63. Whose Time, Whose Money?

Whose Time, Whose Money?

Bob Komives
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In kind, we give to our government
......some of our goods and our services,
or, in kind, we may give to our government
......strange money,
......once minted,
......once spent
......by a foreign government.

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The governing bodies of groups that do not mint and caretake money may tax their members in money. Even a national government can tax citizens in a foreign currency. Money minted by another government is a good, a mobile and flexible good that can be collected and converted into food, fuel, and books. The collected money is legitimate budgetary income. It is a tax in kind.

My insistence on the difference between minting and non-minting governments may seem puzzling, but it is the same difference that is obvious to a farmer who needs 120 hours of work to harvest his wheat. He knows that he can work twelve hours a day for several days to get the crop in. (He'll need another twelve hours each day to eat, sleep and attend to other important matters.) He can tax himself ten days of work to harvest the wheat. Unfortunately, this year, he needs to harvest the crop in one day because he expects a big storm. He knows that no matter how he uses his time, he cannot tax himself 120 hours in one day. He produces his own time, just as national governments produce their own money.

No amount
of self-taxation of self-production
creates more resources
to do the task at hand.

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The farmer asks nine neighbors who have already harvested to give him tomorrow twelve hours of work each. Their organized 120 hours of effort bring enough time to the task to harvest the crop in one twenty-four-hour day. The farmer gets a tax in kind from nine neighbors. He taxes them in their time, not his time, and multiplies his resources for harvesting his crop.

The farmer knows he cannot get his own time back, call it income, and spend it again --knowing how foolish he would look if he pretended to do so. Governments that mint and caretake money must learn that they cannot get their own money back, call it income, and spend it again --no matter how responsible they look when they pretend to do so.

:: Bob Komives, Fort Collins © 2006 :: Plum Local IV
:: 63. Whose Time, Whose Money? ::
With attribution these words may be freely shared, but permission
is required if quoted in an item for sale or rent

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