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

2 Such improvements do not require additional governmental
budgets or bureaucracies, on the contrary they have proved most
effective when self- organising at the grass-roots level.
Some objections to a multiple currency strategy
One might expect that different types of objections could be levied
against the strategy proposed above. Among the more predictable
ones one could mention:
1. From the traditional left: this proposal may be criticised because
it would reduce the pressure on the governments to maintain the
'acquired benefits' and 'social safety nets'.
2. From the central banks and the banking sector: that this will
reduce the power of the monopoly of conventional money.
3. From economists: that a multiple currency approach could
reduce the efficiency of price formation, and therefore lessen the
effectiveness of the market system.
4. From idealists: that volunteering should always be a gift, and
that therefore attempts at providing volunteers with compensation in
complementary currencies are counterproductive.
Each one of these objections deserves a more detailed response than
can be provided here (see sidebar). There is however a common
response valid for these and other objections. It refers to the four
'money questions' formulated at the beginning of this book (see 'the
Time-Compacting Machine' of Chapter 1). Specifically, I would ask
any objector to the above proposal the following four straightforward
questions: