Quote from: Etlase2 on April 16, 2012, 09:00:48 PM

Quote from: 3phase on April 16, 2012, 05:27:56 PM

It's a zero sum currency. There are as many TEM debits as there are TEM credits at any time. The fact that everyone has a 300 TEM credit limit (they cannot spend more than that without acquiring some), makes it inflationary by design.

Could you explain what you mean by zero sum? And perhaps expand on "inflationary by design"? If they had said, "we will start with 10 quadrillion TEM and give a 300 TEM credit to each person who signs up" is this system more or less inflationary than one that just adds 300 credits to the economy for each person that signs up?

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Apart from personal barter of products and services, it doesn't offer much of a benefit.

Isn't this the absolute foundation for money?

Zero sum means this:

Every account starts at 0. Let's say we agree that I'm a plumber and I will clean your drainpipes for 30 TEM. Then your account balance will become -30 TEM (debit) and my account balance will become +30 TEM (credit which I can spend in another transaction).

I put it wrongly in my previous post, there is a maximum debit of 300 TEM that someone can have, not credit. Members can have unlimited credit.

There is no "starting amount" of TEM. It's zero for everyone and the total sum of member balances is always zero. It is still inflationary however.

Regarding your comment about the foundation of money, I would answer definitely yes, if we're talking about Ancient Greece. But if you just try to think about the economic forces that have contributed to the existence of this very forum and those that have made possible the 900,000 or so posts herein by people all over the world, I think you might agree that personal barter doesn't help much.