Innovations in solar energy and biomass could replace most of the imported natural resource stream. Morris proposes agro-industrial complexes that supplant the petroleum stream. Industrial ecosystems could develop that turn the byproducts of one process into raw materials for another, thus minimizing use of virgin materials and energy. Meanwhile, replacing national currencies with regional instruments of exchange could allow more sensitive adjustments between regions. People want to keep money in more powerful currencies, thus reducing the value of weaker ones.
More powerful economies can offer higher return on savings.
Eventually, a weaker currency becomes undervalued, which means goods and services purchased with that currency become a bargain. That spurs movement back into the currency. As its major industry, autos, declined, its currency would go down in value until land, factories, buildings and Detroit-made products became an unbelievably good deal. People would rush to cash in their New York dollars, their Toyko yen, their Milan lira, to buy Detroit bucks and Detroit iron. But the continental currency known as the U.S. dollar does not allow for such sensitive responses.