The End of Scarcity By Kristen Ragusin

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The End of Scarcity: The Dawn of the New Abundant World
By Kristen Ragusin
Indigo Book Press

Money makes the world go around. Or does it? If it does, how? Where did money come from in the past, and where does it come from now? What value does it have, if any? Is debt destroy­ing the economy? Does money provide us with freedom or imprison us? How does the way we think about it affect our daily life, community, country and the world? Many of us swipe the credit card or hand over dollar bills multiple times every day without ever pondering these questions. The End of Scarcity addresses them and dives into an alternative understanding and approach to money.

Kristen Ragusin introduces the concept of “debt-money” and argues that money comes into existence when loans are taken. She writes at length about how money is created only when we borrow it, whether it’s consumer debt (credit cards) or a mortgage. The rest of the book is based on these concepts.

After introducing the debt-money system, Ragusin summarizes its seven imperatives (what she calls “the seven debt strings”). First, debt-money creates unrelenting pressure to take on debt. “Time is money” is the second, with the third being that everyone must get a job (any job). Debt-money also drives us to nonstop consumption (number four), and a system that depends on it needs endless growth (number five). The last two imperatives are that it requires big risk-taking and operates with a small group of people holding the most meaningful power and control. I found this chapter to be fascinat­ing, as it explores how these imperatives begin to affect our mindset around money; Ragusin raises questions about whether consumers hold any power or are simply cogs in the big machine.

Throughout, powerful statements regarding money challenge what the majority hold as true. Some readers may be shocked to learn that the Federal Reserve (the central bank in the U.S.), which has monopoly power to print money and control the money supply, is actually privately owned. Readers will also learn that the Bank of England (the central bank in the U.K.) has openly admitted that governments that create their own currencies (such as the U.S. and U.K.) create as much money as they want!

Using an entertaining format of discussions with a friend, Ragusin devotes ten chapters to the history of currency, banking, taxes and econ­omies around the world. Then she shifts toward solutions for the problems that the debt-money machine has caused, asking how we can move toward an “abundance model” where our prom­ise to deliver is our credit instead of a promise to repay our debt. Could producer credits be the answer? WAPF members may be interested in scenarios such as that of a cheesemaker who has the option to issue their credit-as-money backed by the promise to deliver cheese. By raising the money they need to run their busi­ness from customers, the cheesemaker wouldn’t have to depend on banks and their repayment schedules. Many WAPF followers are already familiar with this model in the form of CSAs (community-supported agriculture), where CSA members prepay for the produce or other goods they will receive in the upcoming season. Ra­gusin argues that this model can provide more freedom, happiness and control over our local economy.

The questions Ragusin raises invited me to consider money and the economy in a different light, and I give this book a thumbs up. How­ever, I would have enjoyed hearing more about different solutions to our current economic problems. Perhaps Ragusin thinks that that is up to us to brainstorm. Nevertheless, The End of Scarcity offers a spark to help shift our ap­proach to money; I hope we can use that spark to create healthier communities and more personal freedom.

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Spring 2024

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