Internet shopping, digital money.
It should be a simple matter to exchange currency for goods, but...
Your money's not good everywhere.
If you think of each country as a shop, then local currency is like shop credit.
Even if you are willing to deal with a major credit card company, you are still restricted to specifically registered merchants.
You probably can't choose freely from the diversity of products sold on the internet or benefit from competitive pricing between online merchants.
Solution: Global Money.
A solution isn't difficult once we have these ingredients.
- Secure internet-based transactions between accounts.
- A store of value making your money real and globally valuable.
- Fixed correspondence between digital accounts and stored value.
Any truly global store of value must be a physical commodity, something that cannot be altered by monetary policies, speculation, inflation, corporate strategies or other manipulation.
The commodity of choice is gold.
The users themselves need only use the currency. The system ensures that gold is backing it.
All you need is an account saying how much gold you own, within a system that really has the gold, and can translate digital transactions into gold transfers.
Digital currencies are cheaper, faster, safer, global, and more private than the alternatives.
And that is precisely what thousands of ordinary people worldwide are already using.
More about digital gold currencies and e-gold on the following pages:
About e-gold.
Digital gold currencies.
Thoughts about Credit Cards
Many people choose not to get credit cards because they have some idea of what's involved.
Interest charges:
A credit card company's business model is based on charging interest on debt.
It benefits the the card companies if users overspend (through convenience) and pay interest.
Risk for the card company:
But then the card companies need to protect themselves against many situations. This means:
- Risk assessment of applicants.
- Elaborate legal terms and obligations.
- Billing and enforcement mechanisms.
Security concerns for the card user:
Although the card companies have worked to improve security, giving your credit card number over the internet remains a big risk.
- Vendors must be screened and registered with the company.
- There must be procedures for people to contest fraudulent charges.
Elaborate legal terms and obligations.
The whole credit system requires a lot of regulation. So the relationships between card companies, merchants and card users are inherently intrusive and expensive for everybody.