Re: <nettime> dollars & donuts

[Doug Henwood <dhenwood@panix.com>]

Michael Linton wrote:

>The money illusion.  Perhaps if you specify just what you consider that to be
>we can discover whether "LETS people" are so elevated.  Please define,

This is a naivete affected for rhetorical purposes, right? Surely 
someone promoting a scheme for monetary reform would be familiar with 
the term. On the off chance the question is serious, the money 
illusion is a term in economics, coined I believe by Irving Fisher, 
describing the alleged propensity to mistake a nominal change for a 
real one. Say if inflation is running at 5%, and you get a 5% raise, 
your real wage increase is 0%, but it may still feel like a gain, 
just because there are bigger numbers printed on your paycheck.

Of course I was using it figuratively - that by changing the form of 
money you're somehow changing underlying social relations. Reminds me 
of a roommate I had in college, who'd heard that if you were healthy, 
your urine was mildly acidic, so he drank vinegar. Too bad he had a 
distressing habit of leaving used litmus paper strips around the 
bathroom.

Doug

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