The value of currency?
Life is never static, it never stops, life rides on the flow of energy from the Sun through plants to animals and then predators, each more complicated and concentrating that power to form intelligence. Each stages in it's turn adds value to the raw simple energy combining it together to create complexity from which emerges order, meaning and information, but what is important is that if you do not do anything with that energy it would just be wasted and scatter into the background heat of the universe. There is no point in hoarding that energy unless you intend to use it later, that is what we do by storing energy as fat it insurance against a lack of energy later, however we also capable of storing energy in imaginary ways by the social construct of money.
That is exactly what money is, it is contained energy (or value), you give your energy and time for money and then give that energy to someone else for their time and energy. It is the exchange of value through the currency of money, the movement of energy from not just one place but through time, a dollar earnt last year can be spent today. Though inflation does reduce it's value which represents the fact that work done now is worth more than work done in ten years time if it was the opposite was true you would delay work for as long as possible (even by debt) and work later when your work was worth a lot more. We are encouraged to add value, to give our energy in return for money and what it can buy, it is a promise of value because it is backed up by the energy of others.
That is what currency is for, transferring energy through time and space, and that is why it is so harmful when currency stops moving such as when it gets stuck in property wealth. Houses are not assets (unless you rent them out) they are a service, a product that we use to stay dry and warm, and keep things that we like (coffee makers, computers, children) safe from harm. They have a value in the same sense that our clothes do, but when they also become an asset to make money from (by rising prices over time and above inflation) though you only make that money when you no longer need that asset and can downsize, they divert energy from things you can buy now towards the renting of money. It is all based on a game of musical chairs where the last person sitting is going to have an unpayable mortgage, and that person is going to be your children or grand-children, we are passing the cost down the generations in the hope that the next person is line is going to earn more money than us.
This is not having a go at homeowners (I am one, guilt as charged) or saying that houses do not have value just that they do not have as much value as the price would indicate and the excess value that we are pouring into house prices does not do anything, it does not add value. If a houses costs a hundred thousands dollars or five hundred thousand ten years later that extra four hundred thousand does not do anything extra, size and location does matter and might be worth more to you but just the timing of your purchase does not change it's value to you, it is just money disappearing into renting money.
There is not an easy solution to underwinding this system as so many people are in debt playing this game (but the bubble always bursts in the end and you longer you wait the worse it is) but we can start a softer landing by taxing multiple homeowners, reducing mortgages ratios, taxing realised property profits (ie when you downsize the price difference is taxed to discourage using housing as your pension), building more efficient housing that is of an appropriate size and location. We need lots of housing in the right places which means small liveable apartments for one to four people, in five storey building that creates high density quality housing and if you combine them with trams, green space, e-scooters and bike lanes that increase the liveable range (yes, I have played Citylines too much), you can have beautiful, affordable cities, just look at Amsterdam or Paris for the beauty that is possible and then imagine them bigger with an excess of property where you were paying for what they were worth to build instead of the land value auctions of a better location.
Whenever our value is disappearing, we should fight it because that is our energy, time and money being lost, and whilst I have concentrated on the marco levels as a clear example of value lacking currency, it is at the mirco personal level that you can make a real difference to your life. Whilst the property market might be unfair, that does not mean your personal circumstance have to be, you can cheat in anyway you can imagine, you can subvert, dodge around and find a solution that works for you. Not everyone can live on a boat, or in a car, but maybe you can forever or a while, when you are young you can rough it for a bit, especially if you are using that time to build up some assets, there is no shame in having a roommate or ten if you have to.
Whilst recognising the unfairness of limited housing, there is no point in being homeless to make a political statement, no one is going to thank you not even those people who do not chose to be homeless and you are supporting. It always better to fight unfairness from a position of strength, to open the doors behind you rather than trying to break into the prison in the first place. You have to decide on the value that you want to produce and how you spend the value you receive in return, if you really want to change housing become a property developer rather than protest against the developer, be the better version of the person you dislike, do not just break the system without a plan make a better one, have a vision that adds value.
We are not going to save the world just by pointing out unfairness or stupidity, we need unarguably better options rather than guilt. If you want a greener world you make solar, battery and wind technology cheaper than gas and coal, get rid of guns, come up with a better home defence system instead of just protesting, if you want to fight poverty work for universal basic income. There are always better solutions to be found rather than just grumbling about what is wrong, instead seek new answers, when things work there are no arguments all sides accept the best answer, divisions occur when there are only two bad options and no one want to be the one paying the price.
What the idea of currency gives us is a guide to when things are going wrong, both at the marco and mirco level, if you are not adding value and increasing the currency of energy in your life, you have a problem, if you are hoarding energy, what are you saving it for, how can you increase the currency of your life and this is not limited to money but personal relationships, your community and education. It is often easier to see such waste at the national level of governments, but it is present everywhere and once you see it, it is hard to unsee it and it might be unfair but if you see a problem it becomes your problem, and it becomes your opportunity to add value to the currency of the world, so seek the blockages in your life in all it's form and add your energy to the great story of life.
