Movement of the Day: International Movement for Monetary Reform

We are a coalition of organisations and people from across the world, campaigning to change the way money is created.

“The IMMR is

* IMMR is a collaboration of not-for-profit organisations set up to campaign to reform the money system, both nationally, and internationally.

* IMMR believes that private banks should not be able to create new money when they make loans. This is an extraordinary privilege which gives the financial sector an unfair and damaging advantage over other businesses. Banks should be restricted to providing current accounts, payment services, lending, and investing money on behalf of their savers. This will lead to a reduction in personal and Government debt, and will help to prevent another financial crisis occurring.

* The IMMR maintains a very clear and specific aim, namely to change the way the money system works.

The IMMR is not:

* The IMMR does not subscribe to any conspiracy theories about the money system.

* The IMMR does not act on the behalf of any particular lobby or interest group.

* The IMMR is not a political organisation. We don’t campaign for either a bigger or a smaller role for government. We campaign for changes to the money system which would be to the benefit of all political parties.

* The IMMR is not against privately owned banks. Privately-owned banks have an important function in providing payment services, a secure place for our money, investment opportunities, and to lend us money.

* The IMMR is not against bankers. Most people who work in banks do not understand the money system and its effects, and are simply trying to provide a service for customers and earn a living. Undoubtedly some bankers have abused their power, but this is not the root cause of our financial crisis; the root cause is our current money system.

* The IMMR is not against lending, or charging interest on loans where an investor is lending their money to somebody else.

* The IMMR does not believe that regulation alone can solve the problems with banking or the money system. Regulation has been shown to be ineffective, and easily reversed, but furthermore it does not alter the root causes of the problem. What is needed is legislative change.

* The IMMR is not a campaign for general financial reform, alternative economics or complementary currencies. While there are many other reforms that also need to take place, the IMMR has a specific and narrow purpose – to change the national money systems in order to create fairer and more stable economies.

* The IMMR does not support the use of illegal or violent means to bring about change. We campaign for the money system to be changed with minimal social and economic upheaval.”

The Text of Our Manifesto

Statement of purpose: Changing the way money is created to serve society

We are a coalition of organisations and people from across the world, campaigning to change the way money is created.

This Statement of purpose describes what the IMMR does, and also doesn’t, do.

You can also see our member organisations here and you can contact us here.

* The Problem

The IMMR believes that our money system has mutated over the years in response to technology, regulation, de-regulation, and globalisation. The result is an unfair system which does not work in the public interest.

The IMMR has identified the following problems with the current money system:

* Unsustainable indebtedness: Because all money is issued as credit, debt increases at the same rate as the money supply.

* Financial instability: Money creation is pro-cyclical – too much is created in a boom, and too little in a recession, causing the pronounced boom and bust cycle.

* Anti-democratic: Because the government relies on commercial banks to create money, the government has to borrow more, and we have to pay higher taxes.

* Perpetual expansion: In order to service large amounts of debt the economy has to grow, even when markets are saturated and resources depleted.

* Unbalanced and unproductive economy: Banks choose where new money is spent on the basis of their own profits rather than the needs of the economy.

* Inequality and the concentration of wealth: Interest payments on the entire money supply suck wealth out of the economy in to the banks.

* Bank runs, subsidies and bailouts: The banking system is unstable and unprofitable without government subsidies and guarantees.

* Unfair, monopolistic and anti-competitive: The right to create money gives banks an unfair and damaging advantage over all other parts of the economy.

The IMMR believes that the money system is not fit-for-purpose and needs updating. A well-functioning money system will provide more stable economies, which will benefit everybody.

Our Goal

The IMMR is supportive of ideas and policies which move towards our end goal. We are not dogmatic about our proposals or the way they are implemented and the detail will vary from country to country.

We do believe that our end goal can only be reached when these three things have been achieved:

* New money to be spent in to the economy by the Government.

* A transparent and independent process for the creation of new money, which regulates the money supply according to the needs of the economy.

* Stop the banks creating new money when they make loans (full-reserve banking).”

1 Comment Movement of the Day: International Movement for Monetary Reform

  1. AvatarMatthew Slater

    It is absolutely clear that money needs to be reformed. But I don’t think politicians are the people to petition for that. The realm of democratic decision-making no longer includes anything important. Rulers do not give away power, especially the Money Power!
    Since we cannot control these things, we should opt out. We must stop looking ‘up’ for solutions and start acting out the solutions. The power of money is entirely in the collective imagination.

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