Saving Ourselves - The Money Question in Economics

A Talk by Arthur Edwards Sunday 5th February 11.30 am, Stroud, UK

An informal discussion of the role of money in economics and how when fully grasped it can become the medium for real social development. Rudolf Steiner's indications on the subject will provide a starting point:

·               “…it is with money that we master the economic process nowadays.”

·               “Money is nothing but the externally expressed value which is gained in the economic process through the division of labour and transmitted from one person to another.”

·               “In the social organism “money as such” does not exist.”

·               “In the circulation of money we have in effect the world’s book-keeping”

·               "Monetary investment must become subject to the fate of all other goods. Our current economy expects capital investment to double over a period of time. In a healthy economy, however, invested funds would vanish over that same time period, simply ceasing to exist. Today people are horrified by the suggestion that their monetary investment will not double in fifteen years but will simply vanish because it is consumed or depreciated along with the goods it is used to purchase. Of course certain types of savings could be exempt from this rule."

·               “In a self-contained [global] economic realm - which … is not like a national economy bordering on others, where exports and imports can be carried on - three distinct domains arise, so far as money is concerned, those of loan money, purchase money and gift money…”

Hosted by The Christian Community, 73 Cainscross Road, STROUD, GL5 4HB, UK, +44 01453 762926

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