In the 1990s the issue of money has become central for several reasons. First, as Belgium economist Bernard Lietaer argues, the exchange of money in the form of currency speculation now threatens the real economy. When governments abandoned fixed exchange rates and electronic forms of money appeared around 1970, the financial economy and the real economy disconnected. By 1997 the volume of currency speculation in just one day is greater than the total volume of world trade in one year. Trillions of dollars or yen or marks slosh across the planet in instantaneous fashion, engendering an instability which benefits only financial brokers.
Currency speculation changes the comparative prices of goods and services overnight.
Today CEOs spend more of their time dealing with currency fluctuations than any other single factor. A global financial collapse is predicted by Lietaer. Others worry that the monetary policies of central bankers undermine the vitality of local economies. Some argue that poorer communities, which lack money, should develop mediums of exchange that can take advantage of their unused labor. And finally, there are those who believe that money itself may be a problem.