Progressive Money Canada

In-Depth: Details of the PMC Solution


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1. Problem definition: with more time into this it becomes clearer how profound and far-reaching the money question is. The PMC solution is to make money a truly public utility.

2. Circulation vs saving. Is it correct to incentivize keeping money in circulation (example of Wörgl, Austria: a time stamp on the scrip denoting a diminishing value of the money over time), or is it better to encourage saving? PMC supports savings, as it wants to empower people in the creation and distribution of money.

3. Quantity of issue. How does the quantity of money, and its point of entry into the economy, get decided under the PMC plan? Jeff wants to empower the board of directors of the Bank of Canada, as each is already a regional representative.

4. Gold standard. Jeff has refuted already in an earlier episode the Austrian idea of the necessity for hard money; i.e., a gold standard. And yet we see reports of central banks, notably China (but not the Bank of Canada), acquiring huge quantities of gold. Does the gold standard actually make sense after all?

5. Usury vs interest. Is there a difference? Is it legitimate to charge interest for funds lent to build a productive business? PMC says that as long as there’s contracts by mutual consent, it’s all fine. The current banking system limits choice.

6. Financialization of the economy: the upper loop (exotic financial products) drains wealth from the bottom loop (the real productive economy). PMC says we do not need the upper loop.

7. Schools of thought in monetary reform: statist, quasi-statist, and populist/decentralized. Dick Eastman and E.C. Riegel, for example do not like the idea of state control at all in spending decisions.

8. UBI vs Dividend. The Universal Basic Income is actually funded by taxation, but the CH Douglas Social Credit ‘dividend’ is public money created and distributed by a state bank. PMC says: the dividend and the centralized spending (the first phase of the PMC plan) could run concurrently.

9. Does PMC opt for state control? Not really! In the PMC proposal, the government would not have a free hand. We would move incrementally towards an altered parliamentary system where the public has much more significant and direct decision-making power by referendum. 

RESOURCES
Point 4:
realcurrencies.com Anthony Migchels
Our speculation about central bank gold acquisition seems validated in this article by analyst Pepe Escobar:
Global South: Gold-Backed Currencies to Replace the US Dollar
Point 5:
Barbara Tuchman A Distant Mirror
Point 7:
Dick Eastman (interviews) vimeo channel 

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Progressive Money CanadaBy Ed Robertson