Bernard Lietaer - The future of money

suppressed bacteria that eventually evolve a resistance to antibiotics ... There is, in short, a definite whiff of the 1930s in the air.

As shown earlier, the Terra system could be managed in such a way as to have a powerful counter-cyclical economic effect with the official money system. It would thereby contribute to reducing economic instability and unpredictability by reducing the risks of both major global recession now, as well as future inflationary booms.

2. Last but not least, the use of a demurrage-charged currency like the Terra For planning and contractual purposes would eliminate the conflict, which currently prevails between financial priorities and long-term (e.g. ecological) priorities. By doing so, it reduces the needs for regulations to attain the objective of long-term sustainability.

In summary, a Counter trade Alliance approach to the Terra would enable a private initiative to address five key problems international businesses are experiencing today: 1. It makes available to businesses an international standard of value; 2. It reduces the cost of completing some counter trade transactions; 3. It provides an insurance against uncertainties deriving from international currency instability; 4. It systemically reduces the possibility or seriousness of a global recession; 5. And it structurally resolves the conflict between long-term ecological sustainability and financial priorities built in by the conventional currency system.