13 FEB 2009The post-dollar economyThe money men turned the dollar into a gambling currency and a Ponzi scheme and looted the system. Of course it collapsed, and the government finished it off trying to print enough money to "restore growth". But perpetual growth is impossible. It was destroying the earth. Now we're forced to find how little we need to survive, calling for new ingenuity and efficiency and invention and letting go of a lot of things we didn't need. If we consume only 10% as much, it takes only 10% of the workforce. Old thinking sees 90% unemployment as a problem, but it's actually the 90% leisure of the new age of abundance we've been denying ourselves. We've saved the earth and have time to enjoy ourselves. Whether the dollar drops to 10% or disappears completely, we'll need new currencies that work better. We can make our own funny money to shape our life of leisure, and time dollars for the serious stuff that needs to be done. Funny money is play money, and therefore belongs at the top of the money hierarchy. Time dollars are volunteer hours, for the jobs we want to do to contribute to society. If there are jobs nobody wants to do we may need to keep some dollars around, but they won't be running the world anymore. Time dollars need to be very strong and well-constructed to replace the money economy. They will grow from necessity, while funny money will seem irrelevant, a luxury. This is the dilemma I've been wrestling with for years, the time dollars monster taking over and killing funniness. But it's starting to resolve. Maslow's hierarchy of needs says people will come up through necessity. Money will fail them, and they'll turn to time dollars to meet their needs, and then advance to funny money for higher values. The funny attitude is one of abundance, welcoming the collapse of the old system, promising something better. It's more than time dollars, and that puts time dollars in its place.
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