Bernard Lietaer's extraordinary book is a devastating and controversial analysis of the challenges facing monetary systems now, and the unexpected opportunities arising from it. The debate it will create will be a contentious and passionate one.
Lietaer's starting point is that there is no such thing as money: it is only an agreement of society to use something as a medium of exchange. This agreement is being placed under an unprecedented strain, due to a wide range of factors. This momentum of change could become even faster, and the effects more brutal, if the instability of the monetary system continues to spread. The global monetary crises of the 1990s (Mexico, Russia, Asia and Brazil) proved that our money system is now sick, and that this affects everything. In order to prevent a global monetary meltdown, a unique vision of sustainable abundance, and the mechanisms for achieving this, is proposed.
This book provides a road map for the monetary journey out of a decaying Industrial Age to an Information or Knowledge Age, where greater opportunities become available. It is also a discovery guide to the money system - the way money is created and managed in our society.
