS. \par BIBLIOGRAPHY OF MONETARY FREEDOM WRITINGS. Draft in PP 1022. Ask\- = for further contributions and translations. Ask for permissions \-to = reproduce still copyrighted material at least on microfiche, floppy = disks and CD-ROMs & websites.=20 \par BLACK MARKET PRIVATE CURRENCY ISSUES: To what extent are they = \-possible? - Already now, sometimes and unofficially, other national\- = currencies are substituting largely for inflated national \- currencies, e.g. the U.S. dollar internationally and the German \-DM in = some European countries suffering more than Germany under\- inflation. - = Full exploration of the extent to which the black \- market might make possible not only barter and some limited\- monetary = exchanges (using the money of monetary despotism, or\- forcing exchange, = or gold or silver coins and bullion) but, \-instead, at least some kinds = of monetary freedom and free \- clearing exchanges that could, potentially, become so extensive \-that = they could introduce a free market, for the first time, a\- fully free = market. LETS founder Michael Linton believes his \-system to be capable = of this. I don't. - He seemed more \- reasonable in his papers than in person and in his talk, although \-he = is a smooth and popular speaker. - J. Z., 7.4.97. \par BOOKS WANTED LIST, perhaps integrated with FB bibliography. \par BUY AUSTRALIAN: BUY YOUR KIDS A JOB! BUY AUSTRALIAN, \-UNEMPLOYMENT = & IMPORTS & MONETARY FREEDOM. - Buy your kids &\- yourself a job by = buying locally, Australia-wide and \-internationally - with your own = "Australian-made" money tokens \- and clearing certificates based on your own goods, products, services = and labour. The government is quite unable to manage \-this Australian = job, for you. - J. Z., 19.4.93. - On the contrary: It has outlawed such = self-help steps! - J. Z., 6.9.02. \par CAPITAL SECURITIES VS. CLEARING CERTIFICATES: See : APHORISMS ON\- = THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par CAPITALISM WITH & WITHOUT MONETARY FREEDOM: \par CENTRAL BANK POLICIES TOWARDS COMPETING CURRENCY ISSUES: Survey, = \-country by country, with relevant legal cases cited and \-abstracted.=20 \par CENTRAL BANKING & FORGERIES: The central banks print more of = \-their depreciating currencies, because their issue monopoly and \- = legal tender power allows them to do so, than all the criminal\- forgers in their countries do. Alas, they can't be accused of = \-forgeries since one can hardly forge one's own notes. But they do = \-certainly operate under false pretences, namely their pretended\- w illingness and ability to prevent deflations, inflations and = stagflations. Central banks also pretend to be able to help governments = out of their \-financial difficulties without depreciating their forced = and \- exclusive currencies. - J. Z., 8.11.92 & 15.4.97. \par CENTRAL BANKING & ITS FALLACIES: I would like to see a book = \-written with this or a similar title, including the best refutations = of these \- fallacies so far found. For easier recognition and referencing these = fallacies should perhaps not only be alphabetized under\- catchwords and = indexed and cross-referenced but also be numbered. \- I would welcome any such manuscripts or essays or drafts of them\- for = microfiching in my series. The ultimate book on this subject\- would = have to result from collaboration. For no one has access to\- all the monetary freedom writings - or would have time to read \-them = and extract them sufficiently. The literature on monetary \-despotism, = defending it or regarding it as self-evident or \-beneficial, is much = more plentiful than the rich literature on \- monetary freedom (largely hidden from public view). When I\- looked = for writings on central and free banking at the State Library of NSW, = back in 1959 or 1960, I found ca. 400, a \-bookshelf full, discussing = approvingly only central banking and\- no work critical of it at all. Then I thought that I might get\- around = to extract their main arguments systematically and to have \-the time, = energy and knowledge to gradually refute most of them.\- Now I know better. Each individual, even with the best of will,\- can = only do so much. If I had tried this task on my own, to the\- exclusion = of any other, I might have only provided another\- Don-Quichote fight = against the wings of a windmill. - J. Z.,=20 \-8.4.97.=20 \par CENTRAL BANKING : It is absurd to speak of a free market, free\- = enterprise, free competition, free exchange, free trade, under \-the = monetary despotism of a central bank and its exclusive and\- forced legal tender currency, not to speak of the other privileges and = powers granted to it. - J. Z., 23.9.92, 14.4.97, 6.9.02. \par CENTRAL BANKING, LEGAL TENDER & ISSUE MONOPOLY: Was there ever a\- = large-scale and persistent paper money inflation, inflating the \-whole = price and wage level, without these three pre-conditions?\- Economists and historians should be able and willing to check \-these = relationships out. If the finding is that there was not and there cannot = be such an inflation, by the very nature of monetary\- exchanges under freedom, then these findings should be publicised\- and = lead to resistance against monetary despotism. - J. Z., \-15.4.97. - Can = they really call themselves economists and historians if they do not = engage in such surveys? \par CENTRAL BANKING, MONEY DEPRECIATION, CENTRAL BANKING POWERS &\- = ACTIONS: How, when, how often, by what means and why, do central\- = banks, not private forgers or issuers or "creators" of money, depreciate = national currencies? Do they report all the releva nt \-facts and powers and consequences to the general public? Do they\- = promote monetary enlightenment and emancipation or, rather, \-monetary = ignorance, prejudices, myths and outright lies? - J. Z.,\-8.11.92, = 15.4.97. \par CENTRAL BANKING, MONEY MONOPOLY, MONETARY DESPOTISM, GOVERNMENT,\- = TRUST & CONFIDENCE: A currency entrusted to any government is \-usually = as good as lost. - J. Z., 27.1.93. \par CENTRAL BANKING: An engine for inflation and mass unemployment\- = and trade depressions and one that often manages to combine both,\- = inflation and deflation, to "achieve" stagflation. - But\- legislated = into power and upheld by monetary prejudices, it \- remains in force to dispense its wrongs and evils, in all \-countries. - = J. Z., 10.2.93, 14.4.97. \par CENTRAL BANKING: The management of money has not improved its\- = quality. - Sir Ernest Benn, The State the Enemy, cover. - He\- should = have said: Centralised and coercive management. He might\- have added: = It has not managed to provide the correct but for \- each day fluctuating required quantities, either. Instead, it = \-over-supplied or under-supplied its exclusive and forced\- currency = for all too long, almost as a rule. - J. Z., n.d. &\-15.4.97. \par CENTRAL BANKS, UNABLE TO FULFIL THEIR SUPPOSED FUNCTION OR ROLE: = \-Central banks do not know and cannot do anything better than\- = fluctuate, almost constantly, between inflation, deflation and\- stagflation. Having removed competition and market rating and\- full = publicity for their issues and practices (compare\- especially their = secrecy on the date and extent of planned \-devaluations), they are = thrown back to fiscal policies, open\- market sales or purchases of securities, the insecurity of\- government = securities, enforced claims upon the holdings of other\- banks, legal = tender and their monopoly position, the observance\- of foreign exchange rates, and their stock of redemption funds \-in = rare metals, securities, insecurities and foreign exchange) \-and the = regulatory power they have over the interest and discount\- rate, to = more or less mism ange the exclusive and forced currency\- entrusted to them. Almost all = of them can point out only to\- decades of mismanagement, due to = misjudgments and to their\- failures to attain stable currencies, a = booming economy and full\- employment. A few have managed to keep their deflations, inflations and = stagflations within bounds, for a few years, one\- never knows for how = long they can manage to do so. And, even in \-these cases, monetary = freedom would have supplied rightful and\- better monetary services. Thus one would expect sufficiently = \-enlightened victims of this system - if they can be bothered to\- take = an interest in it and to study it and alternatives to it, to \- ignore, outlaw or overthrow this despotic and harmful regime. \-Except a = few of its directors and employees, we are all wronged \-and harmed by = it. But it does do well enough by them. - J. Z., 2.8.94,\-17.4.97. \par CHOICE IN CURRENCY COMMISSION, Exec. dir. Joe Cobb, 325\- = Pennsylvania Ave., S. E., Washington, DC 20003, USA, T.\-202-226-7850. = (1986). \par CIRCULATION CHARTS, from PP 40 or 41. \par CIRCULATION OR OSCILLATION OF MONEY? Not all kinds of sound money = \-need to "circulate". Various private notes might be issued and,\- = shortly afterwards, stream back, like stamps, tickets and gift\- -vouchers or tokens. The more it is issued merely upon the \-"security" = of the goods and services that any money is usually \-"redeemed" in, = every day, by consumers, according to the note-\-holders' wishes and = needs, am ong the choices offered to him in his \-payment community, usually the = local shopping centre, the more\- will the issues be the accurate = equivalent to the goods and\- services for sale and wanted, at market = prices. Then, with any \- increase in output, that can still be sold at close to the old prices, = or \-with any increase in the total of all prices asked for and which\- the consumers would be prepared to pay, if only they were sufficiently = supplied with purchasing power, the additionally \-required purchasing = power could be issued by the suppliers. The \- money would be issued and would stream back fast, in the quantities = required, to be redeemed in its goods and service\-s cover. More could = not be issued than is required for this, for\- then it would be = discounted - and the issuer would still have to\- accept it at par and wants to stay in business, rather than being = \-boycotted for not keeping his exchange media sufficiently at par \-in = general circulation. - Henry Hazlitt may have had something\- similar in = mind when h e wrote, in "Where the Monetarists Go \-Wrong", THE FREEMAN, August = 1976, p. 76: "Strictly speaking, \-money does not 'circulate': it is = exchanged against goods. When \-the turnover of money increases, the = turnover of goods increases\- correspondingly." - I would rather say: When the turnover of \-goods = money or goods warrants or purchasing certificates \- increases, the turnover of goods increases correspondingly. - J. Z. MFNL = 3/4. - Money is here like oxygen in the blood circulation: Continuously = issued by the i ssuing centre, it is earned and used up by the consumers, in their = working lives, and replaced again and again by the issuing centre, e.g. = the local shop association. A clearer image is probably provided by = comparing them with transport tickets or other t ickets. They, too, oscillate rather than circulate permanently. They are = continuously replaced by new issues when they have achieved their = intended turnovers. - J.Z., 5.9.03.=20 \par CLASSIFICATION OF WRITINGS ON THE SUBJECT, in form of charts, = \-especially of details of exchange media and value standards = \-proposed, stressing good points and errors still involved. \par CLEARING AS THE PRINCIPLE & PRACTICE BEHIND ALL MONETARY = \-EXCHANGES & HOW IT COULD BE CARRIED OUT MORE PURELY & EASILY,\- for = all but minor transactions :=20 \par CLEARING BANKS & NOTE ISSUING BANKS : Clearing banks are the same = \-as note issuing banks in principle. Only the metal redemption\- does = not apply to them. - Ulrich von Beckerath, in\- correspondence. - That = applies only to clearing banks that\- operate by clearing only, not to cheque banks, that authorise \-their = cheque account holders to withdraw either a rare metal \-deposit or = legal tender, upon demand. - J. Z., 7.4.97. \par CLEARING CERTIFICATES & CAPITAL SECURITIES: See: APHORISMS ON\- THE = MONEY PROBLEM. \par CLEARING, CLEARING HOUSES, CLEARING PROCESS, CLEARING\- = CERTIFICATES: ARE THERE BETTER NAMES FOR IT, NAMES MORE EASILY\- = UNDERSTOOD, LESS LIKELY TO BE MISUNDERSTOOD? - Mutual settlement, = \-balancing of accounts, set-offs, mutual payment adjustments,\- mutual , writing off of debts, mutual cancellation of debts, \-non-cash = payment, trade-off money or methods, transfers of accounts only, book = money settlement, balancing of debits against\- credits, numerical = money, symbolic money, accounting money. In=20 \-German: Abrechnung & Verrechnung. Perhaps from other languages more = suitable\- terms could be taken? \par CLEARING, CREDITS & DEBTS ON SHORT TERMS: Short term credits and\- = debts that represent turnover transactions amount mainly to \-clearable = credits and debts that would and could almost always be \- settled by clearing, if only the creditors were not given the = \-authority to demand cash payments instead and would not, sometimes, be = inclined to demand them. Thus the assumption or \-legal presumption that = all short term non-cash credits, deposits \- and cheques are to be claimable in cash ought to be done away\- with and = replaced by a right to clearing only, in as convenient\- and just a way = as can possibly be arranged by private and\- monetised notes and clearing certificates. Capital savings should \-not = be used to finance such turnover credits. They are \-unnecessary for = them. Such transactions are inherently \-self-liquidating if only no = form of monetary despotism interferes \- with them. - J. Z., 7.12.92 & 15.4.97. \par COIN AND MONEY COLLECTION HANDBOOKS: They should be perused and\- = partly abstracted or extracted for precedents.=20 \par COIN OF THE REALM OR LEGAL TENDER PAPER MONEY: Allow people to\- = pay and be paid in other monies than the "coin of the realm" or \-the = government's exclusive and forced currency - and most of our \-economic = problems would be over. - J. Z., 1989, 8.4.97. \par COLLECTIONS OF MONEY TOKENS AND PRIVATE ISSUES: It could start\- = with the hand books for coin and money collectors but could be\- = supplemented, for research purposes, with good photocopies of\- other = specimens, not mentioned in these.=20 \par COMMITTEE FOR MONETARY RESEARCH & EDUCATION: Seeks to promote the = \-public understanding for monetary processes and the vital value \- of a healthy monetary system for a free society. Pamphlet series, = newsletter MEN & MONEY. Pres. Elisabeth R. Currier, POB = 1630,\-Greenwich, CT 06 836, USA, Tel. 203-661-2533. \par COMPETITION UNDER MONETARY DESPOTISM & UNDER MONETARY FREEDOM : = \-Instead of a severe competition (which has given competition a \-bad = name in public opinion) among suppliers of labour, goods and services, = largely free to compete with each other as such\- suppliers, for a monopolised and thus scarce or unreliable or\- = depreciating exchange medium, upon which all their exchanges \-depend = but which was, obviously, not competitively supplied,\- nevertheless, = under monetary despotism - there would be, under=20 \-monetary freedom, the easy competition of not only supplying\- one's = own goods, services and labour competitively but, also,\- competitively = supplying money tickets for their acquisition and\- use and for paying = all one's debts with them, to the exte nt that such money tickets or purchasing vouchers etc. can be issued at = \-par with their nominal values (expressed in whatever value \-standards = are found acceptable under free choice of value \- standards). Not only the goods, services and labours could be\- almost = endlessly varied, as wanted, but the means to pay for them \-could be, = too, by those who have the wanted consumer goods, \- services and labour to offer. Each certificate would only have to = \-offer that degree of variety of local goods and services \-as its = redemption fund which would induce potential acceptors to \- accept it at par. Thus severe competition in goods, labour and\- = services supplies would be ended through an easy competition in\- the = supply of goods-, service-, and labour vouchers, issued by \-t heir local suppliers, within the limits of their supply and\- labour = capacities. No more monetary bottleneck or excess friction \-would = result. Each supplier could also supply the purchasing \- power to turn over all his supplies and could do so over and over\- = again. The quantity of goods, services and labour could be freely = \-brought into balance with the quantity of purchasing media for\- them, by the providers themselves, rather than by outside = \-monopolists, who have other priorities and even contrary \-interests = to these suppliers and no rightful claim to dispose of\- the goods, = services and labours of others by means of exclusive\- and forced currencies. Monetary emancipation would fully realize \-or = emancipate competition, too, as well as free cooperation on a \-free = market. - J. Z., 14.4.97. \par CONSULTANCY OFFERS FOR MONETARY FREEDOM EXPERIMENTS: \par COOPERATIVE BANKS OF ISSUE:=20 \par COPYRIGHTS FOR MONETARY FREEDOM WRITINGS: Seeing the \-catastrophic = consequences of monetary despotism - and how often \-they occurred and = for how long, should we still insist upon\- copyrights for all monetary = freedom writings, when this might\- obstruct their publication or republication? Or should we try to\- = promote their duplication and publication by any means, in any\- medium = that we can afford, fully aware that at least at this\- stage it would be almost impossible to acquire any riches or even \-to = recover the costs of such publishing efforts? Or can you \-imagine any = such writings becoming best-sellers, soon? - J. Z.,\- MFNL&MF 3/4, = 2/89. \par COPYRIGHTS RENUNCIATION FOR MONETARY FREEDOM CONTRIBUTIONS, AT = \-LEAST UNTIL THIS BASIC LIBERTY IS FINALLY ATTAINED :=20 \par CORRESPONDENCE ON MONETARY FREEDOM:=20 \par COURT CASES AGAINST MONETARY DESPOTISM? - I think them too costly = \-and having much too low chances for success. Most likely only \-the = lawyers would benefit. The time and energy involved for the \-litigants = and the costs, would b e better spent upon research,\- studies and publishing efforts. - J. Z., = 7.4.97. \par COVER & REFLUX ARRANGEMENTS THAT ARE POSSIBLE & ADVISABLE : \par COVER FOR MONEY ISSUES: As money cover can serve anything that\- is = found acceptable by well informed acceptors of a paper money \-in a free = market. - J. Z., 77 & 97. \par COVER FOR NOTE ISSUES: Goods already sold to wholesalers or = \-retailers are a better cover for notes than merely speculatively\- = warehoused goods of manufacturers or speculators, withheld from \-sales = in the hope for higher prices coming up or of goods \- that are can be sold not for normal market prices at all but\- merely = for emergency sales prices, i.e. at huge discounts and, \-possibly, only = at a loss. That there can be "illiquid" goods, \-stored in hopes of f uture buyers, I know only all to well - as the\- producer and = distributor of libertarian and anarchist microfiched literature. -\- My = microfiche have certainly not yet acquired currency or\- bestseller status and are not even suitable as yet for inclusion in = e.g. LETS exchange lists, for lack of demand for them and not \-yet = included in many literature exchanges, bibliographies and abstracts. - = Microfiche are \- illiquid assets and others than libertarian microfiche publishers and = readers, like myself might not \-even consider them as assets at all. - = But they do last and are available upon demand while, apparently, much = of the Internet\- information stays there only temporarily and only a fraction of \-the = temporary appearances is so far being archived by some,\- probably of = all whatever it may offer in the monetary \-freedom sphere, so far. - = Only some literature and address lists\- have reached me so far from that source, thanks to some = \-correspondents - and some disks which my systems won't accept or = \-read at all! - J. Z., 4.7.91 & 12.4.97. \par COVER: See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par CREATION OF CREDIT & MONEY? Credit or notes are not created "out\- = of nothing" and do not only require paper, ink and printing \-presses. = As a rule, credit certificates, banknotes and\- clearinghouse = certificates are not "created out of nothing" but \- are temporarily produced IN EXCHANGE for other kinds of credit\--notes = or assets which are less suitable for general local\- circulation. These = exchanges of bills, unsuitable for general\- circulation, into bills = that are suitable for at least local\- circulation, represent clearing processes in progress and the\- = movement of already produced goods, that are already sold, at \-least to = wholesalers, if not already to retailers. And these goods are the real = \- redemption fund for such notes and cut up bills, as they are for \-any = kind of currency. Such turnover credit or bill discount is\- not given = for nothing but only to genuine producers and\- suppliers. And it is = necessary to provide sound wage and salary\- payments to workers and employees, which they bring to the \-stores, = spend them there, so that they stores can repay their \-debts to the = wholesalers and these redeem their real bills (or \-equivalent short = term debts) to their suppliers. Such clearing=20 \-notes and clearing house notes, by their very nature, do \-not need = any rare metal cover at all to keep them at par with\- their nominal = gold weight face value. Their par value is assured by a strong reflux or = demand for them in debt repayments. If the=20 \-debtors cannot pay their debts they are thrown out of business. \-This = is a strong enough incentive for them to serve others with\- their = goods, services and labour for banknotes and clearing house = \-certificates (or with equivalent book or e lectronic accounts). This \-kind of money can always be freely and = competitively issued to \-the limits of its goods, services and labour = cover - and not \-beyond it. Readiness to accept a money in payment for = daily\- wanted consumer goods and services and in payment of any other \-debts = due, is a sufficient cover for any sound exchange medium.\- The best = value standard for any kind of exchange medium,\- purchase and sale, for any kind of traders, at any place and time\- is = precisely that which they consider to be the best or good \-enough for = them, as long as they do. No third party has a right \- to prescribe a standard for them, which they do not like or\- distrust. = - Especially labourers and employees must be free to\- accept "cut up = real bills" and employers must be able to offer \- them to them in payment and stores and store associations must be \-free = to issue them and to accept them and to pay their debts with\- them - on = via their bank accounts at banks of issue. - The free\- exchange of one = type of paper claim for o ther kinds of paper\- claims, more suitable for their purposes, does not = amount to a\- creation of some value out of nothing but merely to a = \-transformation of one suitable resource and matter into another one, = one\- claim, into another. It does not interfere with transactions. It\- does = not cheat and defraud or confiscate but facilitate. It\- increases = transferability of goods, services and labour and of exchange media like = real or sound commercial bills. It is \- transferability which gives any goods, services and labour their = \-market value. In a division of labour economy we all depend upon \-it. = The easier any value can be transferred, the higher its\- exchange value will be to its owner. No exchange medium needs = \-universal acceptance or is universally accepted. It takes brute\- and = wrongful force to make a single paper money acceptable in a \- whole country. Competitive and private and non-coercive and freely = market-rated paper exchange media need only a sufficient\- local = acceptance to be a good enough local currency, that can \-locally widely = circulate at par. In the next town or market it\- may already have a discount. So what. That applies also to all = \-national forced currencies, whose legal tender and monopoly end \-at a = national border. - Compare the circulation charts in PP 41. \par CREDIT & CLEARING SUPERSTRUCTURE, BUILT UPON A SMALL CASH FOUN DATION: HOW DID IT ARISE? WHY WAS IT CONTINUED OR WHY WAS THE RIGHT OF = CREDITORS CONTINUED TO DEMAND CASH INSTEAD OF CLEARING? There was never = enough cash around, or could easily be produced, under current = legislation, customs and beliefs, to mediate all=20 w anted and possible exchanges. There were never enough sound or unsound = physical exchange media, currency, coins or banknotes etc., provided for = this. Under a monopoly or oligopoly for their supply nothing else should = have been expected. Moreover, there we r e risks and costs involved in transferring large amounts of cash. So, = for a long time, at least for trading between experienced merchants = various negotiable instruments were utilised instead of cash. They were = nominally and when due still payable in cash. =20 But in reality most of them were settled by clearing of such debts and = credits against each other, in internal as well as external trading. = This kind of trade and payment facilitation goes back at least to the = time of the crusades and, most likely, much f u rther. Whatever cash was available was utilised largely only for wage, = salary and tax payments. With regards to the large formal cash = obligations arising out of e.g. sound commercial bills of exchange, cash = was kept only for the settlement of the usual sm a ll balances remaining, after clearing, and, perhaps, in many cases even = these were settled by short-term IOUs, which went into the next = clearing. This extensive clearing became traditional, customary, = habitual and influenced monetary thinking and is still =20 present in the current right of creditors not to demand rare metal = payment but payment in the exclusive and forced governmental legal = tender money. The total volume of non-cash transactions is usually ten = to twenty times that of cash transactions. Thus al l non-cash transactions could not be readily paid in cash, instead, if = this were demanded. The full potential of clearing and clearing = certificates and electronic settlement of mutual debts is still not = being realized but insistence upon the right of credi t ors to be paid in cash, upon their demand, instead of via clearing or = non-cash payments, as usual, remains upheld with, often, disastrous and = prolonged consequences. The long experience with banknotes that were = 100% or fractionally covered by rare metal c o ins and the right granted to the note holders to demand their full = redemption at any time, continued this practice and the theory behind it = - and it led to frequent runs and monetary famines, under fractional = covers, when as a result of suddenly increased =20 cash demands the volume of non-cash transactions was rapidly diminished = and the demand for cash rapidly correspondingly further increased. But = even in normal times, the cash demand right of creditors limited the = number of transactions that could be carrie d on via clearing, to a limited multiple of the normal amounts of cash = reserves and the normal demands upon these. Trade, exchange via = clearing, could not proceed, without limits, beyond these cash reserves, = while the right to demand cash, at any time, re m ained. And they could not, as gold coins, and were not, as monopoly = paper money, always and rapidly enough increased in volume, in a sound = way, to satisfy a rapidly increased demand for cash. The possibilities = of unlimited clearing of due debts against du e credits were theoretically realized only by some, during the = 19}{\f0\fs24\super th}{\f0\fs24=20 century and are still not fully realised by most people, even experts, = today. Thus many of the libertarian money reformers merely want a return = to gold and silver coin circulation and bankn otes, or electronic accounts that are fully redeemable in rare metals. = Under full monetary and clearing freedom, the non-cash options available = to merchants, already for a long time, would be extended to the man in = the street, especially to wage and salar y payments to employees and their consumer spending, which would mean, in = the absence of a "right to cash", the possibility of an unlimited growth = of the volume of exchanges. At the same time, the clearing certificates = used or clearing accounts, could beco me as convenient, at least for local sales and purchases, as are cash = notes and cash cheque accounts now. - J. Z., 6.9.02. \par CREDIT & MONEY CREATION & TOKEN MONEY & EMERGENCY MONEY, DEPOSIT = \-INFLATION, CREDIT EXPANSION, etc.: In system of the forced and\- = exclusive circulation of legal tender paper money and the limited \- non-cash transactions that can be built upon this, always under\- the = risk of sudden legal and juridical cash claims going beyond normal cash = requirements, the resulting chronic\- shortage of rare metal cash = (sometimes even merely a shortage of small\- change cash, so incapable was the centralised issue in many cases),\- = as well of legal tender paper money cash, at least in some circles of = the economy, led always to degrees of sales difficulties for goods, = services and labour. These have\- persisted, to some extent, even in "normal" or "boom" times. Traders, = manufacturers and desperate employers have always felt forced or = \-induced to try to bypass the prohibitions and supplement the\- cash = money suppl y somehow in more or less primitive and advanced ways,\- with token = money and emergency money issues, accommodation papers \- etc. For the alternative was bankruptcy or unemployment. (One of the = easiest and soundest way to extent the cash supply for wage paym ents by employers was to get their sound commercial bills, representing = their sale of goods to wholesalers, discounted by a bank in banknotes. = Even though the real bills were nominally payable in rare metal coins, = as well as the bank notes issued, in real i ty most of the discounted bills were either settled in clearing against = other bills or paid for in the bank notes issued, and to that extent = neither the real bills nor the banknotes issued for them in their = discount, required any gold redemption. What the =20 bank notes required was the shop foundation, i.e. the readiness to = accept them for wanted consumer goods and services, rather than for gold = coins. The retail shops could pay the wholesalers with the banknotes and = the wholesalers used them to pay their bil l s issued to the employers, their suppliers. The employers used the = banknotes to pay wages with and also their suppliers. They could not = have paid wages with large and uneven commercial bills, due in one to = three months. Thus the non-cash payment options w ere extended as far as they could, \-but always under the risk of the = imposed (customary and\- prejudice supported) delivery obligation of = debtors for cash, upon demand\- by creditors. (The banknotes were usually not legal tender and, for a = long time, were not considered to be cash, again out of the prejudice in favour or rare = metal redemptionism that considered only rare metal coins to be real = money. Even forced and exclusive legal tender, while not extremely = short supplied or rapidly depreciated, remained=20 widely and for long times\- preferred to all too primitive, not only to = other dishonest substitutes for it. \-The private substitutes for = official coins or paper money, no matter how rightful and efficient \- they were already, at least sometimes, were never sufficiently \-studied = in the official literature and lectures. Nor were they\- granted = experimental freedom and thus the chance for gradual \- development and improvements. Only the prohibitions against them \-were = more and more developed, detailed and improved, until they wove so\- = tight a net that it seems almost impossible to find a legal way\- out of this monetary despotism. The government was almost never = \-blamed for its monetary despotism or, if at all, then usually too\- = late, after it had done all too much damage, for months and even\- years. And it found apologists even decades after and these form \-the = majority everywhere, still, even among the professionals, the \-supposed = experts. In ten-thousands of ways did practical men try \-to get around = the money monop oly and its effects, without \-theoretical understanding or it and of = its inevitable consequences and without understanding all the monetary = freedom alternatives. \-Often they did not even realize their limited = self-help actions were\- illegal, because they could not imagine any government being so \-evil = or misled or ignorant to have anticipated and be willing to\- suppress = their self-help attempts and thus to have outlawed them by very\- detailed legislation. Ignorance in this sphere (promoted by\- = governmentally arranged or supervised and examined and certified = miseducation) \-is so great that Big Brother is always appearing as the = shining \- hero while Big Business and Big Labour are cast as the villains.\- Under = these conditions government money, even though unsound, was\- usually = much more widely accepted and sought after than it would \- be under freedom conditions. Usually just a better and different = management of monetary despotism was demanded rather than its abolition = Even under the supposedly best \-management=20 of central banks monetary crises, inflations and deflations persisted or = got worse and more prolonged, \-and people had either to give up or try = to help themselves, via\- various token money, emergency money and = clearing arrangements,\- no matter how outlawed these were. In that situation all kinds of\- = unsound schemes could also temporarily flourish and spread, \-before = they were suppressed by the government. Even now sound\- issue and reflux principles and practices remain largely unknown \-and = unpublished, even within the circles of money reformers and\- among = these even among those few who do favour one or the other degree\- of monetary freedom - whilst condemning others. Sound money and\- = credit arrangements require a development period in practice and\- also = a preceding or following development of monetary, clearing and credit\- theory. That was never granted under the official religion on \-money, = clearing and credit. Under these conditions most of the theorising and = illegally practising monetary reform sectarians never reached sufficient = enlightenment\- . - J. Z., 14.4.97, 6.9.02. \par CREDIT CREATION: Credit is never created but merely \-transformed. = Goods and services capacities are liquidified, \-freely transferred in = liquid form and finally settled against \-each other in clearing all the = claims arising out of turnovers of\- goods and services (including labour). - J. Z., 5.10.88 &\-15.4.97. \par CREDIT INSTRUMENTS: See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par CREDIT OR DEPOSIT EXPANSION OR CREATION & THE RISK OF INFLATION\- & = DEFLATION: This kind of expansion or "creation" is nothing \-more nor = less than the "expansion" of non-cash transactions upon\- a limited = amount of available cash (in form of rare metal s or legal tender), while all non-cash credits or deposits are still\- = claimable in cash upon demand by a creditor. In all cases the\- on-cash = transactions could actually stand on their own, without \- "cash" backing by 100% or fractional reserves. The cash would \-merely = be used as accounting units or value standards. It would\- not be = required as means of payment, since clearing can, in most \- cases, provide that much better. But while creditors are legally and = juridically authorised to demand cash, when a debt=20 is due, rather than merely a settlement by clearing, this possible and = sometimes more than usually actualised demand exists as a risk factor = for the \- additional non-cash, clearing and short-term credit and debit payments = that have become customary upon a=20 relatively small cash basis. Thus the non-cash or clearing side of the = economy could only grow somewhat but could never grow, on its own, to = the requirements of\- trade, to finally cover all possible and desired turnovers. Via the = cash demand option for creditors it remained still tied \-to the = old-fashioned (rare metal coin) or modern cash (legal tender by a = monopoly issuer) redemptionism. The cash \- demands of creditors fluctuate and thus affect the much larger non-cash = transactions built upon them - and thu s can lead to cash and credit crises, while the cash supply is = monopolised & thus slow to expand and while the larger volume of = non-cash transactions depends upon the available cash. E.g., \-when a = bit more cash than usual and than expected and \- anticipated, was suddenly demanded, a large overhang of possible \-and = desirable credit, deposit or clearing transactions had to be\- withdrawn = or became illiquid and their collapse increased the\- demand for cash further and that additional cash demand, when cash was = already short-supplied, led to further \-collapses of non-cash = transactions because of that legal or \-juridical claim granted to = creditors. That currency famine risk could be \- largely abolished (apart from abolishing the issue monopoly for cash) by = not \-granting creditors the right to demand cash and replacing it by = a\- right to demand clearing only. (This in as convenient a form as\- possible, including private IOU issues in money denominations \-that = only oblige their the issuer and, by contract, his debtors.) - In the extreme case of a thought example, all immediate and = short-term payments could have become have become payable only through a = very efficient clearing system. Cash might thus have become as unusual = or absent as are now gold coins in most transact i ons. Under these conditions the sudden introduction of the right to = claim cash would certainly lead to difficulties, not foreseen by the = well meaning dogmatists who wanted to introduce e.g. an exclusive and = 100% covered or coined gold standard currency. T h e very extensive and free exchange economy, based on clearing, would = then largely collapse. Fractions of such a general collapse occur = through the still habitual, legal and juridical authority of creditors = to demand cash and the fluctuations in these cash demands, especially for wage and salary payments and consumer spending. = \-There is another risk factor in the non-cash or clearing payment = sector, \- while it uses for all its payments not only optional cash demands by = creditors for an exclusive cash exchange medium but also the exclusive = and forced paper money standard of the central bank.\- (Formerly the more or less depreciated coin of the realm.) Then, and to = the extent that they do so or are compelled to do so, these transactions = participate in the depreci ation of that exclusive and forced standard. But the clearing = transactions, no matter how large they are, do \- not cause that depreciation. For short term transactions, if that = depreciation is not yet very rapid or even galloping, it does not matter = greatly . But it does matter when considerable time periods pass before a = payment is due, still to be made by using the exclusive and depreciated = value standard. Using a sound value standard and if their productivity = permitted it, clearing would permit them to do u ble, treble or increase tenfold their turnovers paid for by clearing, = without depreciating that sound value standard used in all their = clearing exchanges. Simply more goods and services would be produced and = turned over, through a higher volume of clearin g transactions. But no corresponding increase of prices and wages would = take place, one corresponding to the higher volume of clearing. Greater = productivity and ease of clearing exchanges would rather tend to = increase wages, salaries and service charges wh ile lowering the prices for consumer goods. If they physically could, = people could via automation in production and clearing in exchanges, = \-increase their turnovers a hundred-fold or a even a thousand-fold. = Always \- assuming that they would not have to pay up, upon demand, in scarce gold = coins or exclusive \-government legal tender. But these additional = exchanges, on their\- own, and by their quantity, could not depreciate = the forced and \- exclusive value standard of the government, or any other, but sound = value standard adopted but they might \-INDICATE A DEPRECIATION THAT HAS = ALREADY TAKEN PLACE, when a depreciating value standard is still being = used. People \- might then finally find out that they could do better for themselves by = choosing themselves one or even several different but \-sound value = standards, those which they prefer for their own contracts. = Consequently, they \- might do all their clearing with that or these. As means of \-payment = they would have already by-passed the government's paper money.\- They = would already have excluded it as means of\- exchange. - What would be = left to the government paper money \- would be a much reduced circle of voluntary acceptors or cash notes and = coins \-of the government that could readily circulate - but only among = among\- t axpayers and other debtors of the government. And these voluntary = acceptors of its notes and recipients of its spending might become = further reduced to voluntary state members by reducing its service = supplies and charges as well to free competition by oth e r organizations in the same territory, among people who have opted out = and re-associated quite voluntarily and under exterritorial autonomy. = All governmental or central bank notes would then be reduced to their = own voluntary payment circles, used for thei r spending, their budget items only and their voluntary taxes or = subscriptions. Under full competition governments would be reduced to = exterritorially autonomous volunteer associations, competing like e.g. = insurance companies, for customers, and to the vol ume of transactions they can build up under competitive conditions. And = that smaller \-circle of acceptors would reduce the circulation options = for any \- government to its own backing or cover or reflux, to its "tax = foundation" or clearing foundation, i.e., to its \-market value. When a = government had previously, due to legal\- tender and the issue monopoly, = over-issued and forced its currency \- at least potentially (seeing the extent of non-cash transactions \-even = now) into every channel, it would then be excluded from \- most private circulation channels or payment communities and from what = ever "official" payment circles other volunteer communities have = established for themselves. For its remaining economic or anti-economic = activities the former volume of its ci rculation would be too large. The\- quantities that it could formerly = force upon others, would no \-longer be accepted or needed as exchange = media. That would mean\- it would depreciate and could pay for goods and = services of those \- outside its payment circles only at inflated prices, even while\- the = same goods and services, if paid for in competing, optional private = exchange and clearing media with sound value standards, would remain = priced at\- the same level. (Apart from changes at the goods side.) Obviously, this = would also be a situation in \-which the former territorial and = exclusive Central bank's issue monopoly and other privileges and\- its legal tender would not longer be enforced or fully \-enforceable in = the private and cooperative self-help and free\- clearing and value = accounting sector of non-members. The blame for any\- depreciation of its currency would then lie entirely on the side of the = issuers and acceptors of the State\- paper money. It would be the bad = money that would be driven out \-by wide-spread refusals to accept it at = all or by discounting it\- down to its remaining foundation, e.g. to tax foundation, while \-that = would still exist and be enforced. The government could\- then no longer = use the goods, services and labours of all people \-within it s borders as its redemption fund. They would express \-their monetary = demands in other, better and safer ways,\- independent of the government = and would reject its paper as means\- of exchange and as standard of = value as far as they could. The \- freer private and cooperative clearing would become, independent\- of a = territorial government's cash and its legislation and paper standard\- = and their manipulation, the more likely would sounder value\- s standards be adopted, too. - One should also take into \-consideration = the short-term turnover credit transactions, in\- which creditors are = satisfied with being paid within 7 to 30\- days. (Under present = stagflationary conditions they are often \- satisfied by being paid, interest free, after 6 months to 2 years only.) = \-Such short term credit settlement should also be considered like \-the = "instant" clearing settlements. After all, all transactions, \- even credit card and cash transactions, do take time, especially if one = includes pick-up and delivery as well. If ready sellers are prepared to = grant more time then it should be up to \- them. (The delays that are involved even in consume shopping do have = their equivalents on the current mass production and distribution side = and, also, in the delays in receiving payment for productio n and distribution activities and for the spending of earnings received = from them. Not all these earnings are, usually, instantly spent. Mostly = the consumer spending is spread over a period, the period of wage or = salary payments. Thus the balance between=20 the exchange media issued and the ready for sale consumer goods and = services could also be spread over a short period. - J. Z., 6.9.02.) = However, the more widely monetary and clearing freedom will be \- practised, the less there will be a need to postpone payments for = \-purchases and the easier it will become to obtain real credits, \- for medium and long term investments, on a stable value basis, with = these term credits paid and repayable as well in shop foundation money = circulating only for a short period. \-Th e whole process might be gradual or proceed in steps. At first only = private alternative exchange media and clearing certificates might be = introduced. Then monetary emancipation might be advanced further against = the remaining government paper money. For in stance, taxpayers might insist on their \-taxes being determined in a = sound value standard and so might public servants for their salaries and = other groups of wage and salary recipients and other groups of = creditors. Then tax payers might insist upon the=20 \-acceptability in tax payment of their private clearing \-certificates = and clearing or money tokens, but only at their market value. Moreover, = they would then begin to insist \-that depreciated government paper = money be accepted at the tax\- offices at par with its nominal paper value, while they, not being its = issuers, would refuse \-to accept government paper money at par with its = nominal value \-whenever it had been over-issued or refuse to it = altogether in all their \- transactions. But at present the government has their throats \-still in = the sling of its exclusive and forced currency and can\- pull that = string tighter or depreciate its paper value standard at any time.\- It will also always tend to blame private exchangers and\- their = exchange media and channels and their value standards, and speculations = in them, for the depreciations that \-follow over-issues of its own = exchange media. - J. Z., 14.4.97, 6.9.02. \par CRISES: See: ECONOMIC & HUMAN RIGHTS ASPECTS IGNORED BY MOST = \-MODERN AUTHORS. \par CURRENCY PRINCIPLE: Its advocates are still predominant among = \-money reformers and advocates of degrees of free banking.\- Moreover, = they still misunderstand the "banking principles" (\-several versions do = exist) and the "real bills doctrine" \- involved in some of them. Partisans of both schools still believe \-that = they have already refuted each other. How could that \-controversy be = finally brought to a successful conclusion. It is \-about time, after = nearly 200 years. First step would be a\- complete publication of all their relevant writings. Secondly: \-All = their arguments should be confronted. Thirdly, all needed \-additional = arguments, so far left out, should be added to the\- debate. Fourthly: This might perhaps be best done via flow chart\- = discussions on paper or with the aid of flow chart computer \-software = on computers. - J. Z., 9.4.97. \par CURRENCY SHORTAGES & CURRENCY FAMINES: They and their effects\- are = largely denied by theorists of the Austrian School of\- Economics. They = assume that the price mechanism will completely\- and immediately adjust = to any reduction of credit and cash and\- thus render them completely harmless. Historical experience has\- = refuted this notion, in practice, thousands of times. \-Ten-thousands of = times, if one includes all the issues of\- emergency monies and trader's = tokens, as well as the truck \- payment and truck payment tokens that occurred in monetary history and = that are pretty well documented by coin and money\- collectors. - = Generally, one cold simply refer to the proverbial\- "cursed hunger for = gold" which does not indicate any saturation\- of the circulation with gold coins to mediate all desired\- exchanges. = One could refer to the often complained about "greed\- for money", which = would hardly exist if it were always easily to \-be obtained in a ny market, just by offering one's goods, services \-and labour for it. = The phenomena of the several "gold rushes" did\- also indicate that the = world was not yet sufficiently supplied with gold so that = hundred-thousands braved hard circumstances and \- worked hard and often in vain for small returns, always hoping\- that, = like a few others, they might finally strike it rich. \-Lotteries, = gambling and betting do also indicate a kind of\- persistent currency famine and the lack of faith in most people that = \-they can ever earn enough ready cash through honest and \-productive = efforts - under present circumstances. - J. Z., MFNL\-3/4 & 8.4.97. \par CURRENT ACCOUNT, TRADING, CHEQUE BANKS OR CLEARING BANKS: \-Apart = from the difficulties which monetary despotism can cause \-them, via = sudden cash demands, when all due credits are demandable \- by the creditors in cash, regardless of the cash supply of the\- debtor = by the monopoly issuer, all such institutions should be\-able to settle = all their accounts against each other. (The losses due to the minority = of unable or fraudulent debtors could be \- covered by the insurance fees that are part of the interest rates or = due to special credit insurance arrangements. Extensive incompetence or = corruption in the lending institutions, running up debts by the millions = to billions, until these criminals ar e found out and stopped, cannot be covered by insurance. Incompetence or = dishonesty among auditors cannot be insured against, either.) To each = credit \-there would be a corresponding debt. To each debt there would = be\- a corresponding credit. The total balance of all debts and all credits = \-should come to zero. They should balance each other out - unless\- = there were some mistakes make in the book keeping or electronic \- accounting. Furthermore, to the extent that clearing transactions \-are = almost instantaneous, they do not suffer, as a rule, under a\- = depreciating value standard. Moreover, if the law does not\- prohibit this, they would be free to adopt whichever sound value = \-standard pleases them most. And with regard to the profit margins = \-involved, in the average, for the participants, a slight\- variation or loss in the value standard, reduced to that fraction \-of = the loss that occurs in the period of the almost instant or \-very short = term transaction, comes to very little. Furthermore,\- to the extent = that such=20 clearing transactions represent real\- exchanges of goods and services = (or of debts representing goods\- and services exchanges), the increased = number of freely arranged clearing \-transactions does not drive prices = up but merely indicates more\- trading, not "overtrading" or "over-production" or \-"over-consumption" = and it cannot reduce the value of any value\- standard - merely by using = it, in accounting and reckoning, more\- often. - However, trouble will = occur when some clearing accounts,\- so far reckoning in a sound gold weight clearing standard only, can = suddenly be closed\- down by the creditors with their legal or juridical = demand that debtors pay them in gold or legal tender, \- although the clearing system may not and need not possess even a single = gold coin or gold bar or any legal tender cash. When not gold or cash redemption = is demandable but merely a gold clearing standard then, even when no = gold coins or bullion were available in e.g. Germany, all such German = transactions could still use the gold price=20 of Zurich, \-London, New York or Tokyo for all their gold-clearing = transactions. Any clearing system can be prevented from \-operating = freely by the creditors being authorised to demand the \-pay-out of all = or any of their clearing credits in cash,\- regardless of how much or how little cash is currently available \-to = that clearing system or made available to it by its debtors. \-It is one = thing to be }{\b\f0\fs24 allowed to}{\f0\fs24 }{\b\f0\fs24 = pay}{\f0\fs24 in (acceptable and sound\- cash), if one possesses it, and quite another thing to be allowed to = }{\b\f0\fs24 demand}{\f0\fs24 cash (sound or \-unsound cash), or, for = debtors, to be }{\b\f0\fs24 obliged to pay }{\f0\fs24=20 cash, when the debtors do not possess it, cannot easily obtain it and = can offer only clearing options. A clearing\-house or clearing bank = should always remain free to settle all \-its debts by clearing ONLY. = Only when it can no longer do this, \- then it should be driven into liquidation and the creditors\- should = then be free to try to extract whatever credits or cash \-they still can = manage to get from the clearing house, not from its remaining debtors. = For these debtors,\- again, should not be obliged to provide any cash - as long as they\- = can still provide acceptable clearing options. Only if they cannot do = this, either, should one be able to drive them into bankrupcy with one's = cash or=20 clearing claims against them. - J. Z.,\-11.4.97, 5. 9.02. \par DEFENCE & MONETARY FREEDOM: \par DEFINITIONS OF MONETARY FREEDOM AND FREE BANKING: A short list\- of = them, alphabetized, to precede the book. \par DEFINITIONS, TERMINOLOGY, BASIC MONETARY FREEDOM CONCEPTS: Those = \-considered, so far, to be accurate or close to accurate, to be = especially marked, somewhat. But refutations or supposed \-refutations = should be invited for them, too.=20 \par DEFLATION & CHEAPNESS: Deflation and cheapness are completely = \-different concepts. Deflation is caused exclusively from the \-money = side, cheapness exclusively from the goods side. - Ulrich\- von = Beckerath, 25.1.52. \par DEFLATION: Deflation, according \'85 is a condition in \-monetary = transactions in which there is a shortage in typified\- and standardised = exchange media (so that workers have to be\- dismissed because banks = cannot or will not advance the means of \- payment for their wages) and at the same time, nevertheless, \-typified = and standardised exchange media (e.g. typified clearing\- cheques and = goods warrants etc.) cannot be issued because a \-certain authority, = e.g. a central bank, has the monopoly for \- note issues. - Ulrich von Beckerath, 25.1.52. \par DEMONSTRATIONS FOR MONETARY FREEDOM & AGAINST MONETARY DESPOTISM? = Berlin friends, back in 1980 or 1984, reminded me that,\- apparently, = there was never as yet a public demonstration or\- march in which the = demonstrators demanded e.g.: Repeal the Legal \- Tender Acts! and: Abolish the Central Bank! The few cases of\- monetary = revolutions or at least radical monetary protest actions\- that did = occur in monetary history ought to be carefully compiled\- and publicised. In the French Revolution, at last, the printing\- = presses for the Assignats had to be publicly burned. Nothing less\- = would have satisfied the public at this stage. In 1923 Germany \- was close to a monetary revolution and several secessions were\- = prepared, just to get away from the regime of the vastly inflated = official Reichsmark paper money. I believe that it happened at least = once in ancient \- Chinese history that the main culprit of a paper money inflation\- was = beheaded. See: GALLOWS CURRENCY. - J. Z.,\-11.4.97. \par DENATIONALIZATION, FINANCIAL & MONETARY FREEDOM:=20 \par DESERT IRRIGATION & FINANCIAL & MONETARY FREEDOM: Compare the = relevant article in PEACE PLANS 20. \par DESERTION & MONETARY FREEDOM: \par DESOVIETIZATION, COMMUNISM, ANTI-COMMUNISM, LIBERATION,\- = LIBERALIZATION: Let us finally start de-sovietising and\- de-statising = our economy, starting with the abolition of monetary\- despotism and = financial restrictions and their replacement by \- monetary and financial freedom. - J. Z., 12/92 & 15.4.97. \par DICTATORSHIPS REMAINING: I assert that e.g. the Red Chinese,\- = Cuban & North Korean regimes cannot be easily undermined, or\- = overthrown by a military insurrection or revolution or as a\- result of = massive refugee streams, of as talented and productive\- people, to the rest of the world, as long as their monetary\- = despotism, nay even monetary totalitarianism, remains largely = \-unquestioned in East and West, including Taiwan and South Korea. \- There are an estimated 120 to 200 million unemployed in Red China\- = alone! And close to 1 billion unemployed and underemployed in the\- = world. Consequently, refugees and deserters are hardly welcomed \- anywhere. The communist regimes do not know how to employ and\- exploit = them otherwise than as slave labourers. And the\- "democracies" or = "free" countries tend to deport the escaped modern slaves \- back to "their" masters, exploiters, oppressors and mass murderous\- = regimes. The realisation of monetary freedom could put all of them to = work - to-morrow! It, could almost immediately, provide \-full and paid = employment for millions and millions of r efugees \-and of deserters. It would make them welcome rather than = feared \-or hated. It would increase the division of labour and, with = it, prosperity for everyone. It could provide full and harmless \- employment e.g. for former employees of the nuclear weapons and nuclear = \-power industries, former soldiers and bureaucrats and even for = \-politicians. It could also help to properly finance \- insurrectionist armies. Most libertarians are not yet ready for\- such = discussions and subscribe to contrary myths, including some\- very prominent people that I could name but will not, since they share = in this simply some of the all too popular prejudices. \-Most = "employers" still consider themselves to be professionally "employers", = although they are, under present conditions , quite obviously unable to employ millions of unemployed and\- although = they do not even understand all or many of the\- interventionist legal = causes of involuntary mass unemployment and \-how they could prevent or = end them. - J. Z., Free after MFNL 5. \par DIS - COLLECTION: Entries from notes towards an Encyclopaedia of = \-the best Refutations so far found, to popular errors, myths and = \-prejudices, to the extent that they deal with monetary freedom \- and monetary despotism, should be included. Some batches have\- already = been extracted but not all of them.=20 \par DISCOUNT POSSIBILITY IS ESSENTIAL: The possibility of suffering\- a = discount is a necessary feature of a free monetary system. It\- would = draw depreciated notes quickly out of circulation. They\- would be rapidly paid back to the issuer who has still to accept \-them = at par. This discount would thus be welcomed by his debtors.\- The more = the notes are discounted the more rapidly they would\- return. With the returned notes the circulation and the discount would = be reduced. It is obvious that, while the discount continues,\- new = issues will be hard to impossible to achieve. People will \-simply = refuse to accept them - unl ess they owe the issuer \-something. - J. Z., 77 & 97. \par DIVISION OF LABOUR & THE PRESENT REMNANT OF FREE CLEARING: As a = \-young man, still involved with career decisions, I\- thought once that = a handbook was missing that would describe the\- great variety of = different jobs then existing: ca. 100,000.\- Somebody else produced such a reference book in Germany, before I\- got = around to it. Then, in the 80s, I saw in the window of a \-closed = bookshop, in an airport, late at night, another guide, in \- English, to close to 400,000 jobs. So much has the division of\- labour = increased in about half my lifetime, so far. What significance has this = with regard to monetary freedom? Division\- of labour depends upon free = exchange. The more free exchanges\- are, the easier becomes division of labour. No one need be \-unemployed = against his will or should be merely because some \-people want to = uphold monetary despotism. I wonder, how many \-different kinds of jobs = can and will be listed once full monetary\- freedom has been introduced and practised for, let us say, 10 \-years? = And how much of all the successes of division of labour and of = \-advances in technology, science and management, was due not to \- the money of monetary despotism but to the largely unmanageable = \-freedom to clear that still exists even under monetary despotism\- and = in a mixed economy with all too many interventions and\- controls? To = the ext ent that one can use today's value of a paper \-money standard merely as = a standard for almost instant clearing \-of mutual debts, it is good = enough, its depreciation from day to\- day does not matter very much. And to the extent that via the degree of = clearing options that one can take up even today, one \-is independent = from the availability of the government's forced\- currency notes and coins, one is also independent from monetary\- = despotism. Alas, creditors are today authorised to demand,\- whenever = they want to, cash or legal tender rather than clearing.\- And that does create difficulties. The existing clearing banks\- are = also licensed and controlled by the government and its \-central bank, = to a considerable degree. If they were not, the n\-one could altogether = bypass the issue monopoly of the central=20 \-bank and its banknotes or paper money and settle everything \-freely - = by clearing only. But deals in negotiable securities,\- especially those = with a monetary character, are still legally \-restricted. Possibly no=20 one in any country knows fully how many \-legal monetary, currency and = credit restrictions do apply. \-Moreover, they are constantly changed, = at least somewhat - and \- all but black market exchanges are subjected to the tribute gatherers. = - J. Z., 9.4.97. \par DOUBLE TO MULTIPLE ENTRIES ON THE SAME SUBJECT: The topic is so = \-important that they should not be avoided at least in a first = \-collection, made as complete as possible. Editorial volume\- = reductions should be postponed or invited from anyone, at any\- stage. \par DOUGLAS, MAJOR, ERRORS IN THE MONETARY SPHERE: \par DRUG LAWS, MONETARY DESPOTISM, RESTRICTIONS OF CASH TRANSACTIONS, = \-MONEY LAUNDERING, HOARDING & DEPRESSIONS: Seeing that much cash\- ends = up in the hands of drug dealers and that for them cash \- deposits and normal bank transactions are made difficult and\- could = lead to their prosecution, the drug trade promoted by \-anti-drug laws = and corrupt politicians, who benefit from them,\- combined with monetary = despotism, may lead to so extensive \- hoarding of cash that this could lead to deflationary effects\- like = sales difficulties combined with mass unemployment or\- depessions. - J. = Z., 13.11.92, 15.4.97. \par DURELL JOURNAL OF MONEY AND BANKING: In 1989 it started out in a\- = very promising way, under the leadership of Dr. John W. Robbins,\- who = would have steered it into the direction of an institute, \-lib rary and seminars for the study of monetary freedom options,\- too and = would have freely accepted articles on the subject for the D. J. He even = invited me to submit an article on the older \-monetary freedom = advocates. However, I dallied, being involved\- with x other projects, and before I could get around to this, he\- was = already somehow "eked" out, as I merely suspect, from this \-rich, $ 10 = million foundation, by others, probably more skilful\- in power and position grabbing. The best people rarely succeed in\- = such struggles. As a result, and judging by the index of articles = published in the Winter 93 issue of this journal, its articles of \- some monetary freedom interest have already greatly diminished, from 16 = during 89 - 91 to a mere 2 during 92 - 93. Good luck to \-anyone trying = to reverse that trend. The journal is\- supplied free to those who ask = for it in the U.S. and for $ 10 \- p.a. to foreign addresses. Quarterly, from the Durell Institute \-of = Monetary Science in the Harry F. Byrd Jr. School of Business\- of = Shenandoah University, 1460 University Drive, Winchester, VA\- 22 601-5195. Tel. (703) 665-5432. Fax : (703) 665-5432. - Let me = \-stress again, that I do KNOW nothing about its internal power = \-struggle but that I SUSPECT a lot merely from its $ 10 million\- foundation resource & the change of staff and contents. The same = \-could have happened under present conditions to any other such = \-institute and publication in any other country. The "Zeitgeist"\- asserts itself - no matter what ignorance and misery and \-bloodshed it = helps to support. New countervailing institutions\- and channels to liberty, have to be established, like the microfiche = path, or the CD-ROM one. Finally, they would have to be fully and = optimally used. Begin your\- freedom to issue notes and clearing house = certificates etc. with\- your present freedom to issue fiche, floppies or CD-ROMs containing = monetary freedom\- information. Or, even with mere local tokens for the = tourist\- trade. - J. Z. note in MFNL 5, amended 5.9.02. \par DURREL JOURNAL: \par EASY MONEY, EASY PAYMENTS, ABILITY TO PAY: The BALTIMORE SUN = \-jocularly observed that 'the word 'easy' means 'easy', except\- when = used in connection with the word 'payments". - E. Haldeman-Julius, The = Bunk Box, p. 72. - As a rule payments will \- be easier when you are free to offer your own means of exchange\- or = clearing certificates in payment rather than being obliged to\- acquire = first of all sufficient notes of a monopolised money \- which the issuer keeps for the time being in short supply or out\- of = your own channels of circulation. - J.Z., 17.4.97. \par EASY MONEY: Under monetary despotism it is easy (via the\- money = issue monopoly and legal tender) for the debtor to force "easy money" or = "soft money" upon an unwilling creditor, who certainly won't\- rest easy = before and after receiving it. It makes=20 it also easy\- for the monopoly issuer to issue more and more of it and = to grant \-with it carelessly loans to unreliable debtors or to = favourites. \-For this issuer only the printing costs will have to be = covered.\- For him they are like ready requisitioning certificates upon much\- of = the property and earnings in any country, whether the victims\- like = that or not. - Its initial value to the issuer comes easy\- and its value also disappears easily - at the expense of its\- victims. = - J. Z., 8.11.92, 15.4.97. - See: SOFT MONEY, HARD MONEY. \par ECONOMIC & HUMAN RIGHTS ASPECTS IGNORED BY MOST MODERN AUTHORS: \-A = translation by J. Z. of part of a letter by Ulrich von Beckerath\- to = Dr. Mann, 29.9.1957: "You say '... that the modern authors \- have dealt with the problems of value, price, wages, interest, \-rent, = money, capital, currency, markets, etc., together with ALL \-the = questions and problems which belong to them.' - Now - I \- believe to have found, indeed, that they have NOT dealt with ALL \-the = most important and subsidiary questions and problems.\- Instead, and = essentially, they have been going in circles. -\- Every single of these = problems will be seen in quite different \- light when the following possibilities are taken into \-consideration = (I) The note issue monopoly of the central bank\- is repealed. (II) The = men in power in the world will return to \-all human beings the freedom, = which existed before 1914, to adopt \- in their contracts a value standard of their own choice, whether \-it be = gold, silver, an index, music records or canaries. (III) \-Patronage = (i.e. the splitting of most enterprises into employers \- and employees) is replaced. The employees constitute themselves \-into = an association and purchase the enterprises. (IV) Provision \-is made = that every human being may join any productive\- association as a = member, as far as this is technically possible. \- (Hertzka has up to now best elaborated this idea and I hold that\- = this ought to apply even if working hours would have to be \-reduced to = half an hour a day.) (*) (V) The whole population is\- sworn in upon hu man rights - to the extent that it is voluntarily \-prepared to = undertake such an oath. (VI) For the protection of\- human rights an = international militia is established. All its \-members are sworn in = upon human rights. (**) (VII) Freedom to \- issue (notes etc.), free choice of value standards, and other \-freedoms = from a money and means of payment monopoly, are counted \-as human and = civil rights. (VIII) The principle, recognized \- already in almost all constitutions, that the authority of civil\- and = military superiors to give commands, finds its limits in the \- rights of human beings and citizens, will be brought to the attention of = all people at short intervals, so that it will never\- be forgotten and = will be more and more firmly impressed. --- The\- crisis of 19 32 would have disappeared in less than 4 weeks if\- THIS would have = happened. ... Do your know of ONE author among\- the modern ones who = included the above hinted at possibilities in\- his calculations? Do not = ALL of them consider the absolute power \- of the legislator as a truism? Is not for all of them the money = \-monopoly of the State, the exclusive value standard, the \-authority = to introduce planning etc., a foregone conclusion? Do \-you know of even = ONE exception? ... (Rittershausen is one, but=20 \-perhaps the only exception, apart, PERHAPS from an American = \-theoretician of money named Faulkner. I read a very derogatory\- = criticism of him, written by the money-monopolist (J. Z.: He\- favours an exclusive gold standard!) SPAHR. From his objections, \-I = could only conclude that Faulkner is a very sharp and \-independent = thinker. Unfortunately, I do not see how I can obtain\- F.'s writings.)" = - Bth. confirmed that the novelist William=20 \-Faulkner was not meant. Perhaps it was R. P. Faulkner, listed as\- = author of "The Private Issue of Token Coins", in Pol. Sc. Qu.,\-vol. 16, = on Jackson & Civil War Token Money? A copy of this \- article is still wanted by me. (J. Z., 1997.) Since then a few\- authors = have indeed questioned some of the premises challenged \-here - but is = there one other author who has challenged ALL of\- them and who has made as sensible suggestions on all these points \-as = Ulrich von Beckerath (1882-1969) had? Please, tell me his \-name, his = address and give me a list of his writings. For such \-people and texts = I will always make room in my PEACE PLANS \-series. - J. Z., 4.1.86. - (*) I = would exempt from this very small \-productive associations, let us say = of up to 50 members. (**) The\- international militia should merely be a = federation of local \- militias. The human rights they ought to upheld are not those \-declared = by the U.N. in Dec. 1948 but an ideal declaration of \-individual = rights, for which a draft has been published in PP 4 &\- 61-63. Ca. 100 private drafts of human rights were reproduced in PP = 589/590. \par ELECTRONIC DATA BANK ON MONETARY FREEDOM & MONETARY DESPOTISM: = \-For those not on line it should offer e.g. COM-fiche print outs \-and = print-outs on paper, by mail, at their prices.=20 \par EMERGENCY MONIES: At least some illustrations to be included. \par EURO-CURRENCY: Once it becomes a forced and exclusive currency\- = for all of Europe, or even a world currency, then it will \-introduce = Europe-wide or even world wide deflations, inflations \-and stagflations = and mass unemployment. It will be \- more constitutionally, legally, juridically and politically \-upheld, = with all its inbuilt flaws, corruption, waste, errors and\- = mismanagement, in the absence of less or any alternatives within or = across \- borders, so that monetary crises, too, will tend to become\- enlarged = and prolonged. - Just imagine the green back issue\- pressure of the = majority of underdeveloped countries upon the\- developed countries. There would be less checks and balances upon = monetary despotism than existed when it was nationally decentralized = \-among a number of territorial States. It would exaggerate and \-tend = to perpetuat e all evils of central banking and make it still more centralised and = coercive and mismanaged. Local conditions and the interests of = particular payment spheres would be even less considered than they are = now. And, generally, the victims\- would be blamed again, rather than the real offenders and\- the = offending despotic system. Just another aspect of state socialism is\- = involved, on a larger scale. A monopoly is not abolished by being \- increased. (Curiously enough, at the same time, across the former iron = cu rtain, precisely the opposite development took place, one away from a = single central bank for all of the former USSR to a number of national = central banks of the newly recognized territorial "nations". Excess = centralisation is not abolished by becoming=20 \-more centralised. Despotism does not become reduced but more \-widely = and uniformly spread by further centralisation. - The uniformity of = means of exchange \- and of "value standards" thus obtained would be too small a consolation = for all the evils it would further increase. However, \-if anyone or any = group could manage to issue, administrate and \- redeem, with wanted consumer goods and services, a Europe-wide or = world\--wide kind of money, one that is merely optional, market rated = and can be\- freely refused, I wish him good luck or success. = Theoretically, a\- world-wide clearing network could be established that would, e.g.\-, = use, a freely chosen value standard like grams of gold, for all \-its = clearing transactions and would not promise any redemption in\- gold at=20 all but, refer, instead all those who want gold, to the \-free and = world-wide market in gold. Such a system, if it remains \-non-exclusive = and not interfered with by national governments,\- would be desirable. = Competition to it would remain open. Even\- better systems could still be established and numerous local\- clearing = centres could be independently provided and deal with\- it, too. But I = fear what national politicians would agree upon\- and make a treaty about. That would be ignorance, prejudice and\- = vested interest in action against public interest and the rights\- of = every individual. - J. Z., 5.10.92, 14.4.97. \par EXCHANGE MEDIA & VALUE STANDARDS SHOULD BE AS FAR AS POSSIBLE\- = SEPARATED, IN THEORY AND PRACTICE, EVEN WHILE BOTH ARE EXPRESSED\- IN = ALL EXCHANGE MEDIA: Otherwise most people do not understand \- and cannot understand how the pricing mechanism applied to both, \-and = what effect it has upon the quantities available or issued. \-That of = necessity they have to be expressed in the same exchange \- medium has all too often led to the wrong conclusion that they \-are or = ought to be identical, as if a transferable security could\- not have = several different characteristics or clauses. When both\- are thrown = together via legal t ender or monetary prejudices, then \-confusion and mistakes do = inevitably result. One then tries to \-limit e.g. the quantity of = exchange media by the number of value \-standard units available or = imagines that changes in the quantity\- of value standard units must affect the number of money \-transactions = that are possible and desired. One then remains \-largely blind to the = rejection mechanism that applies to both,\- limiting their quantity and = use, through voluntary acceptance or \- refusal, acceptance at par or at a discount, all based on free\- = enterprise regarding their production and offers and on consumer\- = sovereignty regarding their acceptance, rating or refusal. To use an\- analogy (limping like all others), let us take fabric and its = \-colours. Compare the fabric to the exchange medium and the colour \-to = its value standard. Obviously the quantity of textile colours\- available should not determined the quantity of cloth produced and\- = offered for sale. Nor should all textiles be confined to use one\- = colour only - as in the "blue ants" totalitarian experiment in\- Red China. Textiles could be multiplied without reducing their \-value = or the beauty of their colours. And a more extensive use of\- one colour = would not make that textile it is used on less \-valuable. Both are = needed. Both have their own laws regarding \- their quantities and values and both are always used in combination. = When more red cloth is produced then this tends to \-be in response to = market demands for it, rather than against it. \-Both have their = separate demand and supply effects and the \- subjective value theory does apply to both. No one can be rightly = \-forced to acquire much more in textiles than he could have any \-use = for, nor should anyone be forced to choose only one colour\- for all = this clothing . Anyone should be free to use them in any\- quantity he likes and in = any combination. And if I like blue, \-then my blue cloth is not = diminished in my eyes or those of others, who also like it, because = others may like red cloth and\- produce and use more of it. And to force all to use in all their\- = economic transactions only one kind of cloth as an exchange \-medium and = one kind of colour as an exclusive value standard\- would, obviously, be = despotic and inefficient. Perhaps you can \- and will carry this analogy or another further - but I do hope \-that = you have already got my drift. - Not even pure gold weight \-units or = agreed upon degrees of purity of certain gold weights, \- should be turned into exclusive and forced exchange media and exclusive = and forced value standards - except among the members\- of volunteer = communities, who favour such an arrangement and as \- long as they do. Moreover, they should remain free to opt out of them. - = J. Z.,\-11.4.97. \par EXCLUSIVE & FORCED CURRENCIES, PAPER MONIES, TRADITIONAL GOLD\- = STANDARD, 100% COVERED GOLD CERTIFICATES, EXCHANGE MEDIA & VALUE\- = STANDARDS: Both, legal tender in form of exclusive paper money \- and gold coin circulation, as well as 100% or fractionally covered = \-gold certificates, do unnecessarily and misleadingly identify or = \-combine the exchange media with their value standards. They do\- thus lead to a lot of misunderstandings, errors and wrong \-conclusions = on both, value standards and exchange media and their\- effects upon = each other and upon the economy. Instead, both ought \-to be conce ptually, legally, juridically, administratively and \-practically = separated from each other and subjected, as far as\- possible, = separately, to free market rating, voluntary acceptance \-or refusals = and discounting or pricing or rating, and full \- publicity on all their details, so that market responses to any\- = changes in them can be as well informed and fast as possible and = desirable. The \-full monetary freedom potential, as well as the risks = and dangers \- of monetary despotism, can only be understood when both, exchange media = and value standards, are \-sufficiently and openly separated and then = and therefore they can be \-properly used and help in all voluntary = exchanges, with each\- being as little abused and mismanaged as is humanly possible. No\- = multiplication of value standard units should be allowed to\- depreciate = media of exchange and no multiplication of media of\- exchange should be allowed to depreciate sound value standards.\- = Whenever that happens, then both have become wrongly and coercively\- = combined instead of becoming useful by keeping each other in \- check, both being voluntarily accepted - and rejectable and both \-being = market rated, both against other value standards and\- exchange media, = as well as their own. Indeed, sound alternative monies would\- EX PRESS & USE BOTH IN THE SAME MONEY OR CLEARING CERTIFICATE AND\-ACCOUNT = but they would at the same time also account them\- separately. Exchange = media could gain a premium on their standard \-units, as Scottish Notes = had over gold coins, and could also \- suffer a discount against their standard (and other standards\- and = exchange media) if they had been over-issued or, \-temporarily, if they = are merely thought or believed to have been over-issued or \- mismanaged otherwise. Any artificial and enforced par between them, any = failure to distinguish between them, leads to troubles\- and = misunderstandings and false judgements, like e.g. the infamous\- : "Mark is Mark!" - by which millions of German creditors were\- = defrauded by their debtors and impoverished. Legal tender for general = circulation \- not merely towards the issuer) is a legalized crime. So is any = exclusive exchange medium. So is any enforced revaluation or = \-devaluation, any enforced decrease or increase of the "gold price"\- = and any legal restriction of gold owner ship, gold trading and gold \-accounting. Freedom to issue, refuse and = discount. Free choice of\- value standards and full publicity for both! = - I consider this\- topic to be so important that I rather compile or = publish hundreds of\- statements on this than none, all in the hope to somewhat promote = \-monetary enlightenment. - J. Z., 26.9.92. \par EXPERTS: See: ECONOMIC & HUMAN RIGHTS ASPECTS IGNORED BY MOST = \-MODERN AUTHORS.=20 \par EXTERRITORIAL AUTONOMY FOR ALL VOLUNTEER COMMUNITIES & MONETARY\- = FREEDOM, BASED ON INDIVIDUAL SOVEREIGNTY, \-INDIVIDUAL SECESSIONISM & = INDIVIDUALIZED, THAT IS, VOLUNTARY ASSOCIATIONISM: \-Monetary freedom = would be one of its many by-products or\- part-realisations, since these volunteer communities could, among = \-themselves, introduce any monetary system or experiment which\- they = do prefer and as long as they do. Towards outsiders their\- money tokens = woul d be more or less appreciated and market rated \-"foreign exchange". A = territorially imposed, exclusive and \-coercive money system (enforced = acceptance and enforced value) \- is the essence of monetary despotism. Volunteer communities might, = indeed, adopt an exclusive currency and one that has legal \-tender = towards all their members. But since membership is\- voluntary and they = have no territorial monopoly, their currency\- would still be an optional one. They could individually opt out\- from = under it and thus renounce it for themselves, at least for\- all future = contracts which they are undertaking. - J. Z., 10.4.97. \par FAILURES OF BANKS OF ISSUE: One should use different terms for = \-different kinds of failures. Some banks merely failed to be able \-to = redeem all their notes at par upon demand and where, therefore, \- legally and juridically driven into bankruptcy - but, lo and\- behold, = in some instances their notes still continued to \-circulate at par - = because there were enough outstanding credits \-of the bank which the = remaining debtors could readily pay with\- the notes at par and this demand preserved the par value of these = \-notes. A single such case should have been enough to question, quite = \-generally, the need for gold convertibility by the issuer and to \- insist, instead, on a sufficient cover of all notes by short-term \- debts that represented real trades, like real bills, in combination with = shop foundation for the notes so issued. (In competitions between facts = and dogmas at least the popular dogmas often "win", i.e., get more = support from the general public, th e "experts" and the legislators, than the facts. Economics is still far = from being a science, at least with regard to many of its schools of = thought or certain of its subjects. It has its religions, churches and = sects, its insistence upon faith and tradit ions as well as rituals, even when not at all backed by facts, natural = laws and sound reasoning. - J.Z., 5.9.02.) The reflux \-in payment of = these debts can keep notes at par which were issued \-in the discounting = of such bills. The old practices of gold \- certificates blinded most observers to this option or, just to be\- = on the safe side, they insisted then that both covers be provided \-- = and that was not always done and then "failures" occurred which \- in reality were not failures. - Other "failures" can, naturally, \-arise = due to inflations of a government's forced and exclusive\- currency, which can partly or completely destroy assets expressed in = and repayable in it. Other failures arising out of monetary \-despotism = are due to its deflations, which can drive otherwise \- sound enterprises into bankruptcy and burden the remainders with \-taxes = to keep masses of unemployed alive. - Other failures are \-all too = predictable, e.g. when "assets" like real estate or \-railways, or = buildings or speculatively withheld commod ities, in\- their warehouse certificates, or even government debt = \-certificates, are monetized, i.e. confront the current output of\- = goods or services, without the issuers having provided\- any additional goods and services, that provide the immediately = claimable equivalent or backing of these issues. Then only monetary = despotism can \-force the ones providing the real cover (in consumer = goods and\- services) to provide it and prevent them from monetising it\- = themselves, directly and fully, for their own benefit, instead of = providing \-an enforced value for the monies of monetary despotism, = which\- pretends to be covered by other assets. Sometimes the issuers are\- = cheeky enough to assert that their issues are "backed" by the\- labour = and productivity of the nation - but without explaining\- what right they do possess to issue such assignments upon it and to = \-prevent the owners of the goods, services and labour in this \-nation = to monetise their own assets themselves. - All real capital\- assets (I = do not consider prese nt and future tax slaves as such\-) are gradually built up out of = savings of current turnovers of consumer goods, services and labour and = they do make possible a \-much larger total of production and = consumption of consumer goods\- and services than would be possible without them. But that does \-not = mean that their accumulated capital value, invested in real and long = lasting assets, is at any time and \-in any country the equal to the = present consumer goods and\- services - when it comes to monetising assets. Ca pital assets can be cashed in only within the limits and changes of the = capital market. Real cash is already real cash. It does not have to be = first transformed into cash. With it one can immediately purchase daily = wanted consumer goods and services. One=20 does not have to sell, for cash, a house, factory, farm or business = first. If one tried to express these huge capital values not \-in = capital securities, to the\- extent that they are profitable or still = valuable, monetising them at\- once and completely, and, provided all the potential acceptors would = not hesitate to accept all such "money" at par, then the current offers = of goods and\- services would suddenly be confronted by a much larger \- circulation of money tokens. If these were optional and market-\-rated=20 and no one but the issuers would be obliged to accept them (for square = feet of land, factory or business space or bricks or rails?) they would = soon become greatly depreciated, while soundly\- issued and thus widely accepted currencies, those with shop or at least = tax foundation, would remain stable. All stable \-pricing and accounting = of debts, wages, rents etc. could\- continue. The asset currency, greatly depreciated, would simply give = some investors the chance to buy up the capital securities that are = their=20 "foundation", and the real capital assets, which they represent, very = cheaply. But even that would take time. It would not immediately = withdraw all of this "asset currency" and restore it to par by taking it = out of circulation. (Assuming that it had ever=20 managed to achieve a wide-spread par acceptance.) But, if such an = "asset currency" were given exclusive\- means of payment status (like = that based upon governmental "insecurities"), forced acceptance and = forced value (\- legal tender status), i.e., alternative currencies and sound value = \-standards would be outlawed, then a failure of such banks would\- be inevitable. This failure would be expressed in inflations, = deflations and stagflations, often and for long with high unemployment = and business failure rates. - What are good securities for capital = assets are \- not good securities for currency issues. Nor are the capital \-assets = themselves good securities for currency issues, although the capital = securities - and the real capital assets behind them, can be used t o satisfy the investors in a failed savings and loan bank. They are not = good enough securities for its current business, conducted in its = banknotes. Alas, both kinds of securities, the turnover credit = securities as well as the capital investment securitie s, are marketable, both have some value, both can, normally, be \-turned = into purchasing power, although at different degrees of immediate = "liquidity", and so one concludes, all too often, \- and quite wrongly that capital equals money equal currency in all cases, = or even that capital could form a suitable, good or even the best = possible security (cover, reflux, value guaranty, acceptance or debt = foundation) for\- currency. Ask yourself about your own rights as holder of an \-asset = currency note towards the issuer of that asset currency \-note: What = fragment of his capital values can you directly and immediately claim \- from him, now, with his note in your hands. He does not want to\- sell = you a brick from the foundations of his house or a tile of \-his roof or = a window pane. No, he wants to direct you to others,\- who, he thinks, should give some real purchasing power to his \-notes = for you. But then, why should they, if they are not legally forced \-to = do so? And if legally forced to do so, then their supplies of\- consu mer goods are the real cover - and they are robbed of them, receiving = only scrip to shares, bonds or mortgages, far beyond their ability and = willingness to invest in them. \-Such "money" has only the advantage of = being legally authorised to rob \- others, likewise, once one has been saddled with it. Thus a mutual = plunderbund is established, \-mainly for the benefit of the issuer of an = unsound, monopolise \-and forced currency, issued under false pretences = - of which the \- literature of economics and lectures on money and banking are\- still = all too full, in all countries and even the minds of the majority of = "money reformers". - Today, when central bank's \-issues are no longer = directly tied to their gold stocks, nor to a=20 \-gold accounting or gold clearing standard, the only exclusive and = \-forced currency in existence is the government's legal tender \-paper = money. Thus all the kind failures that happened due to the\- convertibility obligation of an issuer to redeem his notes upon = demand\- in gold, because the law or public opinion demanded such a = \-redemptionism, is now replaced by the obligation for debtors to supply = and \- the authority of creditors to demand legal tender in payment of all = debts, \-rather than possessing merely a right to achieve or to provide = a settlement by clearing. Only the central bank can,\- via printing or printing in advance of requirements, multiply or = \-increase its legal tender cash issues. But it, too, is somewhat \-tied = to laws and regulations, based on slow decisions by \-committees, which = are bas ed, if on facts at all, then often on all \-too slowly available = statistics or flawed statistics. Thus their response time to = \-additional cash demands is slow, often too slow or their response \- remains inadequate. Moreover, once they put additional notes into\- = circulation, they would tend to stay there and with their legal \-tender = and exclusive currency status, they would tend to drive prices up, \- permanently. Any kind of optional additional ticket money or\- goods and = service vouchers, on the other hand, could not be \-issued beyond their = requirements and due to their inbuilt reflux\-arrangements, they would = rapidly disappear from circulation \- again and be replaced by new and sound issues of this kind. Furthermore, = since they are not legal tender or an\- exclusive currency, they could = not drive up prices and wages\- reckoned in sound standards. Already = upon slight discounts - not\- affecting most retail prices and wages, they would be widely refused = and thus sped\- up on their way back to the issuer, via the remaining = debtors of the issuing centre. - Alas, banks that have often\- failed and often had to fail because of their construction, their = \-issue and reflux policies, are legally upheld and the fail-safe = \-banks have been outlawed. For this give thanks to your \-pol iticians and their official advisors and to all too many voices \-and = texts of academic economists - and to the majority of money\-cranks who = are even more rabid in their demands for exclusive \- greenbacks or forced currencies, than governments are, who are \-rather = hiding their shameful acts or do not like to publicise the legal = \-backing of their monetary despotism and the consequences which it\- inevitably has. Not one in a thousand academic economists is free\- of = monetary errors and perhaps not one in a ten-thousand or = \-hundred-thousand monetary cranks is. The few sound teachers of \- monetary freedom are thus easily condemned, as if they were real = "money-cranks". E.g., \-Hayek, of all people, condemned, of all people, = Prof. Heinrich\- Rittershausen as an inflatio nist! - I pointed out this error personally, in a short interview with = Hayek, some years before he \-died, but, to my knowledge, he never = retracted his utterance. - He was an excellent \-scholar, indeed, in = many respects. Nevertheless, he came across \- only very few monetary freedom writings and misjudged even these \-and = with his remaining research and writing tasks, he did not\- even have = the time to follow the academic debate that followed\- his 1975 & 1976 monetary freedom writings. At first he imagined\- even = to have been the first academic economist to have advocated\- monetary = freedom and he never fully realized how many \- predecessors he had or admitted that people like Pauline Russell, = \-Richard King & Robert Carnaghan had pushed him, in public \-meetings = in England, in this direction. - So, how much can one \- expect in this respect from the average economist or politician\-, = banker or voter? Much less, very much less, as a rule. - J. Z., 11.4.97, = 5.9.02..=20 \par FALLEN & FALLING PRICES: Fallen prices must not be mixed up with\- = falling prices. The former tend to encourage buying and reduce = \-hoarding. They usually originate at the goods side and lead to \- corresponding additional turnover, to new orders and employment.\- The = later tend to deter buying and lead to deflationary hoarding, \-sales = difficulties, bankruptcies & unemployment. Moreover, the \-former tend = to fall step by st ep. according to developments on the\- goods side (e.g., technological = improvements). The latter tend to o\-ccur more generally and evenly = because they are due to a\- deflationary money shortage. This difference may be statistically = indistinguishable but it is of great economic importance. Because \-of = this distinction price levels cannot rapidly enough adapt to a \- deflationary reduction in the money supply - contrary to the = \-expectations and predictions of most economists of the Austrian\- = School of Economics. - J. Z., 77 & 97. \par FAULKNER, American monetary theoretician, favouring free banking?\- = See: ECONOMIC & HUMAN RIGHTS ASPECTS IGNORED BY MOST MODERN\- AUTHORS. \par FEDER MONEY: See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par FIAT MONEY: The term is all too indiscriminately applied to\- all, = even contractual and well founded alternatives to rare metal\- coins and = certificates, as if all the alternatives were equal to \- the forced and exclusive paper currencies of governments. The = \-SUSPENSION OF GOLD REDEMPTION should not and need not, by the \-nature = of things, and according to common experience and based\- upon basic = rights and liberties, restrict other desired\- exchanges, exchange media and value standards nor should these\- = alternatives be outlawed, taxed or regulated or controlled by any\- = coercive institution, least of all by any government or its\- central = bank. - J. Z., MFNL 3/4 & 8.4.97. \par FINANCE PLAN OF PEACE PLANS 19 c:=20 \par FINANCING LIBERATION EFFORTS:=20 \par FINANCING LIBERTARIAN DEFENCE:=20 \par FINANCING LIBERTARIAN PROPAGANDA TO VICTORY: See: PEACE PLANS 19: = Let Freedom Pay Its Way! \par FINANCING LIBERTARIAN REVOLUTIONS: \par FREE BANKING & FREE MONEY & GOODS, SERVICE & LABOUR EXCHANGES\-: = Goods and services can freely "buy money" only once money \-issues, = value reckoning, value accounting and clearing are free \- and competitive. Labour will also be free only when it is free to = \-"sell itself" as a commodity, not only for a forced and exclusive = \-currency but for all kinds of alternative and optional \-currencies, = value standards and clearing options that it does=20 \-find acceptable. The more options of this kind it has, the more \-free = it will be. - Full employment can be achieved and\- perpetuated only = under monetary freedom. - J. Z., 2.4.91, 14.4.97. \par FREE BANKING, SELF-HELP IN A MONETARY REVOLUTION, OR MONETARY = \-INDEPENDENCE: Let all willing and able sellers of labour,\- services = and goods act as BUYERS FIRST, paying with their OWN\- issues of = standardised and typified certificates, in money\- denominations, which assign all the readiness to labour, service \-and = to provide goods, which they do have between them, in their\- local = labour exchanges and service and shopping centres, down to small market = stalls. The existing \- monopolised and forced currencies do not mobilise all these assets\- = sufficiently, monetarily, but leave potential sales of goods and = services \-undone and labour unemployed or underemployed. The monopoly = issuers have\- no natural or human right to prevent such self-help steps. On the = contrary, they\- rather owe indemnification to their former victims. But = their\- victims will usually be satisfied just with having liberated = \-themselves from monet ary despotism and provided themselves with\- sufficient sales and jobs. = - J. Z., 19.11.92, 14.4.97. \par FREE BANKING: By all means, coin & print your own money and try = \-to find willing acceptors for it, who can use it immediately in\- = payments due to you. But do not try to force it at par or at all \- upon anyone, except, by contract, your debtors, who could, with\- it, = extinguish their debts to you. Naturally, you yourself must \-be = prepared to accept it, your own IOUs, at any time and at par \- from anyone. Everything else would, obviously, be fraudulent. - J. = Z.,\-5.11.92, 15.4.97. \par FREE BANKING: Free Banking means liberation from communistic,\- = centralistic, monopolistic and coercive paper money. It allows = \-everyone to engage in the business of issuing bank notes or\- clearing = house certificates who is able to do so and as long as=20 \-he can, i.e., as he finds voluntary acceptors who accept his \-notes, = certificates, accounts or electronic credits at par with \-their nominal = value - or at least close enough to it to not \- induce him to refuse to accept such exchange and clearing media = altogether. \-It offers a choice between cooperative, competitive paper = \-currencies that are subject to voluntary acceptance and free-\- market rating - and to full publicity as well on every detail of \-their = issues. It embraces freedom to issue, freedom to clear, \-free choice of = exchange media, freedom to refuse exchange media\- not contracted for, freedom to rate them and freedom of choice \-for = value standards, too. - Exclusive and coercive central banking is one of = the remaining strongholds of totalitarianism - and one\- of the = strangleholds upon a free market, a fr ee economy and free\- individuals and minorities. Free Banking or = Monetary Freedom\- means: You could "coin" or monetise your service = capacity and \-readiness and your ready for sale goods into your own = token\- money, alone or in association with other suppliers, businessmen,\- = tradesmen and professionals. You could pay many to most of your\- = expenses with these privately or cooperatively issued tokens or \- certificates or IOUs and then and to that extent would merely \-have to = sit back and let them bring you orders, sales or jobs \-upon their = almost inevitable reflux for "redemption" by you in \-what you have to = offer your usual customers and additional \- customers. (If some collectors would rather include them in their = \-collections than present them to you for redemption, they do = indirectly make a corresponding gift to you. You could easily \- issue more to "move" your goods and services.) In essence, you \-would = merely clear your services and goods against those of \-others, in a = technically convenient form. But you would already\- anticipate your = sales proceeds, to the extent that you could \- successfully pay with your issues. - J. Z., in MFNL 3/4, 1/89 = &\-8.4.97. \par FREE BANKING: Free competition, free enterprise, freedom of = \-contract, the free market, free trade, free exchange, capital and = \-capitalism & money, are not free without free banking and without\- whatever other institutions full monetary freedom would require, = \-e.g., a free gold market, a free market in foreign exchange, a \-free = circulation, to the extent that they find voluntary \-acceptors, of = every foreign national currency=20 in every other country. - J. Z., 23.6.91, 12.4.97. \par FREE BANKING: Full employment, a booming economy & stable\- = currencies through free banking or monetary freedom. - J. Z.,\-28.10.91, = 16.4.97. \par FREE BANKING: I regard free banking as one of the most important = \-peace plans and panarchistic steps, steps towards self-liberation and = introduction of a free market economy, one of the most\- important steps to realize economic human rights and safeguard\- all = others, as the aim for a rightful monetary revolution and of \-monetary = resistance actions, as a tool to assist in the realisation of rightful = tax strikes, as a means to abolish \- mass-unemployment overnight, as one of the most important \-segments of = a complete archive of social reform ideas and of an \-electronic free = market for all freedom ideas. See PP 20 & 183 & the GLOBAL\- IDEAS BANK established by Nicholas Albery (deceased) on the Internet.=20 \par FREE COMPETITION WITH & WITHOUT MONETARY FREEDOM : \par FREE ENTERPRISE WITH & WITHOUT MONETARY FREEDOM : \par FREE EXCHANGE, MONETARY FREEDOM, FREE BANKING & FREE ENTERPRISE,\- = FREE COMPETITION, FREE COOPERATION, FREE CONTRACTS, FULL PROPERTY = \-RIGHTS: No obstacles to any creative energies (L. E. Read, mostly as: = Release all creative energies!) and \- their exchanges. Under this condition persistent mass \-unemployment and = sales difficulties, not caused by wars,\- revolutions, political = interventionism or natural catastrophes, \-do become almost impossible. = - J. Z., 14.12.92. \par FREE MARKET RATING OF CURRENCIES: When under a free market rate \- = i.e. in the absence of legal tender) an over-issue of a paper-\-money = should occur, then it would suffer a discount in \-circulation so that = e.g. a gold coin of 20 marks would come to\- cost 21 paper marks. But the goods prices would remain unchanged,\- = provided only they are fixed in gold units, e.g. gold marks. - \-Ulrich = von Beckerath, 25.1.52. \par FREE MARKET WITH & WITHOUT MONETARY FREEDOM : \par FREE MONEY ISN'T FREE, INTEREST RATES: It cannot be provided quite = interest free \-or free of all fees, like insurance and administrative = and\- printing costs. But it can be cheaply provided, obliges only the = \- issuer and the acceptor must merely show some understanding and\- = self-responsibility and pay attention to publicity, in order to enable = him to discriminate between some good and some bad monies.\- But, as a rule, he could very easily test the goodness of any private = notes\- offered to him - by taking them to a cashier at the nearest = shopping\- centre, asking him whether he would accept them at par. - So = far \- most people have not yet paid the minimum price for monetary freedom : = They have not yet read up on it, pondered and discussed \-it = sufficiently and taken the necessary steps to introduce it. -\- J. Z., = 23.12.90, 16.4.97. \par FREE TRADE & MONETARY FREEDOM, CENTRAL BANKING & PROTECTIONISM: = \-If Free Traders had been Free Traders regarding Free Banking = (\-internal, self-managed free trade agreements, as well as the free\- use of international clearing certificates and alternative value\- = standards), as well as financial freedom, then they would have \-won = their struggle, completely, long ago. But under monetary \-despotism the = prote ctionist statists had to get the upper hand\- again. One might even say = that central banking is the worst\- protectionist institution of all. - = J. Z., 2.5.93 & 15.4.97.=20 \par FREE TRADE & MONETARY FREEDOM: \par FREEDOM OF ACTION IN THE MONETARY SPHERE:=20 \par FREEDOM OF ISSUE, FREEDOM TO ACCEPT, DISCOUNT AND REFUSE, using\- = any suitable medium and standard: What does it mean with regard \-to the = issue, acceptance, valuation and refusal of monetary\- freedom writings in alternative media, like microfiche, floppy disks = and the enormously cheap and efficient text-only CD-ROMs \-and ZIP disks = and still more powerful options coming up? - No law\- prohibits them. No regulations or special taxation burdens make \-their = practice difficult. No compulsory licensing is required for \-them. They = may be freely produced and traded and valued and\- collected - but, who = cares, even among=20 the monetary freedom \-advocates, even when the largest collection ever, = of this kind, \-is only available from LMP on microfiche - and very = cheaply and\- permanently, too? - J. Z., 9.4.97. \par FREEDOM TO EXCHANGE ONE'S LABOUR, SERVICES & GOODS THROUGH = \-MONETARY SELF-HELP MEASURES: See: UNEMPLOYMENT & THE RIGHT TO \-SUPPLY = ONESELF WITH WORK. A DECLARATION, by Ulrich von Beckerath,\- 10.8.1951. \par FUNDING ISSUES OF CURRENCY, ASSET CURRENCY, GUARANTY & SAFETY = \-FUNDS, BANK CAPITAL, BACKING, COVER & RESERVES FOR BANKS OF \-ISSUE: = Attempts to "fund" currency issues with medium- or long\--term private = or public securiti es do not provide a corresponding \-full or sufficient and immediate or = short term demand for the issued notes. Only upon ultimate liquidation = of a bank's business\- would the creditors of a bank be somewhat or = fully satisfied\- through such securities. But the purpose of a currency is not to\- = achieve creditor satisfaction in case of a bankruptcy but almost = \-instant exchange satisfaction. And instantly such asset currency\- cannot be turned into the cover-securities nor is such a cover \-even = wanted by most note holders. At most the debtors of such \-securities = could pay interest and dividends with the currency \- notes issued. But that relatively small periodical demand for the\- = asset currency cannot keep it at par with its nominal value for many = months or \-years. And the notes themselves do not pay interest or = dividends \- to their holders. Capital securities not paying interest will \-drop in = their market rating. There must be another motivation for\- potential = acceptors and holders of currency notes. They must be\- ab le to pay all their current debts and expenses with them. That\- is not = the case when they are merely issued upon medium or\- long-term private, = cooperative or public securities. Why should private suppliers of daily = wanted consumer goods and services \- have to or want to accept such asset currencies - beyond their\- desires = to invest on medium or long terms? They should and could\- rather issue = currencies of their own and refuse those of others or\- discount them in the few cases where they would still be prepared\- to = accept them. Security upon liquidation should be distinguished \-from = security and guaranty, instant usability or reflux of a currency.\- Without it it is not "current" or currency. If the market were\- = flooded with "asset currency", it would not be flooded with\- additional = and wanted consumer goods and services. In other words, in relation to = the offer of consumer goods and services, \- the asset currencies would go down in their market rating,\- against = sound value standards, even though the assets involved \-may be quite = rightful, honest and productive. They are simply not \- due yet - and not as much and as widely wanted as consumer goods\- and = services in daily demand are and the holders of these goods\- and = services are under no obligation to exchange them for any\- asset currency - unless the government forces them to do so via the = issue monopoly and legal tender legislation. Then they have\- no other = defence against being so wronged and harmed by this \-flood of ill = founded "currency" than by increasing thei r prices,\- fees, salaries and wages, although in purchasing power, = reckoned \-in sound value standards, they might remain largely the same. = -\- Unless people want to invest they do not want scrip promises\- ultimately covered by securities for investments. And if they\- were to = accept scrip then it would only be to the extent that \-they want to so = utilise their savings rather than spend them\- right away or soon upon consumer goods and services and paying due = debts. \-- In other words, an future liquidity does not provide a\- = sufficient liquidity or readiness to accept it }{\b\f0\fs24 right = now}{\f0\fs24 , for the\- goods and services one wants right now. - The terms "security"\- and = "guaranty" are very misleading in this connection unless one \-observes = the time factor and the term obligations involved. - In\- Australia, if you had a share in a privatised Sydney Harbour \-Bridge, = or Harbour Tunnel, what could you do with it? At most you could pay = your\- toll with it, if it were in the right denomination and if the\- = security were already due. Yo u could not dismantle a stone or\- beam etc. of the bridge or tunnel for = it and take it home. Nor would you want to. When interest or\- dividend = are due, you could also pay tolls with your coupons or \- ask for a share in the toll takings, to the extent of your \-interest or = dividend claims. But no retailer in Sydney would be\- under any = obligation to accept your share or bond in payment for\- what he has to offer. Why should he be? YOU considered the bond\- or = share certificate to be valuable enough to want to buy it. Why should = he? In other words, we should distinguish the capital \-market from the = currency market. J.Z., - 16.8.94, 17.4.97. \par GAME DESIGN & PLAYING OF MONETARY FREEDOM OPTIONS: I have = \-pondered, years ago, a kind of monetary game, among a group of\- = friends, in which banking, note, currency, value standard, issue \-and = similar "suspicious" names would be expressly avoided, but=20 \-the essence of all monetary and freedom terms and techniques \-could = be practised, using inconspicuous code terms, and in which \-some = limited goods and services could be exchanged between\- friends, to = familiarise them with monetary freedom terms and=20 \-practices. It would not be very difficult to design. It could\- even = appeal to the self-design and handicraft interest to the \-participants. = It could rapidly teach what does not work in this \- sphere and thus lead them to proceed, quite naturally, to what does = work. It could progress from everyone being an issuer of his own = "currency"\- tokens, or, rather, everyone attempting, in vain, to = interest \- everyone in his own token exchange medium and also his own token \-value = standard, to each participant rather trying to discount his\- "markers", = scrip, etc., in=20 a common token, one which one or the other member would begin to = provide, or in a common clearing centre and, most \-likely and soon, in = the acceptance of a common standard of value\- (under some cover name: = like points). After people have played \- such a game for a few months, on and off, trading, in practice, only = very few goods and services in this way, trying to feel their way and = trying to understand it, they might then be mentally prepared for \- reading some theoretical studies or comprehending some handbooks\- on = free banking. I made some notes on such a game while visiting\- Tom = Greco but he had then a "bee in his bonnet" about some \- "conservation" or "ecology" "currency" and was thus, temporarily, deaf = to any \-deviating notions. Special interests are oft en like that, for everybody. People are like that, including myself. = (For years I ignored, even theoretically, the CD-ROM and even the floppy = disk options for libertarian literature, in favor of microfiche and, in = practice, I still do. - J.Z., 5.9.02.) Am ong many others there is the notion that\- anything of some subjectively = high value could be readily be turned \-into an acceptable currency for = others, especially if the others share \-that subjective value estimate, = or even if they do not. So,\- sooner or later someone will try to "monetize" the beauty of \-nature = or of art works, of architecture, of human faces, of\- flowers, etc. - = Until his listeners or readers finally wake up \-and ask themselves: Can = I buy my newspaper or loaf of bread or\- litre of milk with THIS? Is it "current" or "acceptable" enough\- for = this? Does it have sufficient value in the local market, for\- daily = consumer transactions, to be able to compete with other\- local currencies? - J. Z., 11.4.97. - Would I want my wage or salary or = other earnings to be paid in this "currency"? How many of my bills could = I readily pay with it? Would my landlord or tax lord accept it? - J. Z., = 5.9.02. \par GERMAN MANUSCRIPT, English translation, EXTRACT FROM PP 61-63, = explaining basic terms\- of monetary freedom and free banking. The = German original is now available digitised, from PP 399-401. \par GERMAN SCHOOL OF MONETARY FREEDOM: See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY\- = PROBLEM. \par GERMAN SCHOOL ON MONETARY FREEDOM: Include much of Discussion = \-Paper 7. \par GERMAN SCHOOL ON MONEY, A SUMMARY OF ITS TEACHINGS or: SOME = \-PRINCIPLES OF MONETARY THEORY REPRESENTED BY RITTERSHAUSEN, \-MILHAUD, = ZANDER & OTHERS, by Ulrich von Beckerath, 1952, with \-some notes by = John Zube, 1977, slightly revised in April 97, 6pp.=20 \-- Published in PEACE PLANS series, originally as DISCUSSION PAPER No. = 7\- of the RESEARCH CENTRE FOR MONETARY & FINANCIAL FREEDOM, c/o John\- = Zube. -------- (1) INFLATION & DEARNESS: Inflation and dearness \- (dearth or high prices) are completely different concepts. \-Inflation = is caused exclusively from the monetary side, dearness\- exclusively = from the goods side. - (2) DEFLATION & CHEAPNESS: \-Deflation and = cheapness are completely different concepts.\- Deflation is caused exclusively from the money side, cheapness = exclusively from the goods side. - (3) PRICE INCREASES: Price = \-increases must not be mixed up with dearness. Price increases may\-be = due to inflation or they can be caused by a reduction of \- supply in relation to demand. In the latter case it would be = \-dearness. Price increases may also be due partly to inflation and = \-partly to dearness. - (4) PRICE REDUCTIONS: Reduced prices \- should not be mixed up with cheapness. They might be due to\- deflation = or due to an increase of the goods offered in relation \-to demand. In = the latter cas e only would it represent a genuine cheapness. The reduced prices can = also be due partly to deflation \-and partly to a genuine cheapness. - = (5) LEGAL TENDER: Without\- legal tender one cannot inflate a currency. = - (6) NOTE ISSUE \- MONOPOLY: Without the note issue monopoly one cannot cause a = \-deflation. - (7) FREE MARKET RATING OF CURRENCIES: When under a free = market rate (i.e. in the absence of legal tender) an\- over-issue of a = paper money should occur, then it would suffer a\- discount in circulation so that e.g. a gold coin of 20 marks \-would = come to cost 21 paper marks. But the goods prices would\- remain = unchanged, provided only they are fixed in gold units, \-e.g. gold = marks. - (8) SHORTAGES OF MEANS OF PAYMENT: If\- typified and standardised exchange media are short in circulation\- = (when e.g. during monetary crises factories are short of means\- of = payment for wages), then those concerned can help themselves \- by issuing emergency money without legal tender - until nowhere \-in = their payment circles does any shortage of the necessary\- exchange = media remains and the public thus begins to refuse to\- accept the = emergency money at the same face value as gold or\- silver coins. The goods prices would remain unchanged whenever \-they = were determined in gold units (gold marks or grams of fine \-gold, = etc.). - (9) ACCEPTANCE VS. REDEMPTION FOUNDATION: When\- paper money is not redeemable (by the issuer in gold) then it\- will = suffice in order to preserve the parity of the paper money\- with gold = to arrange for the acceptance of the paper money like\- gold money by institutions which sell goods in daily and general = \-demand. (Such institutions are e.g. the taxation department -when it = "sells" tax receipts, the railway, the P.O., and shops\- which owe = something to the bank issuing that paper. Their \- indebtedness may arise out of the discounting of sound commercial\- = bills and the corresponding contractual obligation to accept the\- notes = of the bank like gold money. Naturally, in all such cases,\- the bank = must concede its debtors th e right to pay back all their \-bank debts with that paper money as soon = as they receive it, at \-par, regardless of the exchange rate of the = paper money.) - (10) \-PAPER MONEY CIRCULATION & FOUNDATION: When paper = money is funded \- as under 9, then it can circulate more widely than merely among\- those = who directly claim the cover involved. When the paper money \-has tax = foundation, then it will circulate not only among those \- who just then have to pay taxes. If it has shop foundation (a \-concept = coined by Rittershausen), then it circulates not only among those who = have to buy something from the shops which are \-under acceptance = obligation. When the railway issues money (as=20 \-in Germany in 1923/24 for several 100 million marks), then it\- = circulates not only among those who just then want to use the = \-railway's services. The tax foundation imparts to paper money (\- as apparently Lorenz von Stein found out first) a par value (to \-gold = or silver coin) for an amount equivalent at least to the \-tax revenue = for 3 months, even without legal tender. - \-(11) RIGHT TO REFUSE = ACCEPTANCE OF ANY PAPER MONEY: The\- unrestricted right of people to refuse to accept any paper money = \-offered (Compare par. 2 of Bismarck's Bank Act of 1875 and the = \-numerous laws of the confederated German States during the 100 \- years before this law was passed.), makes impossible every abuse \-of = the right to issue, either by the bureaucracy or private \-persons. - = (12) INFLATION: Inflation, according to the above, is\- a condition in = monetary transactions whe re paper money is accepted without limits and at a prescribed value only = because \-legal tender prevails: a coercion which makes it legally = \-impossible to account for depreciation by discount or refusal. - \- (13) DEFLATION: Deflation, according to the above, is a\- condition in = monetary transactions in which there is a shortage \-in typified and = standardised exchange media (so that workers\- have to be dismissed = because banks cannot or will not advance the \- means of payment for their wages) and at the same time,\- nevertheless, = typified and standardised exchange media (e. g. \-typified clearing = cheques and goods warrants etc.) cannot be \-issued because a certain = authority, e.g. a central bank, has the \- monopoly for note issues. - (14) LEGAL TENDER: Legal tender is\- the = legal prescription for every recipient of monetary payments \-to accept = paper money or inferior coins at a fixed value. This\- forced exchange rate for general means of circulation, prescribed\- for = every citizen, must not be mixed up, as happened in Berlin in \-the = discussion of West & East marks, with a fixed or controlled\- exchange rate for foreign exchange. The word "Zwangskurs" (legal = \-tender) is far older than 100 years and was always used in the\- way = here described, in royal Prussian edicts, in imperial\- Austrian regulations and even by Marx. Another use of it proves\- only = ignorance of the terminology of economics. - Ulrich von \-Beckerath., = 25.1.52. --------------- SOME NOTES BY JOHN ZUBE, \-ADDING OR COMMENTING = TO THE ABOVE SUMMARY: (15) FALLEN & FAL LING\- PRICES: Fallen prices must not be mixed up with falling prices.\- = The former tend to encourage buying and reduce hoarding. They do usually = originate at the goods side and lead to corresponding \- additional turnover, to new orders and employment. The later tend\- to = deter buying and lead to deflationary hoarding, sales\- difficulties, = bankruptcies & unemployment. Moreover, the former\- tend to fall step by step according to developments on the goods\- side = (technological improvements). The latter tend to occur more\- generally = and evenly because they are due to a deflationary money\- shortage. This difference may be statistically indistinguishable \-but = it is of great economic importance. Because of this \-distinction price = levels cannot rapidly enough adapt to a \-deflationary reduction in the = money supply - contrary to the \- expectations and predictions of most economists of the Austrian \-School = of Economics. - (16) MARKET & MONETARY DESPOTISM: A\- market subject to = monetary despotism isn't free. To prevent and \-end both, inflation and = deflation (capital destruction and \- unemployment ), monetary freedom has to be introduced. - (17)\- GOLD = STANDARDS, DIFFERENCES THAT ARE IMPORTANT: A gold standard \-as an = exclusive currency is very different from a gold standard\- as a=20 permitted and preferred but competing currency. It is as\- different in = its effects as a creditor's legal claim to payment \-in gold coins, even = when a debtor has none and cannot obtain any,\- is from the right of debtors to pay their creditors in gold only\- = whenever they possess it (or contractually obliged themselves to\- = supply it) and otherwise and normally to pay only in gold\- values, in any acceptable currency, by gold accounting or gold\- = clearing. For the latter there need not be a single coin of gold\- in a = country, although a small gold coin circulation would be \- preferable. The former amounts often to torturing a deaf and dumb = \-person in order to extract a confession from him. The latter\- payment = method is, under monetary freedom, available to every \-pr oductive person. - (18) COVER FOR MONEY ISSUES: As money cover\- can = serve anything that is found acceptable by well informed\- acceptors of = a paper money in a free market. - (19) ISSUE\-PRINCIPLE IN THE MONETARY = SPHERE & IN THE CAPITAL MARKET: The \- right to issue and its principles can be applied not only in the\- = monetary sphere but also in the capital market. There it can\- finance = e.g. a libertarian take-over of a bureaucratic democracy,\- a libertarian revolution in a dictatorship, education, innovation and = research, desert irrigation, even space exploration. Its \-monetary = application is essential for the financing of a rightful\- defensive war and of a rightful revolution. - (20) REDEMPTION IN\- RARE = METALS: Redemption in rare metals BY THE ISSUER OR A\- RESERVE BANK is = not required to preserve the value of a paper-\-money. It can be = replaced by acceptability (for all kinds of\- consumer goods and services and for other due or soon due debts) under = the control of a free market \-rate (against rare metal weight units). = This would leave the\- discount possibility as a necessary feature but = would, generally, \- lead to a par rate of the paper money on a free gold market. It\- would = not be a gold redemption by the issuer but a gold clearing \-standard. = It would transfer redemption from the issuer to the\- free gold market - for whosoever would need it or would be \-doubtful = or suspicious. This possibility was not sufficiently \-discussed by the = advocates of a 100% gold dollar. - (21)\- GOVERNMENT SPENDING & = INFLATION: Inflationary government\- spending is not "spending", no more so than private forgery is or = \-official and forceful requisitioning. - (22) MONEY & CREDIT = \-CREATION? Nobody can create money or credit out of nothing, no \-more = so than creating energy and matter out of no thing. What\- appears or is considered as "creation" is either a forced = or fiat \-"value" or a replacement system temporarily substituting = suitable \-bills or notes for unsuitable ones (for general circulation), = \- clearing or fraud. - (23) DISCOUNT POSSIBILITY IS ESSENTIAL: The = \-possibility of suffering a discount is a necessary feature of a\- free = monetary system. It would draw depreciated notes quickly out\- of circulation. They would be rapidly paid back to the issuer, who = \-has still to accept them at par. This discount would thus be\- = welcomed by his debtors. The more the notes are discounted the \- more rapidly they would return. With the returned notes the = \-circulation and the discount would be reduced. It is obvious that = \-while the discount continues new issues will be hard to impossible \- to achieve. People will simply refuse to accept them - unless\- they owe = the issuer something. - (24) LEGAL TENDER & GRESHAM'S\- LAW: Without = legal tender and under free monetary competition,\- each exchange = medium, being subject to free market rating and the\- right to refuse it altogether, the good = types of exchange media\- and value standards would soon drive out the = bad ones. The economists of the German monetary freedom school = recognized this\- truth before most of those of the Austrian School of Economics \-and = other economists, did. Inflation-proof money is not\- impossible - it is = merely outlawed. Let good money drive out the \-bad : Repeal Legal = Tender! - J. Z., 77 & 97. \par GERMAN UNIFICATION AND ITS "CURRENCY REFORM": The same "problem" = \-might soon confront us in Korea and, hopefully, in Mainland\- China, = too! - Among the mistakes of this German "currency reform"\- was the further centralization of two state socialistic central\- banks = into one, all in the name of non-communism or even \-anti-communism and = a supposedly free market or capitalistic\- economy. Furthermore, the = East Mark, worth on the free market as\- little as 5% of the West Mark, was, nevertheless, exchanged at \-the = rate of 1 for 1. That provided the recipients with unearned\- purchasing = power to that extent. Fed up with inferior consumer \- goods, provided before in East Germany by themselves, under the = \-"principle" of "production for use, not profit", and at last\- = enjoying freedom to travel across the frontier and to buy West\- German = goods already imported into East Germany, they bo ycotted their own shoddy and short-supplied goods and bought almost\- = exclusively West German - or even European and World goods, with the = West marks thus obtained as a gift - at the expense of the West German = taxpayers or inflation victims. What\- did this mean for their own enterprises? They had to shut down or\- = only very few could still work in them. The rest were then put on\- = unemployment relief, also paid in DM, at the expense of the West\- German taxpayers and sometimes they remained nominally on the = pay\-roll, but received their full wage, while being told to go home, = since \- there was no work for them. All this was falsely called free market and = capitalist economics! Who granted such wage credits? Again \-the German = taxpayers, I suppose and all inflation victims. Since\- mostly husband and wives did work and their combined unemployment = \-benefits amounted to about a full salary in DM for one, and this at = \-the often high wages, due to the high productivity in West Germany, = many\- couples took their cheap little East German cars and went on a grand tour \-through Europe, paid for by = the West German taxpayers or current and future inflation victims. Did = these \-owe them, collectively, this kind of indemnification, even to\- those who did not flee - when they did have the chance to do so,\- even = to those who for all too long upheld the East German regime \-and its = anti-economic "policies"? What all this amounted to was \- more state socialist and welfare state redistributionism under \-the = communist slogan: From the able to the needy! All this in\- the name of = anti-communism! - The purchasing power of wages and\- salaries must = ultimately be EARNED by productive efforts \- providing wanted goods and services at market prices. One can't\- get = away permanently from that general rule. Thus the East German workers = \-should have been paid in monetised assignments upon their own \- goods and services, i.e. in alternative, optional and \-non-coercive = currencies, as the only rightful and honest \-solution. The East German = paper money could have been gradually\- withdrawn via taxation. To force = most of the old bureaucrats \- out of their offices and into productive jobs, most of it should have\- = been "paid" with it. It should no longer have been legal tender\- or = have been exchanged 1:1 for the legal tender of West Germany \- but left to whatever value it still could derive from tax\--foundation = and voluntary acceptance on the East German market.\- That acceptance = and purchasing power would be more and more limited, the more = alternative\- and sound exchange media would be freely provided. Wage and salary \-level equality cannot = be provided by decree - except at the \-expense of other producers and = consumers. Wages and salaries in \-East Germany, paid in whatever = optional currencies would be \- issued there or accepted there from other national currencies, at\- = their market values, and using whatever value standard would \-be found = acceptable, should have found their own market levels.\- The lower productivity of a relatively underdeveloped country \-like = Eastern Germany - or any other undeveloped or underdeveloped\- country, = cannot be made up for, effectively, by burdening the \- more developed countries. That foreign aid notion has largely led\- only = to further abuses, especially in government to government \-aid. = Subsidies do only encourage waste and inefficiency and low\- = productivity and idleness. One can always have as much=20 \-unemployment and poverty as one is willing to pay for. To add\- East = Germans to the Welfare rolls of West Germans was no solution. Nobody = should be his brother's keeper when his brother \-is able to work for = his own support. - The replacement of the \- forced and exclusive currency of East Germany should have been = \-rightful and rational, by depriving it of all exclusivity and\- = coercion and leaving it only legal tender power towards the tax = \-authorities. The new \line=20 East German State governments, under these conditions, need \-not even = be under any prohibition to issue the returned East\- German Marks again = or issue new ones. The right to refuse their\- acceptance or to discount = them, combined with the obligation to=20 \-accept them at par in taxes, would have been enough. In the \-absence = of the issue monopoly and legal tender, newly and freely\- issued sound = alternative currencies, all optional, with juridical and l egal tender power only towards their issuers, using any value\- standard = acceptable to issuers and acceptors, would soon have\- driven out the = governmental paper money. Taxes should also have \- been payable with the new alternative currencies, but at their \-market = value compared with the East German paper money. This old State paper = \-money should have lost its monopoly for tax-payments, too. But \- note holders should remain "privileged" to get this money\- accepted = THERE at par. - The West German DM and the East German \-mark should = have been freely market rated against each other,\- while the East = German mark still existed. - The West German DM\- should likewise have been deprived of its exclusive and forced\- = currency status, in East Germany and West Germany. Liberation\-from the = communist system in every respect! No monopoly, not even\- any exchange medium and value standard monopoly any longer. No \-more = coercive central banking powers in East and West. -\- Moreover, under = state socialism there was excess\- bureaucratisation and manpower waste = in most East German \- enterprises. E.g., bookshops of a size that were run in West\- Germany = by 1-3 employees were often run by 12-20 in East Germany. \-I suppose = that in most other State "enterprises" similar manpower\- wastes occurr ed and that the average productivity per employee was low\- and their = earned wages correspondingly low, too. Under these \-conditions Western = award wages could naturally not be paid to all\- and not even to few, if the few continued with their previous = low\-productivity. Keeping up with Western productivity standards must = \-have felt like capitalistic exploitation at its worst to them. \- The notion that they have to earn their wages by their own = \-productivity is never very strong in East and West among any\- emplo yees. But realistic steps towards self-management within enterprises, in = any of their numerous forms, could soon come to help do away with this = lack of insight\- and understanding. - Not only could East German output = hardly be\- sold to previous East German customers but the productive capital\- was = run down and frequently breaking down and no longer worth\- maintaining and repairing, especially when orders had largely = disappeared. While in N.Y., in 1990, I met with an anarchist machinist & = foreman, who was con sulted regarding the value of an East German factory and its equipment. = His respected judgement was: Both are worth only scrapping. They could = not be made to pay their way under free market and free trade = conditions. In some instances the infrastructure w as even worse: For instance: some road surfacing consisted of\- tailings = of uranium mining that were still radioactive but, the East \-German = authorities had asserted that the radioactivity would be low\- enough to be safe. Even the West German authorities were not = \-convinced of this and so they had to remove and replace these road\- = surfaces. Sometimes I wonder whether there are any limits to what\- government planners are capable of and their victims are prepared \-to = put up with. Assume that cryonics would have succeeded in freezing and reviving human beings successfully, without = damaging their tissues and able to cure any diseases that might have = killed them. Would we then have to expect at least some governments,\- after their wrongful and foolish policies had once again, lead to = mass\- unemployment, to freeze these unemployed and unfreeze them only = \-when the government would see that there were jobs waiting for \- them? Would it be beyond any government to assert in such cases\- that = it would act only in the public interest or even rational \-interest of = its individual victims? - Enough of this: What should have been done = monetarily upon re-unification? The East \- German workers should have remained dependent upon incomes from \-their = own production. Thus they should have been paid in\- assignments upon = their own goods and services, to the extent that \-these were still = produced and sold. Towards goods and services \- provided by West Germany, Western Europe and the World, such\- token = money would have had a low exchange rate and low purchasing\- power. Its = power could have increased only gradually and \- naturally with increased quantity of and quality of products and\- = services. Payments in DM would only have become possible to the\- extent = that DM could have been earned. Payments in other foreign\- currencies, likewise. And earnings and accounting in them should\- have = been free. But compared with some of the more underdeveloped\- countries = East Germany would have been relatively developed. And \-now it could = have freely traded wit h them, using first of all\- assignments upon its own products and = services to pay for imports \-from these countries. And in these = countries East German inferior \-products might still have been = acceptable at lower market prices,\- in preference to higher priced quality products from e.g. West = \-Germany. Thus while less East Germans might have bought their own = \-products and rather, to the extent that they could afford to pay \- for them, with their own means of exchange, the better products \-of the = somewhat free world, more trade with the Western World\- would have = opened up or could have been opened up fast - by\- importers using East = German and competitively issued clearing\- certificates that had only value in clearing against East German = \-goods and services. But this kind of monetary and clearing and\- free = trade freedom did not and does not exist in West Germany,\- either. But it could have been the fastest, most rightful and = \-efficient way to induce East Germans workers to "pull their socks up" = and \-become more productive. - Beyond that they should have offered \- tax exemptions for all new investments that would provide more \-jobs = and, moreover, they should have offered the refuge capital\- of the = world the option of value preserving clauses of whatever kind they wan ted, for their foreign investments in East Germany,\- quite exempt from = East German and West German existing \-legislation on this subject. - = What was done was, at least \- temporarily, more destructive to the productivity in East Germany than = the East German regime had been. It put more people out of\- work and = subsidised their unemployment at the expense of the\- remaining employed, especially those in West Germany. Moreover, I\- = suppose that the limitations to progressive income taxation, that = \-existed in East Germany already in the late 50-s (maximum rate \- 20%, i.e., what many libertarians in the West hope to achieve as the = flat rate tax!), were probably abolished in East Germany, upon = unification,\- which meant that the progressive taxation demanded by = the\- com munist manifesto of 1848 was increased for East Germans. In \-another = rationalisation of East German production, under\- communism, at least = the seniority system was largely done away\- with, so that quite junior = but very capable people could quickly \- rise into "senior" management positions. Indeed, often they might \-have = been quite "capable" only within this system of a centrally \-planned = and misdirected economy but this was certainly not always \- the case. To the extent that they were party people, its kind of\- = seniority system would also have existed. But the traditional and\- = probably still widely continued seniority systems of West Germany, = often \- supported by unionists, with special lower rates and less positions open = for younger people, might, through the unification\- have been = introduced in Eastern Germany as a backward step.\- Furthermore, before = the reunification it had a managed trade with=20 \-the Eastern Block countries, run largely for the benefit of the\- = Soviet Regime. The disadvantages of this trading would have = \-disappeared. But they would have been at least partly replaced by\- whatever protectionist trade restrictions West Germany has put \-itself = under. Foremost among these might be the prohibition of\- freely and = competitively issued international clearing\-certificates, as proposed = by Prof. E. Milhaud and Ulrich von\- Beckerath. - In other words, some market or capitalist or contract = \-forces were allowed to operate in East Germany - but in West \-Germany = and the newly united Germany - only to a limited extent. Economic = interventionism and \- bureaucratic mismanagement went on and to some extent was even = \-increased. The situation was somewhat similar to that of the = \-"liberation" of the former Soviet Union and its satellites. This = \-"liberation" went never fa r enough, especially with regard to\- monetary liberation. - If a full = economic liberation had been\- achieved, for East and West - Germany, = then we would soon have\- seen a new and much larger "economic miracle" = developing in East\- and West Germany, much faster and more successful than the previous = "economic miracle" of West Germany, based on \-relatively stable = currency and the ending of most price controls,\- all rationing, forced = deliveries and many war-time \- regulations, also upon many long term foreign loans or even\- subsidies, = like those of the Marshall Plan. The latter could be \-more than made up = for - by free private foreign investments on a\- stable currency and tax = exemption basis, spreading from free \- trade industrial areas, zones and ports to the whole country, but\- = based only on voluntary free trade communities, with voluntary\- = protectionist communities left free to compete as well as they\- can or = believe that they could.=20 \par GESELL, SILVIO, HIS ERRORS IN THE MONETARY SPHERE, WITH = REFUTATIONS:=20 \par GIFT EXCHANGES, COERCIVE ONES & GOVERNMENTS: Governments are\- = coercive "gift" exchanges that coercively transfer part of your = \-property and income to others. - J. Z., 22.4.93. - See: TRANSFER\- = PAYMENTS, WELFARE STATE, TAXATION, EXPLOITATION , PROPERTY RIGHTS,\- FINANCIAL FREEDOM. \par GIFT VOUCHERS: See: RAILWAY MONEY & GIFT VOUCHERS; SHOP\- = CURRENCIES & GIFT VOUCHERS. \par GOLD BUGS & THE ERRORS THAT ARE BUGGING THEM:=20 \par GOLD BUGS OR ADVOCATES OF A 100% GOLD REDEMPTION BY THE ISSUER OR\- = CLASSICAL GOLD STANDARD, TALLIES & OPTIONAL GOLD CLEARING \-STANDARD: = GOLD BUGS as well as their opponents have still not\- taken a sufficient = stand towards the technical, voluntaristic=20 \-and competitive alternative of an optional gold standard that is = \-merely used as a weight unit, for accounting, clearing and \-value = reckoning purposes, for debts, prices, wages and salaries, \-taxes, = rents, interest=20 payments, dividends, fees, subscriptions \-etc. This could but need not = be combined with the right of \-debtors, who do have sufficient gold = metal weight units, to pay \-with them, as means of exchange. But = creditors should never be\- granted the general authority to demand payment of debts owed to \-them = in gold metal unless this payment has been explicitly \-contracted. Even = then, since a dealing in futures is involved, \- withdrawal premiums should be agreed upon in case a debtor cannot\- = fulfil such a contract. To impose gold weight units as the only = \-permitted value standard and as the only permitted means of payment is = not only wrong but harmful, too. Under these \- conditions the economy does not fast or in the long run sufficiently = adapt itself to the shortage of a rare metal. In \-proof I want to point = out that the tax foundation money in form\- of wooden split sticks of = tallies was used in a country like \- England even to 1826 - for centuries. Surely, there had been\- enough = time for all prices and wages to adapt sufficiently to the \-existing = low quantity of gold, by corresponding low prices and \-wages, as the = Austrian School writers believe the could and \- have? If so, then the tallies would not have been invented and \-used = as supplementary means of payment and clearing - issued in anticipation = of taxes to be paid and then circulated and finally \-used in tax = payments.=20 \par GOLD IN "THE" GOLD STANDARD: Gold has a unique usefulness as a\- = value standard. Even as an exclusive and forced value standard it\- = could not do much harm, except to the sensibilities of those who \- hate gold with an almost religious favour. But as an exclusive\- and = forced means of exchange it would be costly, cumbersome and \-all too = limited. It would limit trade to the transactions that it\- could mediate and outlaw or reduce to barter all others. To that\- = extent and although its purchasing power would then be much \-increased, = it would rather be harmful than helpful. We would all \-have to wear = "chains of go ld" and be correspondingly restricted\- in our productive and exchange = efforts. For many centuries, when \-gold and silver were almost the only = permitted and customary \-means of payment, prices expressed in gold and = silver were, \- indeed, very low. But not yet low enough to mediate all desired\- = transactions in a monetary way. Even into the 20th century and in\- = spite of the availability of many other means of payment and\- clearing options, degrees of barter still persisted in developed = \-countries and in previous centuries they were quite extensive.\- = Moreover, people depending on trade, desperately tried to provide \- money substitutes or clearing avenues and non-cash payment\- methods, do = get away from their all too large dependency upon\- gold. To grant a = debtor who possesses gold the right to pay a\- creditor with it is one = thing. But to grant a creditor the right\- to demand gold from a debtor, who does not possess it and could\- only = offer his goods and services at their gold values, in\- corresponding = certificates, is destructive and bankrupting\- monetary despotism. Even = if gold coins were not only the best or\- among the best value standards, to force them upon all as \-exclusive = means of exchange would be no more rightful than\- insisting that all = who want to drive automobiles must not be allowed to drive in the cheap = cars they could afford but only in\- a Mercedes or Rolls Royce, even though they could not afford \-them. A = free market for monetary and clearing media and standards \-would not = insist upon a monopoly and f orced acceptance at par, not even for the best kind of exchange medium = and value standard. It\- would respect subjective value choices and = consumer sovereignty, \- freedom of contract, free enterprise, free choice of jobs and = professions, free trade and property rights in the monetary \-sphere as = well. - J. Z., 16.4.97. \par GOLD STANDARD: I do not favour "THE" gold standard imposed upon = \-all people in a country but only the kind of gold standards that = \-people would voluntarily apply among themselves, in their own \- payment communities. But I do also favour any kind of other value\- = standard that people agree to adopt between themselves without\- making = any attempt to politically impose it upon any dissenters \-in any = territorial State. \par GOLD STANDARDS, DIFFERENCES THAT ARE IMPORTANT: A gold standard as = an exclusive currency is very different from a gold standard as a = permitted and preferred but competing currency. It is as \- different in its effects as a creditor's legal claim to payment \-in = gold coins, even when a debtor has none and cannot obtain any ,\-is from = the right of debtors to pay their creditors in gold only\- whenever they possess it (or contractually obliged themselves to = \-supply it) and otherwise and normally to pay only in gold\- weight = values, in any acceptable currency, by gold accounting or gold\- clearing. For the latter there need not be a single coin of gold\- in a = country, although a small gold coin circulation would be\- preferable. = The former amounts often to torturing a deaf and dumb\- person in order to extract a confession from him. The latter \-payment = method is, under monetary freedom, available to every productive person. = - J. Z., 77 & 97. \par GOODS WARRANTS: See: WENNING, EDWARD, Universal Prosperity.\- = According to Tandy, Voluntary Socialism, p. 205, he proposed a\- giant = coop company to issue scrip redeemable in its goods. - Text\- wanted for = fiching. - J. Z., 97. \par GOVERNMENT MONEY: There is no such thing as government money. -\- = Prime Minister, U.K., Margaret Thatcher. - Did she really \-consider = the paper money of the Bank of England to be a PRIVATE \-and not a = governmental institution? But, indeed, it becomes a \- somewhat sound money only as a clearing medium for taxes = (tax-\-foundation) and has in general circulation otherwise only a\- = forced value, as a monopoly money and one with legal tender. - \-J. Z., = 16.4.97. \par GOVERNMENT RESOURCES: A misnomer if ever there was one. All\- = governments are, essentially, without any "resources" of their \-own, = unless they adopt the stance of King Louis XIV, who once \-impertinently = claimed: I AM the State! - Like many kings and\- despots he claimed a country and his people as his private \-property, = to do with them as he pleased. But somewhat enlightened \-people should = not recognize such claims, not even when transferred to parliaments or elected rulers, in democratic or republican or = \-constitutionally (more or less) governed countries. What\- = governments are physically in control of are the remaining assets\- = remaining from their former and recent robberies, the extorted \- monopoly profits from their self-proclaimed and maintained\- = monopolies, e.g. the telephone, postal and central banking money \-issue = monopoly, their legal and juridical and administrative \-monopolies, the = remaining assets from their conquests and\- confiscations. But none of them are, by rights, the property of\- any = government and all of them should, as far as possible and as\- soon as = possible be restored to their victims. Including e.g., \- their "reserves" in gold, silver and foreign exchange, without = \-justification or common sense accumulated in their central banks.\- - = J. Z., 17.8.94, 17.4.97. \par GOVERNMENT SPENDING & INFLATION: Inflationary government\- spending = is not "spending", no more so than private forgery is or \-official and = forceful requisitioning. - J. Z., 77 & 97.=20 \par GOVERNMENT SPENDING: Government "spending" is really indicating\- a = form of confiscation, via direct or indirect taxation or the \-inflation = tax, and of distributing this loot to favourites or \- interested people as political bribes. Legal tender and the \-monopoly = of the central bank for note issues and the popular and \-academic = belief (among most economists) in monetary despotism,\- makes this abuse not only possible but likely. - J. Z., 8.4.97. \par GOVERNMENT SPENDING: Government "spending" is still considered \-as = proper and honest spending, although only stolen funds or \-fraudulent = and coercive requisitioning certificates are involved.\- From the = budgets of their "spending" policies some kinds of \- miracle cures are expected. To me that merely resembles expecting\- = economic miracles from the "spending" activities of a community\- of = thieves, robbers, con men and organized criminals, while \- completely ignoring the correspondingly decreased spending of\- their = victims and also outlawing the free issue options for sound competing = currencies and "regulating" or "controlling" issues of and trades with = capital certificates. - J. Z.,\- 11.4.97, 5.9.02. \par GOVERNMENT SPENDING: Issuing a monopoly money & forcing it into = \-circulation through this monopoly and legal tender, thus\- enforcing = its acceptance by every creditor, at par, when it \-has already been = much depreciated by the government, does hardly \- deserve the term "spending". Spending is a voluntary act and it\- = involves using only what rightfully belongs to oneself in\- voluntary = exchanges with others, for mutual benefit. - J. Z.,\-12.5.95, 16.4.97. \par GRADUALISM OR RADICALISM IN THE ABOLITION OF THE CENTRAL BANKS' = \-ISSUE MONOPOLY & LEGAL TENDER POWER? - Like with the abolition\- of = price control, and enforced delivery quotas and rationing, the \- radical solution is morally the only correct one, economically the best, = the most beneficial, \-the least harmful one. However, a central bank = that can manage to \-continue to exist on its merits, without any = privileges and legal \- tender powers for general circulation, is welcome to its \-remaining = voluntary customers. And legal tender of all kinds of \-IOUs towards the = issuer of each type ought to remain, as an\- obvious = self-responsibility. No one but the issuer is morally \- obliged to accept his notes at par with their nominal value or at\- all. = The juridical defence of legal tender, namely that there \-ought to be = one or the other means of exchange by which a debtor\- can always discharge his debts, can be replaced either by private = \-contracts on the kinds of means of exchange to be used in\- = settlement, or, in case such agreements have been omitted, by the = \-juridical assumption that a debt can be settled by any l ocal currency that stands locally at par with its nominal value. Since, = in these cases, \-nothing to the contrary has been agreed upon, this = must then be a \-judicious assumption. No creditor has any reason to = complain when \- he has not contracted some other payment and when local currency, = \-standing at par, is offered to him in settlement. Since the local\- = currency stands at par, he could change it locally into any other = \-currency he desires, at is par value - less the \- transaction fee. As a rule creditors do not tend to resist\- debtors = prepared to pay them on time and in a sound currency. When debtors and = creditors live in different locations and again, \-both were foolish or = careless enough not to state the means of=20 \-payment required in the settlement, then the presumption would be = \-that either the local currency of the creditor, as long as it\- stands = at par, could be used in repayment or that of the debtor's\- location, or the kind of currency in which the loan was granted. So I = do not expect any difficulties in this sphere, \-never mind the = apprehensions or pretences of lawyers. - Whenever debtors have = difficulties in meeting their \- repayments then, before driving them into liquidation or\- bankruptcy = and in the interest of both sides (if necessary \-adjudicated by = previously agreed-upon arbitration avenues), the\- debtors should be free to offer settlement in assignments upon their = own goods or service delivery capacity, in suitable denominations, = freely transferable, at a discount to be\- agreed upon or arbitrated, up = to the full value of the debt. - \- J. Z., 10.4.97. \par GREAT DEPRESSION, THE: Nobody had any idea how it would end and\- = whether it would end. - From an ABC-TV ad for one of its\- coming-up = broadcasts, 14.4.97. - That is a typical journalistic\- statement, quite = contrary to many facts. While this might have=20 \-applied to ignorant and disinterested and prejudiced men of the\- = street and journalists - and many others, a t least during the Great Depression in Germany numerous proposals for a = solution were made: Ulrich von Beckerath, THE PRACTICAL REALISATION OF = THE MILHAUD PROPOSALS, 1934, 1935, reproduced in PEACE PLANS 9, page 5: = "\'85 during the last few years the German Government received some 50,000 = proposals and the Reichsbank over a thousand during the first months = after the 13}{\f0\fs24\super th}{\f0\fs24=20 . of July, 1931. In former days, too, there was no shortage of projects. = In his article "Property and Law", published 14.4.1848, Bastiat repor ts that by that date over 500 proposals for the organisation of labour = and as many for the organisation of credit had been submitted to the = French Government. \'85 The total number of post-war proposals aiming at combating the general = trade depression, either published or submitted to Governments, exceeds = almost certainly 100,000." - As far as I know, all of these were never = published nor\- discussed & evaluated systematically. Naturally, most would have been = statist\- or other nonsensical proposals but they would have indicated = at\- least that many people believed they had the solution and that it\- differed from the monetary policies pursued by the government. At \-the = same time, thousands of monetary self-help experiments took\- place, = mostly rather flawed and almost all were rapidly suppressed by the = government, which had no solution to offer.\- Whether the private and cooperative alternative exchange media\- and = value standards were honest and efficient or not, all were\- officially = condemned and suppressed, regardless of the basic\- self-help rights involved. And probably hundred-thousands of articles = \-and pamphlets were published, supposedly offering some of these = solutions, but\- were considered and discussed only in small circles. = Monetary\- despotism had the floor=20 and still does, even when it frankly \-admits its ignorance and = helplessness to cope with the monetary \-problems. But it will not admit = or even know that it has caused \-them in the first place. \par GRECO, THOMAS:=20 \par GRECO, TOM: Tom Greco, when I visited him in April 90, had just = \-given his second edition of his booklet MONEY AND DEBT: A \-SOLUTION = TO THE GLOBAL CRISIS, to the printer and has now a \- booklength treatment out : NEW MONEY FOR HEALTHY COMMUNITIES. He is = looking for a book on scrip by Cohrsson. Title not\- known. I never = heard of it but know that there were many scrip \-issue experiments in = the U.S. of the 30'. Some of them were\- de scribed in Milhaud's Annals. Tom Greco's address: P.O. Box 42\-663 = Tucson, Arizona 85 733, (602) 577-2187. For his books he \-offers 30 - = 50% discount for quantities from 10 - 60+ copies. See\- my LMP = literature list. \par GRESHAM'S LAW & LEGAL TENDER: ATKINSON, EDWARD, Pamphlet, title = \-unknown, referred to by TANDY, Voluntary Socialism, p. 103,\- stated: = "... an act by which bad money may be forced into use so \-as to drive = good money out of circulation." - All correct\- versions of Gresham's Law, with their author, title and date of = publication, preferably also page reference, are wanted by LMP,\- = towards a monograph on this subject. - J. Z., 12.4.97. \par GRESHAM'S LAW: Bad money legalized drives away good money. -\- = Edward Atkinson, quoted by W.B. Greene, Fragments, 269. \par GRESHAM'S LAW: FALSE & CORRECT VERSIONS:=20 \par GRESHAM'S LAW: the proposition that if coins containing metal of\- = different value enjoy equal legal-tender power, then the\- 'cheapest' = ones will be used for payment, the better ones will\- tend to disappear from circulation - or, to use the usual but not\- = quite correct phrase, that bad money drives out good money. This = \-phrase recurs in the Royal Proclamation 'decrying' base silver\- coin in 1560, when Gresham is known to have been the government's chief = advisor in such matters. There is also a memorandum of his \-(1559) = which argues this case. The so-called 'law' can be found\- in many = earlier writings. (Page 343 n) - Page 297: "... the\- essential point about the legal ratio of the = two metals does not\- seem to have been noticed: theorists realised, or = course, that\- the metal which this ratio overvalues with respect to the = other \- will tend to drive out the one it undervalues; they had discussed \-this = phenomenon at least from Moline's time - one may in fact, if\- one so = desires, subsume it under Gresham's Law; ..." - Joseph A.\- Schumpeter, = History of Economic Analyses. \par GRESHAM'S LAW: The so-called Gresham's Law, in its popular\- = version: "Bad money drives out good money", is a wrong \-generalisation = possibly first uttered by MacLeod. - J.Z., 5.4.85.\- Money that is bad = through legal tender (with a market value \- below par, but with a full nominal value through legal tender) \-drives = out good money, that has a full market value but is not \-legal tender. = It drives the good money to where it is more \-appreciated, into private = deep pockets or into other countries. \- But in the absence of legal tender the bad money tends to be\- = refused or discounted and becomes thus less and less acceptable \-while = the good money is widely accepted and finally drives the \-bad money out = of circulation. - J. Z., 5.4.85, 14.4.97. \par GROWTH, ECONOMIC: Under complete monetary freedom annual real\- = growth rates between 10% & 20% could be achieved. - Siegie, n.d. \par HANDBOOK ON MONETARY FREEDOM: This compilation of alphabetized\- = notes towards such a handbook is my own working copy only, with\- some = quotes and references that I managed to include so far. It\- indicates the limits of my knowledge and reading and my limited\- time = and energy input. I can only indicate its aim and purpose but cannot, on = my own, reach them by my own efforts: A free\- opinion and ideas, = reference and knowledge market or free \- trade centre or clearing house or free exchange for monetary \-freedom = ideas, terms, arguments, also an archive, library and information = centre, star ting with a growing encyclopedia, with open entry, on the whole subject = of monetary and financial freedom. In it, I hope or predict, if\- only = enough interested and sufficiently enlightened contributors\- do turn up, the best arguments, ideas and proposals will finally\- = drive out the bad and worst ones, because none of the latter will\- have = legal tender power or any monopoly or privilege. - J.Z., 11.4.97, = 5.9.02. \par HARD MONEY VS. SOFT MONEY: Money needs neither to hard nor soft\- = but, rather, optional and should, preferably, be sound. - Then \-the = good money will be preferred by potential acceptors and thus\- drive out = the bad money, which can, in the absence of an \- exclusive currency status and legal tender powers, no longer be = \-forced, at par, upon unwilling creditors. - J. Z., 4.9.92 &\-15.4.97. = - Whether a ruler is made of wood, plastic or metal does \-not matter = much if anything for its usefulness. Only it s relative\- accuracy and stability, convenient size, availability and = easy \-applicability does. Even mass produced and very cheap, thin and\- flexible rulers are accurate and stable enough for most purposes. - The = marking of goods prices, wages, salaries, debts, fees,\- subscriptions, = taxes, interest etc., can be done in supposedly "hard"\- value standards, in form of gram or ounce weight units of an\- agreed = upon fineness, of rare metal according to its value on a free \-market = for that metal. Only some trading in such units is needed, e.g., for = fold weight units on a free gold \- market, to establish and confirm its market value with regard to\- other = metals, value standards, currencies, goods and services. The "hardness" = of this standard does not require that the issue of any exchange\- media or clearing certificates has been covered by its units, either = 100% or\- fractionally or that the issuer is under any obligation to = redeem his\- notes or certificates in physical value standard units upon = demand. It might even be\- harder for him in some ways, but still possible, and much easier in = other ways, to simply preserve the par\-value of his issue with their = nominal gold weight value, primarily by \-accepting them himself at par = with their gold weight value, and, perhaps,=20 obliging his\- debtors, by corresponding contracts, to do the same, as = long as\- they still owe him something, which they can repay with those = of\- his notes which they would accept, at any time at par. The free\- gold market of the world would provide the greatest possible and\- = safest "redemption fund" for all notes reckoning in gold weight\- values = and kept at par with them. Such notes should not be\- dogmatically classed as "soft" money, as if they were as depreciated = or\- valueless as government paper money often becomes. Those who\- = provide cheap, plastic, cardboard or wooden rulers do not have to\- have them fully covered, each single one of them, by their equivalent = in a platinum ruler, either. Most people do not aim at \-purchasing gold = - if they do, they could, on the gold market - \- but, rather want to be sure that their notes and certificates are = \-readily accepted at par at least on the local consumer goods and\- = service market. That kind of cover can be indefinitely expanded,\- with = the growing demand for it am ong the consumers, without\- depreciating the value standard units used. = Only the value\--carriers: the exchange media, expressing a certain = number of \-value standard units, would have to be correspondingly = increased\- , temporarily - only to flow back again to the issuer, upon their = redemption in the ready for sale and wanted consumer goods and services. = - It is very misleading to call all\- monies not 100 % redeemable in = gold mere "soft" money. - J. Z.,\-22.8.92. \par HEINLEIN, ROBERT: Discussion of his monetary views in his\- = fiction. (He shares most of the views of the Austrians.) \par HUMAN RIGHTS & MONETARY FREEDOM: See especially the long letter\- = by Ulrich von Beckerath on this.=20 \par HUMAN RIGHTS ASPECTS IGNORED BY MOST MODERN AUTHORS, See: = \-ECONOMIC & HUMAN RIGHTS ASPECTS IGNORED BY MOST MODERN AUTHORS. \par IDEAL CURRENCIES, SHOULD THEY BECOME EXCLUSIVE & LEGAL TENDER = \-ONES?=20 \par IDEAL MONEY SYSTEM OR MONETARY FREEDOM? The discussion on a = \-supposedly ideal money system for all, if such a thing were really = \-possible, is likely to be almost endless. Alternatively,\- discussion = on monetary freedom for all does appear to be finite,=20 \-since it would confine itself to elaborating the rights,\- liberties, = tolerance and opportunities existing or to be established in this = sphere, in order for individuals or their \-voluntary associations to = use them as they please, at least among \- themselves. - J. Z., free after MFNL&MF 3/4, Feb. 89. \par INCONVENIENCE OF A GREAT VARIETY OF MEANS OF PAYMENT, UNIFORMITY OF = MEANS OF PAYMENT? - This fact or opinion \-is often used in an attempt = to justify the uniformity of an\- imposed means of exchange and value = standard. But overlooked is that the \- inconvenience of a great variety was usually accepted because the\- = inconvenience of not being able to sell and not being paid would\- have = been even greater. Thus, as long as the convenience of \- monetary transactions was not exceeded by the inconvenience of a\- great = variety in money tokens, a great variety was still\- accepted, = naturally, not a greater variety than people were still \-able to cope = with. The varieties of present priva te notes, like\- cheques, is often overlooked and people can manage to = deal with\-hundred-thousands of different kinds of tickets - or refuse = to \-deal with them. At best and at least money can solve only the\- monetary problems of its voluntary acceptors. In this respect it \-is = not different from any other commodity or service, within the\- circles = of its voluntary acceptors. One can speak rightly of\- "universal" acceptability only within the circulation sphere of a = \-particular kind of money in its payment community, whether that \-be = small or large. In England from 1648 - 1672 there were over\- 20,000 different tokens. They were still voluntarily accepted = \-although many of these tokens not beyond a particular street. -\- = Source: J. Shield Nicholson, Elements of Political Economy, 272.\-- J. = Z., 12.4.97. - See: VARIETIES OF MONEY.=20 \par }\pard \s15\qj\sb120\sa120\keep\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright = {\f0\fs24 INCONVERTIBLE PAPER MONEY & LEGAL TENDER PAPER MONEY: Many = \-authors seem to be unable or unwilling to distinguish between the \- two. They are right only insofar as it matters little whether a \-100% = gold convertible paper money has legal tender or not. Legal \-tender = then cannot depreciate it. Over-issues are prevented by\- the = convertibility obligation and its fulfi lment, as long as \-they function. But legal tender or, its alternative, = free market \-rating for a currency, matter very much as soon as = convertibility\- is temporarily or lastingly abolished. These = undiscriminating\- authors then simply assume that the abolition of convertibility\-, on = its own, would, quite inevitably, lead to the depreciation of a paper = currency,\- since governments do always have a motive for over-issues.\- However, that applies only to inconvertible paper money with \-legal = tender - at least until this money has been so depreciated \-that it is = altogether refused, in spite of the severest\- penalties. But only legal tender permits it to reach that stage. When = \-a paper money has been made inconvertible but NOT given the legal = \-tender privilege then there are at least 2 possible results: The \- paper money is not depreciated but kept at par with its nominal\- gold = weight unit value, especially by being so accepted in \-payment of all = taxes and dues due to a government. The government might then increase taxes in order to withdraw more of its paper \-money from circulation, = giving it more of a taxation reflux or, \-by further taxation, = increasing the demand for it. That was long the \-practice for sound tax = foundation money that did not have any\- legal tender power in general circulation - but only legal tender\- = towards the issuer, the government. The alternative to this is \-that = the government may not care for preserving the value of its \- notes but continue issuing them without arranging for a sufficient = reflux to keep them at par with their nominal value.\- Then there are = two possible effects on the price and wage levels. \-Either these are = marked in the nominal paper value units. Then \- they do become inflated. Or they are not so marked but expressed \-in = e.g. gold weight units, with the government's money only \- accepted, in wages and salaries at its current discount and at par only = if it is so rated in the market. Consequently, prices and wages = expressed \-in these gold weight units remain the same - but the = government's \- money depreciates. Moreover, as long as taxes are still expressed \-in = gold weight units, and payable at par with the government's \-paper = money, the taxpayers have, to that extent, reasons to rejoice. Their tax = \-burden becomes reduced by the degr ee of depreciation of the paper \-money. A still somewhat honest = government would have to\- continue to accept its own paper money IOUs. at par with their nominal = gold weight value units and it would have to fix the taxes in such value = units. But, as we well know, not all governments do so or\- do so all the time. On the contrary. They often express the taxes\- = only in paper value "standards" and accept their over-issued paper money = only at par with this nominal paper value standard.\- Then it has lost = all in-built restraint, under an exclusive \- currency system, any incentive to reduce further issues (in order not = to lose\- out, while spending its notes at a discount and having to = accept them at par in tax revenue). Under the issue monopoly and legal = tender it mig ht find it easier to print more and more of this legal tender \-paper = money rather than raise taxes. Although, through the\- raising of taxes, = it could increase the demand for its paper\- money and, theoretically, = even restore them to par. (In practice\- this would create deflationary difficulties. It is easier to \-increase = taxes to keep its tax foundation money at par than to\- increase them = later, when the depreciation has already set in, to \- restore them to par.) As a rule and politically, the government \-finds = it easier to abuse it legal tender and money monopoly power rather than = to increase\- its taxes to keep its paper money at par with its nominal value = standard unit, a certain weight unit of gold. The other factor that is = almost always \-involved with legal tender is the exclusive currency = status or \- issue monopoly of the central bank. Even in the absence of legal = \-tender it would force people to accept the government's or the central = bank's paper money, to the extent that they do engage in \-monetary = trans actions at all. To that extent that monopoly acts \-like legal tender. = However, without legal tender, people would\- not be obliged to mark out = all their contracts, prices, wages,\- debts, in the depreciating paper "value unit" of the exclusive currency = or exchange medium. They might, instead, go on accepting\- it only as = the exclusive exchange medium allowed to them - but \- only at its market rate. Their prices, wages and debt amounts,\- = expressed in some or the other sound value unit, would remain the = \-same, no matter how much the government inflated its exclusive \- but not forced currency. With one exception: As soon as traders\- and = employees anticipate further paper money depreciation, they\- will tend = to increase their prices and wages, in anticipation of \-furt her depreciation, possibly to likely (in the later stages of an = inflation) even faster than the depreciation does actually occur. To = this extent deflationary \-phenomena can then occur. There are then not = yet enough \- exchange media printed, of the exclusive currency, to keep up with this = increased demand for \-them. Naturally, the increased production of = exchange media does have\- }{\b\f0\fs24 some}{\f0\fs24 natural limits. = In Germany, in 1923, almost all printing\- presses were working overtime in producing more official and\- = emergency money notes (largely due to the above hinted at\- deflationary = effect). Moreover, the purchasing power of the exclusive and depreciated = notes became so low that production \- costs of the notes came, according to some reports, to 48 % of the = purchasing power of the notes and, according to other reports, the = \-paper value of the notes was ultimately higher than the \- purchasing power that was printed upon them. Only a Hungarian = \-inflation, after WW II, is supposed to have gone even beyond that = \-German "Great" Inflation. When strong deflationary or \-stagflationary = effects appear in a rapid inflations, then legally\- or illegally, private or official institutions tend to issue = \-"emergency money", initially also using only the depreciating \-paper = standard. To that extent such a currency is then no longer exclusive but = a competition in depreciation results. After a\- while at least some of the emergency money issuers (Reichsbahn\- and = Farbenwerke Hoechst, for instance) begin to issue gold\--weight value = emergency money. To the extent that they are thus \- made available, the official inflated paper money will be refused\- and = driven out of circulation. If, right from the beginning, the = \-government's paper money has neither legal tender nor an\- exclusive = currency status, t hen the privately or cooperatively issued currencies and those \-by some = state or local governments, provided only that they are sound = alternative \-currencies, will tend to be preferred for most local = exchanges and the central government's\- or central bank's depreciated paper money will either be discounted or = refused (unless some taxpayers find it still useful to help them to shed = some of their tax burdens \-with it), so that the good money = alternatives will drive out the \- bad money, in correct application of Gresham's Law and in \-reversal to = the popular misconception of it. - To speak only of \-convertibility and = inconvertibility, as if nothing else mattered\- , is, indeed, very inaccurate and misleading. It is very similar \-to = the abuse of the term "fiat" money as opposed to the classical gold = standard (the gold redemptionist) currency. The "fiat" consists in the = legal tender\- and the exclusive currency status of a paper money, NOT in its\- = irredeemability by the issuer into gold. Your cheque and IOUs are\- also = not redeemable in gold, at least not nowadays, and they are\- not legal tender and not an exclusive currency, nor are your \-current = account and at any time reclaimable deposits. Potential\- acceptors are = free to refuse them. They are not "fiat" money. See\-: FIAT MONEY & = CREATION OF MONEY & CREDIT.=20 \par }\pard \s15\qj\sb120\sa120\nowidctlpar\widctlpar\adjustright = {\f0\fs24 INDEX, COMBINED, TO FREE BANKING BOOKS. Ask for contributions, = on \-disks, or per e-mail in RTF. \par INDEXES, COMBINED, AUTOMATICALLY PRODUCED, OF ALL MONETARY = \-FREEDOM WRITINGS:=20 \par INDEXING, COMPUTERISED & AUTOMATED, WANTED FOR ALL MONETARY\- = FREEDOM TEXTS, AT LEAST ALL THOSE OUT OF COPYRIGHTS.=20 \par INDIVIDUAL SECESSIONISM & MONETARY FREEDOM: See : ON PANARCHY. \par INFLATION & DEARNESS: Inflation and dearness (dearth or high\- = prices) are completely different concepts. Inflation is caused\- = exclusively from the monetary side, dearness exclusively from the = \-goods side. - Ulrich von Beckerath, 25.1.52. \par INFLATION & LEGAL TENDER, GOOD & BAD MONEY, GRESHAM'S LAW: = \-Inflation-proof money is not impossible. It is merely outlawed by\- = legal tender legislation and the central bank's issue monopoly.\- Let = good mo ney drive out the bad: Repeal legal tender and the \-central bank's = legal privileges, especially its note issue monopoly. - Keyboarded = version of April 97, slightly revised. \par INFLATION, MONETARY DESPOTISM & THE THREAT OF WAR:=20 \par INFLATION: According to Ulrich von Beckerath, inflation is that\- = excess of circulating money which is forced into circulation \-through = legal tender and the issue monopoly beyond that amount of \-i ts total possible circulation at which, in the absence of legal \-tender = and the issue monopoly, it would not have been accepted at\- all or not = at par with its nominal value. All other attempts to\- prevent or end inflation than by the removal of this monopoly \-and = coercion are in vain. In the presence of this monetary\- despotism it is = even impossible to measure accurately and fast\- enough the point at which the saturation point for exchange media\- is = reached and beyond which monetary inflation sets in. - J. Z., \-14.4.97. \par INFLATION: Inflation, \'85 is a condition in \-monetary = transactions where paper money is accepted without\- limits and at a = prescribed value only because legal tender \-prevails: a=20 coercion which makes it legally impossible to account for depreciation = by discount or refusal. - Ulrich von \-Beckerath, 25.1.52. \par INFLATION: That rise in prices expressed in the value standard\- of = legal tender money which results because stable value \-reckoning is = outlawed by legal tender clauses, and thus the \-depreciated paper money = cannot be discounted against sound value\- standards in case of over-issues. Due to this and the note issue\- = monopoly almost any excessive quantity of the exclusive and forced = exchange medium can be pushed permanently into circulation \-and it must = be accepted at par with its nomi nal value in all\- payments. Thus the only option left to all acceptors = is to \-increase their prices and wages, etc., expressed in that forced = and\- exclusive currency - or to participate in underground\- transactions that are somewhat freely paid in alternative\- currencies = to the extent that these, usually more stable other\- currencies, become = available to them, often under great risk of \- prosecution if uncovered and caught and convicted. Thus inflated\- paper = standard value "prices" do not indicate really increased \-prices but = the decreased value of the forced and exclusive \-currency. - = Unfortunately, popular language use does not make=20 \-this distinction or even the distinction between price increases\- due = to shortages, or dearness, and price increases due to an \-over-issue of = forced currency. - J. Z., 3.7.91 & 12.4.97. \par INFLATION: Who cares about long term depreciation by slow\- = inflation? In the long run we are all dead! - A flippant opinion\- = ascribed to Maynard Keynes. - This point overlooks e.g. the \-effect a = slow and steady (if it remains steady and slow!) \- inflation has e.g. upon old age pension claims. We cannot simply\- = assume that after their retirement everybody will simply die off,\- = uncomplaining and unaffected by inflation. Only after his death \-w ill he finally not care any longer. But in the meantime, often \-for = years to decades, he is wrongly impoverished by inflation.\- Rightly so = only to the extent that he never cared about such questions \- at all and never worked towards monetary freedom to replace the\- = monetary despotism that placed him into poverty. - If he were made\- = aware how rich he could be, in his old age, after a normal\- working = life, if bearable premiums were paid, not taxed, \- productively invested, credit insured, preserved by value\--preserving = clauses, not subject to forced loans or interest rate\- restrictions, in = an economy neither impoverished and misled by\- inflations, deflations and stagflations, - that then he could, at\- = least in his old age, be even a multi-millionaire in assets, then we = would finally be close to a monetary revolution.\- For who would = willingly consent to being prevented from honestly=20 \-becoming a multimillionaire by his own efforts, insurance, \-savings = and investment arrangements (or by those who would act as \-his agents = and trustees), instead of being continuously robbed or cheated by the = governments, as happens now? Presently, \- there is probably not one voter in a million who is so enlightened. And = governmental avenues as well as popular avenues \-are rather closed to = such ideas. Thus flippant apologists for\- monetary despotism, like M. = Keynes, got away with it for decades \- and the central banking system that he favours has still got us \-in its = claws and has invaded and occupied most minds. - J. Z., 14.4.97, 6.9.02. \par INFORMATION REVOLUTION & MONETARY & FINANCIAL FREEDOM:=20 \par INTENTIONAL COMMUNITIES & MONETARY FREEDOM EXPERIMENTS: I would = \-love to see an objective survey of all of them. - J. Z. \par INTEREST IN MONETARY FREEDOM OPTIONS IS STILL ONLY MINIMAL MONETARY = FREEDOM NEWSLETTERS: My \-small monetary freedom newsletter plus = microfiche, did not even\- reach a dozen subscribers for its total of 4 = issues over several\- years. So far probably not even one person in a million is\- seriously = interested in monetary freedom options - and how can\- one reach the se? And these few have also many other involvements that prevent them = from advancing the cause of monetary freedom as \-much as they could or = should. And with most of the few their \-interest is not even deep = enough to let them overcome the small \- barrier posed by most such writings presently being only\- available on = microfiche through my LMP - PEACE PLANS series. - I\- believe Siegfried = Schwenke had also only a few dozen subscribers \- to his Monetary Freedom Network Newsletter. Various projects for\- = quarterlies came to nothing and the DURRELL JOURNAL rapidly \-deviated = from the its initial monetary freedom path, especially \- after a change in management. - Financially, a newsletter on free\- = banking etc., produced only on microfiche, floppy disk, on a website or = distributed by e-mail, would be no problem at \-all. But who is = interested? - J. Z., 9.4.97. \par INTEREST RATE RETURNS OF BANKS AS REGULATORS FOR CURRENCY ISSUES?\- = - The free market rating of notes\- against their own standards will = regulate issues and acceptances,\- i.e. circulation, much more = regularly, rapidly and reliably than \- interest rate fluctuations or manipulations among note-issueing\- banks = would. - J. Z., 3.7.91 & 12.4.97. - See: DISCOUNT RATE, DISCOUNT = POLICY, INTEREST, TANDY,\- Voluntary Socialism, p. 122. \par INTEREST RATES & CLEARING MONEY: See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY = \-PROBLEM. \par INTEREST UNDER MONETARY DESPOTISM & UNDER MONETARY FREEDOM:=20 \par INTEREST-FREE CLEARING: See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par INTERNAL MIGRATION & MONETARY FREEDOM: E.g. the Fort Collins\- = project. \par INTERNET DISCUSSIONS ON MONETARY FREEDOM: \par ISRAEL'S INFLATION & ALTERNATIVE CURRENCIES: \par ISSUE PRINCIPLE IN THE MONETARY SPHERE & IN THE CAPITAL MARKET: = \-The right to issue and its principles can be applied not only in the = monetary sphere but also in the capital market. There it can \- finance e.g. a libertarian take-over of a bureaucratic democracy, \-a = libertarian revolution in a dictatorship, education, innovation and = research, desert irrigation, even space exploration. Its\- monetary = application is essential for the=20 financing of a rightful\- defensive war and of a rightful revolution. - = J. Z., 77 & 97. \par ISSUE PRINCIPLE, DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE MONETARY & THE FINANCIAL = \-ISSUE PRINCIPLE :=20 \par ISSUERS, POTENTIAL ONES AND THEIR REDEMPTION OR READINESS TO\- = ACCEPT FOUNDATION: Any money that is, in practice, and in most\- cases, = to be redeemed by the holder in consumer goods and\- services, can be = issued in the first place by the providers of \- these goods and services, i.e. by retail traders, their \-associations = or agents. This can be done even when there is not a \-single gold or = silver coin or bullion bar left in a country. \-These issues do then = merely facilitate clearing or an indirect, \- multilateral and anonymous barter exchange, almost with the ease of\- = monetary transactions and sometimes make payments even easier. This kind = of "commodity money" does not\- require any other kinds of "redemption" = or "convertibility", \- "cover", "reserve" or "guaranty fund" or "securities" or\- "backing" or = "capital". (However, when they issued in short term loans,=20 e.g. for wage payments, then these turnover credit loans, as opposed to = capital loans, require suitable short term securities, arising from the = sale of goods already produced, sold and on the road to the retailers. = In these cases the notes do have a doubl e cover: shop foundation plus e.g. bill of exchange foundation. - J.Z., = 5.9.02.) Apart from legal restrictions, this kind of local currency = could \-always be made rapidly available where there are wanted goods = and services\- whose sale might otherwise be difficult or incomplete, although\- the = local community is not oversupplied with them. - J. Z.,\-8.4.97.=20 \par LAISSEZ FAIRE WITH & WITHOUT MONETARY FREEDOM: Laissez Faire,\- = based on sufficient knowledge on how to make the best use of \-monetary = freedom, has never existed. There never was a genuinely \- free market for all private exchange media and value standards. \-Thus = free market exchanges were never as free as they could and should have = been. - J. Z., n.d. \par LAND BANKS : See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par LANDSMAN COMMUNITY: See LETS. \par LAWS & REGULATIONS RESTRICTING MONETARY FREEDOM:=20 \par LEGAL RESTRICTIONS ON MONETARY FREEDOM: \par LEGAL TENDER & GRESHAM'S LAW: Without legal tender and under \-free = monetary competition, each exchange medium, being subject to \-free = market rating and the right to refuse it altogether, the \-good type s of exchange media and value standards would soon drive \-out the bad = ones. The economists of the German monetary freedom\- school recognized = this truth before most of those of the Austrian\- School of Economics - and other modern economists, did. - J. Z., 77 = &\-97. \par LEGAL TENDER & MARKET RATED CURRENCIES: Refusable and\- = discountable currencies can't rule us or exploit us. - J. Z.,\-11.8.94, = 17.4.97. \par LEGAL TENDER, VARIETIES OF - : In Peace Plans No. 19 A I listed\- = what seemed to me to be 19 varieties of legal tender practised in \-the = past or present. There may be more, there may be less. I\- would like to see this listing corrected or supplemented by YOU!\- - J. = Z., 11.4.97. \par LEGAL TENDER: If you continue to insist upon being paid in Legal\- = Tender cash then you do thereby either help to make yourself = \-unemployed or bankrupt or lose much of the money values that are = \-owed to you. - J. Z., 18.1.95, 17.4.97. \par LEGAL TENDER: It leaves the monopoly issuer in charge of every = \-monetary transaction in a country, not the actual and potential\- = acceptors of all possible and desired payments. It allows all\- debtors, first of all the government, to cheat all their debtors.\- The = Austrians had a joke on this: "A government never goes\- bankrupt. Only = its creditors do!" - Legal tender power gives the\- monopoly issuer a = second unf air advantage for his issue and\- disadvantages all creditors = correspondingly. With market rated\- and optional and competing = currencies the situation is quite\- different. The potential acceptors = remain in charge regarding the \- kind of means of payment and value standards they are accepting and at = what value they accept them, when, if and to the extent that they do. = They are\- no longer confined to a monopoly money only, if they want to = \- engage in monetary exchanges. No money that was not issued by = themselves, has forced acceptance and forced value for them. The\- = consumer or user or hirer of a kind of money remains sovereign or\- = independent. Monetary freedom turns "single convenience \- relationships" into "mutual convenience relationships", to use\- Don = Werkheiser's terms. "This money may be freely refused and\- rated by all = but the issuer and those of his debtors who are\- contractually obliged = to accept it" - could be one of the \- inscriptions on competing private and cooperative currencies. -\- J. Z., = 12.8.94. \par LEGAL TENDER: It means that in spite of many demerits of any\- = legal tender currency you may still legally force it upon (in this = respect) \-helpless creditors, in nominal debt payments. And in paying = for\- goods and services you leave them no other option than to \-increase = their nominal prices more or less in correspondence to \-the = depreciation of the legal tender money. This reaction to the \-prior = depreciation (over-issue, possible only through legal=20 \-tender, which outlaws refusal and market rating) is then called = \-legal tender - and all to often one or the other groups of its victims = are blamed for it whilst those who pass the laws of monetary despotism, and = who put them into operation, are held blameless \-and are even = considered as leaders and heroes by an ignorant and\- prejudiced = population that knows nothing better than monetary\- despotism and wants it rather more severely enforced than\- abolished. = - J. Z., 24.1.95, 16.4.97. \par LEGAL TENDER: Legal tender amounts to taxation without consent = \-and representation. - J. Z., 10.8.96, 16.4.97. \par LEGAL TENDER: Legal tender is the legal prescription for every = \-recipient of monetary payments to accept paper money or inferior = \-coins at a fixed value. This forced exchange rate for general\- means of circulation, prescribed for every citizen, must not be \-mixed = up, as happened in Berlin in the discussion of West & East\- Marks, with = a fixed or controlled exchange rate for foreign\- exchange. The word "Zwangskurs" (legal tender) is far older \-than 100 = years and was always used in the way here described, in \-royal Prussian = edicts, in imperial Austrian regulations and even by Marx. Another use = of it proves only ignorance of the \- terminology of economics. - Ulrich von Beckerath, 25.1.52. \par LEGAL TENDER: Legal tender? Yes - but only towards the issuer! = -\-J. Z., MFNL 3/4. \par LEGAL TENDER: Without legal tender one cannot inflate a = currency.\-- Ulrich von Beckerath, 25.1.52. \par LETS: Michael Linton, founder of LETS, made an appearance for a\- = speech and demonstration of his accounting system, a while ago, \-here = in Bowral, in the Southern Tablelands of NSW., my own neighbourhood (10 = min. by car), trying to gather more support\- for the local LETS group, then still operating without a \-computer, = perhaps still. They strongly objected to my attempt to\- distribute some = leaflets on monetary freedom to the people who\- attended, arguing that it would merely "distract" them. The LETS\- = secretary finally persuaded me to desist and promised to deliver\- all = my leaflets to the signed up members. Either he has done it\- or not. Response was zero. I had wasted a day on writing and\- = photocopying them! I paid for and was promised a copy of their \-former = newsletter - and am still waiting for it. About 30 to 50\- people were = present. He gav e a talk & a playful demonstration of\- his green dollar system, in = which those present participated, by\- fictitious spending and earning. = I raised some objections to\- Michael, which he did not respond to. He = merely invited me to \- join. In vain did I point out that none of the members had goods \-or = services to offer which I wanted and that I had none which\- they = wanted. Nevertheless, he merely insisted that I join. Why\- should I join for the sake of joining? He expressed high and and\- = almost unlimited aspirations and promises and predictions for his \-kind = of computerised "garage sale and baby sitter exchange" (my\- description), which has spread in Australia as a result of a \-prolonged = depression, leading to more than 1 million unemployed.\- But one of the = most "successful" LETS exchanges, in the Blue \- Mountains area, N.S.W., with 6,000 asserted members, could only boast = of\- an annual turnover of $ 30,000. That would be much for one person = \-but came only to $ 5 for the average member. He ignored\- legislation = that would prevent him or other participants from issuing wage payment means = and currency that would be suitable \-for general shopping in the local = shopping centre. He somehow\- assumed that these spheres would simply = pick up his medium and\- would be free to do so. But it was interesting to find out from \-him = that he had so far been neither bothered by the Fed nor by \-the Reserve = Bank of Australia. Only the revenuers troubled some\- of the members and wrongly equated one of his green dollars in\- market = value with central banking dollars. Thus even if his \-system could be = widely enough adopted, people would still be \- forced to charge partly in central banking dollars to enable them \-to = pay their taxes with them, even upon their "green dollar"\- earnings. If = they earned only "green dollars" this tax demand for\- government paper dollars would drive them into bankruptcy. His = \-knowledge of and interest in monetary freedom theories and\- practices = was rather limited - and that of most of his followers\- and listeners = was st ill much more so. He showed no interest a t\-all in any of the monetary = freedom information that I have to\- offer. I expect no breakthrough = from him and his circles, even if\- they become more popular than they = are already. "There isn't any \- more terrible sight to behold than ignorance in action!" - said\- = Goethe. \par LETTER EXCHANGES ON MONETARY FREEDOM: Offered e.g. by LMP on = \-microfiche.=20 \par LIBRARY OF MONETARY FREEDOM TEXTS: It should at least be aimed = \-at, and should include editions in alternative media. \par LIMITED LIABILITY: No limited liability for the issuers of = \-exchange media, but, instead, full responsibility for all their = \-actions, with all their property assets and future earnings,\- = whenever they would not have provided sufficient short term\- credits with suitable debtors, who have wanted consumer goods and = services ready\- for sale and whose credit repayments would sufficiently = withdraw the issues of \-the bank of issue. As long as bank of issue = only discount short\- term real bills or their equivalent, for goods already produced\- and = on the road to the retailers or already on their shelves, \-they should = never run into difficulties. Those who run such a \- bank of issue would not have to possess any capital of their own\- or = have some capital subscribed to by others. That would not be \-necessary = for them at all. All they would need is some office\- space and = equipment and ability to pay their note pr inter or have a credit with him. Their staff should be paid out of the = interest\- and fees they charge for their transactions. Thus no own = capital\- would exist, of the bank of issue, in favour of the bank's\- creditors, its holders of notes or certificates, when criminal = \-dishonesty or negligence has led it into unsound issues or investments = that was \-not discovered in time by its voluntary acceptors and by full = publicity for \- its issues. (I think that this is a hypothetical case only. -\-Shop = foundation can be tested so easily and fast and note \-exchanges can be = made daily and electronic clearing with other \-issuers can be done = almost instantly, so that over-issues would \- be discovered fast. Competing issuers would also examine its \-issue and = reflux records frequently, in their own interest. In cooperatively owned = or run banks the members would be able to choose their\- own auditors and the bank's customers might send their own. - In the = absence of a government guarantee, a redemption fund, a\- deposit and = note insurance contract and of capital of the bank, \- the directors should be held responsible even with their homes,\- = furniture, clothing, jewellery, cars and, naturally, all other \-assets. = I do not think that this ultimate backing, in case of\- bankruptcy only, = would be frequently required. For there are \- other safety precautions that can and ought to be taken for banks = \-of issue. E.g., they would grant short term turnover credits only = \-for enterprises in their vicinity, no more than x km away. None of = their loan s to any customer should exceed a certain\- percentage of all their = loans, i.e. not more than 5 - 10% at \-most. They must also be under = obligation to use all other means\- of payment received to buy up their = own and this at par, in the\- open money market. They should know their local customers and\- their = business well enough to distinguish between a sound\- commercial or real = bill and a financial or accommodation bill\- behind which there is no = real exchange or turnover. Under\- monetary freedom many less people will ever be driven to such\- = desperate resorts for free clearing and freedom to issue would\- permit = them to monetise their own capacity to supply and service \- to a considerable extent, even if only at a discount, to satisfy\- all = their creditors from previous sound trades. Gambling and\- speculation debts would be another matter. For banks issuing local = currencies such abuses would be rare under the publicity they would be = subjected to. Gambling\- casinos and betting shops as well as stock = exchanges etc., would \- only show a very limited readiness to accept local shop\- currencies in = payment whenever there is the least doubt about them or\- the one who = offers them. - J. Z., 17.4.97. \par LINTON, MICHAEL: See: LETS. \par LOAN CERTIFICATES & EXCHANGE MEDIA: See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY = \-PROBLEM. \par LOCATION LIST OF RARE MONETARY FREEDOM TEXTS: Towards private = \-loan arrangements and future publishing options. \par LONG TERM LOAN CERTIFICATES ETC. AS CURRENCY? See: \-APHORISMS ON = THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par LONGEVITY RESEARCH & FINANCIAL FREEDOM: \par MAKING MONEY: The term is usually applied only to successful = \-efforts to acquire some of the money of monetary despotism, not \-to = the issue and acceptance of the money of monetary freedom. But\- those really interested in "making money" would have it easier to\- be = often or regularly successful if they studied the\- pre-conditions and = then bothered to "make" their own kinds of \-money tokens and circulate = them, to the extent that they could,\- for their own benefit and that of their potential customers. To\- the = extent that they could issue their own money, redeemable only \-in their = own goods, services and labour, they would supply \-themselves by their = spending o f their self-issued money, with\- sales and jobs. Such money, by natural = law and individual rights,\- they could rightly get designed, printed = and offer in payment to \- voluntary acceptors. This way of "making" or "producing" money would = offer opportunities to them - and people in like positions -, which are = \-denied to them by the central bank and the laws of monetary \- despotism. Making money should really become "making" money, for \-all = those able to do so. Naturally, not all people are in the\- optimal = position for issuing their own money tokens - but all \- could issue their own clearing certificates and use a common \-clearing = house in their community - if the laws, the bureaucracy\- and the = politicians do not manage to suppress such a self-help \-effort. Potenti ally, all pay-outs and receipts could be settled by\- mere clearing. - = No one should be confined only to "make" (or\- struggle only for) the = money of monetary despotism, which is\- almost always inflated, deflated = or stagflated and amounts, for\- its victims to still more taxation, sometimes in form of an inflated = interest rate. - J. Z., 29.4.95, 16.4.97. \par MANN, FREDERICK, See : TERRA LIBRA. \par MARKET & MONETARY DESPOTISM: A market subject to monetary\- = despotism isn't free. To prevent and end both, inflation and\- deflation = (capital destruction and unemployment), monetary\- freedom has to be = introduced. - J. Z., 77 & 97. \par MATONIS, JON, current address not known. Tried to establish The\- = Monetary Freedom Institute, MONETARY FREEDOM QUARTERLY\tab & wrote = \-much on monetary freedom and made many photocopies of such texts = available to me.=20 \par MEANS OF CIRCULATION VS. MEANS FOR CAPITALISATION: See:\- APHORISMS = ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par MEETING, CONFERENCE & SEMINAR CALENDAR, INTERNATIONAL, AS PART OF\- = A MONETARY FREEDOM NEWSLETTER OR JOURNAL. \par MEULEN, HENRY: Views to be extracted from THE INDIVIDUALIST &\- his = book, pamphlets and letters, to the extent that the latter\- are on hand = or can still be obtained, with refutations, where \-necessary. \par MILITIAS, VOLUNTARY, LOCALLY ORGANIZED & FEDERATED, FOR THE = \-PROTECTION OF ALL INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS: Lastly, the advocates of\- = monetary freedom, together with the advocates of all other individual = liberties and rights, may have to arm, organise, train \- and motivate themselves to help realize and maintain their \-liberty = against all those inclined towards despotism in this and \-other = spheres. - J. Z., n.d. \par MISES, LUDWIG VON: Correct and incorrect views on monetary\- = freedom, might be listed separately, with refutations. \par MONETARY AND VALUE STANDARD DEVELOPMENTS PREDICTED IN THE ABSENCE = \-OF ANY MONEY LEGISLATION OR WHENEVER IT IS NO LONGER OR CAN NO = \-LONGER BE ENFORCED: See especially the long paper by Ulrich von\- = Beckerath on this.=20 \par MONETARY DESPOTISM & THE FREE DEVELOPMENT OF MONETARY SYSTEMS: = \-The monetary system of Australia, as well as that of all other = \-countries is not one of natural growth and development but the = \-result of legislative interventions with such growths and\- developments. The legislative monetary despotism grants exclusive \-and = legal tender powers to the paper money of national central \-banks, = which are legally given a pretended independence from\- governments but continue to have all too many ties with them and\- with = their vested interest e.g. in taxation via inflation and in "fighting" = inflation e.g. via price controls or through enforced deflationary = steps. What \- governments thus achieve are mainly only periods of obvious\- = stagflation. These powers are supplemented by powers over other \-banks = and their activities, e.g. by licensing powers, compulsory \-reserve = requirements, interest regulations etc. Thus the bad \- paper monies of the central banks cannot be, legally and freely,\- = competed out of existence but are coercively maintained in spite \-and = often because of their flaws, which allows the manipulators \-to abus e them as they please. They will always find apologists \-for their = mismanagement among the experts, usually trained by and \-paid for by = government institutions, too. If central banks had\- not despotic powers and privileges, then they could at most only = \-issue a soundly administered tax foundation paper money, one that\- = would be optional and market rated in general circulation and \- that only the government would have to accept at par, one also using a a = \-sound value standard, in payment of all taxes due and determined in = the sound value standard. Beyond that\- they could not, then, force = their notes into circulation, i.e., the \- popular version of Gresham's Law would be reversed and good \-monies = would be freed to drive out bad money. - J. Z., n.d. &\-15.4.97. \par MONETARY DESPOTISM: Monetary despotism means, among other \-things, = that the normal provision of EMPLOYMENT is in some of its \-most = important aspects outlawed and penalised. - Only those who \- can gain sufficient legal tender for this purpose can, under it, \-pay = wages and salaries. But, as under any other monopoly, this\- legal = tender is also often in short supply. Then, rather than\- breaking or ignoring this monopoly and realising their monetary = \-freedom options - they throw many workers upon the street or even\- = close down their enterprises. - These employers and their \-employees = can be blamed for their lack of interest in the \- monetary freedom options. - If they studied them, like many of \-them = study the forms of their favourite horses or dogs or\- football clubs or = sports or film stars, most of our social\- problems would soon be a = thing of the past. - J. Z., 8.4.97. \par MONETARY DESPOTISM: The government forces its bad money as an\- = exclusive one into circulation, via legal tender or compulsory = \-acceptance and compulsory and fictitious paper values, while it \- outlaws the issue of sound, alternative private and cooperative\- = exchange media and the use of sound alternative value standards.\- For = all too many decades most people have all too willingly \- put up with this monetary despotism, even when it has cost them their = jobs and homes or their private business. The community is\- more robbed = by monetary despotism every year than by all private\- criminals = combined. - J. Z., 15.4.97. \par MONETARY EXPERIMENTS: Margrit Kennedy, according to Piet Bouter,\- = 10/90, knows of a book, title something like: "After the Crash", = \-author unknown to Piet Bouter, which lists something like \-200 recent = monetary experiments. He also spoke about a "stone \- money" issued by an artist colony in Italy (?). - I imagine that\- at = least the latter would largely "circulate" only among\- some special = collectors. - In Margrit Kennedy's book, Interest and Inflation\- Free Money, 1988/89, I find on p. 26 only a reference to 300\- = communities in Austria, who began to be interested in the Woergl\- = experiments and to more than 100 in the U.S., that had planned\- stamp scrip, but no indication on how many had actually started \-it or = how many other monetary experiments took place or were planned. - Token = money, on the other hand, in England alone, in\- one period, c ame to 20,000 issues. Altogether hundred-thousands of\- token issues are = likely to have taken place, if not millions. A \-full record of all of = them does not seem to exist but coin and \-money collectors and writers = for these collectors have much \- information to offer. I have about 2 dozen books of this kind \-and, = probably, hundreds to thousands do exist. Some specialise on \-private = token issues and private gold coins. - Likewise, truck \- payment attempts occurred again and again over several centuries,\- in = spite of prejudices against them, mistakes made in them and\- many legal = prohibitions. If enough people took such experiments\- and self-help steps serious, then the remaining records of them \-would = all be integrated into one archive and information service or data bank. = \- - The statist issues of monetary despotism, circulating largely only due = to their monopoly and legal tender powers and severe \-repressions = against competing currencies, deserve much less\- study and attention = because one can learn much less from them\- about the inherent laws of money. - That was recognized even by \-Karl = Marx, when he wrote: "... observers who studied the \-phenomena of money = circulation exclusively on the examples of the\- circulation of legal = tender paper money, had to overlook the=20 \-inherent laws of monetary circulation." - Zur Kritik der \-politischen = Oekonomie (Critique of Political Economy), S. 129\- of the Dietz, = Berlin, 1951 edition. - I do not know of any\- Marxist or anti-communist (apart from Ulrich von Beckerath), who = sensibly responded to that \-suggestion. - J. Z., 10/90 & 17.4.97. \par MONETARY FREEDOM & FINANCIAL FREEDOM & THEIR INTERDEPENDENCE :=20 \par MONETARY FREEDOM AND UNEMPLOYMENT, SELF-HELP DECLARATION BY = \-ULRICH VON BECKERATH: See: UNEMPLOYMENT & THE RIGHT TO SUPPLY\- = ONESELF WITH WORK. A DECLARATION, by Ulrich von Beckerath, \-10.8.1951. \par MONETARY FREEDOM EXPERIMENTS: Descriptions of all of them, from\- = all sources, should be invited. Perhaps a model scheme for\- describing = them should be drafted. See CLASSIFICATION. \par MONETARY FREEDOM FICHE OFFERED BY LIBERTARIAN MICROFICHE\- = PUBLISHING: Should we really try to manage without all the \-information = that at present can readily be expressed and accessed\- only on = microfiche? Should we intellectually cripple ourselves to=20 \-that extent? Should we rather continue to all too patiently suffer = under inflations, world-wide, and massive unemployment, \-than pick up = effective and fast cures for both when they are\- expressed presently = and largely only in this microfiche \- collection? Why, if we are print on paper addicts, don't we get \-the = relevant sections of microfiched monetary freedom texts,\- chosen by us, = printed out on paper, at our expense, at libraries \- or micrographic agencies? Why, if we are computer fans, don't we\- get = this information scanned into disks and onto the Internet, from \-these = microfiche (or originals available to us), through one or the other = agency that offers such \- scanning service? I assert that this collection also offers the\- only = rightful and practicable way to prevent nuclear war and\- further = conventional wars. But, who cares, if it is offered only \- on microfiche? - J. Z. 11.4.97. - Even if the world should perish in = consequence: We will not change our reading and publishing habits! - = J.Z., 5.9.02. \par MONETARY FREEDOM HANDBOOK, FIRST EDITION - ON THE ROAD TO X = EDITIONS, WITH YOUR HELP! I have \-had an alphabetical handbook on = monetary freedom in mind for ca.\- 40 years. Ulrich von Beckerath and = Prof. Heinrich Rittershausen \- had intended it for much longer. A start has to be made \-somewhere, by = someone, no matter how flawed it still is. So far, \-there are probably = ten-thousands, if not hundred-thousands of texts \- on monetary despotism and only a few thousand on monetary freedom\- = aspects. The good points have nowhere been combined by anyone as\- yet. = But it is in the interests of everybody that the task is \-somehow begun = by someone. Never mind th e initial mistakes,\- clumsiness of expressions and remaining errors. = Help to combine \-all wisdom on this subject. No one knows everything on = this \-subject. - I had wanted to postpone this handbook until I had\- finally fiched all Beckerath writings in my possession and\- indexed = them. But this job may still take years to complete. The \-same applies = to the publishing and indexing of the monetary \- freedom writings of Heinrich Rittershausen. I do not longer want \-to = postpone this job till then. I may not live so long. More\- extracts = from their writings can be included at any time lateron, \- by anyone who gets access to them. Nor will I be able, for the \-first = edition, to include all my notes and files. More and more\- will be = added later. At least I have the good i ntention to do so. - Old draft of introductory apology : Sorry, but I = have still not\- completed my filming of writings of Ulrich von = Beckerath and of his associates and indexed them. They would have been a = great \- help in this compilation. I do intend to integrate, finally, the = \-wisdom of this circle separately and in this compilation, to the = \-extent that it is accessible to me. Much of the correspondence \- and many of the papers have been lost. Most through war, \-some through = theft, some through non-appreciation. I will in most instances bow to = what I \-perceive to be the higher insights of that circle to my = limited\- knowledge and understanding. But, rather than indefinitely\- postpone = further this job, I offer here my all too limited \-knowledge, opinions = and compilations from all kinds of sources,\- to the extent that I got = around to keyboard them in, with the \- intention to gradually enter more and more and to edit the\- compilation = more and more. The variety of monetary experience, \-theories, = hypotheses, opinions and writings, ideas and proposals, \- is probably too large for any individual to fully comprehend and\- = express. But gradually more and more wisdom on this subject can\- be = compiled, with the aid of many, and used to counteract the \-still much = larger volume of errors, myths and prejudices on this\- subject. Some, like those on = crises, deflations, inflations,\- prices, creation of money and credit, = gold standard, index\- currencies, are so numerous that they do probably = require separate \- treatments in one to several volumes each. I can only rely on \-mutual = aid and mutual criticism in this sphere. - Much of this \-compilation = consists just of reminders to myself on how to fill \- remaining gaps in this compilation in the future. They are also\- open = invitations to anyone to help fill them. I am not prepared\- to argue = monetary questions at length in correspondence. I rather\- reply in further entries in this compilation - and so could you.\-- Let = us start on the assumption that there must be something \-better than = the present monetary system which alternates between\- inflations, deflations and stagflations and causes enormous = impoverishment and unemployment at all 3 stages. Moreover, there\- ought = not only be freedom of expression and information to\- discuss = alternatives to it but also freedom to experiment, for voluntary payment communities, = at their expense and risk,\- regardless of majority or expert opinions = and of monetary \-legislation. Both, free discussion and experimentation = must \- go on and will go on once whatever degree of monetary freedom we \-can = now realize and benefit from, will be realized. Decades of\- searching = have failed to uncover for me even a single valid\- argument against = full free banking or monetary freedom, as a=20 \-rightful, harmonious and beneficial economic activity. I continue\- to = challenge anyone to try to find or supply such an argument and\- I would = gladly reproduce it in this collection, together with my\- own replies = to it or that of others.=20 \par MONETARY FREEDOM INFORMATION: Like money itself, it should be = "issued" in small,\- medium and large quantity "denominations" for the = total\- circulation, as a whole, is hard to impossible to handle for any = acceptor, \- even a scholarly one. It should also include different value or\- value = standard systems on ideas, proposals, opinions and arguments offered, = \-resisted or refused. Consequently, and at last, not very fast, a free = market rating\- will lead ultimately to the refusal, acceptance at par or\- discount or = a qualified and limited acceptance of any monetary\- view, opinion, = economic "law", rule, system or institution or\- process and of any suggested value standard, at least in limited = circles of their voluntary users or victims. And all the opinions\- = offered in exchange will have to consistently stand up to their\- own = value standards=20 - and to those of many others. All the \-opinions offered for exchange = and all their value systems should\- be provided as far as possible on a = special free market for them,\- one that is also well publicised and has = as many more or less \- informed voluntary participants as can be gained for it. In this\- free = exchange or information exchange and clearing house system,\- in this = free market for current, popular or unpopular opinions on\- money, ultimately, the good ones will drive out the bad ones, since = \-no such opinion will have an exclusive currency status and legal\- = tender (compulsory acceptance and compulsory value). Each can\- be freely refused or discounted. And when a sufficient record is \-kept = of all the refuted ones and how they were best refuted, then \-it will = become harder and harder and ultimately almost\- impossible, to issue any of them again, except to fools. Can one\- = drive such an analogy further? Please do so and send me your \-results! = - J. Z., 11.4.97. See: Handbook on Monetary Freedom \-Notions. \par MONETARY FREEDOM IS PRIMARY: Whatever use people will make of\- = such liberty is or ought to be up to them. By all means, try to \-inform = them and advise them on your favourite alternatives. Also \- demonstrate them in practical experiments - but let them do their \-own = things for and to themselves, in peace. The silver-, copper, \-steel = standard, their "labour hour standard" etc. is good enough\- or just right for those who choose them and as long as they do.\- At = least their chosen standards will teach them some lessons on\- this = subject. If they believe e.g. in the postage stamp, kw hour,\- any index of a "canary" standard, let them practise their beliefs\- at = their expense and risk. If they hold that capital commodity\- values and = medium or even long-term securities could form a good\- enough cover and short term reflux for their currencies, just let \-them try and be = yourself wise enough to refuse to accept their \-currency. If they think = that land or roads or buildings, promises\- or blessings can impart = value to circulating media, sufficiently=20 \-and reliably, immediately and permanently, up to their face\- values, = any time and towards all, let them try, as they might try\- with money = of the game "Monopoly" or with their own uncovered\- cheques. You are free to refuse their offers and so are others.\- "A = burnt children will shy the fire." - J. Z., 7.4.97. \par MONETARY FREEDOM MICROFICHE: COULD THEY BECOME A LIMITED = \-"CURRENCY" AMONG THOSE INVOLVED IN MONETARY FREEDOM RESEARCHES? = \-Esperanto enthusiasts, at least for a while, had an international = \-currency with which their literature could be bought. - J. Z., \- 7.4.97. \par MONETARY FREEDOM NETWORK: Address list, indicating also special = \-interests, microfiche reader access, electronic access, correspondence = already fiched or scanned or still to be rendered \-accessible in these = or other ways, rare texts owned. - " How\- fertile is the smallest circle when it is well cared for! -\- Friedrich = Schiller. - "To know here and there of someone with \-whom one can = agree, this alone turns this Earth into an inhabited \-garden." - = Wolfgang von Goethe. \par MONETARY FREEDOM NEWSLETTER: Once enough people collaborate on\- = this handbook, then it might be wise to issue, once again, a \-monetary = freedom newsletter, at least on microfiche, floppy disks CD-ROM \-and on = the Internet. \par MONETARY FREEDOM NEWSLETTERS: My own and that of Siegfried\- = Schwenke have been discontinued. Robert Carnaghan, some years ago,\- = showed an interest to produce one in Europe, provided he would\- fi nd enough contributors and addresses of interested Europeans.\- His = address : 22 Wentworth Close, Watford, Herts, U.K. - I rather\- go on = depositing and duplicating as much information as I can on \- my LMP microfiche, leaving it to others to use as they please. -\- J. = Z., 8.4.97. \par MONETARY FREEDOM PRINCIPLES, SIMPLIFIED: (1) Everyone has the = \-right to issue, accept or refuse any kind of note, scrip, I.O.U.\- = etc., typified and standardised like money, in convenient\- = denominations and subject to a free market rate, i.e. with\- compulsory acceptance at face value or legal tender only towards\- the = issuer and those contractually obliged to him. - (2) Anyone \-has the = right to prefer, create, accept or refuse any kind of\- value standard to facilitate his pricing - and is obliged to \-accept = only his own contractual clauses on this subject - whether \-he prefers = a metallic, index or abstract standard, a KW hour, \-"labour h our" or canary "standard" or whatever suits his fancy or \-ideas, = notions or preferences in this sphere. - (3) Anyone has the right to = clear his debts, when due, against his freely \-transferable assets, in = any certified and standardised forms, \- shapes and values & by diverse methods that are suitable and\- = acceptable to him and his contracting partners. - No third party\- has = in any of these 3 cases any right to interfere, prohibit or \- regulate their actions. The parties involved are at liberty to\- appoint = their own arbitrators. - All these principles apply to \-free, adult and = sufficiently rational and responsible beings. -\- We are no longer hunters and food gatherers. We depend on division of = labour and exchange and anything that endangers or \-infringes these 3 = basic rights endangers our liberty, well-being\- and survival.- Such = liberty is practicable. There are many \- precedents for it. It may be claimed and practised any time \-again, = without doing wrong or harm to anybody - but oneself and\- one's = voluntary followers. - Prohibitions have sometimes\- included huge = fines, imprisonment and even death penalties - upon\- such peaceful and mutually beneficial exchanges! Such laws do not = deserve to be obeyed or respected. - Monetary despotism is \-connected = with almost all the major problems of our times while\- monetary freedom is required for almost all complete solutions. -\- = Whether it is involuntary unemployment of any degree, slow or\- = galloping inflation, excessive or any government expenditures,\- = despotism or totalit arianism, under-development, involuntary\- poverty, housing shortage, = inaccessibility of capital,\- under-utilised resources, sales = difficulties, depressions, \- prolonged wars and revolutions, immigration barriers, misery for = refugees, an unsatisfied hunger for land, agricultural crises - \-you = name the problem and at least some monetary freedom advocates \- will be able to tell you of the tie-in of the problem with the = \-ignorance of, prejudice against and suppression of monetary \-freedom. = - Free after MFNO&MF, I/1, Nov. 1986, p.6. \par MONETARY FREEDOM REFERENCE COLLECTION: Does there a exist\- = anywhere a larger one than that offered by LIBERTARIAN MICROFICHE\- = PUBLISHING in its PEACE PLANS series, sometimes running under the \- heading of a RESEARCH CENTRE FOR MONETARY & FINANCIAL FREEDOM? =20 \par MONETARY FREEDOM RIGHTS: See: ECONOMIC & HUMAN RIGHTS ASPECTS\- = IGNORED BY MOST MODERN AUTHORS. \par MONETARY FREEDOM THINK TANK:=20 \par MONETARY FREEDOM WRITINGS: A SURVEY OF THEM, CHRONOLOGICALLY & = \-INDICATING THEIR INTERRELATIONSHIP OR THE LACK OF IT. - It would\- = help in comparative studies if a survey were made not only dating\- all monetary freedom writings but also indicating how many other = \-monetary freedom writings and autho rs any author on this subject was aware of when he wrote his text. I.e., = the shoulders of those, upon whom he stood or failed to stand, should be = indicated. Even\- today most monetary freedom writers seem to have = little awareness\- of many others in this field and whole schools of thought are\- often = outside of their awareness. That should be graphically\- illustrated by = such surveys or bibliographies. If a complete\- monetary freedom = bibliography were already available then the\- entries in it could be numbered to simplify such referencing or\- the = lack of it. E.g.: Author refers to ...., ...., ...., but\- fails to = refer to ..., ..., ..., although these texts had been\- previously = published. Instead, one might merely note that he \- referred to only xyz of a-z previous writings on this subject. \-The = usually limited viewpoints of most writings on this subject\- could thus = be shortly indicated to deflate arguments from\- authority. - J. Z., = 8.4.97. (Free after MFNL 3/4.) \par MONETARY FREEDOM, AN ARCHIMEDIAN LEVERAGE? Monetary Freedom is in = \-my eyes providing something like an Archimedean Leverage option,\- or = could provide it, if fully known and used . That requires, from my point of view, its full recording and = duplication upon demand,\- in any desired selection. I have postponed = many of the related \-jobs for all too long, too. - J. Z., to Robert = Carnaghan, 5/94. \par MONETARY FREEDOM, FREE MEN & FREE MONEY: Free men are free to = \-issue their own money & freely issued money helps to keep men \-free = or to make men free. - J. Z., 18.4.92. \par MONETARY FREEDOM, HOW COULD IT BE ACHIEVED ? There are dozens of\- = options. All ought to be listed and discussed in detail. Here \-just = some hints: Either by a limited monetary resistance or\- revolution or a monetary experiment that is rapidly successful \-and = either ignored by those in power, until it is too late for\- them and = they can no longer suppress it, or at a time when it\- would be = politically very inoppo rtune for them to attempt to suppress it. It could also be realized = among themselves and for \-their purposes, by revolutionaries or = military insurrectionists\- already fighting an oppressive government. = It could also be \- realized by geographical or exterritorial secessionists among = \-themselves or by successfully organized local militias that are \- nationally and internationally federated. The conditions in some = reservations for Red Indians or other Aborigines may also permit limited = issues of shop currencies=20 - experiments that would find wide-spread sympathies among outsiders, as = self-help attempts. - See under START-UP OPTIONS. \par MONETARY FREEDOM, MONETARY DESPOTISM & PERSONAL & ECONOMIC = \-FREEDOM: Even with the money of monetary despotism one can \-purchase = degrees of personal and economic liberty, officially or unofficially. = But one can buy or realize all degrees of personal\- , economic and political freedom and independence, quite honestly \-and = relatively easily only with the money of monetary freedom. - \-Monetary = despotism largely binds one in the slings, fetters\- and chains that follow it inevitably as consequences. Under it\- only a = few clever fellows can prosper, by rapidly utilising the \-remaining = market chances - not all productive people. And the\- clever ones could, usually, prosper even more under monetary \-freedom, = too. For instance, most of the pre-1913 millionaires in Germany were no = longer millionaires after 1923. Since then rich \-people have learned = some l essons in avoiding personally some of \-the evils of government caused = and maintained inflations,\- deflations and stagflations and to some = extent even benefit from\- them, but they cannot prosper as much, as a = rule, as they could \- in a permanent boom economy due to monetary & financial freedom, at = least not \-when they are honest and productive people. - J. Z. = 19.5.93,\-15.4.97.=20 \par MONETARY FREEDOM: Monetary freedom cannot be realized under a\- = public opinion that is close to a vacuum when it comes to \-knowledge of = and interest in the potential of monetary freedom,\- while it is = saturated with the WRONG assumptions, observations,\- opinions, arguments and hypotheses, explanations, predictions, \-hopes = and promises of monetary despotism. - J. Z., 20.4.93,\-15.4.97. \par MONETARY FREEDOM: There exists now perhaps a better chance than\- = ever before to get all the arguments and texts for it together \-and to = publish them widely and cheaply and to introduce them in\- all public discussions where they are needed most. Interest in\- this = option and readiness to work on it are needed more than \-money to = finance such efforts. - There is now more old and new\- literature available on this than ever before and more people are = interested in such questions than ever before. The trend towards\- = deregulation and denationalisation or for reprivatization is \- strong. The new information channels and publishing options make \-it = possible to cheaply gather and spread all relevant \-information. The = tie-ins of monetary despotism with all major\- social, economic and = political problems and monetary freedom as \- their solution, could and should be stressed. Even the nuclear\- and B & = C war threats may require monetary freedom for their\- abolition. = Panarchism could probably not be realized without it. \-Budget diffic ulties, inflation and unemployment troubles exist\- for all governments = - and all their victims. The trend towards \-tax strikes is strong. = Numerous revolutionary and resistance\- attempts need perhaps only sound = financing, including monetary\- freedom realisation, to succeed or succeed faster and with no or\- = little bloodshed. International trading barriers and migration = \-barriers are more and more seen as evils to be broken down and\- without introducing monetary freedom these aims can probably not\- be = achieved. The freeing of the international exchange rates \-between = exclusive national currencies ought to be followed by the \- freeing of the internal ones and full competition for alternative = \-national and local currencies and free market rating for all of\- = them. - J. Z., 7.4.97. \par MONETARY TOLERANCE :=20 \par MONEY & ACCEPTANCE FOUNDATION OR READINESS-TO-ACCEPT-FOUNDATION = OR\- DEBT FOUNDATION: That is the best money, therefore, which will\- be = most widely accepted." (From Tandy: Voluntary Socialism?) -\- Money must = not only be good from the viewpoint of the acceptor\- but also of the issuer. What = the issuer can always easily issue \-are assignments upon his own goods = and services. Even when and if\- these assignments are obviously not = universally and most likely \- not nationally acceptable and when they may not even be locally\- = generally acceptable to others, for him these tokens are still \-the = best money to pay his debts with, to the extent that he can \- find acceptance for it either at par or close enough to par. But\- it = would be against his own interest to have to issue them one \-moment at = a discount, of, let us say, 10%, and the next moment have to accept them = from one of his debtors at 100%. To that \- extent he is not interested in over-issues. Even when his general = \-profit margin would permit him to cover such a discount, there is\- a = secondary disincentive for him. With the money so discounted, he \- will immediately find many less acceptors only. And the fact of \-that = discount will be well publicised locally and fast and also remembered. = \-Consequently, he does reduce good will towards his business and \- would assure a still more wide-spread refusals of his future \-issues, = even though they might be fully covered then by his goods \-and = services. Since businessmen want to stay in business, as a \- rule, they will not risk that good will or creating this degree\- of = distrust which would follow his over-issues, with a resulting\- = temporary discount. - On the other hand, if the discount is only\- very = temporary and considered to be trivial, comp ared with the \-services and goods that he offers and their prices, then = it will\- not matter. The possibility of discounts must exist for the = system to function well enough. Any artificial stabilisation\- of the exchange rate of private issues (apart from the = issuer's\-acceptance obligation at par, and that of his debtors, by = contract with him) would unstabilise the issue and\- reflux situation = and would make considerable over-issues not only\- possible but likely. - J. Z., 2.7.91, 12.4.97. \par MONEY & CREDIT CREATION? Nobody can create money or credit out = \-of nothing, no more so than creating energy and matter out of = \-nothing. What appears or is considered as "creation" is either a = \-forced or fiat "value" or a replacement system temporarily \- substituting suitable bills or notes for unsuitable ones (for\- = general circulation), clearing or fraud. - J. Z., 77 & 97. \par MONEY AS A MEANS OF TRANSPORT, NOT STORAGE: See: APHORISMS ON \-THE = MONEY PROBLEM. \par MONEY AS TICKET MONEY OR GOODS WARRANT: Money may be said to be\- a = title to the ownership of a certain specified amount of \-commodity. * - = Tandy, Voluntary Socialism, 101. (*) Commodities,\- services or labours. - J. Z., 2.7.91, 12.4.97. - Always feel free \-to = add your own comments! Let's improve our exchange media and\- value = standards by first freely exchanging our opinions and\- references. - J. Z., 12.4.97. - Iron or nickel ore is also a commodity = - but not of a type that is suitable for the cover of a currency. That = requires consumer commodities (including services, in the widest sense) = that a re in daily demand. - J. Z., 5.9.02. \par MONEY CRANKS & MONETARY TOLERANCE: They, too, should also get a = hearing. Some of them \-were aware of some monetary freedom options = decades before \-academics finally took some notice of some of them. And = they, \- too, have the rights to enjoy the benefits and learn the lessons \-of = free monetary experiments, undertaken at their expense and\- risk and = that of their voluntary followers. - However, most of\-=20 them deserve still some lessons in monetary tolerance towards \-the = money reform or monetary freedom experiments of others.=20 \par MONEY IS A MARVELLOUS INSTRUMENT OF EMANCIPATION. - Geoffrey\- = Sampson, An End to Allegiance, 1984, p. 240. - That statement is = \-correct only for the money of monetary freedom, not for that = ofmonetary despotism. The latter is a dangerous instrument for=20 \-preventing the full emancipation of people and it supports rather = than helps to overthrow, despotic and even totalitarian regimes. To the = \-extent that it remains in practice in Western or newly \- "liberated" countries, they will not yet be emancipated, at least\- not = monetarily and, consequently, not yet in many other spheres, \-too. - J. = Z., 12.4.97, 5.9.02. \par MONEY MATTERS: The thesis of the monetarist school, according to = \-Henry Hazlitt, THE FREEMAN, Aug. 76. - Money matters most - in\- = economic affairs! - Monetary freedom view of the German School. -\-J. Z. = \par MONEY MONOPOLY: The power to create money is one of the ways in = \-which the State holds the citizen in the grip of its dead hand. -\- = Sir Ernest Benn, The State the Enemy, p. 78. - See: Inflation, = \-Deflation, Depression, Unemployment, CENTRAL BANKI NG. - It "creates" requisitioning certificates rather than sound = "money". - J.Z., 6.9.02. \par MONEY REFORMERS: Those who are, to a limited extent, already on = \-the road from monetary despotism to monetary freedom. Address\- list = with particulars of their ideas. Those only in favour of\- other forms of monetary despotism are here not considered to be \-worth = mentioning, unless some of their arguments deal with \-monetary freedom. = \par MONEY TOKENS, TICKET MONEY & FREEDOM: Money tokens freely and = \-responsibly issued, by ourselves, could become our tickets to = \-freedom. The money of monetary despotism, on the other hand,\- amounts = to tickets to at least degrees of serfdom and slavery\- practices, with compulsory attendance & obedience for the involuntary\- = victims of territorial governments and their nation-wide prisons. - J. = Z., 19.4.93, 15.4.97, 6.9.02. \par MONEY, CLEARING, MEANS OF EXCHANGE, STANDARD OF VALUE & STORAGE OF = VALUE FUNCTION: Money IS clearing! It need not be a store of\- value any = more than a ticket is. The clearing does not have to be \- immediately, as long as it will take place any time soon and at\- the = latest in the near future, no more than 3 months and, \-sometimes perhap s still, in agriculture, up to 6 months away. (Such agricultural credits = require some special financial freedom issues, they cannot be covered by = produce notes upon future harvests. Produce notes are good only for = produce already harvested. Otherwise, a h ail storm or flood could still destroy the growing crop.) In \-the = meantime, until the short term clearing of the underlying \- debt-certificates is finished, they must be usable for other debt = payments and in payments for ready for sale goods and services of \-the = customers of the bank. The local employees, professionals and \- tradesmen must also be prepared to accept them, at least as long\- as = they are at par and a customary local means of exchange and as\- long as = they have debts to the bank of issue and are th us contractually obliged by it to accept its notes, at least to the\- = amounts of their debts. - As a sound clearing medium money does \-need a = sound value standard - one chosen and trusted by its\- private or cooperative payment, exchange and clearing community \-but = it need not be the standard of value itself, e.g. a gold or \-silver = coin of a certain weight. It must only be readily\- accepted, at least in that payment community, as if it were one -\- if = that is the accepted and expressed value standard unit. To \- turn it into "paper-gold" or something "as good as gold (or, for payment = purposes even better than gold), it must be accepted\- like its = equivalent gold weight unit would be, in all due payments, i.e. at par. = The very convenience of such paper means \- of exchange has sometimes given them even a small above par value\- = among money traders. If a discount should occur elsewhere than at\- the = bank of issue and its debtors' shops etc., then that would\- tend to speed up the reflux of this money to those who do have to\- = accept it at par. These acceptors would thus not mind a small\- discount = occurring for the notes of their clearing centre\- somewhere else. Nor would the note holders, who can locally and \-fast = redeem them, at par, in the goods and services they do want. One might = also say that turn-over or clearing money, accounts, \- token or certificates, are nothing but advanced forms of barter,\- = advanced because it is largely anonymous and between several to\- many = participants, who might not know of each other at all, each \- only being involved with his direct trading partner and the \-payment by = clearing for whatever goods and services he has to\- offer. If the = covering "curtain" of money or clearing is removed, \-simply goods and = services (including labour) are exchanged=20 for \-goods and services, but with much less difficulties and for many = \-more goods and services than could be achieved by primitive \-barter = only. This clearing nature for sound money is all too much \- neglected in the writings on money. Prof. Heinrich Rittershausen\- based = his Geldtheorie (Money Theory) on it. Alas, even in its\- 5th version it = remained unfinished - and I managed to lose or to \- mislay the typed out version of the first 80 pp of the 5th\- version. I = would like to get another copy of it from the manuscript and papers = collection of the library of the University \-of Cologne, where = Rittershausen was Dean for many years. - J. Z.,\- 17.4.97. \par MONEY, EDUCATION, PREJUDICES, IGNORANCE, PUBLIC OPINION, MYTHS &\- = "EXPERTS" BEING WRONG: As there on any other subject more \- errors, myths, prejudices and false assumptions than do exist on the = nature of money, currency, barter, clearing, credit, banking, = \-banknotes, value standards, currency, etc.? - J. Z., = 24.6.93,\-14.4.97. \par MONEY, UNIVERSAL ACCEPTANCE REQUIRED? It must be capable of = negotiating all kinds of exchanges.\- - It must be universally = acceptable. - Popular opinion, sometimes \-even expressed by "experts". = - In fact, not a single currency,\- not even gold coins, are universally acceptable or ever were. -\- In = practice it is sufficient when an exchange medium is \-acceptable at par = among the members of a private or cooperative local \-payment = community.\- - This it has in common with any other goods and service. They do\- not = have to be universally accepted, either, but just by their\- customers. = What is true about any kind of money is that it tends\- to be much more = widely acceptable than \- most goods and services are. On the other hand, a popular newspaper = \-might have a wider acceptance, very temporarily, among a wider = \-circle of people, spread over a larger area. But each of these \- issues is likely to end up in the scrap or a recycling bin within hours = to days at most, perhaps after not changing hands at all\- during its = short issue and circulation period or validity, before\- it becomes outdated, like a morning paper is in the evening or next = day. - \-Money is so varied that no definition seems to cover all\- = situations. - Would you know of a definition of "goods" or\- "services" = that would cover all ca ses? - J. Z., 2.7.91, 12.4.97. See: UNIVERSAL ACCEPTANCE OF MONEY.=20 \par MONEY: In the hands of governments, money, as an exclusive means = \-of payment and value standard, has become, like fire, a dangerous = \-master, instead of becoming, as it would, under full monetary = freedom,\- one of his mo st useful and faithful tools or servants. -\- J. Z., 24.6.97, 14.4.97.=20 \par MONEY: Money is life. The lack of it has killed many more than\- = all the assassinations combined. - Free after a comedy film: The\- = Assassination Bureau, which was based on a book with the same or\- a = similar title, written by Jack London.=20 \par MONEY: Money is power, money is security, money is freedom. It \-is = the difference between the life at the foot of a volcano and \-the = security in the garden of the Hesperides. - G. B. Shaw, alas,\- only as retranslated by me from a German translation into my kind of\- = English. - J. Z., 15.4.97. \par MONEY: Money is whatever is locally the common or wide-spread\- or = convenient and acceptable enough clearing or payment means. -\- It is a = means, method & standard of the market, not of the State.\- The State can coercively and legally only manipulate, depreciate\- or = outlaw it or prevent the best money from coming into existence \-or = continuing to be issued and accepted and used in value \- measurements, in prices, wages, salaries etc, but it cannot "create" it. = Because that, too, would be an abuse of the\- language. The issuer of a = requisitioning certificate or of an uncovered cheque does not "create" = anything, either, but, rather,\- steals. Universal acceptance required? Any sound money must by rights = only be accepted, at\- any time and at par with its face value, by its = issuer, i.e., it must have only legal tender\- towards him, not in = general circulation. It is a mistake to call \- only monopoly money or the issues of the central bank (or mint\-) = "money", because this kind of money does outlaw all other kinds \-of = money, which ought to be taken into consideration, especially\- seeing = that t he money monopoly has almost always been abused. To\- call it alone = money and to ignore the rest is like calling only \-the present "vote" a = "vote", although it does not grant use "the"\- vote on some of the most = important aspects of our lives. It only\- allows us the choice of a master. "No matter who you vote for,\- always = a politician gets in." - You are not free to vote for your \-individual = secession. You are not free to vote yourself out of \- monetary despotism and exploitative coercive taxation. You have \-no = vote on war and peace, armament and disarmament and \-international = treaties. And still the bastards abuse the language and call it "the = vote" or "the franchise", as if no democracy or\- self-government or self-responsibility or liberty or right could = possibly go beyond that. The money of monetary despotism is like \-the = territorial State. It has largely only disservices to offer\- and forces them upon unwilling consumers, all under the pretence \-of = working for the common good. - J. Z., 14.3.91 & 16.4.97. \par MONEY: Money should be among the products and services of a FREE\- = AND RIGHTFUL SOCIETY and civilisation but STATES have turned it\- into a = means for systematised injustice, exploitation and \-repression, a means = to introduce expropriation and fraud into \- free exchanges, or to that extent distorted or prevented\- exchanges. = The State's monetary despotism has turned free markets \-into unfree = ones, stable currency aspirations into deflation, inflation or = stagflation, boom times\- into crises, full employment into unemployment and peace into \-wars, = freedom into despotism. They have turned civilised\- countries into = disaster areas. Germany lost economically as much\- by the 1913-1923 = inflation as through WW I and then\- as much again, through the Great Depression of the thirties - and these = economic disasters, which would not have happened under \-monetary = freedom, led to Hitler's regime, mass murders and WW II\- and the = Mutual Assured Destruction or "nuclear strength" \- MAD policies still practised by our leading madmen today. - J. = Z.,\-8.4.97. \par MONEY: Money that is legally monopolised and whose acceptance is\- = enforced, at par with its nominal value, by legal tender \-legislation, = is subject to different laws on its issue and\- reflux, volume and = value, effect on prices and wages and the\- state of the economy than is money that is competitive, optional,\- = market rated against one or the other of freely chosen optional\- value standards and also altogether legally refusable (by all but the = issuer). It has different laws for its issue and reflux, for its = effects, if\- any, upon prices and wages and upon the economy in = general. It is \- a great mistake to mix the two up and then talk of money as if\- only = one form would be possible and desirable and as if the same\- kind of = economic or monetary laws and consequences applied to all \-forms of = money, those of monet ary despotism and those of \-monetary freedom. Monetary despotism can = indeed be effective in preventing production and exchange and the free = development of \-the economy. It can also distort and mislead most = economic\- actions. But it cannot improve upon the results of free market\- = monies. It cannot facilitate production and exchange but, rather,\- puts = them in chains. Compared with these chains its uniformity is\- of little value. One might as well say that the one-party state \-is = preferable or a society where only one kind of sport or\- painting, = clothing, housing, cooking, music or architectural \- style would be permissible, all in the interest of "uniformity"! \-- J. = Z., 16.4.97. \par MONEY: See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par MONEY: Supports the human need to buy & sell, save and spend. - = \-Peter T. White, The National Geographic, Jan. 93. - It does so\- well = enough only if not monopolised, mismanaged & imposed by \-governments or = other privileged issuers. - J. Z., 24.6.93, 14.4.97. \par MORTGAGE BONDS: See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par MOTTO: The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both = \-when they are right and when they are wrong, are more powerful \-than = is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little\- else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt\- from = any intellectual influences, are usually the slaves of some\- defunct = economist.... Soon or late, it is ideas, not vested\- interests, which are dangerous for good or evil. - J. M. Keynes. = -\-"Keynes wrote his own epitaph. How about that!" - ? - Carl J. = \-Friedrich might also be quoted from his A New Belief in the Common = \-Man, on the revolutionary power of ideas, page 49: " \'85 Ralph Waldo Emerson's 'thoughts rule the world'. \'85 It is the = beauty and the terror of a revolutionary age such as ours that theories = are probably the most important 'facts' altogether." \par MULTIPLICITY OF CURRENCIES & VALUE STANDARDS, VARIETY & LACK OF = \-UNIFORMITY: CONFUSION THE RESULT & IMPRACTICABILITY? - The\- = multiplicity of competing value standards and exchange media and\- = clearing avenues would confuse people no more so than the\- multiplication of individual cheques & credit cards does, or that\- of = shares and bonds and tickets. Indeed, not all the diverse \-exchange = media and value standards will be universally \-acceptable. But this is = not required. There will be some \- federation-wide means and standards and some only state-wide ones\- as = well as those known and acceptable only within a small local community. = The degree \-of uniformity that would be achieved under freedom of issue = and\- refusal would be all that would be needed and the degree of\- variety = that would occur would not go beyond that degree which\- would be found = acceptable. Uniformity that can only be achieved \-by legal monopolies, = coercion and deception is not somethin g to\- be desired as much as monetary independence and\- = self-responsibility or maximised "ability to pay", quite\- independent = from the actions or non-actions of a central bank. -\- J. Z., 3.3.95, = 16.4.97. \par MUTUALISM: Monetary freedom school started by Proudhon or his = \-followers, since it is still doubtful whether he wanted to \-establish = just one note issuing Bank of the People for all of\- France or whether = that was to be just one of many competitors to\- the government's central bank.=20 \par NAMES USED OR PROPOSED FOR THE COMPETING MONIES OF MONETARY = \-FREEDOM: Competing monies, alternative currencies, private \- monies, shop notes, shopping centre money, town money, community money, = goods warrants, purchasing vouchers, railway money, petrol-money, = gas-money, bus-money,\- electricity-money, rent money, clearing house = certificates, tally \- money, evidences of debt, balancing tokens, exchange \-facilitators, = promises to accept in payment, readiness to accept\- declarations, = bakers' money, butchers' money, pub money,\- restaurant money, brothel = money, gambling money, tax foundation\- paper money, an acknowledgement of debt, private scrip, due \-bills, = self-made money, transferable claims, negotiable tokens,\- entertainment = centre money, theatre and cinema money, service warrants, produce money, = \- producers' money, fichas, canteen money, traders' money, labour notes, = employment notes, \-turn over tokens, local currency, street money, = private notes, \-convertible only into goods and services of the = issuers, at the \-holder's choice, v alue due notes, mail money, postal money, stamp\- money, exchangeable = debts, due immediately \-but redeemable only in wanted goods and = services, rejectable money - for all but the named issuers and = acceptors, certificates\- of credit, value due tokens, negotiable debt certificates, wage\- = payment notes, salary payment notes, exchangeable debt\- certificates, = due immediately, optional money, \-money substitutes, certificates of = credit, due values,\- consumption entitlement certificates, private, voluntary and\- = competitive money, anti-monopoly money, refusable money. - As \-far as = possible the name should indicate the nature of competing \- currencies and note and clearing certificate issues, as optional, = \-refusable, market rated exchange media and clearing tokens, using = \-optional value standards and possessing legal tender or \- acceptance obligation at par power only for the issuer and those = \-debtors so contractually bound by him. While there are thousands of = inherently meaningless pop names for \-money, they do not convey = sufficient meaning on the kind of money\- involved and its foundation. Nevertheless, these terms should be\- = collected, too, in every major language. Perhaps some of these \-terms = might help to coin new and useful terms.=20 \par NAMING THE MONEY & ISSUING CENTRES OF MONETARY FREEDOM: Trader's\- = token money, truck money, shopkeepers' currency, retail traders'\- = money, ticket money, purchasing vouchers, goods warrants, \-clearing = house certificates, scrip, banknotes based on real\- bills, bills for clearing only, service vouchers, token money,\- shop = currency, debt foundation money, credit currency. - I would \-gladly pay = 100 LMP microfiche for any new and catching term or short \- definition that has a chance, in my opinion, to "conquer the \-world", = helping to destroy the notions of monetary despotism,\- while promoting = the rightful concepts of monetary freedom. The \- same applies to banks or issuing centres, shopping centre banks, \-or = clearing houses for such notes. - The widely used terms in all languages = have been so\- often abused and misunderstood that sooner or later = perhaps \- altogether new terms ought to be coined. F. Knapp, in his The State\- = Theory of Money, in which, by the way, he mentioned also the = \-possibility of private payment communities, which would imply \-their = kind of payment comm unity theory for private money issues, started defining\- a number of = terms that were new for his times and are still not widely accepted now. = But he did not sufficiently\- cover the field nor did his terms "take = off". - If an alphabet \- soup of notes on monetary freedom, like this one, were to take\- off in = public discussion, via microfiche editions of it, floppy\- disks or text = only CD-ROMs, ZIP disks etc., or on the Internet, then, perhaps, in the = near to not too distant future,\- more suitable terms will be advanced, argued out and finally\- adopted, = in this and other indexes, abstracts, reviews and\- handbooks and in = oral debates, lectures, seminars etc. - - J. Z.,\-11.4.97. \par NEW COUNTRY EFFORTS: They are potential initiators for monetary = freedom experiments and have often included such experiments. \-E.g. the = writings and efforts of Mike Oliver and the Phoenix\- Foundation.=20 \par NEWSLETTER ON MONETARY FREEDOM: Anyone can start and maintain\- = indefinitely a "newsletter" on monetary freedom, on microfiche, floppy = disk, website or by e-mail \-only. But will he find sufficient = contributors of news for it and \- enough subscribers? Let others try for a while. I have done my = \-newsletter bit in this respect and continue on microfiche it with\- my = monetary freedom series. My monetary freedom microfiche have \- room for almost unlimited additional pages on this subject. I am = \-waiting for your contributions but I will not engage in any = mass-\-mailing efforts of a few printed pages again or of my = microfiche,\- unordered, in the hope that they might arouse interest. If you\- should = start such a newsletter, on paper, on disk or on the\- Internet, you are = welcome to all the information gathered by me -\- to the extent that it is not copyrighted by others. - J. Z.,\-11.4.97. \par NO MONEY: I have no money, they have no money, we have no money. = \-- Common thoughtless expression. - What KIND of money don't you = \-have? WHY is it in short supply for you? WHY aren't you = \-COMPETITIVELY SUPPLIED WITH OTHER KINDS OF MONEY?? WHY are you\- not free to ISSUE YOUR OWN? - J. Z., n.d., 15.4.97. \par NOTE ISSUE MONOPOLY: Another error of the ruling theory I find\- = classically expressed by Heilfron, Geld-, Bank- und Boersenrecht, \-II. = Aufl, S. 26, where H. says: "The Note isue privilege gives \-the bank = authorised with it the option to acquire=20 capital by the\- issue of banknotes, capital for which it has not to pay = any \-interest to the note holders." - As many errors as there are\- = words! Accurately expressed it should say: A note issuing bank\- gives its CUSTOMERS the option to mobilise their credits, i. e.,\- to = use them as means of payment in small transactions, (e.g., in \-retail = trading ). - Ulrich von Beckerath, in correspondence. (\-With? date?)=20 \par NOTE ISSUE MONOPOLY: Without the note issue monopoly one cannot\- = cause a deflation. - Ulrich von Beckerath, 25.1.52. \par OBJECTIONS AGAINST FREE BANKING: It might help if they were = \-completely listed, alphabetized and numbered, classified, indexed\- = and, in each case, confronted with the best refutations so far \- found. - Hopefully, this compilation will provide much material = \-towards such a work. - J. Z., 8.4.97. \par OBJECTIONS, POPULAR OPINIONS, ERRORS, PREJUDICES & MYTHS, together = with REFUTATION ATTEMPTS OR PROPOSALS: Dispersed, alphabetically, = \-throughout the whole text but, perhaps, extra marked as such.=20 \par ORIGINALS OF MONETARY FREEDOM TEXTS NEED NOT BE SUBMITTED: Good\- = photocopies will do. If they can't be supplied to LMP then short-\-term = loans to LMP are welcomed, for photocopying here, at my\- expense and as = my chore. \par PAPER MONEY CIRCULATION & FOUNDATION: When paper money is funded = \-as under 9 (above: GERMAN SCHOOL ON MONEY) then it can circulate more = widely than merely\- among those who directly claim the cover involved. = When the paper \- money has tax foundation, then it will circulate not only among \-those = who just then have to pay taxes. If it has shop foundation\- (a concept = coined by Rittershausen), then it circulates not\- only among those who have to buy something from the shops which \-are = under acceptance obligation. When the railway issues money (\-as in = Germany in 1923/24 for several 100 million marks), then it \- circulates not only among those who just then want to use the = \-railway's services. The tax foundation imparts to paper money (\-as = apparently Lorenz von Stein found out first) a par value (to \- gold and silver coin) for an amount equivalent at least to the\- tax = revenue for at least 3 months, even without legal tender . - \-Ulrich = von Beckerath, 25.1.52. \par PAPER MONEY, MONEY MONOPOLY & PUBLIC OPINION & THE "FREE" PRESS: = \-There is thus more public anxiety about, say, the meat ration \-than = about the supply of currency, and a false confidence is\- encouraged by the very dangerous fact that while no government\- can = make meat, any government can manufacture any quantity of\- money, = provided that quality does not matter. - Sir Ernest Benn,\- The State = the Enemy, 78/79. \par PAPER MONEY: A loan to an armed robber. - Mirabeau.=20 \par PAPER MONEY: After nearly half a century of experience of this = \-phenomenon, it is time to recognize the inherent error and to = \-realise that while the State can manufacture and circulate paper \- money, the rest of its new powers operate to discourage every\- other = sort of production. - Sir Ernest Benn, The State the Enemy,\- p. 21. - = Especially the paper money power and abuses do \-discourage production. = - J. Z. \par PAYMENT PRACTICES REVERSED: With e.g., a gold commodity money, a\- = creditor lends the gold money to a debtor and the debtor has to \-return = equivalent gold cu rrency to him. And the debtor, to enable him to repay a debt, which he = had used for a temporary investment, has to collect\- at least enough = gold money to enable him to pay back his \-creditor. When both, = creditors and debtors are free to issue \- their own shop foundation or clearing certificates the situation\- is = reversed. The creditor issues mere tokens to the debtor, which\- have = shop foundation with the shop or shop association or \- shopping centre of the creditor. From there the debtor - or his = \-suppliers, have to collect the real values they want - by \-presenting = the tokens to this creditor. Then, when the debt is \- due, the debtor would not only be free to try to collect, through \-his = trading, sufficient tokens issued by the creditor, but, \-instead, he = could also offer the creditor the own clearing \-certificates, whose = real values (goods, services,\- labour) the creditor would then have to collect from his debtor,\- = directly, or through his suppliers, to whom he has passed them on, \-in = payment of his debts. Alternatively, the debtor might not have \- needed to take up a short term loan from the creditor, or not to the = extent that he could have issued or found ready acceptance \-for his own = readiness-to-accept tokens or clearing certificates. \-The debtor would = bec ome a payer first and then a supplier. And so \-would the creditor. Both = could mobilise whatever assets they have \-in ready for sale goods, = services and labour, for additional \-turnovers. Both, to some extent, = could also mobilise this \- ability, for medium and long term investments, if that is their\- wish. = To use an analogy from international trade: All could\- become first = importers, paying with assignments upon their\- delivery capacity, and = then exporters, by accepting their own\- assignments at par in payment for their exports. - Money would be\- = transport tickets for a wide local choice of goods, services and\- = labour. Unlike gold coins, they would not transfer commodity\- values directly but indirectly. Like gold certificates they would\- = have convertibility or redemption values, but not in one\- commodity = only but in all desired consumer services and goods and \- labours that are daily in demand and supplied by the local issuers. And = no one would be forced to\- supply gold that he does not possess or may = not be able to \-acquire. He would only have to back up his own = standardised IOUs \- (or those of his payment association) with his own labour,\- services = and goods. And he could point out that he would state \-their prices in = gold weight units but would not insist on payment \- of these prices in gold weight units. Instead, he would accept \-his own = standardised IOUs at their nominal gold weight value, as\- if they were = such weight units in gold. In this way he would be\- able, together with = his associates, to keep his IOU's=20 at par with\- their nominal gold weight unit values, although not a = single gold\- coin might circulate or even exist in his locality. Those = really\- wanting gold coins and bullion could then be referred to the\- world-wide market for goods, whose reserves embrace all the gold \-in = the world that may be freely traded. Both the creditors and the debtors = would be freed \-to monetise their assets directly or indirectly through = their\- local voluntary payment association. Both could first appear as a = \-money payer and then as a money redeemer, with the own goods, = \-services and labour. Both would no longer depend on being hunters \- and collectors of scarce and forced monopoly money and dependent\- upon = its manipulation in inflations, deflations and stagflations.\- Both, = inde ed, could grow their own money on trees or as easily as grass - but only = to the extent of their redemption capacity for it with their own = services, goods and labour. Their own IOU's\- would, inevitably, soon = stream back to them in payment of debts \- owed to them or to pay for their goods, services and labour. The \-more = they could thus freely issue their own money, the more goods\-, services = and labour they could supply. They would thus be enabled\- to supply themselves with sales and labour, or put cash demand\- for = what they have to offer into circulation, rather than\- depending on the = cash which might or might not be sufficiently \-supplied by others or, = most unlikely at all, be sufficiently and \- soundly supplied by a distant monopolist. - I think I tried\-, = largely in vain, to convey in English Beckerath's short expression\-: = "Jede Bring-Schuld wird eine Hol-Schuld!" (Every debt to be\- delivered becomes a debt to be collected.) Every IOU is still = \-delivered but its purchasing power remains to be collected, not\- in = gold but in goods, services and labour or debt payment receipts. Every = debtor and every\- creditor would have a small potential to become an issue and = \-acceptance bank for the own banknotes - or for clearing house = \-certificates. But local mergers would make his issues more = \-acceptable to other local people. And such mergers would not lead=20 \-to new money issue monopolism because secessions from them and\- the = establishment of new issue and acceptance centres, would \-always remain = possible and often advisable. - The old wish that \- your own money spent should come back to you in payments, would\- at = last be realized to the extent that it could be and should be. \-- J. = Z., 19.11.92, 14.4.97. - Under a perfect clearing system this return = could be perfectly achieved. - J. Z., 5.9.02. \par PEACE & MONETARY FREEDOM:=20 \par PEACE PLANS 9-11, INDEX IN PP11, should be consulted for this\- = compilation and some extracts should be made.=20 \par PEACE PLANS AND LIBERTARIAN MICROFICHE PUBLISHING: Ask for its = \-literature list on monetary freedom, the largest collection of\- its = type by a single publisher.=20 \par PHOTOCOPY & PERHAPS COPYRIGHTS CENTRE & LITERARY AGENCY FOR\- = UNPUBLISHED MANUSCRIPTS DEALING WITH MONETARY FREEDOM OPTIONS: \-For = those not satisfied with microfiche duplicates or not wanting\- to permit them or floppy disk copies of their issues. They could = \-arrange for the sending of their manuscript to a photocopy centre\- = that would make automatic photocopies, in limited numbers, and\- pay = them some royalties from their sales.=20 Now there are also some print-on-demand options, of which at least some = should be listed. \par POLITICS, CURRENCY, HONESTY & FOUNDATION OF MONEY: A sound\- = currency requires honesty openness and readiness to accept it for = \-wanted consumer goods and services. It cannot be based on lies, \- false pretences, false assumptions, promises to pay in the far \-future, = far less promises to rob others to make good the promises. It cannot be = based on power politics, vested interest,\- political pull or push or = "investments" in tax slaves. - J. Z.,\- 27.1.93, 15.4.97. \par POPULAR & SHORT VERSIONS OF THIS ALPHABETICAL COMPILATION: \-They = are invited from anyone for microfiching by LMP or \-independent other = publishing. \par POTENTIAL ISSUERS UNDER MONETARY FREEDOM: Attempt to provide an = \-almost complete listing, based largely upon historical\- precedents.=20 \par POVERTY & MONETARY DESPOTISM & MONETARY FREEDOM: \par PRICE INCREASES: Price increases must not be mixed up with = \-dearness. Price increases may be due to inflation or they can be\- = caused by a reduction of supply in relation to demand. In the \- latter case it would be dearness. Price increases may also be due\- = partly to inflation and partly to dearness. - Ulrich von\- Beckerath, = 25.1.52. \par PRICE REDUCTIONS: Reduced prices should not be mixed up with\- = cheapness. They might be due to deflation or due to an increase \-of the = goods offered in relation to demand. In the latter case \- only would it represent a genuine cheapness. The reduced prices \-can = also be due partly to deflation and partly to a genuine\- cheapness. - = Ulrich von Beckerath, 25.1.52. \par PRODUCTIVE COOPERATIVES & THEIR SALES & INCOME & EMPLOYMENT = \-SITUATION: As co-owners of enterprises cooperators would not be\- = dismissed from a cooperatively run firm when sales would go down. = \-Instead, their working hours an d their income would go down. But\- cooperatives, like other = enterprises, could largely solve their\- sales problem (when they = continue to provide goods and services\- which the market wants, but sometimes, under present conditions of = monetary despotism, is unable or not fully\- enabled to pay for) by = including also a monetary emancipation in\- their cooperative production = efforts. To the extent that they can\- not only launch themselves as enterprising capitalists, \-self-managing = and owning their enterprises (although they might\- still have to pay = back some capital or borrow more), but also \-are freed to pay their = debts, directly or indirectly, with their \- own assignments upon their products or services, they will also \-become = monetarily emancipated. - J. Z., 14.4.97. \par PROTECTIONISM & MONETARY DESPOTISM:=20 \par PROUDHON: Proudhon was one of the earliest monetary freedom\- = advocates. FREEDOM, London, I believe in March 86, pointed out \-that = about half of his writings had not yet been published, not \- even in French, not even in his collected "complete" works. When\- in = Vancouver, in 1990, I had a chance for a short telephone talk with = \-George Woodcock about this. He denied this accusation, which, if \- true, would strongly support my case for the need of microfiching all = freedom writings. - By the way, then he seemed to have given up \-his = former intention to translate more of Proudhon's writings and he \- has died since. - I was relieved and confirmed, in my fiching\- = determination, when I found recently, in the thick volume of\-, = anarchist discussion, by Peter Marshall: "Demanding the \-Impossible", = that, indeed, many of the writings of Proudhon have\- not yet been published. Among them may also be many unfinished or\- = even finished manuscripts dealing with monetary freedom options \-and = perhaps clarifying some of his views on the competitive or\- exclusive position for his "Peoples' Bank". Will any French or \-other = anarchist or other free banking advocate ever bother or \-have the = chance to look up and photocopy these unpublished \-writings and make = them accessible on microfiche, floppy dis ks or CDs, etc? To me it is\- almost as if the Christians had not = bothered to gather and \-publish all the teachings of Christ that they = could get hold of\- and the Muslims those of Muhammed. (Actually, for = several \- centuries they did not and by then all too little was left in the \-oral = traditions or of early records.) Do we have to repeat and\- continue = with that degree of negligence with regard to at least\- economically much more important writings & traditions? One can\- = accuse the communists of many things and rightly so. But they did\- not = neglect their prophets as much! They even reproduced many of \- their earlier prophets and their followers on microfiche. (Admittedly, = later dissenters and heretics in their ranks were not so welcomed, on = the contrary! - J. Z., 5.9.02) Where is \-the capitalistic or free = market equivalent effort - apart from my\- own shoe-string enterprise? - J. Z., 11.4.97. \par PUBLIC DEBT, PUBLIC CREDIT: "... in all human experience so far, = \-there is no such thing as public credit; there is only public\- debt." = - Sir Ernest Benn, The Profit System, p. 173 or 178 of\- Abel: Benn. \par PURCHASE OF ENTERPRISES & PRODUCTIVE COOPERATIVES: Under\- monetary = and financial freedom it would be easier for employees \-to purchase the = enterprises they work in, on terms, using their \- own bonds and value preserving clauses and freely agreed interest = \-rates, as productive cooperators, who run their productive\- = cooperatives successfully, in a businesslike way, rather than upon = counter-economic dogmas. - J. Z., 19.4.93, 15.4.97. \par PURCHASE OF ENTERPRISES BY THEIR STAFF & FINANCIAL & MONETARY = \-FREEDOM: \par PURCHASE OF LAND BY PEASANTS & FINANCIAL & MONETARY FREEDOM:=20 \par QUANTITY THEORY: But if the standard of value remains constant\- = and the basis of value is sufficient (*), I fail to see how the \-volume = of money can affect its purchasing power. - Tandy,\- Voluntary = Socialism, 101. - (*) I. e., as long as the exchange=20 \-media are free market rated and at par with their value standard, = \-the same standard in which the prices of goods and services are\- = marked out. - Some over-issues might occur, in spite of all\- limiting = forces and interests in a monetary freedom=20 situation.\- But then only these particular issues would become somewhat = \- depreciated in their purchasing power or suffer a discount\- against = their value standard. They would be either refused in\- consequence, in general circulation, or accepted only at a\- discount, = which means, they could not drive up prices or wages\- expressed in = sound value units. They could only drive down their\- own purchasing power. - J. Z., 2.7.91 & 12.4.97. - The larger their = discount, the faster they would stream back from the rema ining debtors of the issuing centre to the issuing centre. To the extent = that this reflux would still be possible, at least over a period, they = would disappear from circulation and the discount would be reduced. If = no further shop or debt foundation would remain then they would have only debt foundation in the liquidation = process of that enterprise, against whatever real values it would still = possess. - J.Z., 5.9.02. \par RACISM & NATIONALISTIC HATRED OF "FOREIGNERS" & ALIENS: In times\- = of full employment or nearly full employment such hatreds do \-largely = slumber more or less harmlessly. But when a monetary\- crisis occurs, = the n "culprits" or scapegoats are sought and rapidly "found", mostly among = unpopular minorities, "aliens", "foreigners", dissidents, = "non-believers" and at\- best deported and as worst mass murdered. = Nevertheless, enemies \- of racism and nationalism hardly every explore this connection and the = monetary freedom solution to reduce these unreasonable hatreds to = bearable proportions. -\- J. Z., 11.4.97, 5.9.02. \par RAILWAY MONEY & GIFT VOUCHERS, WASHINGTON METRO: Need the \-perfect = givt? Give a Metro Gift Certificate for $ 5 to $ 10. This\- certificate = can be used for maps or fares, including special ones\- suc h as the Family, Tourist Pass package, Flash Passes, tokens,\- high = value fare cards, commuter tickets. Stop by any Metro Sales\- Office = (Metro Centre, mobile sales, Metro Headquarters or .....\-\{can't read = my handwriting, once again! J. Z.\} ) & buy the gift\- certificate for the perfect present. - Advertisement = seen in\- Washington Metro, a city railway, 7.12.90. - That comes close = to\- railway money - but, alas, is not issued in payment of wages and\- salaries and debts to suppliers, as far as I know. But that would\- = just be a small additional step that could be introduced from one\- day = to the other. - J. Z., 7.12.90. \par REAL BILLS DOCTRINE: Critics of it do too often ignore that the\- = advocates of the Real Bills Doctrine spoke and wrote in the\- context of = a stable value standard situation and of free market \- rating of all exchange media against it, i.e., in the absence of\- legal = tender and an issue monopoly for paper money. Either the\- critics = forget this context or do not comprehend it. Any aspect\- of a free = market functions fully only within a free market \-situation. Moreover, any free market situation must also = be \-subject to free and full publicity on all prices, all offers and\- = demands, especially in the monetary sphere of issue and reflux\- arrangements, to function as exactly as it could and should. -\- J. Z., = 3.7.91, 12.4.97. \par REAL ESTATE AS COVER? See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par RECESSIONS, DEPRESSIONS, DEFLATIONS, CRISES, UNEMPLOYMENT,\- = BANKRUPTCIES, SALES DIFFICULTIES & MONETARY FREEDOM, FREE\- BANKING, = PROVIDING ONESELF WITH WORK & SALES, ESPECIALLY THE \-RIGHT TO ISSUE, = EXCHANGE MEDIA, MONEY MONOPOLY, MONETARY FREEDOM\- : To the extent that you are or make yourself free enough to pay\- your = bills with your own goods and service warrants or clearing \-media or = avenues, you are out of the recession. Moreover, the \- worse the recession is, the easier the way-out becomes, especially\- if = you join up with others to form private payment and = clearing\-communities. Together with them, at least in certain = situations,\- you can safely enough ignore the laws and regulations of monetary = \-despotism and solve the problems which politicians and \-bureaucrats, = under monetary despotism and because of it, are \-unable to solve. - J. = Z., 14.6.91, 12.4.97. \par REDEMPTION IN RARE METALS: Redemption in rare metals BY THE\- = ISSUER OR A RESERVE BANK is not required to preserve the value of \-a = paper money. It can be replaced by acceptability (for all \-kinds of = goods and services and debts) under the control of a\- free market rate (against rare metal weight units). This would \-leave = the discount possibility as a necessary feature but would,\- generally, = lead to a par rate of the paper money on a free gold\- market. It would not be a gold redemption by the issuer but a\- gold = clearing standard. It would transfer redemption from the\- issuer to the = free gold market - for whosoever would need it or \-would be doubtful or = suspicious. This possibility was not \- sufficiently discussed by the advocates of a 100% gold dollar. - J. Z., = 77 & 97. \par REDEMPTIONISM OR RARE METAL CONVERTIBILITY: The possibility of\- = free exchanges via clearing or private notes, bills or scrip or\- = computerised barter exchanges should not be restricted by the \- demand that the equivalent commodity values in one or the other \-rare = metal should be provided for each of these possible and desired = exchanges. The total value of all the rare metals in the\- w orld combined can never be the equivalent of all the ready for \-sale = goods, services and labour of all countries. (One commodity is simply = not the value equivalent to millions of others, plus millions of = services. - J. Z., 4.9.02.) To get away \- from all the myths about e.g. gold, let us assume that we would\- have = adopted another commodity, namely pig iron or steel, as an \-exclusive = exchange medium and value standard. Should we then\- expect that the value of this one commodity could become, adding up its = total value at any time in the whole world, the equivalent\- of the = value of all other commodities in the whole world, at that \- time, and of all services and labours then to be paid? If we\- really = tried to enforce such a rule for each and every\- transaction, we would = create an enormous bottleneck and give gold\- or iron an enormous = artificial value, that would still not \- suffice to mediate, one commodity for all other commodities and \-all = goods and services, all the desired and possible exchanges.\- Trying to = coercively mobilise all gold not only in its weight\- units, as a value standard, but also as a parallel exchange \-medium, = reserve or cover, upon all economic exchanges, is wrong, unnecessary and = even absurd. Tons of gold or thousands of tons of\- gold do not=20 have to be moved or stored in order to reckon each \-price for goods, = services and labour and each token that can be \-issued to be redeemed = in them, in grams of gold and the value\- which grams of gold have on a = free gold market. As merely a gold\- accounting unit - gold weight units could be freely used for all = \-transactions, by all who want them, without any cover-, reserve-\- or = convertibility problems arising at all. And all kinds of notes\- and certificates could be kept at par with their nominal = gold\--weight-value, without the issuers and acceptors possessing = \-themselves any grams of gold, far less tons of it. Possessing \-gold = reserves or cover was a primitive means to give some paper\- some value when other methods of giving paper certificates their = \-nominal gold value in free transactions were either not known or \-not = appreciated. - J. Z., 8.4.97. \par REFUGEES & DESERTERS APPLYING MONETARY FREEDOM PRINCIPLES & = \-PRACTICES AMONG THEMSELVES: They would not longer be perceived \-as = burdens and unwelcome competitors. Thus correct monetary \-freedom = theories and practices could have enormous \- immediate economic, political, military and revolutionary value\- and = applications. They are not just subjects for ivory tower \-exchanges. - = J.Z., n.d. \par REFUGEES & MONETARY FREEDOM: \par REFUGEES, UNEMPLOYMENT, IMMIGRATION RESTRICTIONS, MONETARY = DESPOTISM & MONETARY FREEDOM: \-Without free banking (monetary freedom) = and, in consequence, full employment and a boom economy, refugees will = be in trouble even in Australia. \-Their entr y will be blocked as far as possible. They will be\- imprisoned and = deported, prohibited from working and peaceful settlement and purchases = of land and houses. Rather, they will at least temporarily be\- herded in concentration camps, more or less like prisons, in some = respects worse, kept \-unemployed, more or less otherwise inhumanly = treated as 2nd.\- class citizens or no citizens at all and, finally, = delivered \- again into the hands of their former exploiters, torturers and = \-oppressors, apart from those whom the government recognises, after all = too long bureaucratic delays, as refugees. Without introducing = panarchism this kind of war\- against innocent people will continue on the side of their native = \-oppressors and that of the supposedly democratic and free guest = \-countries. Monetary freedom is just one essential part of\- panarchistic freedom (that realises exterritorial autonomy for\- all = volunteer communities). Panarchy means: To each the government or = no-governmental society of his or her dreams. All\- impositions of = exclusive territorial autonomy are, essentially, \- totalitarian. Central banking is just one very significant \-expression = of this totalitarianism. Under territorialism wars,\- civil wars, = revolutions, riots, terror acts and mass murders, like\- the Nazi's = Holocaust and "ethnic cleansing" will continue.\- Territorialism is systematised and even murderous intolerance. It\- has = no solutions to offer but, rather, creates problems and \-prevents their = solution. - J. Z., 25.4.93, 15.4.97. \par REGISTRY & INFORMATION SERVICE FOR ALL MONETARY FREEDOM IDEAS, = \-PROPOSALS & ARGUMENTS, combined with publication efforts for all\- = such texts, in any affordable alternative media. The mass media, \-the = book markets, are, apparently, not sui table and effective\- exchange media for the exchange media and value = standards of \-monetary freedom. Nor are the universities ideal clearing = centres\- for them. Nor do the present banks and financial institutions = and\- recognized experts provide the necessary expertise for monetary\- = freedom. No complete monetary freedom library or book service\- exists. = No complete review compilation, abstracts compilation,\- bibliography and address list exists for interested organizations and\- = individuals and their periodicals. We have almost to start from\- = scratch - but in this effort we should fully utilise all \- existing monetary freedom writings and discussions and make them = \-readily and permanently accessible in quite affordable\- alternative = media. A clearing house for all monetary freedom and\- free clearing and value standard reckoning ideas, proposals, = experiences and traditions should lead to a very liquid and\- = enlightening and wide-enough spread for sound ideas on this \-subject. = It could even turn them into immediately realisable \- knowledge, at least on the black market, during rebellions and = \-revolutions and during severe economic crises, which could be = \-rapidly ended by monetary freedom. \par RETAIL SALES & MONETARY FREEDOM: Retail sales would inevitably go = up \-and be more regular if retailers were freed to pay taxes, wages, = \-salaries, fees, bills of suppliers and other debts - in\- standardised = and typified but optional and market-rate\- d assignments upon their own goods and service offers, alone or in\- = association with others. Only they would have to accept these\- = purchasing certificates or IOUs always at par with their stated\- nominal values. These value standards should also be freely \-chosen by = them, for their issues and all their goods and services \-should be = priced out in them, although not necessarily\- exclusively. They might still indicate the inflated prices that are = \-involved if they accept at all any depreciated government paper = \-money. - Then it would become obvious that their prices, \-priced out = in sound value standards, are not arbitrarily \- increased by them, but fluctuate only with the supply and demand\- for = commodities and services and that only the prices expressed in = depreciated \-government paper money go up - because that paper money is = going\- do wn. - Their degree of honesty, at least in this, would be more \-obvious = to the average consumer. - That might even save their heads, which they = might lose under another rule of Assignats. - \-J. Z., 9.11.92, 14.4.97. \par RETAILERS' ASSOCIATION & THEIR POSSIBLE ROLE IN A MONETARY = \-REVOLUTION TO END INFLATION, DEFLATION OR STAGFLATION. - First of = \-all, it should be determined, in relatively accurate figures, how \- much of the GNP they have at any time ready for sale in goods and\- = services and then how much of this total they could issue,\- between = them, in their own goods warrants with shop foundation, \- each with only a limited circulation period, and granted only in\- short = term loans, mostly to employers, all issues subject to \-free market = rating and full publicity, provided only that the \- contrary legislation will not or cannot be enforced, for political = reasons,\- at the time of issue (e.g. shortly before an election, during = a \-crisis and that the issue is fast and obviously effective in\- = ending a crisis or during a revolution), or that it can be\- safely enough = ignored due to the circumstances, without the \-issues becoming = depreciated and assuming that employers and \-unionists and other = employees are prepared to accept them rather \- than having to dismiss employees or becoming unemployed. \-Acceptance in = part-payment of wages and salaries, of such local \-private or = cooperative issues would be sufficient. But a \-considerable part of the = business community must participate in\- this and be sufficiently enlightened. The theoretical training \-for = "D-Day" could take place now, if interest can be aroused. The\- real = economic redemption fund for any currency consists in the\- ready-for-sale goods, services and labour power of every country.\- Its = capital goods are an effective cover capital only for the \-financial = securities issued upon them. - J. Z., 7.4.97. \par REVOLUTIONS & MONETARY FREEDOM: \par RIGHT TO REFUSE ACCEPTANCE OF ANY PAPER MONEY: The unrestricted = \-right of people to refuse to accept any paper money offered (\-Compare = par. 2 of Bismarck's Bank Act of 1875 and the numerous\- laws of the = confederated German States during the 100 years=20 \-before this law was passed.), makes impossible every abuse of the\- = right to issue, either by the bureaucracy or private persons. - = \-Ulrich von Beckerath, 25.1.52. \par RIGHT TO SUPPLY ONESELF WITH WORK & TO TAKE ALL THE STEPS = \-NECESSARY TO DO SO, WITHOUT DEPRIVING ANYONE OF JOBS: See:\- = UNEMPLOYMENT & THE RIGHT TO SUPPLY ONESELF WITH WORK. A \-DECLARATION, = by Ulrich von Beckerath, 10.8.1951. \par ROTHBARD, MURRAY N., Correct and incorrect views on monetary = \-freedom, might be listed separately, with refutations. \par SALES, ASSURANCE OF SALES AND SALES DIFFICULTIES, UNDER ECONOMIC = \-CRISES WITH MASS UNEMPLOYMENT: When and while sales are assured, = \-production and employment continue undisturbed. But to assure\- them against exclusive and forced currency, one that is managed and\- = mismanaged by a central bank, is not possible and is outside of \-the = present self-management options of enterprises that are \- supposedly free enterprises, operating under free trade and \-exchange = in a free market. To assure them of sales, independent\- of the actions = or lack of actions of a central bank,\- manufacturing and sales = enterprises must be free to pay all their \- expenses (including taxes), supplies, fees, wages, salaries,\- interest, = profits, maintenance costs, - in assignments upon their own goods and = services, in as perfect monetary or clearing forms\- as can be privately = and cooperatively managed, voluntarily, \-non-coercively, in their own = payment and clearing communities.\- That, in abstract form, is the task = of monetary liberation or \-free banking. Only in this form could they = make all their\- payments without monetary difficulties and only in this form\- could = all of them be readily paid, regardless of all the mistakes \-and wrongs = committed by supposed experts outside their own payment \- communities. - Indeed, they could not entirely separate all their = \-transactions from all others and from all other private payment\- = communities. But this is not necessary, as long as there is free \- trade and free clearing between them - and a free market rating\- of all = the alternative exchange media and value standards used,\- and = independence of the central bank's money and its paper standard. \- Towards monetary despotism their self-help actions would \-constitute a = monetary revolution that would be finalized only once the issue monopoly = and legal tender for it have been \-officially repealed and the bad = forced and exclusive currency has \- been driven out by good monies. For a while tribute gatherers \-might = still be able to issue clearing certificates anticipating \-their = tribute collections, i.e. they might be able to issue tax\--foundation = money ba sed on these tributes, as soundly issued and\- accounted and streaming = back as is possible under these \-conditions. But, sooner or later full = monetary & financial freedom would lead\- to tax foundation being = replaced by voluntary subscription and\- fee foundation money or clearing certificate issuers provided by\- = voluntary communities, that are only exterritorially autonomous\-. Even = the issues of these volunteer communities might become more and more = reduced in volume, \- with a further and further reduction in statism, even in its\- = voluntaristic forms. Who would pay high subscriptions for \-services he = does not want or services that he does want but that\- are cheaper = provided by another exterritorially autonomous\- volunteer community or just a freely competing business? There would be = a flourishing competition in \-reducing government budgets and thus = government takes. See: ON\-PANARCHY in the PEACE PLANS series. - J. Z., = 7.10.92, 14.4.97. \par SAMPLES OF PRIVATE & COOPERATIVE CURRENCY ISSUES: Many should \-be = included. The supply of more of them should be invited for \-future = inclusions. Good photocopies would do for micro-fiching. \par SANCTION OF THE VICTIMS, THE POPULAR RELIGION OF MONETARY = \-DESPOTISM, TRUCK SYSTEM: Labourers usually insist upon being paid in = "the coin \-of the realm" or the uniform and legal tender currency of = the \- State, although this was bound to make them often unemployed or\- = underemployed or underpaid. They refused truck payments and truck = payment \-notes altogether, rather than collaborating with employers to = \- make them as good or even better than any local government currency, = e.g. by running consumer coops and issuing shop-foundation money through = them and lending these notes in wage \-payment loans to their employers. = They rather had all kinds of \- "truck payments" outlawed after misunderstanding and slandering \-them, = never understanding that their employers did not produce \- cash but goods and services, in their attempts to exchange them for = scarce cash, and that these goods and services could not always be = \-readily or immediately or fully turned into legal tender or the coin = of the realm. But what the\- employer could always offer was assignments upon their goods and services - in payment = \-to his suppliers and to his employees. Instead of blaming the = \-employers for their inability to produce legal tender or of assuming = \- that they always could do so easily, they should have helped to\- = develop a better market for the employers' IOU's, sound commercial bills = and clearing \-certificates and with that a suitable discounting = facility for them, one that \- could issue banknotes or clearing house certificates for produced\- and = already sold goods and services, with which the employees \-could then = be paid, much better and much more conveniently than\- with a share in the goods themselves or with assignments to only those = goods. A start could have been made with "canteen money", in a c anteen and shop cooperatively run by themselves, which would have = discounted, in its shop currency, the claims of the employer against his = customers. Then and to that extent they could have become the bankers of = the employers, would have themselves suppli e d him with cash and achieved the payment of their wages in this cash, = independent of how badly the country might have been supplied with = "coins of the realm" or exclusive and forced legal tender. Instead, and = again and again, they saw to the outlawry of a ll\- truck payments or payment substitutes or truck notes, thus = \-preventing their natural development into a convenient local currency. = Consequently, when forced, again and \-again, during currency famines, = to accept them or face dismissal, \- because the employers, with the best of will, could not pay them \-in = anything better than they could construct or offer on the spur of the = moment, they had to put up with many of the worst \- forms of truck payments - because nothing better was developed as \-yet. = That kind of nonsense went on for centuries - and still goes \-on. - But = most of the employers were not any better. While, in \- their dealings with other employers and suppliers and their\- = distributors, they often managed to arrange for non-cash\- payments, = they needed cash (exclusive coin of the realm or\- exclusive forced = currency) for wage payments and also, often, for \- taxes (at least in form of cash deposits) and thus, rather thinking = about alternative means of\- payment, here, too, they went on insisting = upon the getting only the official ones or issued \- only primitive personal scrip or IOUs, in most cases. The economists or = schools for business and management skills, were not any help to them in = this respect, either, nor was most of the economic and business = literature. Thus, \- rather than employing all, to the limits of their productive\- potential = and the potential market for their goods and services, they merely\- = adapted to the existing monopoly-cash supplies, limited or\- scarce as = it often was, by laying off worker s and to that extent\- ceasing to remain "employers". They wrongly = thought that the\- official "monetary authorities" would efficiently and = rightfully \- take care of that part of their business. Naturally, in some cases and = in desperation, to stave off bankruptcy, some of them \-resorted to = forced sales or sales at emergency prices of their\- goods - if mere = discounting and special offers or long term or=20 \-interest free consumer credits did not attract enough customers. But = \-all these could not undo the effects of any deflation of the = \-exclusive and forced currency. Nor were they rendered independent\- of the inflations made possible and likely by forced and \-exclusive = currencies (issued by the central banks). - Compare the\- demand for = legal tender paper money issues before and during the\- American War for Independence and for Greenback issues during and = \-after the Civil War. - Is there ever an end to foolishness and = \-dogmatism going wrong? - J. Z., 8.3.97, 11.4.97. \par SAVINGS & INVESTMENT BANKS: Such a bank should always keep its = deposit \-amounts and their terms in balance with its investment amounts = \-and their terms. When this is accurately done, then and only then will = it never be \- illiquid as long as all its debtors pay their debts in full and\- on = time. It should never promise its depositors immediate \-withdrawability = of all their funds in cash at any time - because \-it does not have a = corresponding cash income. But what it c ould\- do, before any of its term deposits become due, to pay out any\- = currency cash withdrawal requests, is: a) to transfer an \-equivalent = number of its transferable securities to the \-withdrawer or b) sell the = equivalent number of securites at their \- market prices. - In case a) some transfer fees should be charged = \-and in case b) any losses in this forced sale should be born by \- the withdrawer. - Such a system, in times of full financial and monetary = freedom, is automatically self-liquidating or stable \-and profitable to = all involved. (A few mistakes are covered by \-the insurance charges = involved in credit rates or credit \- insurance.) The total of credit and debt amounts and all their \-terms = correspond to each other. - Trouble arises e.g. in times of\- inflation, = when debts are repayable in nominal amounts but with much \- less purchasing power. Even inflationary increases in the nominal\- = value of sold securities, payable in the inflated cash, cannot\- and do = not, as a rule or always, quite make up for such losses. \- Trouble does also arise during deflations caused by monetary = \-despotism, which lets the nominal value of financial securities\- = collapse, so that the banks become unable to repay their\- depositors. = Let's say, they invested in share at $ 10 a share but, \- due to the deflation, they can sell them only at $ 5. Then they\- can = repay their depositors, who financed these investments, only with \-half = their deposits. Furthermore, due to deflation, otherwise \- sound firms do not find enough buyers. They might thus go totally\- = bankrupt. Again, repayment of the corresponding deposits becomes\- = impossible. Whatever guaranty funds the banks have in their own\- capital will also be correspondingly reduced and will not suffice \-to = make up for the losses of all their depositors. Nor can a \-governmental = deposit-insurance. (It has either invested, also in\- depreciating securities) or withheld cash and might thus have\- caused = a part of the deflation itself.) If the government tries \-to make up = for the deposit losses via taxation, then this extra taxation causes = deflation - or motivates to engage in an \- inflation. - Let us assume what happens all too often, that there = \-exists overconfidence or lack of sound distrust on both sides, \-that = of the bank and its depositors and also that of the bank's \- debtors. Then the depositors will deposit under the illusion that they = can an any time ask for all of their deposits in cash,\- regardless of = how they were invested. And the bank may be "happy-\-go-lucky" in its = investment programmes, too and make large=20 \-investments in dubious investment opportunities or with questionable = debtors, which or who promise them high returns. Any inflationary\- = increase of the price level of goods, services, labour and \-financial = securities will help such misjudgment s along. So will \-supposedly efficient governmental controls, = regulations,\- supervisions, guaranties and insurance arrangements or = promises\- of them. Sooner or later such carelessness, combined with\- overconfidence, will lead to collapses, which then are called \-lack of = confidence and trust - where neither was warranted in the \-first place = but, rather, distrust should have been obligatory and \- the only rational way to proceed or, rather, one should have abstained = from such \-financial involvements. Among the worst are "government\- -guaranteed" investments in the wasteful spending not only of the own = but that of foreign governments. The own government hasn't got any = guaranty funds of \-its own, nor has the foreign government and the = foreign \-government is often=20 even less trustworthy than the own and less\- able to guarantee = repayment of government loans.\- Various tax concessions or outright = subsidies, protectionist \-restrictions, foreign exchange and price and = wage controls mess \- up the whole situation further. The interventionist mess has \-become so = large that governments have lost sight of all the\- boards, committees = and authorities in existence that have some claims upon their = budgets.\- They do not even know any longer how many there are. \-Consequently, = they make huge mistakes in their budget estimates. \-Even the most = expensive computer systems and accounting\- programmes have not yet been = able to clarify this situation for \- them sufficiently. Thus the various parties and vested interest\- groups = contradict each other with their figures. The \-manipulated paper value = standards used and the crooked government \-security promises counted as = "assets", muddle up the picture even \- further. Do not forgive them for they do not know what they are = \-doing. But they are doing it to you and they are blaming you for \-the = results. - J. Z., 11.4.97. \par SCANNING & CD-ROM, FLOPPY DISK, WEBSITE OR MICROFICHE REPRODUCTION = WANTED FOR MONETARY FREEDOM TEXTS, AT LEAST \-ALL THOSE OUT OF = COPYRIGHTS.=20 \par SCARCE OLD TRACTS ON MONETARY FREEDOM: Locations list, photocopy\- = availability and at least microfiche reproduction, if not also \-floppy = disk and text only CD-ROM reproduction should be arranged \-for. For the = microfiche reproduction option contact my LMP pilot scheme. - J. Z. \par SCHUMPETER: Somewhere, in a mere footnote of his or someone\- = else's History of Economic Thought, came out in favour of note \-issue = freedom, according to a note I made years ago, upon a hint \- received from ? (Pauline Russell?). Can anyone back this up with\- the = reference? - J. Z., 7.4.97. \par SCIENTIFIC RE-WRITING EFFORTS WELCOMED - AS WELL AS POPULAR = \-RE-WRITING OF THE WHOLE COMPILATION OR OF ANY DESIRED SEGMENT, IN\- = ANY LANGUAGE. \par SCRIP FOR TURNOVER CREDITS OR BANKNOTES OR MONEY: See: \-APHORISMS = ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par SCRIP, See: WENNING, EDWARD, Universal Prosperity. According to\- = Tandy, Voluntary Socialism, p. 205, he proposed a giant coop\- company = to issue scrip redeemable in its goods. - Text wanted for\- fiching. - = J. Z., 97. \par SECURITIES: See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par SELF-HELP FOR UNEMPLOYED: See: UNEMPLOYMENT & THE RIGHT TO \-SUPPLY = ONESELF WITH WORK. A DECLARATION, by Ulrich von Beckerath, \-10.8.1951. \par SELF-HELP IN THE MONETARY SPHERE:=20 \par SENNHOLZ, HANS F., Correct and incorrect views on monetary = \-freedom, might be listed separately, with refutations. \par SHOP CURRENCIES & GIFT VOUCHERS, WESTFIELD SHOPPING CENTRES: = \-According to radio news, 3/12/92, there are 3,500 retailers in\- = Australia in Westfield Shopping Centres. All of them accept\- Westfield = Gift vouchers. - Such vouchers do already come close to \- a goods warrant issue, with shop foundation, suitable for wage = \-payments to the own employees, payments to suppliers, tax offices = \-and for short term wage payment loans to employers around a\- shopping centre. The first step might be to pay e.g. regular = \-productivity bonuses or x-mas bonus payments in this kind of gift\- = voucher or shop currency. - J. Z., 16.4.97. \par SHOP CURRENCY: Include articles from PP. \par SHORT TERM SECURITIES: What other kinds of short term\- securities, = credits or debts could be mobilised than "real \-bills", for turnover = credits?=20 \par SHORTAGES OF MEANS OF PAYMENT: If typified and standardised\- = exchange media are short in circulation (when e.g. during \-monetary = crises factories are short of means of payment for wages\-), then those = concerned can help themselves by issuing emergency=20 \-money without legal tender - until nowhere in their payment \-circles = does a shortage of the necessary exchange media remain \-and the public = thus begins to refuse to accept the emergency money at the same face = value as gold or silver coins. The goods=20 \-prices would remain unchanged whenever they were determined in \-gold = units (gold marks or grams of fine gold, etc.). - Ulrich\- von = Beckerath, 25.1.52. \par SLOGANS FOR LIBERTY COMPILATION ON MONETARY AND FINANCIAL FREEDOM = \-& DESPOTISM: \par SLOGANS FOR LIBERTY: Many entries there should still be included\- = here.=20 \par SMALL DEGREES OF MONETARY & FINANCIAL & PRICE & TAX = \-INTERVENTIONISM CAN HAVE LARGE MONETARY, FINANCIAL & ECONOMIC\- = EFFECTS: E.g., a low inflation rate of 1-10% can destroy already \-much = of all long term investments, e.g. all old age security \- investments. A low unemployment of 1-10% can already steer all \-too = many away from the jobs they would like to have and would be \-most = suitable for, into jobs that disappoint them for most of\- their working = lives. A low deflation can become\- self-accelerating, through the effect of falling vs. fallen\- prices. A = low inflation can become self-accelerating by prices \-rising finally = ahead of the note printing press, leading to\- deflationary or = stagflationary phenomena. And a low taxation, \- e.g. on note issuing banks, was sufficient to destroy most of\- this = business. Also, since on a relatively low cash turnover a large overhead = of credit and non-cash clearing transactions is \- built up, a sudden reduction of the cash flow by, let us say, 5%,\- can = cause a reduction in short term credit and non-cash clearing,\- = presently made dependent on cash availability, by 10 - 30 times\- as much. So while before there was cash circulation of 100 and\- = non-cash turnover of 1,000 to 3,000, now there will be only cash\- for = 100 and non-cash options for 950 & down to 850 value units.\- That would lead to falling prices, thus more buyer restraint and\- more = cash holding-back and thus to a further collapse of the\- credit and = clearing system - since it is presently not based on\- the right of = creditors t o demand clearing only but on their legal\- and juridical claim to = demand repayment in cash. \par SOCIAL CREDIT, ERRORS IN THE MONETARY SPHERE: \par SOCIAL CREDIT: I concede only 3 points to this school of\- = "thought": 1. There is a monetary problem. 2. It is a very\- important = problem. 3. We do presently suffer from a shortage of\- sound money, = during inflations as well as during deflations and\- stagflations. - J. Z., 20.4.93. See: CREDIT CREATION, MONEY \-CREATION, = CREDIT EXPANSION. MAJOR DOUGLAS. \par SOCIALISM WITH & WITHOUT MONETARY FREEDOM : \par SOFT MONEY: See : HARD MONEY. \par SOLUTIONS, POTENTIAL ONES, BEFORE EVERYBODY'S EYES & YET = \-REMAINING INVISIBLE TO MOST: The real solutions to major social = \-problems, like unemployment, inflation, deflation and\- stagflation, = are overlaid by a mass of unreal, imaginary or\- irrelevant ideas, opinions, myths and prejudices, buried by them\- as = if under an avalanche or a flood. E.g., who does truly "see" the = \-enormous values of ready-for-sale goods, services and labour, as\- an ideal foundation for local currency issues, issued upon them \-by = their associated owners? All these people complain about lack \-of = liquidity and many are poor or go bankrupt for lack of short\- -supplied legal tender or because of rapid inflations - and yet \-they = sit upon these riches of not yet liquidified real assets,\- like the = Arabs in the last century sat upon their unrealised oil\- riches or = Australia ns and Red Indians upon gold mines. From one\- day to the other these = real covers for any currency could be\-come realized by private and = cooperative initiatives and remove fast\- many of today's problems. But = such solutions are not raised in \- most of the public debates at all. Instead, mostly only\- variations = upon monetary despotism are considered. Full freedom \-in this sphere is = ignored or even maligned by most people, even \- most supposed experts. This shop foundation is even extremely high in = \-times of most deflations or depressions and thus periods of\- mass = unemployment. Yet, none of the billion of unemployed or \- underemployed seems to show any interest in this solution, nor\- does = any businessman or employer, although they have all a vital\- interest = in this solution. How blind can one get?\- The same applies to all other = potential issuers, like railways, \- bus services, the post office, gas and electricity works, even to all\- = tribute gatherers. - J. Z., MFNL&MF 1/2, & 8.4.97. \par SOUND MONEY & GOVERNMENTS: One should not expect a sound money = \-from any government any more than one should expect it to be = \-truthful or to supply e.g. a good postal service, railway \-service, = health service - or anything else. Exchange media and \- value standards are much too important to be left to the tender = \-mercies of the politicians and their bureaucrats and the vested\- = interest they have in depreciating the currency. - J. Z. 12.8.90 = &\-15.4.97. \par SOUND MONEY, MONETARY FREEDOM & MONETARY DESPOTISM: Why don't\- you = produce some pure and fresh money of your own? Anyone with\- some wanted = goods, services and labour to offer could do so,\- either alone or, = preferably, in association with other such\- suppliers. They could and should also use their own = clearing\-certificates. It amounts to monetary despotism to suppress = this\- freedom in favour of one or the other centrally mismanaged = forced\- and exclusive paper money that is almost always inflated, \- deflated or stagflated, all under the pretence of stabilising it\- or = managing it in the public interest. - J. Z., 18.4.93, 15.4.97. \par SPACE RESEARCH, PRIVATE, & MONETARY FREEDOM :=20 \par SPOONER MONEY: See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par START UP OPTIONS & OPPORTUNITIES FOR MONETARY FREEDOM EXPERIMENTS\- = AND THEIR EVALUATIONS :=20 \par START-UP OPPORTUNITIES FOR MONETARY FREEDOM EXPERIMENTS OR EVEN\- = MONETARY "REVOLUTIONS", IN THE FIRST COUNTRY\-: One has to consider = opportunities where the existing legal restrictions can be safely = ignored or all laws of the existing \- regime are already widely ignored. Such an opportunity might, for\- a = period, long enough for the experiment to be successful, exist\- e.g., = in a remote village or small town in an underdeveloped\- country. Before the central authorities would be aware of it,\- = inflation and deflation, mass unemployment and sales difficulties = \-might already be completely overcome, locally, by local and soun d private or cooperative issues of optional local currencies. Then it = would \-become politically impossible for the central government, to = \-suppress such an experiment, especially when it would finally (\- but not too early, not in its beginnings) be reported in the national = and world\- mass media. - Monetary freedom might also be practised, to = their\- advantage, by people already up in arms against a government = for\- other reasons or motives (although these often may be merely\- = consequences of monetary despotism). What does it matter then, \-to the = insurrectionists or revolutionaries, already risking even their \- lives, if they break a few more despotic laws, those of monetary = despotism? Monetary freedom could help them to pay their way. \-Their = payments with their own local cash issues could help them\- win friends = and allies, while requisitioning and tributes,\- levied in the government's legal tender, or in kind, would have gained = them \-many enemies. See: Gustav Holzhauer, Barzahlung in Besetzten\- = Gebieten. The proper financing of a resistance, revolution or\- liberation effort can save many lives and avoid much destruction. = Remaining ghettos, reservations and refuge camps as well as\- slums, all = with high degrees of unemployment, could also act as\- initial issue = centr es and their self-help issues and the additional employment they could = provide, by mobilising all local goods \- and services to the utmost, through goods and service warrants as means = to pay local wages and salaries with, redeeming them with local goods = and services (which serve as the cover for this local currency), could, = right from the beginning, become supported by\- the local, national and = international press, the same presses which might \-ignore or blame = their demonstrations and riots or arson \- actions, committed out of helpless and hopeless rage. If e.g. Red = \-Indians on their reservations increase the local turnover of the\- = goods and services they already do provide for themselves, by \- their own modern versions of a wampum currency (a shop foundation = currency, helping to turn over their own produce, products and = services), then they could, \-today at least, reckon upon much supports = by white sympathisers everywhere \- and it would not be politically opportune to suppress such = \-independence efforts by them. The same might apply to the negroes = \-e.g., in Harlem and to large slum areas (Have the negroes of e.g. = Harlem considered this freedom option?) and to some refugee=20 \-settlements, also to some whole insurrectionist armies that had \-to = seek refuge in another country. If Aborigines in Australia\- tried to = issue their own local currency based upon whatever goods \- or services they may have to offer locally, they would be less\- feared = than when they lay exclusive claim to more and more land\- in the whole = continent. Neither a return to their original\- tribal and nomadic way of life nor an agricultural effort would, under = \-present conditions, have much of a chance to make them relatively = \-well off. But they might change their conditions with their first\- = issues of a bl ack money on a black market. They should not\- confine themselves to = tokens acceptable in black art work and entertainment only. - At least = during a rapid inflation, the\- chances for the issue of sound = alternative currencies are good\- and during a severe depression, with mass unemployment and shortly = before an election, an\- extensive private issue of local currencies, = that would locally\- abolish unemployment fast, could not be easily = suppressed before\- or shortly after that election. - An active network of monetary freedom = advocates and publishers and lecturers and consultants\- could become a = positive influence towards peace and prosperity in\- many trouble spots of the world. These kinds of missionaries are\- = needed now much more than any religious ones. - Certain\- underdeveloped = countries, I am thinking especially of San Domingo \-and Haiti, are a = continuing challenge for libertarians,\- especially those favouring monetary freedom, to demonstrate the\- = effectiveness of their liberation projects there, fast and to the = \-whole world, if political and racist objections to such efforts \- by outsiders can be safely overcome. - The current refugee \-streams and = their forceful limitations and the reintroduction of\- deportations of = people who managed to escape totalitarian \-regimes, back to the tender = mercies of their oppressors, should \- be seen as opportunities and motives to promote monetary freedom\- = projects. (If it were up to me, I would rather deport ministers = }{\b\i\f0\fs24 against}{\f0\fs24 immigration, as obvious enemies of = liberty.) And so s hould the existence of 1 billion under-employed and unemployed in the = world - and of 6 billion inflation victims. Retailers do now offer their = goods often without a deposit requirement, \-at bargain prices and for 6 = months to 2 years interest free. The\- retailers sit, unconsciously, like dragons on treasure hoards -\- upon = the potential redemption funds for billions and billions of their own\- = and quite rightful, possible and desirable shop foundation currency = issues, quite unaware that they \- have the solution to their problems and those of billions of\- others in = their own possession and that they have only to lose the \-chains of = monetary despotism and to sacrifice all their monetary\- prejudices and sanctions of the victims and to adopt the self-help = \-opportun ities of monetary freedom, to end most of their troubles and those of = their unemployed or under-employed countrymen. The "problem" of large = refugee streams would then soon be turned into the benefits derived from = numerous additional producers and consumer s. \- - J. Z., 8.4.97, 5.9.02. \par STATISM AND MONETARY DESPOTISM :=20 \par SUFFERING DUE TO MONETARY DESPOTISM: The daily human suffering = \-and liberties and lives lost and economic losses due to the\- = non-recognition of monetary and financial rights and liberties \-and the = failure to realize them, may be almost incalculably\- large. But who cares about this? Do you? Do the victims themselves? = Those concerned with \-many kinds of "needs" tend to ignore the need for = monetary and financial freedom and the needs they could satisfy. Those = concerned with\- equality, ignore the inequalities of monetary despotism and the\- = equalities of monetary & financial freedom. Or they are mad enough even = to\- welcome the destructive and levelling force of inflation - while \- ignoring that wage and salary recipients as such are creditors,\- too. = Economically, Germany, for instance, lost as much due to the \-1913-23 = inflation as it did due to WW I and, again, as much due to \- the Great Depression. And both crises were made possible only \-through = monetary despotism. Both crises led to Hitler's rise, WW II and the = holocaust - and still the victims do not seriously \-consider moneta ry depotism as a primary evil. The Jews in Israel,\- for instance, = practice it just as much as all others who are \-foolish enough to = subscribe to it. This alone should lay to rest\- they myth that Jewish = people are financial wizards. The ca. 2\- million relatively poor Jews in N.Y.C. certainly are not. But \-Israel, = in recent years, has at least offered an example of three\- simultaneous = currencies operating there : The inflated paper\- money shekel, the US $ which prices out goods in the shops and\- the = index shekel in which wages and salaries are frequently \-adjusted. If = their shekels were instead called a mark then they\- would, probably, have repudiated it long ago. But, as we well know, = religious\- faiths persist in the face of all contrary evidence. - J. = Z.,\-11.4.97. \par SURVEYS I WOULD LIKE TO SEE: A ) A Literature survey that would\- = indicate the positions taken by authors, judging them by some major\- = characteristics, e.g.: (1) For unrestricted freedom of issue and \- choice of value standards, based on voluntary acceptance,\- contracts, = right to refuse, free market rating and publicity. (2)\- Monetary = freedom option restricted to rare metal coins and\- certificates. (3) = Advocate of new alternative value standard\- only, to be an exclusive and enforced one. (4) Advocate of = \-computerised payments and value accounting only. (5) Advocate who\- = still makes concessions to centralisation, regulation, rare metal\- = convertibility,=20 rare metal reserves, "trust", "confidence" or\- "assets" like government = securities for the backing of notes. (6)\- Advocate who sees legal = tender correctly and its part in\- Gresham's Law. (7) Advocate who is = aware of the effects of the \- right of creditors to demand scarce metals or rare and exclusive \-cash = or legal tender in payments and of the alternative of a \-right to = clearing only, up to the stated values, using any\- suitable, available and acceptable means of settlement. - Many other = such groupings would be possible and could be indicated \-just by a = letter or number. That would help in searches and\- studies, especially = while the total offer of such literature is=20 \-still incomplete and there are not sufficient review and\- abstracts = compilations and no combined index to them does exist as yet. \-B) = Another survey I would find helpful is one that would list: 1.\- ) Characteristics of exchange media or clearing systems proposed,\- = according to a code applied to all historical, existing and\- proposed = payment systems and 2.) Characteristics of all value\- standards ever used, existing or proposed. - For both their main\- = authors or perhaps even all supporting authors could also be\- indicated = in footnotes. I imagine that such a survey could be\- provided on 2 very = large charts, extended as required, and\- gradually filled in by collaboration among a considerable number \-of = interested researchers. - J. Z., 89 & 9.4.97. \par SUSPENSION OF GOLD REDEMPTION: It should not and need not, by \-the = nature of things, and according to common experience and \-based upon = basic rights and liberties, restrict other desired\- exchanges, exchange = media and value standards nor should these=20 \-alternatives by outlawed, taxed or regulated or controlled by any\- = coercive institution, least of all by any government or its\- central = bank. - Redemption by the issuer upon demand by any note\- holder can and should be replaced, in most cases, by the right of \-the = note holder or potential recipient, to discount it or to \-convert it = into its equivalent value on the free gold market or \-to force it upon = its iss uer - and only upon its issuer, at its\- nominal gold value, at any = time, in any payments due to that issuer. - J. Z., MFNL 3/4 & 8.4.97. \par SWANN, BOB: Bob Swann, E.F. Schumacher Society, Box 76, RD3,\- = Great Barrington, MA 01 230, from whom I got much material during \-my = trip, was then already establishing a decentralist library \-and meeting = centre at this address. He was involve d in several\- simple monetary freedom experiments. See my LMP = literature list. \par TABULATIONS OF ANY & ALL ASPECTS OF MONETARY FREEDOM. \par TALLIES, GOLD STANDARD & TAX FOUNDATION MONEY: See: GOLD BUGS OR = \-ADVOCATES OF A ... \par TAX STRIKES & MONETARY FREEDOM: \par TAX STRIKES AND REFUSALS TO ACCEPT GOVERNMENT PAPER MONEY &\- = TOKENS: The complete tax strike would include refusals to accept = \-government money at all. I. e., it would not permit taxation via\- inflation, either. It could be introduced in several steps: 1.\- = Introduction of alternative optional monies and clearing options. \-2. = Acceptance of government money only to the extent that it can \- still be used to pay taxes, while taxes can still be extorted. 3.\- = Refusal to accept the government's paper money standard in all \-one's = private dealings. 4.) Tax strike and total refusal to \- accept the government's money, its exclusive and forced currency\- and = its exclusive and forced paper value standard. Instead, \-freedom to = issue, accept, discount or refuse alternative monies \-and free choice = of value standards and free subscription \- payments and package deals for competitive supplied public services that = \-are still wanted and thus supplied by free enterprises,\- cooperatives = etc. - J. Z., 3.9.93, 14.4.97. \par TAXES & LEGAL TENDER MONEY: Taxes and legal tender money\- = institutionalise legalized robbery. - J. Z., 5.11.92, 15.4.97. \par TECHNIQUES & PRINCIPLES OF MONETARY FREEDOM ISSUES: Among\- = advocates of monetary freedom many do merely defend it on \-principle, = in all too general terms and with doubtful definitions \-or terms. The = technical side of arranging for sound issues and \- reflux has been discussed only by a very few, like Ulrich von Beckerath = & his circle, & in the 19th century by the advocates of \-the real bills = doctrine, unless it was in association with a\- proposal of Gesellian = money, whose value, by stamps or other=20 \-means, is to be periodically reduced, to speed up its\- circulation. = The few Gesellians, who favour monetary freedom,\- have not pondered the = basic contradiction: Why attempt to speed-\-up the circulation of any = money, to prevent hoarding, when one\- can easily issue more money tokens, as needed, to keep turnovers\- = going? - Compare my circulation charts on issue and reflux \-options in = PP 40. - J. Z., 10.4.97. - However, to distinguish turn-over credit currency and clearing house certificates from "asset currency", and = also to assure their continuous functioning, with minimal friction, the = shop currencies etc. of the former might be given only a limited = circulation period. That, too, would tend to prev e nt hoarding, but without a loss in value or the annoyance of having to = stamp scrip money. To the extent that shop currency would be hoarded, = for short periods, nevertheless, within the period of its validity, it = could easily be replaced by new issues. The same applies if it were not given a limited circulation period. Only an = issue monopoly can turn extended hoarding of its currency into a = problem. - J.Z., 5.9.02. \par TERRA LIBRA: Frederick Mann, with his Terra Libra, wants, among = \-other things, to establish an international gold standard banking = \-system, on the gold-redemption foundation (not the gold-clearing or\- gold-account system, which he, like most of those of the\- Austrian = school does not know or understand). Address: Terra \-Libra, 2430 E. = Roosevelt No. 998, Phoenix, AZ 85 008. For a\- concise explanation of = the full freedom alternative read e.g., Dr.\- Walter Zander's "A Way Out of the Monetary Chaos, 1935, 14 pp, in \-PP 9 = or 770. I met Zander only once, as a very old and already\- almost blind = man, who had dedicated most of his later life to \- other questions. But he was still very clear about one point. The = \-clear distinction between and the separation of the value \-standard = and the value carrier, constitute the essence of\- monetary freedom. He = did not elaborate on this then and there and\- did not allow me to publish my audio taped discussion with him. = \-Beckerath did elaborate the details and so did Professor Rittershausen = in many ways. Here I can only try to summarise: \-They require free = choice, free issue, free acceptance or \- refusals, free market rating, including discounting, free\- contracts = and full publicity for both. Only then will they soundly inter-act and = collaborate, no matter what exchange medium\- or value standard is = chosen by voluntary participants in the\- exchange, monetary and clearing process. They are the essential\- = conditions for free clearing transactions that are the underlying\- = basis for all free exchanges. Monetary despotism and even the \-"free = banking" of the 100% gold dollar=20 type, with obligatory 100%\- gold cover and redemption by the issuer, do = not sufficiently distinguish and separate the two, conceptually and in = practice, \-and thus, neither in theory nor in practice do they and can = they \- fully realize the potential of monetary freedom. \par TEXT DRAFTS FOR PRIVATE OR COOPERATIVELY ISSUED NOTES, CLEARING\- = CERTIFICATES etc.: \par THEORY & PRACTICE OF MONETARY FREEDOM: We have sought freedom\- in = theory, now we seek it in practice. But only a few realize that \-we = have not yet theorised enough to become successful \-practitioners of = freedom in every sphere, particularly not in the=20 \-sphere of monetary freedom. - J. Z., 84 & 7.4.97. \par TIME FACTOR: See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par TITLE NOTIONS: Monetary Freedom vs. Monetary Despotism. An ABC\- of = Free Banking Concepts. Let Good Money Drive Out the Bad. Some\- = Contributions Towards Monetary Freedom. Tokens of Liberty. An ABC \- of Monetary Freedom. Alphabetized Notes towards an Encyclopaedia \-on = Monetary Freedom. Your Contributions towards it are Wanted! A = \-Frequently updated collection, published so far only on \-microfiche = and on floppy disks. 1,000 Monetary Freedom Notes.\- Free Banking Handbook. xyz Preliminary entries. Many More = \-Collaborators Are Needed. Notes towards a Handbook on Monetary = \-Freedom. Collaborators wanted and needed. Definitions, practices, \- theories, proposals, possibilities, recommendations, projects,\- = historical experiences and experiments with degrees of monetary\- = freedom and replies to the advocates of monetary despotism and to = popular errors on money and currency.=20 \par TOKEN ISSUE EXPERIMENTS, IF ONLY FOR THE TOURIST TRADE AND\- = COLLECTORS: They to could help to educate people on their \-monetary = freedom options and one might get away with them under \-the present = restrictive monetary laws. Alas, at least initially\- one could not appeal to any existing interests in monetary theory and = practice but merely to the interest in a possible additional \-turnover, = mediated by these tokens or through their sale, for\- non-return, to = collectors. - J. Z., 10.4.97. \par TOKEN MONEY ISSUES, FREQUENCY & SIGNIFICANCE IN MONETARY HISTORY\-: = I acquired a few books by coin and note collectors and was \-impressed = by the frequency, time and space distribution of such \- private issues. If it is correct that even small additional and\- honest = and optional and voluntarily accepted alternative exchange \-media can = have a significant economic influence, to prevent the\- worst and keep an economy going and get it back on the road to = recovery,\- then these issues, in combination, may have saved us, to a = considerable extent, numerous times, in numerous places. A proper\- historic and economic evaluation of all these attempts, not only\- of = those in formal banking formats, remains still be provided and might = form a useful topic for a dissertation or other monograph. - J. = Z.,\-11.4.97. \par TOKEN MONEY: In the seventeenth century in England, private = \-tokens were allowed to be issued to any extent, and there were = \-naturally excessive issues. From 1648 to 1672 there were over \-20,000 = different kinds of tokens. ... This want of uniformity is \- fatal to efficiency as medium of exchange, and many of these \-tokens = did not circulate beyond a particular street. - J. Shield\- Nicholson, = Elements of Political Economy, p. 272. - But they did \- circulate in their particular streets! That is what really \-counts. = There and then and to the people who really mattered in \-this, the = voluntary sellers and buyers, they were considered\- acceptable. - Who = is to be the judge whether they were excessive , an economist, centuries later or opinionated contemporary, or the\- = hundred-thousands or even millions of voluntary acceptors\- involved? = Were these inconveniences larger than the inconvenience of\- the inability to be paid otherwise? - J. Z., 14.4.97. - See: = \-VARIETIES, UNIFORMITY, MONEY MONOPOLY, ABILITY TO PAY.=20 \par TOLERANCE: Include much of pamphlet on tolerance. (Should be disked = somewhere.) \par TOLERANT MONEY REFORMERS: Tolerant money reformers would demand = \-no more than the right to opt out of the statist monetary system\- and = to practise their own alternative systems among themselves,\- in free competition with the existing system and with all other = \-experimental monetary systems. While theoretical studies of money = questions have often stagnated or been forgotten for decades and\- even = over a ce ntury, whilst primitive and wrong notions of money\- have dominated the = field and were legislated into monetary\- despotism, experimental = freedom in this sphere would reveal its\- truths fast and allow anyone = to benefit from it almost \- immediately. Failed experiments would harm only the voluntary = \-participants - i.e., they would not not drive a whole nation into = ruin, as monetary despotism frequently does. - J. Z., 8.4.97, free = after MFNL 3/4. \par TRANSLATIONS OF ALL IMPORTANT MONETARY FREEDOM WRITINGS INTO ALL = \-THE MAJOR LANGUAGES:=20 \par TRANSLATIONS WANTED:=20 \par TRANSPORT TICKETS & BANKNOTES: See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY\- = PROBLEM. \par TRUCK PAYMENTS: Study of truck payments in the past and present = and\- of the legislation against it and its effects. Especially study\- = of the better kinds of truck payment monies, e.g. canteen money, and how = \- they could be expanded into local currencies.=20 \par TRUST ANY GOVERNMENT IN MONETARY MATTERS? After all the bad\- = experiences we have had with governmental money management? \-Honesty, = ability, sufficient knowledge and foresight among \-governments in this = sphere was even rarer than in any other\- supposed government sphere. There is no reason to trust any government = that is so dishonest that it insists upon a money \-monopoly and legal = tender for its issues - and which then, almost \-inevitably and in every = case, abuses the se powers to inflate or \-deflate or stagflate its paper currency. Such = a government does\- not permit any sound, private, competitive, honest, = alternative \-money issues - precisely because they would drive its own = unsound \- issues out of circulation. Totalitarian communists have frankly = \-declared this monetary despotism to be their ideal, a means to their = ends. Aggressive\- monarchists have frankly declared it to be a = necessary means to \- finance their wars. (Germany in 1908, during the Bank Enquete.)\- = Liberal or socialistic democrats, asserting that they would be = \-anti-communists or anti-totalitarians, have quietly copied the\- = totalitarian model of monetary despotism, legalized it and \- outlawed all sound alternatives that a free market could and\- would = provide. And they still make deceptive apologies and\- statements for = this monetary despotism. Among the results were \-numerous inflations = and deflations, mass unemployment, mass \- poverty, even the establishment of despotic and totalitarian \-regimes = and wars, revolutions and civil wars. - We are not fully \-emancipated = until we are monetarily emancipated, too. - J. Z., \-MFNL&MF, 3/4, 2/89 = & 8.4.97. \par UNEMPLOYMENT & FREEDOM OF CONTRACT: If the unemployed fully used = \-freedom of contract, their right to self-help, the right to own\- and = trade property freely, their right to oblige themselves to\- supply labour and services under terms agreeable to employers or = \-customers, their right to freely engage in enterprises, \-especially = those which would provide additional, non-inflatable \- and non-coercive but optional exchange media, using a sound and \-freely = chosen value standard, to pay their wages or salaries with\- or to = enable their customers to pay for the services of the \-formerly = unemployed, - if they increased their abilit y to pay by \-issuing IOUs in money denominations which obliged only = \-themselves, if they took an interest in such questions and\- = sufficiently discussed them among themselves and with \-businessmen, = especially retailers and potential employers in \- their community, and if they also saw to it that all contrary laws and = \-regulations would either be repealed or could, under certain = circumstances, be safely enough ignored, then they could contract \- out of unemployment, provide themselves with work and lead their = \-communities into the condition of a permanent boom economy,\- without = inflations, deflations, stagflations. A lot of "ifs" are \- involved here. So far, the vast majority of the unemployed and of\- = bankrupt or all too close to bankrupt employers and traders, has\- shown = little or no interest for their monetary freedom options.\- Instead, they grant the sanction of the victims to monetary\- = despotism. - J. Z., 28.10.91., 16.4.97. \par UNEMPLOYMENT & THE RIGHT TO SUPPLY ONESELF WITH WORK. A\- = DECLARATION, by Ulrich von Beckerath, 10.8.1951: PROCEEDING \-FROM: (1.) = the incontestable right of unemployed a) to exchange\- among themselves = their labour services, b) to supply themselves\- with additional job opportunities, i.e. such by which not a single = employed person would be rendered unemployed, (2.) the\- further right, = derived from this, to employ all methods which, in \-the opinion of the = participants, result in an as just and \- extensive an exchange as possible, an exchange which corresponds \-to = demand and, moreover, enables unsatisfied demand to act as\- effective = demand, especially on the labour market, (3.) the fact\- that there are = no known experiences of others on the most \- suitable methods to achieve the aims described under (1.) and (\-2.), = (4.) the right which follows from this, to win experience in this sphere = at one's own cost and risk, even though the\- attempted methods might be = called unsuitable experiments by\- others who consider themselves to be experts, (5.) the fact that\- no = two services or labours can ever be completely equal to each \-other, so = that one of two participating in an exchange will, \-necessarily, = receive a higher value than he jus t offered in\- exchange, (6.) the further fact that a) the offered = exchange\- value can only in exceptional circumstances be supplied\- = immediately, b) it is almost always of such a nature that the \- recipient cannot use it directly for himself, c) consequently,\- and on = principle, the method known as circular exchange has to be applied, d) a = restriction of this circular exchange to primitive \- forms would render the exchange and the additional provision of\- jobs = nearly impossible, (7.) the necessity, which follows from \-this, a) to = postpone the services to be given in exchange, partly\- or completely, b) to subdivide the claims arising out of this = \-postponement into value units and also in a way to facilitate \-their = transfer, c) to certify and guarantee each subdivision of \- these postponed claims through corresponding documents which are = \-suitable for circular exchanges, i.e., they are to be typified\- and = standardised certificates or notes in money denominations, d)\- to hand = over these certificates to these claiman ts for their best \-possible utilisation, especially for use as means of = payment \-against persons who are still obliged to supply exchange = values,\- d) to establish an organization that makes these procedures \- possible or undertakes them itself and f) to provide\- opportunities for = those obliged to supply exchange values, to\- provide these a) by the = acceptance of these certificates (notes\-) in all payments due to them = and b) by the renunciation of the\- opportunity to use these certificates (notes ) again, in the \-general = circulation, ( 8.) the necessity not at all to exclude \-those who are = not unemployed from the acceptance of the\- certificates described under point 7, (9.) the necessity for the = unemployed not to refuse any credits offered to them or their\- = organizations for the realisation or facilitation of the provision of = employment and to exactly fulfil all obligations \- undertaken towards their creditors, i.e., not to make use of a \-legal, = general moratorium etc., (10.) from the fact that none of\- the existing = laws or any existing regulation was passed in order \- to perpetuate mass unemployment or even to promote it or to\- obstruct = self-help steps of unemployed and that the laws passed\- by the = occupying forces must not be interpreted in such a way, \-that, on=20 the contrary, such an interpretation would rather constitute an insult = to these powers, (11.) thus from the fact\- that an application of such = rules, which were passed for quite\- different purposes, by the Berlin authorities, against the unemployed, = their self-help measures and organizations, would\- constitute an abuse = that would authorise to resistance (in the \-proper interpretation of = article 23.3 of the Berlin Constitution, \- (12.) from the fact that the expenditures of Berlin must become = \-reduced to the same extent that the self-help actions of the\- = unemployed become successful and that, therefore, any taxation of \- these actions or burdening them with any dues of any kind would\- = constitute an exploitation of the unemployed by the taxation = \-department, - those today invited by the SPA to participate,\- DECLARE = (I) that they will support, to their best ability, the \- exchange action initiated by the SPA, (II) that they petition the = \-authorities of Berlin, the political parties and all citizens to = \-promote this action, (III) that the intended new institutions\- will have to be accessible at any time to the public (for \-control via = publicity ), (IV) that they expect from the SPA, and\- circles close to = it, detailed proposals on the technical \-realisation of their right to = exchange their labours and to \- provide additional employment. - Signed, Bth, 10.8.1951. - (Note: \-SPA = stands for Sozialpolitische Arbeitsgemeinschaft (workshop \-for social = politics), which was a Berlin self-help organisation \-of unemployed, = founded=20 ca. 1951. It had many sub-groups and\- splinter groups. One of them = discussed monetary freedom options, \-largely under the influence of = Ulrich von Beckerath. Alas, the \-practical proposals the members could = agree upon remained rather \- imperfect, since all too many of the members persisted with their \-own = and various primitive or despotic and insufficiently informed\- notions = on money and currency or remained under the spell woven\- by Silvio Gesell. "Die Berliner Gesellschaft von 1952 zur \-Bekaempfung = der Ursachen der Arbeitslosigkeit" (The Berlin\-Society of 1952 to Fight = the Causes of Unemployment), which\- later produced the Berlin = Programme, reproduced in PEACE PLANS\- No. 41, was an offshoot of the SPA, from which Beckerath had resigned = by this time. For further details see the Beckerath \-papers in PEACE = PLANS 428-466, from which this declaration has \-been taken and = translated by me. See also his books reproduced\- and indexed in PEACE PLANS 9-11. - J. Z., 13.1.1985.=20 \par UNEMPLOYMENT, BUDGETS, DEFICIT FINANCING, INFLATION, CREDIT &\- = MONEY EXPANSION, KEYNESIANISM: We must expand the deficit in \-order to = create jobs. - A euphemism for inflation to create jobs \-- as if that = worked or could work in the long run. Before the \- victims become quite aware of what is happening and, correspondingly, = or in anticipation, jack up their prices, wages and salaries etc.,\- = they imagine to be in a boom economy with jobs easy to get. Once \-they = become aware that, al though they have received nominally more \-in payment, in purchasing = power they received no more or even\- less, this kind of boost or = impetus to the economy (See: PUMP PRIMING.) will fade and\- finally even = mass unemployment will result. However, when a \- circulation was deflated, then and up to the saturation point - not\- = clearly marked by par values, under legal tender - an economy is = \-boosted, as far as it can be, through a centralised money issue, \- to a normal economy. Only from then on does an inflation begin, \-but = legal tender prevents the discounting and refusal of such an \-inflated = currency within a country, where it has a monopoly\- position. From then on many harmful consequences set in that more\- = than counterbalance the effect of the easy availability of credit\- in an inflated currency. After a while, when inflation has become high = and the public much aware of it, private credit will even \-dry up = altogether, for who will save up and lend money when the \-loan can be = repaid in depreciated currency? - J.=20 Z., n.d., &\-15.4.97. \par UNEMPLOYMENT, INFLATION, CIVIL WARS, DICTATORSHIPS, OPPRESSION & = \-"ETHNIC CLEANSING": How many hundred million unemployed or \-inflation = victims and victims of the resulting civil wars and\- oppressions and "ethnic cleansing" attempts do you consider to be\- = "acceptable" sacrifices in political compromises with monetary\- = despotism? Naturally, the all-embracing alternative of\- exterritorial autonomy for all volunteer communities, which would = \-have given each of them the choice of the government and of the = non-governmental society of their dreams, including the monetary system = of\- their dreams, is not discussed by the mass media, the \-"experts", the = present rulers, most academics and most reformers. \-Such solutions are = still largely hidden in some obscure corners \-and libraries, not par t of the public debate - not even when full\- freedom of expression and = information for them exist and\- opportunities like microfiche, floppy = disks, e-mail & websites, CD-ROMs & DVDs to express and access them. The = \- ability and readiness of our age and even of supposedly educated, = \-enlightened and scholarly people, to ignore or even fight truths\- and to prefer myths, errors and prejudices to them, is in no way = inferior to those of ancient times and the Dark Ages. G. B. Shaw\- even = asserted that in this respect the 20th century exceeds all \-former = ones.=20 \par UNEMPLOYMENT, INFLATION, STAGFLATION, MONETARY DESPOTISM &\- = MONETARY FREEDOM: Almost all the victims and critics of high = \-inflation, unemployment, depressions and stagflation rates insist upon = there \- being legally permitted only the kind of uniform, exclusive and\- forced = national paper currency which saves them the labour of\- thinking about = money, currency, credit, exchange media, value\- standards, of choosing, rating or rejecting different forms of = \-exchange media and value standards. Rather all the evils of mass = \-unemployment, inflation, deflation, depressions, malinvestments,\- = under-investments, and their disast rous consequences, poverty, injustice, exploitation, expropriation, = dictatorships,\- totalitarianism, massive bloodshed in wars and = revolutions, than\- bother thinking about SUCH causes! "What is the = world coming to?\- We should not only be able to reach 18 or 20 years to become = automatically "fully\- emancipated" voters but should have free choices = regarding\- exchange media, value standards, clearing and credit = options, \- i.e. we would have to become monetarily emancipated, too? - No,\- we = rather remain apathetic slaves and victims of monetary \-despotism. That = saves us the labour of thinking on such subjects. \-Let's talk about = sports or arts or other amusements, instead, \- dance or sing or turn up the radio or TV and do not bother us\- with = such nonsense! We have better and more interesting things to\- do with = our lives!" - You can even hear or experience worse when\- you try to steer attention in this direction. - J. Z., 8.3.97 & = \-11.4.97. \par UNEMPLOYMENT, MONETARY DESPOTISM & THE THREAT OF WAR: \par UNEMPLOYMENT, PRODUCTIVE COOPERATIVES, MONETARY DESPOTISM VS. = \-MONETARY FREEDOM: As co-owners of enterprises cooperators could\- not = be dismissed from their firm when sales would go down but \- their income and perhaps their working hours would go down, and\- so = would the value of their investment in their cooperatively\- owned = enterprise. While they would have gained a degree of\- personal and = managerial independence and some important private=20 \-property rights and assets, their economic situation would still \-be = subject to the problems caused by monetary despotism for the\- economy = in general. They, too, would have sales problems for \- their goods and services - against the exclusive and forced\- currency = of monetary despotism and the limited clearing options \-that it leaves = open beyond cash settlements in legal tender.\- Thus, to become fully = emancipated and prosperous as they could=20 \-be, if they have wanted goods and services to offer, at market\- = prices, they would have to become monetarily emancipated, too, like me rchants have been, for a long time, via sound bills of exchange and = their clearing as well as discounting option. Moreover, they might start = a monetary revolution or greatly help\- to spread it, e.g. via = agreements with consumer cooperatives,\- accepting their shop currencies in instalment payments of their = \-annual incomes from their productive coop efforts. They could use\- = consumer coops as their exclusive or main distributors, if they \- wanted to and if they could interest them in cooperative money \-issues = to their mutual advantage. If they would find consumer\- coops not = widely enough spread to be a sufficient market for \- them or not open-mined enough in their dogmatic adherence to the usual = \-principles of consumer coops only, then they would have to strike = \-monetary freedom bargains with the shopping centres near them. To\- the extent that legal prosecutions could be avoided or made = \-politically impossible, in certain situations, places and times, the = retail shops\- or their associations would only be too glad to grant = them short \- term credits for wage and salary payments in form of their own\- shop = foundation money and to pay them for supplies received from\- the coops = in such a private currency. For that purpose they would\- also often be = prepared to become membe rs for a coop bank of \-issue. However, sound knowledge on sound issue = and reflux \-principles for such a bank would have to be sufficiently = spread\- before this kind of "D-Day". - Liberation merely regarding the = own cooperative \- productive capital does not go far enough. It must be accompanied \-by = monetary emancipation and full financial freedom to assure \-success, as = much as success can be assured. - J. Z., 7.10.92,\-14.4.97. \par UNEMPLOYMENT: Allow the unemployed and underemployed and their\- = local associations to offer their own labour and service \-capacities, = skills, training and education and willingness to\- work at market rates = for wages and salaries but payable only in \- standardised and typified certificates, in money denominations, \-that = are competitively or privately issued, without legal tender,\- i.e. = market rated, and that circulate at par or close enough to\- par with their nominal value standard, to be acceptable to the\- = unemployed, underemployed and the local providers of goods and services. = This kind of neutral money and local liquidity can \- always be provided by a free community, provided only it is not = destroyed by war,\- civil war, pestilence or a natural catastrophe. All = potential\- issuers of such liquid purchasing power of their own would = be\- enabled to pay to the extent that they can find acceptors for \-their issues. They would soon get the = equivalent sales or \-customers for this kind of spending, because with = these issues (in short-term loans, e.g. for wage payments) they would = offer them their kind of\- goods or service cover for these IOUs. Many of their current = account\-s could be settled with them in a short period. The process = could\- be endlessly repeated, in issues to pay for wanted goods and\- services and in the reflux - by delivering the own goods and services = for \-them. Moreover, these suppliers and issues could grant all local = \-employers short term loans for wage and salary payments, taking\- as security or discounting their short term claims for already = \-produced goods, already sold to wholesalers and on the road to \-the = retailers. Initially, shopping centres and large department\- stores would be the most suitable issuers and their issues could\- = already lead to the provision of many more local jobs, paid for \-in = their issues. Potentially all could be issuers of such private\- notes or clearing certificates with shop or service or labour = \-foundation, who have many payments to make and who receive many\- = payments or much in payments. But combined issues of such\- local = providers would be more acceptable as local currency.\- T echnically, such issues would fall under the anti-truck \-legislation = and jurisdiction which has, for centuries, nipped \-such issues in the = bud and prevented them from developing into \-rightful, suitable and = popular local currencies. - Under free-\- market rating and voluntary acceptance and full publicity and\- due to = the mutual note returns or clearing, which could be very rapid, between = local and neighbouring issuers, any over-issues \- would be fast discovered, limited and refused. Good money would\- drive = out the bad. - MFNL&MF 4, 2/89, & 8.4.97. \par UNEMPLOYMENT: I am prepared to risk compiling hundreds to = \-thousands or notes on cause and cure of unemployment, in the hope\- to = sooner or later to hit upon a "hit" that will convince and\- convert, a = slogan or definition or song-lyric that will be \- snapped up and comprehended and applied by millions, upon hearing \-or = reading. During inflations and deflations and stagflations all \-of us = are directly or indirectly victims of mass unemployment,\- depressions = and currency depreciations. Thus all\- of us should recognize our vested interest in finally becoming \-aware = of cause and cure and of the need to express both shortly \-and = convincingly - but also in a scholarly way - for those who are = \-interested in such demonstrations. - I never bore }{ \b\f0\fs24 myself}{\f0\fs24 with new\- or only slightly different notes = or description attempts on this \-subject and do not care if many others = find them boring. But I\- do appeal to "The Remnant" to do better, if = they can, in their search \- for perfection in this sphere. - If computers were already\- = sufficiently advanced, as they are e.g. for the breaking down of\- = codes, to invent new terms and definitions, we might be able to \- solve this task much faster. But already word processors do help. I\- am = reminded of a SF story, in which a super computer was given \-the task = to state the real name of "god", under the assumption that\- "the" god = would be as silly that he=20 would have created the world\- and all creatures only for this purpose. = In the story the computer finally solves this task - and all the lights = go out, \-the star-lights, too, the computer - and everything else and = everyone \- disappear, as well. A really dark age begins again. - Well, my \-notion = of "Let there be light!" is different. - I would like YOU \-to provide = it, in this sphere, if you can. The topic is \-important enough. So do = }{\b\f0\fs24 try}{\f0\fs24=20 , at least! Maybe you can provide a "hit" in this sphere. It is sorely = needed. - J. Z., 11.4.97, 5.9.02. \par UNEMPLOYMENT: It exists because the unemployed and their = \-potential employers, as well as their potential retail trade\- = suppliers, keep thinking only in terms of the uniform, exclusive \-and = forced currency of monetary despotism rather than in terms of=20 \-the great variety of competing and optional and sound private and\- = cooperative money issue and reflux arrangements that they could = \-provide for themselves, in their own interest, keeping or making\- them employable, permanently, at market wages, assuring new\- orders = for the employers and sufficient sales for the retailers. \-E.g. the = money issued by petrol stations has to return to them in \- the sale of their petrol, that of monetized entertainment tickets = \-returns for the seats provided, gas and electricity token money = \-returns in payment for these services, bus money for bus seats,\- railway money for railway seating or railway goods transport and \-the = money of a large department store or shopping centre returns \-to it in = payment for the goods they offer. In this way each of\- numerous = potential issuers or issuing c entres can be monetarily \-liquid to the limits of his or their goods = and service delivery \-ability, i.e., they will always look for more = willing workers to \-be employed if they can pay them in this way. If = means of payment\- supply is not the problem, then there are always more jobs waiting than = people are waiting to do them or than there are working hours in the day = to do them. \-Just ask your wife about the jobs in house and garden = waiting for\- you under her instructions. "She who must be obeyed" will keep\- you = busy indeed. Payment is easy there. You can settle by barter\- or at least she will keep quiet and keep you in peace. That's worth = something, too! - "Society IS exchange! - said Frederic\- Bastiat. Do = not let any form of monetary despotism limit your \-exchanges and = thereby the profits and enjoyments you can derive=20 \-from human society or the market, all arising from local to = world-wide division \-of labour and free trading, using also the free = money, credits \-and value standards of a free market - or providing = some of them\- yourself, competitively and or cooperatively. - If you keep thinking = only in terms of employment or full\- employment in terms of monopoly = money of compulsory acceptance and value, then you will keep yourself = unemployed or\- underemployed or may soon lose your job and you will never get \-the maximum returns = for your greatest productive potential. -\- J. Z., 8.3.97, 111.4.97. \par UNEMPLOYMENT: It is so much easier blaming "capitalists",\- = "politicians", "financiers", "conspirators", "speculators", = "foreigners", "ethnics", "immigrants", "profiteers", "price\-makers", = "usurers", "greedy people", "exploiters", "employers",\- employees", "businessmen", "oil shortages", "overpopulation",\- "the = establishment", etc., than to really think about monetary\- despotism = and the monetary freedom alternative to it, abount \-competing monies, = their issue and reflux foundations, their \- market rating against freely chosen value standards, and of wages and = other credits and debts freely payable in agreed upon \-alternative = exchange media and contractable in freely chosen\- value standards. The monetary freedom alternatives could end = involuntary mass unemployment\- within hours or days, if public opinion = could be changed as fast\- and sufficiently, or if a sufficient prior = monetary enlightenment had opened a path\- for such a rapid reform or monetary revolution. - J. Z., 8.3.97 = &\-11.4.97. \par UNEMPLOYMENT: Please ponder the inevitable results of each legal\- = and coercive monopoly for any social interaction, offer, service,\- = goods or exchange. - Do not shortages and reduced qualities and = \-backwardness always follow , in every case that we can think of or \-have experienced or that were = ever reported in any history book? Think of the postal monopoly and its = results: In the average just ever \- higher costs and lower services. Think of the road building and = maintenance monopoly: Result: Expensive, insufficient and unsafe = \-roads, traffic congestion and high accident rates. Electricity \- supply monopoly: High prices and frequent brown-outs. Water-\-supply = monopoly: Water shortages and polluted water at high \-prices or water = de livered below cost and leading to water waste even in water starved = countries like Australia. Sewage services, monopolised and compulsory, = leading to high prices\- and a high pollution of our water ways and even = of ocean-\- waters bordering on our cities. (Th ey are so irrationally "priced" that usage fees are often only a = fraction of the readiness to supply charge. Imagine your green grocer = charging you 10 cents for an apple and $ 1 for his readiness to supply = it!) State socialist employment \- monopoly: Poverty, shortages, low quality output, waste,\- increased = pollution, high prices (if tax subsidies are included\-). Railway = monopoly: High prices, low services, much corruption. Airline = monopolies: High prices, insufficient services. Stein &\- Hardenberg, when they prepared their reforms in Prussia, in the = \-beginning of the 19th century, found out why even flour was \-scarce = and expensive: Someone had the legal monopoly to provide \- millstones! Taxi licence plates: They cost nearly $ 300,000 now \-and = taxis are correspondingly scarce and their service expensive. Why then, = with so many monopolies as deterrent examples, should we assume that any = legal and coercive monopoly in \- the sphere of exchange media and value standards, credit and \-clearing = options and institutions for them, i.e. any monetary\- legislation by = the State, leading to a central banking system and \-its exclusive and = forced currency, would have any different=20 \-results from those experienced in all other spheres? - I think\- that = the same applies to the constitutional, legal & juridical and coercive = monopoly of every State over "its" territory. "Thou\- shalt recognize them by their fruits!" does apply to monetary = \-despotism and to "territorialism". In combination the two are \-mass = murderous institutions. Forced labour & extermination camps,\- wars and bloody civil wars and terrorism are merely some of their = \-major consequences. - J. Z., 8.3.97 & 11.4.97. \par UNEMPLOYMENT: The unemployed are unemployable only in terms of\- = wage and salary payments in form of exclusive and forced\- currencies. = They could be readily and fast employed with monetized\- assignments = upon ready for sale goods and services, in opti onal \-notes or shop currencies or clearing certificates, market\--rated = and kept at par with their nominal sound value standard, \-issued and = self-managed by the owners and sellers of consumer\- goods and providers of consumer services, if only the prohibitive\- = laws are not applied or cannot be applied or can be safely \-ignored and = if the employees are prepared to accept such payments \- rather than remain unemployed or becoming unemployed. - J. Z.,\-11.4.97. \par UNIVERSAL ACCEPTANCE OF MONEY: Is it a characteristic or = \-requirement, as is often believed or stated? - Actually, no\- = particular kind of money is or ever was or is likely to be \-universally = accepted, by all people in the world, at all times,\- in all circumstances. There were even cases in which full weight\- gold = and silver coins were refused, not only by primitives in\- backward = countries. Scottish people did prefer their privately \- issued banknotes as means of payment. See: MONEY, UNIVERSAL ACCEPTANCE = REQUIRED? \par VELOCITY OF MONEY & ITS VALUE: When money moves faster then this\- = may merely mean that more turnovers are achieved with the same \-number = of notes. Then there is, obviously, no depreciation of \- this money involved. - However, when during an inflation cash \-hoarding = is reduced to a minimum and, in extreme cases, people\- are paid at = lunch time and given time off to spend it, before it\- depreciates = further, then this more rapid turnover of alrea dy\- depreciated money will help to depreciate it still more, although = \-those who spend it thus will precisely attempt to thereby avoid = \-further depreciation as much as they can. When money has a sound\- reflux arrangement, i.e. there is at all times a sufficiently\- strong = demand for it, then its more rapid turnover or reflux merely means more = business takes place. The faster spending does \-not and cannot lead to = depreciation, especially when debts, \- prices, wages and salaries are expressed in sound value\- standards. If = a potential issuer were to try to issue more IOU's \-than he could at = any time readily accept in par in all payments\- due to him, then he = would, indeed, speed up his issues. But he\- would have to find ready acceptors for such notes and that would \-be = difficult to impossible, especially when all details of his \- issues and of his reflux or cover arrangements, with his goods, = services, labour and credits, are fully publicised. When he can \-no = longer satisfy his note-holders with his goods and services,\- then he could no longer expect to be able to issue notes in the = \-future, since he would be boycotted, and already for his first\- = over-issue he would be sued for fraud and would be likely to lose \-his = business, and all his other property, like his home , his car\- & other assets. But as long as his notes have only a limited = \-discount and he can offer a 100% par acceptance for his credits,\- = goods and services for them, and if some would still accept his \- notes under this condition from him, then these acceptors would\- = benefit and he would merely have reduced his profit margin\- = correspondingly. But discounted notes would not be popular in\- general = circulation - when there are many others available that=20 \-are soundly enough issued to remain at par. \par WAGEMANN MONEY, See: APHORISMS ON THE MONEY PROBLEM. \par WANTED: Books, contributions, corrections, illustrations, = \-bibliographies, index and abstract compilations, more accurate \-terms = or better descriptions of them. This compilation is to\- gradually grow = towards whatever completeness and perfection it\- may achieve. Money has also gradually grown and so has \-consciousness = of it and its possibilities and limits. \par WAR & MONETARY DESPOTISM :=20 \par WENNING, EDWARD, Universal Prosperity. According to Tandy,\- = Voluntary Socialism, p. 205, he proposed a giant coop company to \-issue = scrip redeemable in its goods. - Text wanted for fiching. - \-J. Z., 97. \par WITHERSPOON, JOHN, Essay on Money, 1786. Reviewed by Rev. Steart\- = M. Robinson, in CHRISTIAN ECONOMICS, Feb. 7, 1956, is apparently \-of = some monetary freedom interest, otherwise I would not have\- made that = note. No LMP title as yet or entry in the FB=20 bibliography\- in PP 1022. - Details not available at present. - J. Z., = 12.4.97.=20 \par WOOLWORTH AS A POTENTIAL ISSUER: Woolworth's sales in Australia = \-in 92 came to 9 billion dollars. Its employees and their families\- = could fill a town like Hobart. - It could probably issue its\- turnover per 2 months in form of its own goods warrants, without = \-these goods warrants depreciating against a sound value standard = \-used in them. I. e., Woolworth could keep ca. A $ 1.5 billion in\- = circulation, as an alternative means of exc hange, using an alternative value standard, more stable than that of the = A $. With this potential issue capacity it could and would gladly = \-issue short term wage and salary payment loans, apart from being\- able to pay its own employees largely or partly in its optional = \-private currency and many of its other suppliers and taxes. too.\- But = no one but Woolworth supermarkets should at any time be\- forced to accept the Big W notes at all or at par. That would prevent = their over-issue, combined with full publicity for their issues, sought = and checked by its competitors, too. - Without the \- shop foundation provided for them by retailers of Australia, the \-notes = of the Federal Reserve Bank would have a forced value only \-in the = payment of the imposed tributes, called taxes and in the \- legal part-expropriations of creditors via its depreciated notes.\- - J. = Z., 2.5.93 & 15.4.97. See: SHOP FOUNDATION, READINESS TO \-ACCEPT = FOUNDATION, MONETARY FREEDOM, POTENTIAL ISSUERS. - Reckoned in current = Australian paper dollars it s annual turnover comes to ca. A $ 20 - 25 billion. I believe that = inflation increased as fast if not faster than its turnover. - J.Z., = 6.9.02. \par WRIGHT, A. W., Banking and the State. A paper read before the\- = Single Tax Club of Chicago, Spring 1894, according to Tandy,\- Voluntary = Socialism, 104. - Were there lecture notes for this\- talk or was a = transcript made of it? Were there any reviews? -\- J. Z., 12.4.97. \par }} ------=_NextPart_000_0003_01C255E5.2C209600--