The Other Side of Defense

In some ways, multiple exclusive currencies and markets would not affect the security systems of the United States much at all. In other ways, there would be considerable changes. The idea is that as many as possible security-related personnel and contracts would be paid in internal dollars exclusive to internal markets just like government personnel and contracts in general.

Not much would change for the average soldier or sailor (war-fighter, if you prefer). If necessary a separate military currency and market could be arranged, but at this point we do not expect that. It should be enough if they and their families join civil families in a market at a similar economic level. The only differences would be those that are necessary for their additional security needs and for military necessity. All those things should be easier to accomplish with a flexible internal currency – within U.S. borders, at least.

From a social perspective, the lives of citizens in those markets would be more economically like the lives of the military personnel. Healthcare would act much like military healthcare at those market levels. Prices in general would also be similar (because of collective purchasing power). The purchasing power of military personnel should go up because, large and centralized as our military is, it does not have the consumer purchasing power of the equivalent civilian sector. Again, a flexible currency and market targeted for their level of economic strength should help military personnel and their families considerably compared to today.

Multiple exclusive currencies and markets will also help security. As we have mentioned before, individual loyalties will be easier to predict if individuals are not legally allowed to own or control external currencies. It will be harder to bribe or to launder money across the new, controlled currency and market boundaries, especially with the additional auditing that will be required. It will be more difficult for those not loyal to the U.S. to operate in internal U.S. markets. As it stands now, most foreign entities have enough dollars to suborn almost any individual person.

Note that this also means that those who participate in external markets cannot hold positions related to U.S. security, not even as a volunteer firefighter. The reasons for this are noted in our post on loyalties. Those who want to serve in the U.S. government or any position related to U.S. security have to fit in internal markets. That means if they are already in external markets, they will have to exchange their external wealth for internal wealth and join an internal market, perhaps losing a large portion of their wealth in the process. This is because the markets will be regulated so that all participants in a market must be of approximately equal economic strength.

This does not mean that rich people will not be able to serve in the government or in the military. We expect that the wealthiest internal U.S. market under tosoc.org's system will be quite wealthy. In fact, we expect that U.S. Senators, for example, who are quite rich today, would remain quite rich even if they switch to an internal market. The difference is that their economic affairs would be subject to the same regulations and auditing as those of anyone in any other internal market.

The most difficult part of all this is the human interface between internal currencies and external currencies. Some internal personnel will have to have control of accounts denominated in external currencies. In addition, the external accounts will typically be quite large in order to accommodate collective purchases and income. The motives for misuse of the external funds will be quite powerful. For example, we can imagine that an individual could be tempted to grant a large favor (in money terms) to an external entity, then flee the country to a wealthy life elsewhere arranged by that external entity. When dealing with amounts possibly in the range of tens of billions of dollars, the cost of setting up one criminal and family for life is minuscule.

It will require very strong controls to prevent misuse, but at least the number of those with the power to misuse the external funds can be kept small. It is a lot easier to watch a small number of people.

Overall we do not expect that the implementation of tosoc.org's suggestions to have any negative impact on U.S. security. In fact, we believe that our security will increase for several reasons. Our soldiers and their families will have more purchasing power and will live lives more like their equivalents in the civilian economy. The economic welfare of government officials and anyone involved in U.S. security will be tied to the economic welfare of the U.S. as a whole. Finally, it will be easier to track down those who misuse U.S. funds because there will be many fewer who have the power to do it. The vast majority of people will deal only with internal markets and will not have the opportunity to deal privately with foreign entities. We believe that these are strong reasons to try out a system of multiple exclusive currencies and markets.

The way capitalism should be.

Socialism for the socialists and capitalism for the capitalists.

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