Julian Darley speaks on Economics, the Money System and Capitalism

Els Cooperrider: I’m very happy to be able to tell you that we have Julian Darley back with us. Of course, he was one of the guests interviewed on the documentary The End of Suburbia and we had such a good discussion last week. Money systems, financial systems, economical issues are something that a lot of us are not very familiar with, that we can necessarily grasp it that quickly. So we have him back today. Now, The Party’s Over is a series, it’s a program, all on the topic of peak oil, and the reason we’re worried about peak oil is simply that we are reaching peak oil, which means that we’re going to go on a decline here within a few years by most predictions, and since we are a nation that’s desperate to maintain its quality of life and economic productivity, war over access to diminishing supply of oil is a reality, as we speak. There will be more wars over oil unless the U.S. and other industrialized countries act now to develop alternatives to their dependence on oil. Unfortunately, our leaders in government are doing next to nothing about this, so it’s up to us, the people, the citizens, to prepare ourselves for the inevitable consequences of running out of oil. So, this is not a show about doom and gloom, it is instead about opportunity, where we must pay attention and definitely come up with a plan, and such plans are actually happening, and Julian Darley is always also involved in that. Let me just quickly say to those of you who are just joining us, and those of you who did not have an opportunity to listen last week, Julian is a British environmental philosopher who researches and writes about non-market and non-technology based responses to global environmental degradation. He is also engaged in piloting such responses. In order to further both dissemination of ideas and pilot projects, Julian runs an internet broadcasting station which is globalpublicmedia.com, develops open-source web database sites for non-profits and civil society organizations, and is currently writing a book on how and why we need global relocalization of the economy, society, and culture. And, I want to thank Julian for coming on board. Hello, Julian.

Julian Darley: Hello.

Els Cooperrider: Thank you so much for coming back. I will just give a quick wrap-up of what you talked yesterday and please add to it, because I’m sure its not complete. But, on our last program, Julian Darley explained the overall problems we’ll encounter as oil and gas supplies run low. Our entire economy is based on oil, and especially how we produce food, and how we transport food and everything else. Although there are other energy options out there such as coal and nuclear power, these options are heavily subsidized and may not have an energy profit. In other words, the energy put in to get the energy out is at a negative. Since our economy is dependent on oil, and our economic activity will inevitably slow down as oil runs out, this could lead to an unemployment Holocaust, as Julian Darley told us last program, unless we restructure our economy and substitute human muscle power. To make matters worse, we have a pathological money system based on economic growth, because the chief driving force of the money system is based on debt, which in turn expands the money system. Since we dropped the gold standard in 1971, our currency is solely based on faith. In order to pay our debt, we have to print more money, and create more debt to be able to pay the interest. This system requires growth to function. Julian, do you want to take over?

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