Hegemony of Single Currency Thinking
Discussion
Marco Sachy:
"According to Lietaer and Arnsperger, the monetary blindspot has three layers. First the “hegemony of single-currency thinking” that corresponds to the traditional monopolistic and top-down system of debt at interest, which accompanied traditional economic thinking, even before central banks entered the scene in modern history. In this regard, it is worth noting that all Empires in history used and imposed a single currency. And this is usually counted as an important attribute for the success of the Empire in question: Sesterces for the Romans, Pounds for the British, Dollars for the Americans, and tomorrow Yuans for the Chinese to fund their imperialistic governance structure.
As Lietaer and Arnsperger put it:
- “Many societies have imposed a single, monopolistic, hierarchically-issued currency, naturally or artificially kept scarce, and associated with positive interest rates. This was true in Sumer and Babylon, in Ancient Greece and in the Roman Empire, as well as from the Renaissance onwards in all Modern Societies. The form of these currencies has varied largely ... [But] they have had three crucial properties in common: in all cases, only that specific currency was accepted for the payment of taxes; the currency could be stored and accumulated, i.e. hoarded; and borrowing such currencies implied payment of interest. So widespread has been this approach that we tend to think that it is the only option, leading to the hegemony of single-currency thinking.” (Lieater, Arnsperger et al, 2012: 40, italics in the original)."
Source
- See our entry: Money for the Common Wealth of the Multitude
- PhD Thesis: MONEY FOR THE COMMON WEALTH OF THE MULTITUDE. TOWARD A USER-MANAGED CURRENCY AND PAYMENT SYSTEM DESIGN. Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the University of Leicester (School of Business). by Marco Sachy
URL = https://lra.le.ac.uk/bitstream/2381/40788/1/2017SACHYMPhD.pdf