Alternative Currency Systems

Jem Bendell poses the question "Where does money come from?" in his alternative currency talk. Struck by his inability to answer, Bendell did some research, only to find that 97% of money comes from privatized banks. The banks create money to fill demand, which means that they create it with interest. In other words, there is more debt than money, and the system ensures that collectively we'll be in debt forever.

The continuation of this system guarantees two inevitable realities: that economic inequality will persist and grow, and that the planet will not be able to sustain the increased product trading and consumption needed to respond to the debt. Bendell suggests that we are delaying an inevitable crash. Rather than look at currency as inherently wealthy, we must recognize that we are the wealth.

Alternative currency methods, such as Community Forge, prove that you don't have to have money to be valuable or contribute to a community. He imagines a world in which "money is issued as a public utility and not issued as private profit."