Debate on Ecopolis: The New Money

The second debate of the day went a little more chaotic and more technical. No umbrella Utopian stories or major trends, but a critical look at money and payment mechanisms.

WHAT IS THE ROLE OF MONEY

A first discussion round was about the social role of money in our society. "Money must be primarily a control mechanism." Opened Henk van Arkel. "Today, our monetary system is almost no driving force." Panellid Anne Snick referred to the grants we distributed to Flanders to those who placed solar panels. "Since it was paid in euros, there was no obstacle to buy a flight to Spain with that money. In one shot, the advantage of locally produced and renewable energy was destroyed."

Snick then pointed out that money is being centralized today. You can make the comparison with the discovery of oil and its effect in the way we create energy. Oil got in such a central place that it actually ruled society instead of vice versa. The mechanisms of our current centralized money system have the same side effect. This makes us all become competitors of each other. Everyone tries to produce as cheap as possible and sell as much as possible.

CENTRAL OR DECENTRALIZED?

Leander Bindewald briefly outlined the economic motivation behind a central currency system. "In the past, we knew a lot of different currencies, but the big problem is that you lose if you exchange coins. Therefore, the trend to go to one coin system is driven by efficiency. However, this is a major disadvantage. If the System crashes, you are without alternative."

The strength of complementary coins lies in their resilience and controlling capacity.

Often, alternative coins are also local. For example, the Brixton pound can only be issued in Brixton. This will strengthen the local economy. Other examples that were discussed were the classic LET systems in our Flemish cities and the E-portfolio in Limburg. In this sense, local coins closely align with Henk Van Arkel's view on coins:

What we learned from the Euro is that a currency needs to reflect the productivity of a country or region.

FINAL MARK

The big questions remained a bit in the debate. Anne Snick briefly asked some questions about the way we get money today, but how do we do this in the future when classical work, the current way of winning, becomes scarcer. So do enough for a follow-up debate.