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

(Note: the specific commodities, their quality, delivery standards,
and their respective weights in the Terra unit are proposed here as
simple examples. In practice, this would be part of a negotiated
agreement among participants. This standard could also include
services, or indices aiming at increasing further its stability.)
The Terra has the following main characteristics and effects:
· This currency can be made inflation-proof by definition. Inflation
is always defined as the change in value of a basket of goods and
services, therefore to the extent that the basket composing the Terra
can be made representative of global trade automatic inflationproofing
is obtained.
· The value of this new Terra currency could easily be translated
into any existing national currency. Anybody who wants to value the
Terra in his own national currency just has to look up the prices of
those internationally traded commodities which are part of the
basket. These prices are already published in the financial sections of
all the major newspapers in the world, and are available in real-time
on the Net everywhere.
· More importantly, this currency is also automatically convertible
in any existing national currency without the need for any new
international treaty or agreement. Anybody who is paid in this
currency would have the option just to receive the basket of
commodities delivered in pre- arranged facilities (such as the already
existing delivery places for the different futures markets, for
example). These existing commodity markets could also be used to
obtain cash in the conventional national currencies for the products
delivered, if this is desired. We should expect that - as the system
proves reliable and credible - fewer and fewer people would feel the
need to go through this process of cashing in the receipts.