Defining Money and Productive
by L'Hirondelle & Larochelle Nov. 2007 (updated 2011)
page 1 of 7
(2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)

(see also Money)

INTRODUCTION

"[Danny] DeVito's wounded reply is one of the funniest lines [David] Mamet has ever written: "'Everybody needs money! That's why they call it money!'"
—Roger Ebert on the movie Heist

"with the deregulation of banking worldwide, nobody can say for certain how great the money supply is at any given time." ( William Krehm, A Power Unto Itself: The Bank of Canada,1993)

More people around the world are examining the concept of guaranteed or basic income for the reason that it would improve individual, community and environmental health. And also as it has become more and more apparent that the economic growth model doesn't work and the industrial age is over.

However one stumbling block is people's understanding of money, money supply and the idea that there is 'real' money and 'unreal' or 'funny' money.

For example, one BI advocate wrote: "A [basic income] will be paid in real money, the real currency of the country which is accepted in payment of taxes. It is going to be paid for by taxes, meaning from the actual wealth of the country, its capacity to produce goods." (2007)

Because of this belief that there is 'real' money from production, and 'unreal' money issued by governments, it is essential to define and examine the meanings of money and, more importantly, what we mean when we talk about production, and what we consider to be economically productive in discussions on basic income.

Next ...There is no 'real' money