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

payment and phone call made with traceable money is routinely
warehoused in massive databases for future reference - the most
valuable corporate marketing assets of the information Age: But it
has become even more essential to screen out anybody for dubious
security connections.'
The last PM insisted that he go on record as saying that he has tried
to stem the corporate tide one last time. 'But there had really not been
any choice. The first warming signs wars already there when "market
forces" propelled Britain out of the European Monetary System back
in 1991. A decade ago, the "leftist" French President tried to raise
taxes to pay for essential services. Capital had Red overnight. The
wealthy, even the moderately well off, had migrated to other tax
bases. The multinationals took a few months to wrap up their
operations, and delocated most functions performed in France to
friendlier places. Back in 1996, Glen Peters, Director of the Future at
Price Waterhouse had called them nomads. 'They take what they can
while it's in abundance, then close up shop and move on."
'After that episode, all countries were put in competition to cut their
budgets to the bone. The last Rams to go were subsidies used to
attract foreign investments. The driving force had really been the
digital revolution. Bill Gates became the new Karl Man or George
Washington, depending on who you talk to, leading us straight into
the Corporate Millennium.
Perhaps it was predictable that The Knowledge Society would
become The Corporate Society. After all, the corporations that came
out on top were invariably those most effective at using knowledge
in an organised, strategic sense. Knowledge, power and money have
always been closely linked, and now have become directly
interchangeable. And governments have become irrelevant in all
three.