Money as a means of governance
It takes very little argument to persuade that money is a means governance. It settles who commands resources, who has certain liberties, and who can take certain actions. Looking back over the last few thousand years, we have lived in an Age of Money as Means of Governance. So why would this Age come to an end?
Money as a means of governance requires several social facts to be in place:
1. Money users must trust that the money used has value to obtain desired things.
2. Money can be “owned” and stored.
3. Money must have a certain rarity.
The art and science of acting in the Age of Money as a Means of Governance is essentially the field of economics. The field assumes that most actions are governed by money or value-related considerations and these considerations can be discreetly analyzed based on predicted rational (or irrational) operations.
I think we then look to problems with economics as a way to determine why and how the Age of Money as a Means of Governance begins to end. What are the plausible issues with money?
First, there is rarity. If the production of money cannot be controlled, it is of declining value. Money systems where value declines at a certain pace are like dishes that leak. Their function is denigrated by the rate of decline. People who worry about “fiat” money are particularly obsessed with this issue.
Second there is storage. Storage requires safety which implies insurance, time value/interest rates and all that entails. Ownership of course leads to estates, probates, bankruptcies, etc.
Third is trust. Can I get the safety, permanance, continuity, stability, etc. that I want for the currency I store at some point in the future? This issue is the prime motivator of governance in our Age.
So we need to consider, are these items under threat?
