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

My purpose in this book has been to focus only on these
transitional money systems appropriate for the phase we have
already entered. And the main point bears repetition: during the
current transition period a lot of violent disruption and pain can be
avoided by encouraging social experimentation, by letting embryonic
forms have a chance to thrive, by allowing them to reproduce in new
patterns which have already proved effective at dealing with
structural change in other parts of the world. This is the way nature
has been doing it successfully for five billion years. Can we afford not
to learn from it?
What follows next is a description of the development of a fourlevel
monetary system. One already exists - the conventional bankdebt
national currency system. The development of the three new
money systems is synthesised in three timetables, revealing that the
emergence of these new systems is in fact an organic development of
trends which have been prevailing for decades, each pushed by its
own logic. In parallel to these three new levels, it is assumed that the
conventional national currency systems will be able to operate
roughly as they do today. The only significant difference is that they
are not any more perceived as the only game in town.
The monetary system of 2020: a four-level gearbox
Let us imagine that we are living in 2020. Almost all corporations
and many individuals are dealing routinely in currencies at different
levels. For a small transaction fee, it has become very simple to
exchange any of these currencies for most others somewhere on the
Net. Just as with today's frequent-flyer miles, mixed payments are
common (you can buy a ticket in national currency and pay for an
upgrade in frequent-ftyer miles).
The four levels operational in 2020 would be the following: