It seems to me that what transactions are prevented is a key defining factor in a transactional currency, as this logical analysis of your system thingy shows.

Transaction-prevention can be encoded at various levels.
-The basic rules of the currency [you cannot spend money if you don’t have it]
-Societal/trust factors [community currencies only]
-Laws [you cannot spend money on cocaine]

This opens the question of whether two currencies are linked. If currencies are linked, transactions which are prevented in one are prevented in the other.

In a barter-only no-loans world, income inequality is caused by capital inequality, which can be divided into physical, human, and mental capital.

Human capital inequality: cannot be solved unless spending is completely divorced from earning, i.e., money’s function as incentive is lost. But human capital differences are not that big, so it’s OK.

Mental capital inequality: Arguably effective systems which can be seen as monetary would work to effectively spread around IP/mental capital. I was actually working on a hybrid reputation/transaction system that might work out mathematically.
Also, more free public education.

Physical capital inequality: the only way to solve this seems to be the equal/collective ownership of physical capital. Monetary systems could be used to regulate collective ownership of physical capital, but they don’t seem to be able to cause it.

Thoughts?

Sorry to say I’m not sure why it fails on that float left. I did notice that if you set rss-item class to be marign-left: -50px it starts to wrap, but that messes up the next rss item. Very screwey.

My situation is further complicated in that the HTML in the problem section is generated by an off-site javascript, so the CSS has to be in the linked style sheet, not applied to the item in the HTML (that section does have its own classes, so it’s not hard to manage). Any suggestions? The page in question is here.

Looking at your code again, I see your image is inside your list tags. My image is immediately before my opening list tag, again, because of the javascript. Is that why this solution failed, you think?

All the functions commonly attributed to money do not really reflect its role as a tool to manage our collective activity and creativity. If I put 15 millions on the table, the social housing gets built. Why? Because money is a tool we also use not only to exchange goods and services, but also to collectively manage our activity and direct it. Money can magnetize our energy towards certain goals, simply because we put money behind these goals. The process of choosing these goals has several names: typically investment, capital, or loan. However I would prefer using other terms to describe this role of money, simply because without being an investment tool money can direct our activity towards certain purposes. For example local money directs our activity towards the local economy. So instead of using the term investment or loan (as Steiner does) I would prefer the role of a means to direct our collective energy.

Not many people in the money world gives much important to this role of money. Many can recognize this function intuitively or indirectly, but not many can name it for what it is. I would argue that all functions that we attribute to money are derived from or related to the following 2 major functions of money:
1) a medium of exchange,
2) a means to direct our collective energy.

The functions of unit of account and of unit of measure relate to the major function of being a medium of exchange because we need to know the price of things and keep track of how much we exchange. However the function of store of value is related to the ability of money to be stored and released just like we can store energy and release it towards a certain goal. Money as a deferred means of payment is kind of both 1 and 2, since payments refers to an exchange, but also to the ability to pay later a debt that is a form of investment.

I would also argue, as a consequence of my previous proposition, that any form of money can be described as a composite of these two major functions. The example I gave earlier was a local currency which is only used for exchanges but also as a means to direct our energy towards the local economy. LETS and mutual credit are more geared towards the exchange function, but it does not mean they do not direct or encourage our activity towards certain goals. Loan and other forms of investments are more geared towards the need to direct our collective energy towards specific activities and endeavors. But in the end money invested in a particular activity ends up being exchange money through the payment of supplies, wage, and the latter becoming exchange money for plain goods and services. Separating both functions is sometimes difficult, and it is rare to find them completely separated from each other. Such distinction is more an abstraction useful to understand the dynamics of our economic activity.

Finally, I would compare such distinction to what Bernard Lietaer calls the Yin and Yang type of currencies, or to what some people have described as micro-economics and macro-economics functions of money (see http://www.ex.ac.uk/~RDavies/arian/origins.html).
I have not fully explored the validity and solidity of my propositions, which is why I call them so. But my observations in the last couple years only confirm their validity.

A year ago Christopher Houghton Budd gave me even more substance to chew upon when he presented his view on the monetary phenomenon. In a video that Tim Murphy shared with me CHB distinguishes two types of money, one which is used for exchanges, and the other for investment, except he does not call it so, he calls it “ingenuity/creativity” money. More importantly, he also describes how the dynamic between these two types of money is now crucial because we have reached a point where we have a global economy. No longer can we hope to offset imbalances by trading with other partners or extending our reach. Since everything is integrated into a single global economy, understanding and mastering the dynamic between exchange money and ingenuity/creativity money is becoming crucial. Also he explains how we started from tribal economies in the past and end up now with a single global economy. CHB explains we now have to go through the other side of the curve and find ways to integrate local economies together into a greater whole visible to all.

To come back to the original topic, with the development of complementary currencies (CC), I can imagine how conventional money can now take a role more geared towards the second function of directing our collective energy on a more national and global scale, while CC take the lead in terms of exchange money.

This is turning out to be a bit more than just a post…

Let\’s avoid bleeding our feet by holding the vision high for the new systems we are creating. Let\’s give ourselves the tools we need in order to become responsible in our choices. But first, let\’s give ourselves systems where choice is possible, otherwise how can we practice our responsibility?

Btw, we’re looking to hire talented hackers with a track record in open-source development who are excited about helping implement the Yootles system at Yahoo!