The Mechanics of the Fundament


    "You say you got a real solution

      well, you know

        We'd all love to see the plan..."


        The Beatles - Revolution1

The core of this idea is that we create a currency system that is backed up by energy. Bananas are nothing more than stores of energy - energy that can be consumed by humans. A Banana-Buck gives you a banana. But the energy we need to live is not only in the form of food. Wood is a form of potential thermal energy. Today we need electricity. Water is mass, and if Einstein is to be believed, E=mc2, or rather mass is energy. Clean, drinkable water is a form of energy.

Energy

The Fundament produces the energy we need. The Fundament is - from a physics point of view - nothing more than a machine that converts the available energy in the universe to the forms we require. But it has more than one function. It is also part of the economic system. It is the currency system. It performs the task of storing the energy represented by the currency it produces. In terms of societal systems, it can be represented such:

The Fundament and Society

The Fundament is exaggerated in this picture to show its responsibility of forming the foundation of the economic system. If the foundation is good, then the rest of society’s systems will function well. If the Fundament is functioning well, it means it is able to provide the energy society needs to be happy. It is delivering the value represented by the currency it is creating.

The Fundament performs two tasks:

  1. It converts money into energy or services.
  2. It creates money which it distributes into the free market as salaries and wages to its employees.

The first set of laws that define the mechanics of the Fundament are called the laws of production, and their purpose is to define and restrict the forms of energy that the Fundament can produce. They are:

The Laws of Production

  1. The Fundament can only produce energy that is replenishable.
  2. The Fundament can only produce services that are quantifiable.
  3. The Fundament can only produce energy or services that are fundamental.

The first law derives itself from the conservation of energy. The derivation of this law and its implications will be discussed in the chapter Storing Energy. One important consequence of this law is that it restricts the Fundament from producing housing (shelter), oil, coal, gas and gold. It also ensures that the fundament (and the society it supports) operates in harmony with the natural environment.

The second law is a natural consequence of relating a quantity of work or energy to a fixed value. There must be a way to measure a unit of the service produced. This law restricts the Fundament from producing services such as national defence or a police force. These are the responsibility of the government. This law will be covered in the chapter The Distribution of Energy.

The third law ensures the protection of the free market from the Fundament. The forms of energy produced must be necessary for the survival of society. The Fundament is not responsible for producing luxuries, that is the responsibility of the free market. This law will be covered in the chapter The Forms of Energy.

Once the laws of production have been covered, attention is given to the other responsibility of the Fundament - the creation of money. The Fundament has a partial parallel in our current society; the reserve banks. The Fundament can print money, just like the reserve bank can print FIAT currency. They do not, however, print the same money - they are different currency systems that work with different currencies.

A second set of laws deal with the how much money is created and how this money is distributed into the free market. These laws were derived from the principles of supply and demand, coupled with the goal of a stable predictable currency that will maintain its value indefinitely. An economic model describing the Fundament based on these laws will be discussed in the chapter The Economics of the Fundament. These laws are:

The laws of currency creation

  1. The money created must remain at a constant ratio to the population.
  2. The amount of energy that the money represents can only increase.
  3. The money created must be equal to the money converted to energy.
  4. Every individual must have the opportunity to earn money from the Fundament.
  5. There is a fixed maximum to the average employment duration at the Fundament.

The laws form the basic principles of how the system works. They provide a framework that can be used to make decisions and predictions about how the Fundament should be run. They also provide a clear boundaries that issolate the Fundament form the free market.