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THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

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have this power should not amaze us, given the cumulative nature of<br />

'the vicious circle of unemployment' we saw earlier in Figure 5.1.<br />

Mussolini was right when he claimed that 'fascism is not a doctrine, it<br />

is a response to the need for action'.<br />

The 1930s were one more demonstration of the 'vicious circle of<br />

unemployment' connecting unemployment, violence, fear, political<br />

polarisation and instability. The closing of the loop back to higher<br />

unemployment was only avoided by the biggest instability of them<br />

all: war. Given this historical record, we can make the next three<br />

observations:<br />

· Whoever makes the decision to stamp out complementary<br />

currency initiatives should also be held accountable for providing<br />

alternative solutions and finding the money to pay for the services<br />

that they render. It just won't do to block them on some technicality<br />

and leave the subsequent social and political mess and despair to<br />

take care of itself, because we know exactly where this leads. We<br />

have been there before.<br />

· Impeding individuals or groups from solving their own problems<br />

at a local level automatically creates demand for a saviour. Such a<br />

saviour invariably appears, whether called the Central Government,<br />

the Fuhrer, the Duce, Zhirinofski, Buchanan, Le Pen or Fini, or any<br />

one of their successors.<br />

· The record also shows that the only really effective way for largescale<br />

centralized approaches to reduce serious structural<br />

unemployment is to prepare for war. Such economic reasons for war<br />

have been found not only for World War II, but for many other<br />

conflicts as well.<br />

Today’s systems

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