Point number 1 is not just rhetoric, since money is based on no values whatsoever, not even gold or silver, and must be supported by a shared belief so strong and universal that it is indeed a world religion which overwhelms all opposition.
Point 2 is becoming visible as massive weather disturbances lay waste whole countries. Money rewards the stripping of forests, minerals and oil and dumping the waste products without regard for consequences. Who knows where climate change will end? -- possibly rendering most of the earth uninhabitable.
Point 3 is a clear argument for new currencies. Money serves those who create it. It is time for the rest of us to create our own, to create wealth for those who have none.
Point number 4 has the money men (they are almost all men) running scared. With no values behind their money, it is just a computer game where fortunes can be made by wild swings and surges of markets that lay waste whole economies. A global collapse is a very real possibility.
There are some who would welcome a collapse for reasons (1), (2) and (3), and declare it to be natural justice and the restoration of balance. Some would even welcome the mass starvation and loss of life that would result. And there are some who would welcome a return to anarchy, totalitarianism or survival by force of arms. This does not seem like a positive evolutionary step.
If monetary collapse is indeed in our future, new currencies are clearly needed, in place and fully operational before the collapse takes place. Some say the collapse could happen in 2000, when the computers fail. We'd better get moving.
The most positive evolutionary development would be to develop new currencies to prevent a monetary collapse. The new, bottom-up currencies can provide new values, real values, to stabilize the money game. They can provide purchasing power to prevent economic collapse. They can rechannel the money flows to the bottom where they are desperately needed.
This coevolution scenario is pretty tricky. We need to rehabilitate the false god, who can still do a great production job, without being corrupted. Our new currencies have to set the standard. And only new kinds of currency can represent the earth and restore balance and sustainability.
What are new currencies? They are bottom-up money and credit systems created by individuals and local groups. I see volunteer hours as the most substantial new currency, since they are fixed in value, banked in nonprofit organizations, and can be networked as a universal currency. Barter currencies are also important, and are already popular and well-understood. Personal credit and group credit have potential as we learn how they work.
We may also develop new bottom-up currencies such as electronic cash, information currency, game currency, political currency and others, all drawing upon the same fundamental principles of wealth creation.
Volunteer hours are dealt with at length on this website, and show how this unique new currency can follow a few simple rules to become an industrial-strength contender in the money world, and channel new funds to neglected areas of society. It's worth studying the volunteer credit system in depth, since it reveals the powerful principles we can apply to other bottom-up currencies.
This is power we didn't know we had, while we've been in thrall to the received wisdom of top-down, hand-me-down, trickle-down money. We can create our own, and we'll find it follows different principles, addressing the things money can't buy. It can enrich our society and our inner lives, and help us evolve to a new level of abundance.
Nobody wants to believe that money is in trouble when the stock market is doing so well. Even if a recession or year 2000 computer problems bring money down, nobody will abandon their false god unless they know there's an alternative. Even if there's an alternative money system, nobody wants to start it because they think it must be organized by some vast centralized effort.
The most famous alternative currency in the country is Ithaca Hours, which circulates in Ithaca, New York, 29,000, far from the centers of population and power. A small, isolated city concentrates its new currency, so it doesn't diffuse into areas that have never heard of it.
And of course, all the new currencies we're considering are created from the bottom up, so there's no point in waiting for some centralized effort. We, the citizens of Anytown, Earth, are where the action begins.
The last obstacle in our minds is: isn't it hard to create a new currency? No, it's surprisingly easy. The main currency I'm proposing, volunteer hours, are recorded already in many places, and all we have to do is treat these records as bank accounts, and we're on our way. It's as simple as that, as Ross Perot would say.
These are my points: Money is in trouble. There is an alternative. It must start in a small city like my home town, Prescott, Arizona. It starts with individuals and small groups, not City Hall. And it's easy to do.