Healthy Money Healthy Planet - library.uniteddiversity.coop

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their essentials for daily life, they tend to invest in projects that bring long­term
benefits.
It thus becomes ‘economic’ for companies and individuals to think long term, and
money capital is transformed into goods capital – goods that bring long­term
benefits. Two demurrage­charged currencies in history – the ostraca of ancient
Egypt and the bracteaten of medieval Europe (see page 000) – saw such long­term
investment and stability.
However, it should be noted that if there were another competing currency
available that carried no penalty for hoarding, savings would be diverted into that
currency. So, if we try to do two different things with a currency – encourage it to
circulate fast and encourage it to become a means of building capital by giving
rewards (interest) for saving – these two functions actually work against each
other. It is therefore important that community currencies with a demurrage fee
concentrate exclusively on the key function of money – in other words, as a means
of exchange.
The missing ingredient with community currencies has beenWith most
complementary currencies, what has been missing is a community­owned bank
that will both accept the currency in its own right and issue interest­free loans for
publicly mandated works. Community projects funded in this way will cost
ratepayers much less and be paid off much quicker, because they do not include an
interest component.