I have heard it said more than a few times that insanity can be defined as doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.
For instance, how we think of money.
The monetary system has been around in various forms for roughly 5000 years and has impacted human societies to this day.
However, it’s a system that’s flawed, especially if you look at how it has developed into a currency-based exchange. Some would say that currency itself is not real money and that precious metals like gold and silver are the true monetary standard. They would have you think that markets based on such metals would create a more stable economic system.
Perhaps, but a disproportionate few would still accumulate the majority of the gold and silver, and therefore have all the power because “he/she with the most gold wins.”
On the flip side, the majority of people would once again find themselves powerless because they don’t have enough wealth to invest in either gold or silver and must instead choose to spend what few euros, pesos, dollars or rubles they had to feed their children or themselves and keep a roof over their heads.
So how does the above definition of insanity apply to money?
What we appear to be doing “over and over again” is believing that trading goods and services in exchange for money that, in turn, is used to buy other goods or services is a system that works.
At first glance, it seems fair: We trade our money for goods and services based on a given price. Depending on how wisely we spend it, we may have some money left by the end of the day. At some point, however, we’re going to run out (but may have a shed full of “stuff” to show for it).
Of course, there’s tax to pay on that stuff and if we want to sell some of it to get some of our money back, we generally do so at a loss. This type of “friction” is built into the monetary system where “money in” does not equal “money out”; much of it gets lost to different beneficiaries along the way.
It’s a system that’s broken, but we keep thinking that “one day” we will fix it and so continue to use money to buy, invest, speculate, save, etc., while we watch a handful of individuals accumulate vast amounts of cash and manipulate the markets (until they crash) because they know how to use this friction to their advantage while the majority of humanity lives in squalor or simply exists with no hope of a better life.
So the cycle repeats itself over time while we cling to the belief that, one day, things will be different.
Pure insanity.
If we can all agree that it’s a system that’s broken, then why can’t we also agree to try something different?
What if we took money out of that exchange altogether?
What if we could freely give or take goods and services with no expectation of compensation of any kind (and no taxes to pay)? I would call that a frictionless system.
Why must we always think that we need to get “something” for “something else?“
What about “something for nothing?”
