Production and processing create added value. Wealth is the accumulation of this added value. Distribution shares this added value among economic entities. Cultivating coffee trees generates added value for green coffee beans, while roasting those beans adds further value to the coffee product. Grinding the beans and extracting them with water creates and consumes the added value of a cup of coffee. Finance enables the distribution of the added value generated by this production and processing through the use of money, facilitating the easy accumulation of that value. However, finance can leverage its power only because there was prior production and processing. The challenge arises when the compulsory circulation power of currency enables the ownership of labor and resources that underpin production and processing, along with real estate, which is foundational to its existence. If production, processing, and distribution are dictated by money’s compulsory circulation power, who will g...
There is a country of 607 islands in the West Pacific, Micronesia. One of the islands, “Yap Islands,” used limestone as a currency. The monetary unit is “fei”. Big stones, oh no, big money, 3.6 meters in diameter and weighed 3.5 tons. The bigger and heavier is a more expensive price, because of the harder the carving. The peculiar thing was that when the people moved the stone for trading, they directly moved it with a canoe, and no one marked the money after the transaction. In the meantime, a rich man had to deal with someone and he met the storm while carrying the stone money in a canoe. Securing his survival, he had to throw his money out of the canoe into the water. When he met the counterparty with an empty hand, no sooner did they confirm the force majeure case than the counterparty confirmed that the villagers additionally recognized the value of the sunk money in the water and approved the transaction. Then, the existence of the sunk stone money was recorded on a wooden board,...