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Michael Haupt's avatar

Excellent analysis, as always, Iain, thank you. Really looking forward to Part 2.

What I'm particularly curious about is the "we are perfectly capable of managing a monetary system voluntarily" bit. This has not been my experience at all, particularly in less wealthy (especially indigenous) communities.

Community tokens are reasonably widely used in more wealthy communities (like the Community Exchange System mentioned by Jayne), but getting a shop owner (who are themselves on the poverty line) to accept tokens when their wholesale purchases need to be made in fiat, is challenging.

From the work I have done, it seems to me we have to go all the way back to our "origin story" i.e. the story we tell ourselves about how the Universe came to be, why are we here, what happens after death and as a consequence, how we should live. Our current origin story is based on domination and control, and this ultimately flows through to our monetary and governance systems. CBDC is merely a predictable outcome of our origin story. At least, that's what it looks like to me.

Anyhow, great work and I look forward to Part 2.

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KW NORTON's avatar

Very good and in depth analysis thanks. Cracks me up the way those who have brought us to financial ruin believe they can commandeer the economy now and make the world a better place. Unlikely. Brought to us by those same geniuses who brought us "Sam Bankman-Fried" and friends, and 2008.

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