Chapter 3.6 – Threefold money creation

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

Threefold creation of money by life 

»Our money is no longer created from debts but from life itself. Our currency is the gradido, which means »thanks«. The creation of money follows simple rules. 3,000 gradidos are created for every citizen each month. A third of the money created is used for a basic income. Another third is used for the national budget and the rest for the Equalisation and Environmental Fund. We call this the threefold creation of money«.

– Joytopia

Do you remember where money comes from in the old system? Correct – from nothing! Assets and debts are created from »nothing«. Figures are generated in a computer according to internationally recognised rules. The old rules follow zero-sum principles and are designed in such a way that their impact harms everybody and benefits nobody.

The gradido – the »living money« – is created from life itself. Through the existence of every person 3,000 gradidos are created every month without debts being created. The new rules, according to which the numbers are generated in a computer, follow the plus-sum principle and serve the threefold good – the good of the individual, the good of the community and the good of the big scheme of things. They have a beneficial impact on all those involved and harm nobody.

It is important to understand that money creation is nothing more than generating numbers in a computer. And it is quite normal for rules to be altered or superseded by new ones when they do not serve their purpose (any longer). There is scarcely anything more hostile to life in this world than the present monetary system. All wars and all man-made disasters are direct or indirect consequences of it. What the hell got into humankind to introduce the system of debt money? And what the hell is still in us that we treat it like a sacred cow and maintain its perfidious creation rules? It is quite easy to alter the rules and create living money that serves the good of everyone and makes the survival of humanity possible – in peace and in harmony with nature.

From the threefold good the threefold creation of money is derived. Three amounts of 1,000 gradidos are created for every person each month. With 1,000 gradidos per person per month the Natural Economy of Life provides the financial means to serve the threefold good. The threefold creation of money includes:

1. an active basic income for every person,
2. a national income for every country proportional to the number of its citizens,
3. an Equalisation and Environmental Fund for decontaminating the environment.

The active basic income

The first amount of money created (1,000 gradidos) is intended as the basic income. Every citizen has the right to a basic income of 1,000 gradidos. Two variations of this are conceivable: an unconditional basic income that everyone gets »just like that« and an active basic income that is earned with unconditional participation.

On account of the many positive consequences that ensue from unconditional participation we unequivocally advocate the active basic income. In addition to the advantages already described, from the viewpoint of monetary theory there is also the argument that the money created is covered by services already rendered. Even if – and especially because – the value of money only exists in people’s heads, money covered by services should have a more stable value than money which is created »out of thin air«.

The idea of an unconditional basic income triggers so-called »envy debates«. Working people ask themselves why they should produce the money or products consumed by other people who in their eyes do not work. Supporters of the unconditional basic income try to defuse these envy debates with all kinds of arguments without any real success.

A basic income covered by services makes such envy debates superfluous. After all, everybody has earned their active basic income with services to the community.

National income proportional to the number of inhabitants

The second amount of money created (1,000 gradidos per person per month) goes to the national budget. Without having to levy taxes every country has a per-capita national budget at its disposal of an amount customary in Central Europe, including health and social services.

Central Europe currently has the highest standard of living worldwide. Therefore it serves us as a yardstick when it is a matter of defining what we imagine worldwide prosperity to be quantitatively.

Since the second amount of money created also includes health and social services as well as the national budget, neither taxes nor other levies have to be imposed. Hence, considerably less government control is necessary than today, which makes it possible to reduce bureaucracy significantly.

The national budget is funded without any debt whatsoever. All the costs of servicing capital in the present system are avoided. In future there will be absolutely no reason for a government ever to borrow money. For, on the one hand, the national budget is already generously calculated and, on the other hand, an additional fund of an equal amount is provided for protection and decontamination of the environment.

Equalisation and Environment Fund

The third amount of money created is intended for decontaminating and preserving our environment.  With 1,000 gradidos per person per month the world environmental budget is as high as the sum of the national budgets of all countries. As its name says, the Equalisation and Environment Fund has the task of eliminating economic and ecological contamination as far as possible and protecting nature and the environment  in a sustainable manner in future.

By economic contamination we primarily understand the serious differences between the hitherto poor countries and the rich industrialised countries. The Equalisation and Environment Fund helps in this respect in addition to the equalising impact inherently brought about by the Natural Economy of Life. The elimination of the differences between rich and poor as fast as possible is first and foremost a signal of peace as it shows the unconditional willingness of the rich nations to make good the damage they caused in the past. And worldwide peace also benefits the environment as well as human beings.

The long-term task of the Equalisation and Environment fund is sustainable protection of the environment and nature. Eco-friendly industrial branches, products and services are subsidised. This means organic products will be significantly cheaper than products harmful to the environment, which will not be able to maintain their position on the market. Only eco-friendly economic activity will be worthwhile. Industrial branches hitherto harmful to the environment will receive support during the changeover.

With the creation of the third amount of money we have created a worldwide environment budget to make funds available for a return to being harmony with nature. However, this can only work if we firmly integrate an important natural law into our monetary and economic model – the cycle of growth and decay.