The End of Money and The Future of Civilization [Paperback]

This will be an interesting book for those curious about the history of money, how it evolved into modern day currencies, and how to break the banking monopoly on credit. The author who is in the alternative exchange movement advocates the creation of credit clearing houses for individuals. This is modeled after the clearing houses established by banks that enable banks to clear their books by calculating how much each bank owes the other as opposed to running money for each individual transaction. For example if a check from bank A is cashed for $100 at bank B, and other transactions have two $50 checks from bank B cashed at bank A then they clear each other out with no one owing anything to each other. Of course it is much more complicated when you get several banks involved over lapping each other, but I hope you see the principle. The author advocates that if credit clearing houses are set up for individuals and business and credit is completely based on goods and services that are created instead of currency continual printed to cover debt interest, then it would stabilize the business cycle of booms and busts. It would also take banks monopoly on loans and shift them to individuals.
The author also expresses strong views on the separation of money and state. He believes that the ability to endlessly print currency, run up national debt, and for the government to print money only backed by the credit of the federal government is antiquated. With the advances in Visa, debit cards, wire transfers, and the like, currency will no longer be needed in the near future. He instead advocates the use of credits linked to the valuation of a basket of commodities. This book is very fascinating and I believe we will see the advances he talks about come to fruition over the next few years. Very insightful read for curious minds.

This is not a book you can glide through; it took me almost three months to read it, but it was time well spent. I have a degree in finance, and I was astounded at how little I knew about the history of money and the implications of how it has evolved into a situation where control of money and the economy is held by a small group of people; very powerful people. As I started to read it, my first impressions were that this book was in the vein of some conspiracy books. And yes, there is an index entry for the Trilateral Commission! But as I continued, the more everything started to fit together. This is not some doomsday book, but a carefully researched thought-provoking work.

The author proposes that to help make money more accessible to everyone, and to be more equitable to all, is the formation of alternate currencies. He details how that has taken place in the past, such as in post World War One Germany, when hyperinflation gripped the country, and in 1923 a loaf of bread cost 428 billion marks. An alternate currency was introduced, with some key features that are crucial for any alternate currency, such as no legal tender compulsion, and reasonable limits on currency creation. Other examples come from various South American countries. In the United States, an example from Pennsylvania after the tragic Johnstown flood shows how this concept can work. A current example not mentioned in this book, but is covered in the book Africa Rising, is how cell phone minutes have become a medium of exchange in several African countries, combating hyperinflation there. You can get your car repaired in exchange for cell phone minutes!

The book highlights the major problem with current currencies as there has been a blurring of the distinction of the two basic purposes of money, and the role of central banks such as the Federal Reserve Bank in the USA. The first basic role of money is as a medium of exchange, or a store of value. The other is as a credit instrument, to help fund future production. What has caused our current predicament is the conflicts of interest between the banking industry and the central banks, in regards to creation of currency.

He then details how a gradual transition to a more equitable solution is possible. The main idea is the creation of "barter clubs" to get to the point where cost of credit becomes reasonable and controlled. He details past attempts at such barter clubs, and gives a balanced coverage of both the successes and the failures, and details what can be done to avoid the past failures. The beauty of the barter club is that members can obtain reasonable amounts of credit for current inventory without any interest charges He mentions the key to the success of these barter clubs is to recruit the entire supply chain; manufacturers, wholesalers, service businesses, and retail. I know from experience with a barter club in the 1970s a major drawback was almost all members were service businesses such as beauty salons, realty agents, and car repair. Taxation implications are addressed; barter clubs are not an attempt to bypass income taxes. Barter club is perhaps a too narrow term, but sufficient for this review.

The book has a very thorough index, 198 footnotes, and four pages of references from a variety of sources. Two appendixes contain a sample member agreement for barter clubs and a proposed standard measure of value.

This book could have a profound positive impact on local and eventually global economies. It is definitely worth the effort to read through it, if nothing more to better understand our financial system and its weaknesses in order to garner support for a more equitable and secure financial system.

Why are some of the most important topics so very boring? Is that why people don't know these things? They can't STAND to get through books like this in order to learn them?
I totally agree with everything this book is saying - not only does it do a thorough job defining the history and the problems with money, as we know it today, but it offers very real, practical solutions. Solutions that I believe are going to be vital if the US is going to retain it's world power status and avoid revolution.
That said, there are cartoons on youtube that are much more accessible to the average joe that needs to be aroused from 'this is the way it works' slumber. NO IT DOES NOT. Therefore, giving this to your friends to try to help them understand is probably NOT a good idea - and that would be the best value of the book, because chances are, most people that are going to buy it ALREADY KNOW how the fractional reserve system works, and already understands that the FED is NOT part of our govt. and that central banking was NOT something the founding fathers ever wanted in AMERICA!
That said, this book can give those already familiar with how money works an excellent arsenal to be used in discussing the future of currency and how loans COULD work to build America instead of forcing us all into positions of wage slaves for a few elite.
Even though I am pretty well versed in Austrian economics, and the current problems, I found I had to read this book about 1/2 a chapter at a time. It is 'hard' reading.

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