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

We started this Primer with the questions: How is the value of your
money determined? Who is really in charge of your savings? We can
now answer these questions:
1. The value of your money is ultimately determined in an
increasingly volatile global casino where 98% of the transactions are
based on speculation.
2. Whether your nest egg is your house, some investment portfolio,
or even the cash in your wallet, your savings are all highly
interconnected within the money system. Therefore, whatever form
you will give them, the future of your savings will depend
significantly on what happens to your currency.
3. Even if you believe that you don't have anything to do with
'global finance', because you haven't invested yourself in the
international money game, this is usually an illusion because your
pension fund or your bank is directly or indirectly involved in such
activities (see sidebar).
4. Even if you have no investments or savings of any kind, your life
will be touched because your country as a whole will be affected
when money gets into serious trouble somewhere in the world Figure
P.8 shows the purchases of foreign stocks as a percentage of Gross
Domestic Product for three countries. For instance, Germany has now
invested the equivalent of two and half times its total annual
production in stocks abroad.
The stakes are enormous. Ultimately money is trust, which lives
and dies only in human hearts and minds. Money systems, including
our current one, are mechanisms and symbols that aim at keeping
that trust alive. Historically, entire civilisations have been built on
trust, because it is at the core of the self-confidence required for a