EMIT Money Standard
Providing Security through Predictable Reward
The EMIT Money Standard is very simply making money equivalent to universal
physical quantities. There are at least four fundamental things that money
should be equivalent to:
- Energy - Every dollar should be equivalent to a fixed, known
amount of physical energy, now and forevermore. $1 = 1kWh
(kilowatt-hour) would be a good measure, though ultimately it doesn't really
matter which number we choose, just that it remains fixed.
- Matter - Similarly, every type of basic matter on the planet
should have a fixed price associated with it. It somewhat like the gold
standard, but a) for every type of matter and b) without fluctuating
according to market forces. This amount should be equal to the
recycling cost in time and energy of already existing matter
circulating in human society.
- Information - This is the human wild card. People are going to
pay whatever they need to for certain expertise, and this is the part most
explicitly influenced by market forces.
- Time - Every human should be paid a certain minimum amount merely
for their time, and more for a more experienced application of their time.
This is basically the idea behind a minimum wage, but slightly expanded to
include higher levels of training.
The benefits of the EMIT Money Standard are numerous:
- Inflation will disappear and deflation will slowly emerge. This
removes the up and down cycles that screw the average person out of their
life savings. It also makes just plain saving money very attractive,
because a dollar tomorrow will buy _more_ than a dollar today. The EMIT
Money Standard inverts the current time-value of money (which says a
dollar today is worth more than money tomorrow).
- Long-term planning is both possible and guaranteed. The inverted
time-value of money and the stabilization of basic commodities reduces two of
the major risk factors to long-term planning. It also provides a rock solid
basis for economic forecasting that currently are impossible because of too
many fluctuating quantities.
- Energy conservation is directly more profitable. Most people
don't care two shakes about conserving energy... but they will go to great
lengths to save money. This harnesses our latter impulse to accomplish the
former.
- Renewable energy becomes more fairly measured against consumable
energy. Given that we are now factoring in a new costs for consumable
energy, renewable energy now becomes a fiscally attractive alternative.
BTW, I originally called this the "TIME is Money" Standard, which was
definitely a much sexier name. However, it is now EMIT because the
equivalence to energy is the crux of the idea, and thus the E should come
first. C'est la vie. :-)
The Continuing Evolution of Money
In order to understand the changing role that money plays in our world today,
it will be helpful for us to review its historical evolution. There have
been several distinct epochs marked by a unique advance in the meaning of
money. Let's take a look at them, all the way from the start.
Before Money, Wealth meant Property
and Power meant Command
Metal Coin facilitated trade and was
the birth of Money
Today Money means Exchange for Goods
and Services
Money is evolving to represent Value
in Universal Quantities
... IN PROGRESS ...
2. EMIT Money Standard
EVOLUTION OF MONEY
Need three words for money: Four concepts?
z) the accumulation of physical goods and property = "tangible
manifestation of wealth"? = Property
a) the concrete tangible representation in dollar bills, coins, etc. =
"tangible representation of money" = Coin
b) the abstract buying power of goods and services, in units of market
appraisal = "market value of money" = Exchange
c) real creation cost of a good or service, in units of universal physical
quantities. = "true value of money". Value. BOM. Basis for
sustainability.
Our current money has moved into b), but only hazily connected to c).
FUNDAMENTAL ASPECTS NEEDED
Adam Smith and metals for money. Why they worked in a previous age.
Gold Standard. Why gold doesn't work today. Finite, locational, good itself.
Thus, our standard must be to
a) unlimited things that can scale with money
b) things that exist everywhere to prevent imbalance
c) things that themselves are not influenced by markets
How does this connect to the human scale?
1) Money is becoming increasingly leveraged against average citizen
2) Fluctutations bilk people out of savings
3) Stabilizing money means making the money game more fair
George Soros shouldn't be able -> design better system