So great to find this site.
I have been commenting regularly over at the Calculated Risk blog about since Bear Stearns collapsed in March, 2008, under variations of this handle, "one world currency", or "yogi". I'd like to introduce myself and my line of thinking. I have a B.A. in Economics and a law degree (J.D) but no specific training in currency history or theory distinct from "monetary", "fiscal", or other broader economic fields. I've never worked in the financial "sector". After reading CR, "The Trillion [now 2] Dollar Meltdown", "Empire of Debt", and Reggie Middleton's research, I was sold, by May 2008, on the notion that the system was facing imminent collapse, and I still think the zombies are being held up only by ever more elaborate Ponzi systems.
In thinking about solutions, or a better system after the fall, I gradually concluded that an open-source global digital currency, indexed somehow to a weighted basket of all liquid tangibles (Comex, e.g.), (initially adjusted to existing leading currencies (Forex)), denominated in numbers (unique), arbitrarily pegged at issuance then left to float free, was both inevitable and a beautiful thing. As an open-source system, it would be forever voluntary, existing side-by-side with national currencies (and SDR's) if the market so chose. The goal is to provide a reliable measure and store of value and reduce transaction costs for "honest brokers".
It is neither a capitalist-free market idea nor a socialist one, and I believe the politically-charged terms and the focus on a public/private distinction in Economic discussion often do more harm than good.
I don't bring this up to claim some stake to originality, and I am happy to remain anonymous. I merely wish to state that I arrived at very similar conclusions to what I have so far read here
independently so I am thrilled to find a site of like-minded people. (When I first realized there was no need for central bank control of currencies, I posted something like "I doubt I am the first to realize this idea, but if so I want "credit"!--It was strictly a pun.)
I had in mind an algorithm which would "value" (as accurately as could be hoped) every oft-traded (liquid) commodity (tangible) in terms of every other, perhaps factoring in other standard measures (bytes of storage, protein, vitamins, kilowatts, etc. Every bar-coded transaction would be traceable and used to reprice, with anonymity "built back in" as much as possible. I have not yet studied the formula Mr. Grignon suggests for the initial peg and float, which sounds like there is no need to independently price commodities (?) but these are "details".
My concern is that it be open-source, both to keep costs down and at long-last to eliminate the risk of inflation-printing by central banks and counterfeiting by pirates. As such, I intend to take no personal financial reward from any work in developing the currency; rather, I would be interested in contributing to an endowment for a prize to anyone who might foster development and implementation-- either with theory, software, hardware... Does any such prize already exist?
Thanks and looking forward to learning a lot here.
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