PHOTO GALLERY
Like the classroom experiment of dropping detergent on a film of oil, we can indeed break the layer of debt that is smothering us, allowing it to be dissolved in the process. By an incredible coincidence, the first application of just such a financial experiment occurred in The Channel Islands in the early nineteenth century. On Guernsey pound notes, the clue is provided by a miniature print of the beautiful town market building, with the date of 1822 over the doorway.
Known as the Guernsey Experiment, unemployed troops returning from the Napoleonic Wars were set to work on restoring the sea defences and building a new town market. Like many projects in the past, labour and materials were available but no funding could be found. By issuing notes that were not repayable on demand, the States, as the local government is still called, were able to pay for the exercise then recall the notes in years to come. No deficits were created, no interest was paid and no inflation resulted. Money became what it always should have been: a bland token of exchange to aid transactions in the real world, and not a means of making more money through interest. More will be covered in the next book.