Money and Time

Is there enough money in the world for everyone to have enough? If so, how would it affect the economy if everyone did?

Besides on hand currency, money as owned by the common people, is nothing more than ones and zeros stored inside computers. Positive and negative numbers. These positive and negative numbers are stored inside banks are the property of the bank. The negative numbers represent the monetary value of assets owned by the bank. To the extent that negative numbers in the form of loans are stored inside those banker’s computers, the associated property is owned by the bank. The person’s future positive income numbers are used to offset negative loan numbers.

Economies will always operate. If we need a currency, we can use rocks as long as our society agrees and accepts the rocks in exchange for goods and services. In the age of instant information provided by computer networks, buyers and sellers meet one another in an electronic market. Given the immediacy and persistence of information, barter economies in the modern age could work. The currency of a barter economy is comprised of products and time.

The question itself masks deeper issues. The fundamental issue is human time. Is there enough demand for human time so that everyone is able to earn money. As demand for human time decreases because of automation, where will the jobs come from?

Suppose we were to create an economy based upon the value of human time. I invest forty hours per week which established my value in the market. I am the producer of 40 hours of productivity. My time is banked and only converted to money when I have bills to pay. I pay taxes when my time is monetized. If I need to borrow extra money it is available at zero percent (0%) interest rate.

Solve poverty by lending people money and expecting them to pay it back from future monetized time investment. The book “Newland 2084” these topics and proposes a workable solution to Poverty.

Rural Innovation

Rural area innovation depends upon the local context. Best areas of innovation meet local needs concerning land ownership, water supply, waste removal and recycling, available natural resources, supplies, local sales markets, transportation, remote sales markets, storage, vendor services available and needed, the labor market, the capital market, banking, and a myriad more.

Wisconsin Farm

The humans of a rural geographic polygon hold interests in common. Consider the application of the cooperative business model within a rural area. The book “Newland 2084” covers the application of co-operatives to human problems like solving poverty.

Why choose the co-operative business model? It offers many advantages and capabilities.

1. Money and money management. The co-operative business model is the best way to handle money and money management. Every member gets a vote on money matters overseen by the treasurer. The money flow is made transparent to the members which reduces the risk of corruption
2. Time and time management. There is cooperative business to be done that demands human time. The pool of available human time is the cooperatives greatest resource and it needs to be managed well. The time accounting records are made transparent to the members which encourages honesty and fairness.
3. Facilities and equipment. The co-operative may provide shared facilities and equipment to its members. Financing of facilities and equipment becomes a shared responsibility.
4. Supplies and products. Co-operative members must decide on and manage suppliers and vendors. Products must be delivered to market and sold to customers.
5. Social media expertise helps in handling procurement, sales, public relations, and fund raising activities.

In all of these areas and more, the social community that emerges in a co-operative demonstrates to all concerned that nobody has to go it alone.

Carbon Gasification

Big picture goals for human civilization upon earth include how we handle carbon. How much carbon do we bring to the earth’s surface? Where do we stash carbon when it is not in the atmosphere? These are decent questions. Intellectual spins to the contrary the truth is simple to understand.

To remove CO2 from the atmosphere plant trees. BTU is the measure of energy. The USA uses about 100 quadrillion BTUs of energy from carbon resources every year. The best place to sequester excess carbon is in plastic. Gather up CO2 and feed it to methanogen bacteria. Produce methane. 

If you want to do the most that you can for a rural area, it would be to install carbon gasification capabilities for breaking carbon sources down  into individual carbon atoms and then recombining them into fuels, polymers, and plastics. The ash remaining from the final carbon extraction process is fine grained ash useful in ceramics and cement.

Build a carbon gasification campus for a community of 12,000 humans. Produce product dimethyl ether DME and watch the boutique cooperative industries that will emerge around polymers. Local community supplies of sticky polymers to glue stuff together and create beautiful composites. DME burns as clean diesel. As the final form of the carbon atom flow onto the earth’s surface consider the value of plastics to USA society.

Besides is utility value, plastic serves as the ultimate sequestration sink of carbon. The carbon is easily recovered by using gasification back to DME. This creates a local community closed cycle carbon flow system.

Back to planet earth and what is innovative in rural areas. Get some skilled idea people together in a co-operative. Put them to the task of imagining a rural area connected to the internet with local idea people, innovators and entrepreneurs, figuring out how to build a boutique plastics industry around the polymer and plastic output of carbon gasification and participation in the DME economy.