Toward A More Just Money System (Money as Debt II - Video by Paul Grignon)

A set of short, animated videos by Paul Grignon -- available on YouTube and entitled "Money as Debt II" -- provides a pretty good overview of money and its history as I’ve been learning about it over the past several years, and points to the historical opportunity we have today of transforming money to the world's benefit.

The videos tell the story, in brief, of the rise of our current private-bank-controlled, debt-based monetary system, and point out some of its consequences in, for example, unsustainable environmental exploitation, gross economic injustice, overwhelming imbalance and concentration of power, war, and a whole host of familiar ills.

A valid point is that the current money-system, while it gives rise to many evils, has also unleashed extraordinary human productivity by introducing extraordinary liquidity into the world of human relations and human exchange. Defenders of the current system have a legitimate perspective: If a population is thirsty, then even filthy, muddy water is a godsend. Dirty oil is preferable to no oil to keep an engine running. Maybe this is why our emotional response to money has always been so ambivalent.

But now with historical hindsight growing rapidly in the wake of modern progress, we are gaining the clarity necessary to separate the baby from the bathwater; i.e. we are opening a new prospect of having abundant money, but clean stuff, rather than filthy. Imagine clean money that helps repair the world, that builds human relations of cooperation and mutual benefit rather than extends systems of domination and exploitation, that supports rather than destroys a healthy environment. Can we exchange our filthy luchre for pretty?

The history of money is a story whose basic arc, I hope, will gradually come to the public’s attention over the next several years. ("The cat is out of the bag," I say to myself. "Too many people are starting to write about this and spread awareness. How many years will it take before these new realizations about our money system reach the general public? Five? Ten? Fifteen?" Or am I overly optimistic and is the capacity of mainstream propaganda simply too much to overcome?)

Grignon's video series points, in its final segments, to the existence and need of such alternatives to the current system. (I noticed, for instance, passing references to the Guernsey dollars I blogged about some months ago, as well as to colonial scrips, the old U.S. Greenbacks, and to the currently burgeoning community currencies, all of which I’ve also commented upon.)

The videos even make brief reference to Stephen Zarlenga’s work at the American Monetary Institute and his American Monetary Act, legislation [discussed in my following blog] that Zarlenga hopes to bring before Congress and in which Dennis Kucinich has shown an interest. (Look for the unidentified cartoon images of Kucinich and Ron Paul that briefly pop up in the Grignon videos; alert me if you see others that I missed!) I believe Zarlenga’s thinking is a bit stronger and clearer in some respects than Grignon’s, but these videos are very good nonetheless; then again, Grignon no doubt has valuable insights of his own to bring to Zarlenga's thinking.

To see the videos, click here (series 2) or here (series 1) and/or search YouTube for:

money as debt ii promises unleashed (1 of 8) through (8 of 8)
money as debt (1 of 5) through (5 of 5)

See also:

Stephen Zarlenga: His book, The Lost Science of Money and his non-profit organization, The American Monetary Institute (http://www.monetary.org/)

The American Monetary Act (at http://www.monetary.org/)

Paul Grignon's Web site (http://www.moneyasdebt.net/)

Ellen Hodgson Brown: Her book: The Web of Debt (http://www.webofdebt.com/) -- Brown’s book is a good overview and compendium of many of the things Zarlenga addresses, and it’s more accessible and more focused on modern U.S. Monetary history (but much less historically comprehensive).

The Money Masters: How International Bankers Gained Control of America (http://www.themoneymasters.com/) -- This 3.5 hour video can also be found in free segments on YouTube; it’s a great and revealing piece, although the unfortunate and strong “conspiracy theory” tone and slant might drive some people away.

Henry George Institute (http://www.henrygeorge.org/) -- The above thinkers are concerned with the privatization and monopolization of the inherently public money power by the private banking system. The economist Henry George instead focuses on another critical and related concern: the privatization of the earth, or land.