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

society provide the elderly with the money to match their longevity''
But it also goes beyond that specific topic by tackling the broader
issue of community breakdown. Problems in elderly and childcare,
education, reduction of criminality, and improvement of the general
quality of life are all symptoms of the same phenomenon of
community crises. Community breakdown has become a universal
pattern all over the modem world. Although it is usually not
perceived that this trend relates to money, this chapter will show that
both the cause of the problem and its solution can be found in money
systems.
Community breakdown
Around the world, in rich and poor countries alike, the structure of
family life is undergoing accelerated and fundamental changes. 'The
idea that the family is a stable and cohesive unit... is a myth. The
reality is that trends like unwed motherhood, rising divorce rates,
smaller households, and the feminisation of poverty are occurring
world-wide,' a recent study demonstrates. Only Japan has remained
virtually unchanged over the last 30 years.221
The world over, we can hear the same complaint. 'Things aren't the
way they used to be. We used to have a better sense of community.'
What is referred to may be different in each culture, but the vend is
identical. Its consequences are also similar, including vandalism
against common property and criminality, particularly among the
younger generation.
The more 'developed' the country, the more this trend has
advanced (see sidebar). For instance, in Northern Europe and the US,
the extended family was considered the norm during the 19th
century. By the 1950s, the nuclear family was standard. Today, the
median of social identity in the US has already moved from the
nuclear family to the single parent family as 51% of all US children