Everyone who offers goods, services or simply their own labor has the right to create a currency. The right to create a currency is universal, inalienable and indivisible – exercising this right doesn’t require the sanction of governments or other third parties, nor can it be prohibited by them.
Nowadays, every child knows that it’s the stork that brings new-born babies. But who is it, in fact, that brings money into the world? The bank, perhaps?
Modern money is essentially the equivalent of vouchers for a service – it isn’t the money itself which has any value, but what you can get for it. In the past, what you could actually get for it was supplied by the bank – money was a voucher for gold which was kept in the bank’s vault. This was also called gold cover.
But today’s money works differently. The consideration which gave money its value is no longer promised by the bank, but by … – actually, who does promise it?
Anyone who needs money nowadays goes to a bank to take out a loan. However, a loan is only granted to people who give a promise of consideration. The borrower – the so-called recipient of the loan – has to credibly demonstrate that they will render a service which will enable them to eventually pay the loan back. Because all current money is issued via loans, the money in circulation represents the promises of consideration of the borrowers. This, however, means that the borrowers are the money creators, not the bank.
And what’s the bank’s role in all of this? It assesses whether the promises of consideration are credible or not, stores the relevant data on a computer and nullifies the vouchers which have been issued once the promises are eventually fulfilled.
This should sum up the state of affairs rather neatly were it not for one tiny little detail – the borrower isn’t allowed to create any money at all because money creation is the statutory privilege of the bank. Consequently, the fact that the bank hasn’t created the money becomes entirely irrelevant because the bank’s special status in any case gives it the power to charge interest on the money which it hasn’t created, even though this turns the actual facts of the matter entirely on their head. It is the legislator who is to blame for all this by denying its citizens the right to create a currency. As no one but the bank has this right, no one other than the bank can stake a claim to it.
For the general public, this willful inversion of realities has both far-reaching and dramatic consequences, considering that the whole point of any currency should be to facilitate the exchange of goods and services. By making money creation a privilege and denying it to those who actually need the currency, the latter are forced into a relationship of dependence which allows for systematic exploitation.
By supporting the money creation petition, you are calling on the legislators and political parties in your country to recognize the right to create a currency and to ensure that all citizens can exercise their right responsibly and freely – free from exploitation by third parties, free from fear and hardship, and free from state repression. In addition, you are calling on your representatives to campaign at the United Nations for the right to create a currency to be explicitly recognized as a human right.
