Juan Garofalo said
>         Money is the sign of peaceful cooperation. Money is 
> simply a two-steps barter system. You sell your flour, 
> apples, services - and get money in exchange. Using that 
> money you 'buy' - exchange money for services.
> Barter again - the circle closes.
> 
>         If I offer you $1 (or $10, or $10000000) to kill your 
> neighboor and you accept the contract, you're guilty, not the money.
> 
>         So, current oil prices are not market prices. To link 
> oil, war and money is a straw man attack. The moment you use 
> force to modify a price, the free-market vanishes.
> 
>         
>         Also for people interested in the achievements of the 
> Soviets in the area of Human Rights, here's some information : 
> 
> 
>         
> http://www.gmu.edu/departments/economics/bcaplan/museum/comfaq.htm
> 


Read the text of the link you quoted at the end of your post, then re-read
what you said at the beginning of your post. Yes, Money is the sign of
peaceful cooperation. But what does the money represent? Ownership of
property? Sale of goods? Again, "who can destroy a thing, owns a thing" Or
in the words of Allen Parsons / Egar Allen Poe "What price the crown of a
King on his throne, when your chained in the dark all alone?"

As I said, in the end, it is Ug or Stalin, or Mao, or Hitler who owns it
all. In a system with money, we agree that the ownership is divided up among
us all according to how much we have in the bank. We are now the Ug. How we
spend our money decides who rules. But violence trumps our agreement. When
someone is desperate enough, the price we ask for our goods means nothing.
In that case, we have to pay one Ug to protect us from the other Ug.

To ensure that our "gentleman's agreement" remains in place, we must all be
ready to pay Ug (police, etc...) or we must be ready to BE Ug. Violence does
NOT go away. It is NOT replaced by money. It is perhaps /mostly/ replaced by
money, which, as Billy Crystal will tell us, "is not the same thing at all."

In my (never humble) opinion, refusing to see that the basis of our monetary
system is related to violence, just as life is with the "lower" animals,
sets us up for people like Stalin, et all to step in with a harsh reminder. 

Ah well... Perhaps this is becoming a religious argument? If so, I
apologize. I see this clearly, but find it hard to convey. Perhaps I am
wrong, or perhaps it is just not something that can be known.

---
James.
 




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