natural resources is finite ( and subject to declining returns) , and that money is a claim on the future use of these resources , then creating money with no tether to natural capital just decreases its value: the more money there is, the less it will buy in a more resource-scarce future. This is not apparent to us while resources are still flowing out of the ground at an ever-increasing rate; but when that trend reverses, we are going to have a problem, whether we can articulate what’s causing it or not. TaaL: Right about now you’re probably realizing why my species finds humans such a rich source of entertainment. You live your lives focused on money. You’ll wipe out living species, cut down forests, flood your coastal plains with seawater, chuck away the best climate within 220 light years just to make sure you have money, and spend your lives in cubicles earning a bit while dreaming of having more. And where does money come from? It isn’t made by your governme nts. It doesn’t even grow on trees. It pops into existence when a bank makes a loan! When humans are growing up, they get “the talk” about where babies come from. They pretty much never get “the talk” about where money comes from, because that talk is so much more unlikely and disturbing that their parents don’t know it either. Odds are you STILL don’t believe it, even having been told by an analyst and an alien, because it’s even more preposterous than sexual reproduction. For plausibility, I might just as well tell you that money comes from storks. But it’s part of what makes humans so adorably funny from my point of view. Your entire value system and systemic organizing mythology is based on something with no more tangibility than the promise of a leprec haun’s kiss. What’s the downside of promiscuously creating claims on future net energy as the organizing basis for your societies? I leave that to you as a “practice exercise” in prospective sapience.
The Bottom Line: Banks create money out of thin air with no reference to underlying natural capital
210
Powered by FlippingBook