The Hour Money Institute for Global Harmony
Dedicated to establishing an hour of work as the world base money unit.
Email: Bob_Blain@hourmoney.org
A Conversation with Bob Blain: For Whom Time Really is Money.
Abridged News Article from St. Louis Magazine April 2007
As a professor of sociology at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, Bob Blain spent decades trying to change the world's monetary system, one set of students at a time. Now semiretired, he's hit the road with his show, jetting across three continents this year alone. ...
Blain's most recent stop was Lucknow, India, where he presented his theory - "hour money"- at a symposium attended by international chief justices. …
WHAT PROMPTED YOU TO COME TO A GLOBAL SYMPOSIUM IN INDIA?
... I look around at all of these people who recognize all of the huge problems in the world, …. They speak of global government, but they have no sense that money is a form of government.
EXPLAIN "HOUR MONEY"
The money we have now has no unit. "Dollar" is a word with only historical significance. We originally defined it in terms of gold or silver. But I don't know anything about gold or silver - most people don't. The hour, we all know, so it's money with a unit we all understand.
WHAT'S THE FIRST STEP TO SWITCH FROM DOLLARS TO HOURS?
Calibration. We convert the numbers to work time. Whatever salaries are, whatever prices are, we convert them to work time.
HASN'T ST LOUIS ALREADY DONE THIS ON A SMALL SCALE-GRACE HILL SETTLEMENT HOUSE'S TIME-DOLLAR EXCHANGE, FOR EXAMPLE?
There are examples all over the world, thousands of groups doing it on a need basis….
WHY SHOULD WE BOTHER MAKING THESE CHANGES?
I think people understand that money is out of control. Look at the lottery winnings somebody just won, $270 millions. At the same time, look at the people who can't pay their bills. It's wrong.
AND HOUR MONEY CREATES EQUALITY?
Yes. It's like giving pilots an instrument to determine their actual altitude. Calibrating money in a meaningful way is a wakeup call. Suddenly the guy who's got far more than is humanly possible for anybody to use says, "Wow. I've got 1,000 years' worth of income at $50 an hour? My God, I thought I only had $100 million." ...
STORY AND PHOTOGRAPH BY ADAM SCOTT WILLIAMS
April 2007 stlmag.com page 145
Email Bob Blain: Bob_Blain@hourmoney.org
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