But interest is only a small part of the real cost of money. Each characteristic that makes money valuable and useful also has a cost, and these ultimately can be prohibitive. Time Dollars, by contrast, can only be used to secure those goods and services built into the computer software that tracks the exchanges. Sorry, no Saturday night specials, cocaine, or bribes. Money is regarded as superior because of its efficiency.
Money has mobility.
It knows no geographic loyalty and thus has a centrifugal force on family, neighborhood, community, and increasingly, our entire national identity. Money and pricing devalue what is not counted in dollars or yen - air and water, and basic tasks such as caring, neighborliness, citizen involvement, rearing children, and learning. Compare surgeons' incomes to those of primary care doctors. We pay heavily for that illusion of certainty when we bail out the savings and loan industry, the banks that created the Third World debt crisis, and the budget deficit. Money is backed by law.