By Tony Weekes on May 4, 2010

I am somewhat embarrassed to find myself on my soap-box once more.  But – as I have said many times – the trivial nature of the public debate leaves me in some despair.

The government borrowing requirement – caused by the shortfall between revenue and expenditure – has ‘put money’ into the economy.  That money has enabled ‘things’ to be done, and people to have the means to participate in the formal economy.  Unemployment and its consequences would be far worse if that money had not been created.

It’s unfortunate that this way of creating ‘money’ also creates interest bearing debt, and servicing that debt will, in turn, add to the problem. That’s the way most of what we call money arises. 

But the interest provides an income flow to those institutions which have loaned the money to the government.  Some of these lenders will be pension funds. Reducing the debt – apparently, in this election campaign, one of the most urgent problems of our time – will reduce this income flow.  It will also make money even more scarce.

Be careful what you wish for!

The present monetary system is not suitable for the challenges and problems of the present time: the development, for example, of a lower carbon, renewable future.

The work of the campaign for monetary reform is about ways to create money – the ‘lubricant’ of the formal economy – without the debt burden – and to ensure that it is used for proper purposes.

It’s a campaign with a very long history. It’s something of which we (Quakers) should be a part; the Christian Campaign for Monetary Justice (CCMJ) is one place to start: website www.ccmj.org; James Robertson’s website is another (www.jamesroberston.com)