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Specification of time currency

Theory and practice

Theoretical form

Issuance is according to the following steps:

Firstly

The users works out a time range and reports that he/she has worked it out (e.g. 12 hours) and produced a good or service. This Time is recorded on his account as emitted and he/she has it to his/hers disposition to buy goods and services in the system

Secondly

The system reports the produced good or service and announces it as available for purchase to its users.

Thirdly

The system imposes a restriction on the user to issue new hours (after the issuance of the first 12 hours) until a transaction is made with his goods (purchase). This is to restrict the issuance of currency without actual production of goods or services.

Fourth

For goods and services whose feature demands more invested time (agriculture, software development etc.) a mixed price is defined - time currency and convertible currency (fiat currency, e.g. Euro), whereas a part of the final price is measured in time (hours, days, etc.) and the other part is defined from the user on a market principle

Fifth (alternative to point four)

For energy-intensive goods, a higher cap is imposed on the limit on the emission of new hours, for example, the emission is not more than 30% of the final price. According to point three, full issuance takes place after a transaction has taken place.

Remark

Points four and five should satisfy manufacturers with more than one employee.

Six

The system keeps a diary of consumers and their accounts, the hours they issue, the goods or services produced, the transactions they make, whereas the part about the goods or services is public.

Seven

In order to attract companies for the system, the system is also offered in a version without the obligation to issue hours, in which only the necessary man-hours for the production of a given product or service are monitored. Based on this information, companies are compared and production delays are found compared to other companies. This service can also be paid for in order to raise resources for the association.

In the practice

Software application

According to points 1-7, an application is made in two parts - server / central and mobile. Through the mobile application, users register (for example, with three names, an e-mail address, a company they work for and a nickname, that is public ) and identify the good or service they produce. The mobile application has a stopwatch function that monitors the time worked by the user; the stopwatch function is started and stopped manually by the user, whereas according to point three the central application issues the currency to his account and imposes a limit (e.g. 12 hours) for issuance until another user buys the produced product or service, which transaction is registered by the central application. After the transaction - the full amount of the time price is issued to the manufacturer's account and there is a larger limit for primary issuance (for example 12 + 1 hour for each transaction). The transaction is carried out through two mobile applications (for example with a QR-code).

Shop

The central application maintains an online store with all manufactured goods and services and connects users to each other. This store is accessible through the mobile app or is public.

Falsification attempts

In the case of obvious attempts to falsify the process, for example manufactured goods and services that took 18-24 hours within 24 hours (physically, difficult to achieve for long periods of time), the system marks users performing such transactions and blocks them or refers to the administrator of the association for further action - inquiry what exactly is produced and whether it is produced (Note - however, it should be borne in mind that such counterfeits are limited by the construction of the currency - for 24 hours can not be issued more than 24 hours; at the same time this possibility is a kind of social service that allows the needy to consume in small quantities; the market also makes adjustments - apparently at a much higher final time price other users will turn to other producers, except if the quality is not also much higher, which will limit transactions).

Option for companies

The application is also available as an option for companies that want to optimize their production in terms of human time invested, but do not want to sell their products in time currency. It is free to promote the system or paid. It has the same functionalities as the regular application, but if they participate in the online store - the final prices are in convertible currency (Bulgarian levs).

Time currency, macroeconomics and environment

Presumed effect of time currency on the macroeconomy

One of the presumed properties of the currency Time is that the growth of the economy and the quantity of produced goods will be reduced. That is because the time currency does not allow for time billionaires - as mentioned before in 24 hours nobody can work more than 24 hours, which is also the brake for money issuance. Cooperatives will be the preferred means of production, where a large circle of interested parties/people will produce needed goods. At the same time, it is supposed that pricing will allow for people to support themselves with only a couple of hours of work per day, after all the richest will only get richer at a rate of 14-16 hours per day. Therefore there will be a kind of redistribution of riches from the top to the bottom of the pyramid from the post "Origin of money and structure of society". Whereas the mass hysteria to produce more and more will be reduced also (advertisement agencies will probably see a reflux of staff from the field marketing), ergo consumption will be reduced too; alternatively the goods produced will be of better quality and/or repairs will be once again economically feasible, which in turn will lead to preservation of resources. As mentioned before at a similar time production cost/price of a good or service in different regions (China-Bulgaria), the transport will make it more expensive until such level is reached, that it cannot be sold in the region to be exported if it is being produced there.

Environment

All these will lead to the meeting the needs of the poorest and to benefits for mother nature. This i so, because the biggest polluter is the economy itself. The contraction of the economy will automatically lead to less pollution (it is obvious that an economy, which produces 0 goods will not pollute; obviously it will also not sustain human life). Transportation will also get more expensive, whereas one needs to take into consideration that the ships, that carry containers to import goods from china use heavy oil and do not have air filters, which is also a big polluter. The suggestion that we will be able to support ourselves with a couple of hours per day will lead to a positive change in human psychology, namely to the lack of need to compete and rivalry to produce more and more (even as a labor worker) only to survive.

Remark

Of course all this are presumptions, which need to be verified in the practice. This is the goal of this website.

Properties of the currency "Time"

As Time as a currency is currently not being used for the production of goods, the here described aspects are theoretical assumptions, which should be verified in reasonably small enterprises (experimental character of the currency)

Main properties:

  1. support for the regional economy
  2. Natural incentive for efficient, less time human labor, production
  3. A fair distribution of financial resources (decentralized, self-emitting), regardless of the location of the birth and / or the social status of the parents
  4. Making more expensive the paradoxically "cheap" (these days) transportation of goods all over the globe
  5. Minimization of the loss of resources due to concentration in regional production
  6. Ability to pay training during the training itself
  7. Fair distribution of goods and resources

Reasons for the alleged properties:

  1. Since for the production of a commodity x y1 time will be needed, it will require additional time z1 for the transportation, which will say X = Y1 + Z1 , ie, the more the goods from its place of production are transported the more expensive will they get as y1 should be fairly equal regardless of the location of the manufacturing base . For comparison, the existing system, the production of goods in third countries, without taking into account the loss of transport resources is profitable as the difference in production price ( Y1 - Y2 ) may be significant (be at times larger than z1 or y1 - y2> z2 and y2 The money needed to produce a product X, without taking into account the invested human time; for example, a difference in the minimum wage of 10 euros per hour)
  2. Since the main measurer for the production of a commodity x will be the invested human time, a company that produces the goods x in less time y will have a market advantage as it will be able to sell it in a greater radius of its production base because compared to another company producing the same product , the time y1 will be less than Y2 (of the second company) or in other words, the hops of man-hours will be minimized naturally. ( X1 < x2 | Y1 < Y2 and Z1 = Z2). The so defined property (function of X) says the price of a commodity will be a function of the necessary production time and the time required to transport to the place of sale, which leads naturally and to an increase in the importance of the regional economy .
  3. / * Introduction * / Using time as a monetary standard is a type of a Gold standard based on resource-based time. After falling of the "Breton Woods" system (see Bretton Woods ) - the so called Gold Standard - the printing Money (Special in the US) has acquired a lethal dimensions; and in so far as it is bound by the gross domestic product of the country, through various machinations (mostly financial markets) is practically uncontrolled; resulting in artificial growth and artificially progressive and disproportionate wealth of certain countries. The Golden Standard itself also had its negative sides - in a sentence - there was insufficient quantities of the resource gold to provide a golden money coverage needed for the functioning of an economy that structurally grows and / or changed. Using the resource time as "gold" (time) standard avoids this negative effect as it is limited only by physical laws (for 24 hours we can have theoretically 24 hours on man) and from the number of people in a country. / * End of Introduction * / As described here, the idea of ​​introducing human time as a monetary measure the time of one person to produce a a commodity is also his/hers wage (salary). That is, if a person works 8 hours a day, he also gets a debit (credit right) for the purchase of goods and services in which 8 hours are invested. The distribution is fair because within 24 hours one person can work (theoretical) maximum 24 hours in practice 8 to 14 hours. There is no one to claim that on a given day has made 78 hours as the day is limited for 24 hours. Regardless of their parents' social status, everyone gets at its birth actual equal right to participate in social life through their own efforts and not through inherited / donated capital.
  4. От точка 1 имаме, че z1 е времето нужно за транспорт на дадена стока. Тъй като би следвало цената за производство y1 на дадена стока x да се изравни (или доближи по времева стойност), то всяко отдалечаване от центъра за производство оскъпява цената (транспортните средства също могат да бъдат изразени във време), което ще намали поне разхода на горива. Все пак това свойство следва да се наблюдава в практиката, тъй като наличната информация не е достатъчна за направата на съдържателно заключение.
  5. See 1 and 4
  6. Тъй като обучението е времева инвестиция на индивида би следвало и тя да може да бъде заплащана. Тук са възможни няколко варианта – заплащане по време на самото обучение и начисляване на амортизации за обучението при ценообразуването (виж пример по-долу).
  7. Явно е, че при теоретичен максимум за изработване в един ден на 24 часа (на практика 14) то един човек, който заработва 24 часа (14) в денонощието може да бъде само 24 (14) пъти по-богат от някой, който работи по един час на ден. Преведено в пари – при минимална работна заплата от 650лв. на месец, то таванът за заплата ще бъде ориентировъчно 15 600лв. – 24 * 650 ( 9 100лв. – 14 * 650); следва да се отбележи, че за 650лв. пак се работи 8 часа.

Пример:

Да предположим, че Иван е завършил следване за зъболекар и точно е отворил частна практика. Колко следва да струват услугите му?

  • той е следвал 7 години
  • самото следване е скъпо (материали)
  • той е закупил или взел под наем нужните инструменти
  • помещенията също

Ако приемем, че Иван е самоосигуряващ се (фирма), то:

  • През седемте години е бил зает 2,5 години Време със следването си
  • Разходи – 2300 часа (примерно), които е платил като семестриални такси
  • да речем, че е закупил нужните инструменти на цена „а“
  • да речем, че е закупил помещението на цена „b“

Първи случай:

Амортизация в период на 10 години.

2,5 години са 21 900 часа + 2 300 часа семестриални такси = 24 200 часа. Това прави 2 400 часа амортизация за година за първите 10 години. Тоест 110 часа на ден. Тогава, ако има 8 часа на ден пациенти, то цената му за час следва да бъде 1 + 110 / 8 = 14,75 + разходи за техника.

След изтичане на десетте години цената му се определя само от вложеното му лично време.

Втори случай:

В случай, че образованието му е било платено още по време на следването му, то за 1 час работа следва да получи един час.

Origin of money and structure of society

Initially there was no money and the committed transactions (debit/credit) were written down on tally sticks (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tally_stick ). The other ancient means of exchange of value (goods and services) was the gift (Gift economy).

It is possible, that currency (the usage of various goods as money; e.g. corals, shells, copper coins etc.) arose without barter economy, as finding one ready to exchange his goods exactly for yours is a labor-intensive and time-consuming process. Probably the members of unknown to each other groups and enemies bartered.

For us are more interesting the money of the middle ages in Europe - copper, silver and gold coins. Trough the establishment of a monopoly on mintage the rulers of the middle ages provided themselves with enviable comfort, constructing a pyramidal structure on which top are they for the distribution of money. The feudal system was a system in which the serfs (craftsmen and farmers) were working for their ruler without the need to receive payment, which in turn further affirmed the pyramidal structure in question. https://bg.thpanorama.com/articles/historia/feudalismo-origen-y-caractersticas.html)

Some would say, that today's "market" economy have not a different structure than the feudal pyramid above. Money is transformed to a measure of success and most likely are a measure of success, which in turn retains the pyramidal structure of the economy. The only question of importance is the question if anybody can get to the top of the pyramid. Yes, we do have examples such as Bill Gates and others from the IT sector, which are being presented to us, but these are rather exceptions. I adhere to the opinion, that the the pyramid in question is in force unchanged till nowadays (with exception the time of socialism, when the ones favored by money were less, and were favored by a lot smaller quantities of money, which in turn led to distortion of the pyramid, expansion of its lower levels and merger of its levels.

The similarities are a few - the central banks and the big banks perform the role of the feudal, whereas they share it with the big capitalists - there isn't anything you can't buy with money

Conclusion

Today's money are a bad inheritance from the time of feudalism, in which time the the creation of stable pyramidal structures was necessary for the security of life in the state of continuous wars in Europe. Today the banks and capitalist do not contribute to the security of life. Furthermore in today's relatively peaceful Europe there is no need of large quantities of people, which should be immediately ready to go to war, which in turn justifies the opinion, that a larger part of the population should be free to do what they want.

Money limits this freedom, since only a few are born with provided income. The modern, robotized and more and more automatized economy is sufficiently developed to provide for people working 2 to 4 hours per day.

Тези проблеми могат да бъдат решени и от други предложения (например от въвеждането на безусловен доход – да речем заплата от 1000 лв. независимо от това дали работиш или не. В крайна сметка бюджетът на Р.България за 2021 е 52 млрд. и 483 млн. лв. – виж https://www.minfin.bg/upload/46395/BUDGET_2021_final-22-12-2020+pages.pdf разделено на 5 млн. и 777 хил. пълнолетни български граждани това прави сума от 757лв на месец – един привърженик на частната инициатива би казал, че 2000 граждани от две села, все ще успеят да изградят един път помежду си с една месечна заплата от 757лв. ), но считам че времевата валута е крайното решение за излизане от феодализма и осигуряване на независим доход на гражданите с умерено работно време.

Time Currency - in detail

History Context

Time as currency is first used in 1827 by Josiah Warren in the founded from him Cincinnati Time Store. He closes the store in 1830 reporting its success to dedicate himself to utopian implementation of his idea.

In 1973 was implemented the first Time Bank by Teruko Mizushima in Japan where the accent was on using the time invested on a later date, mostly for social services, because of his expectation that the japanese society will age.

In 1991 the idea of using time as a currency comes in the USA, and in 2002 Timebanking UK is founded - a national chartered organization with own exchange for services like cleaning, video editing, it services etc.

Currency (The transformation problem)

The transformation problem (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformation_problem) is the question how to convert the worked time into consumer prices (value, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labor_theory_of_value) in the conditions of a market economy. (See Marx)

The use of time as a currency transforms the problem upside down, reducing it to Value = Time.

In other words we can reduce any product or service to the invested time capital (working hours) in its production. As Adam Smith observes - a diamond has no value until somebody bends down to pick it up from the ground. The so defined Value lead us to the consequence, that "profits" should be a part of the in any product or service invested human time.

Usage to date

In its modern variant (see timebanking.org and timebanking.org.uk) time currency is mainly used as a medium for barter of services. As already mentioned the main idea behind this is the organizing of social groups, which support elderly, needy and other interested individuals. Seyfang reports, that time banks promote social inclusion and help the integration of socially excluded persons (see https://appropriate-economics.org/materials/time_banks_rewarding_community_self_help.pdf)

Proposal

Here we propose that the physical resource time be implemented as an universal currency available to every member of the human race for the exchange of as of services so of goods. The aspects and needs of the so used time currency and its comparison to the now used currencies will be researched in following articles.