Great blog. Got drawn to it by a tweet you made rerouted through AIDG.

Two points. First regarding this, in some countries there is already a disposal charge on electronics such as in Ireland. We actually pay an extra charge when we buy the product to offset the effects of dumping it. This goes for everything from phones and laptops to toasters. This is already a nice idea as it does make you think about how temporary everything we consume is and how it can be stretched. I think we can go a step further from there and considering there are increasingly companies applying criteria for rating packaging (ironically Wal Mart now do this), why not associate said ratings with an equivalent weighted charge? It’s one way of rewarding someone for choosing the 5 year toothbrush.

Second with regard to your tweet about allowing people in developing nations to earn money remotely. I would really like to know more as having been to Haiti several times on aid work, I have often considered how to help increase their market for locally made crafts. Problem is always infrastructure. No postal system, no good roads and all that before the quake hit. Even though the one thing the haitians do have is a (relatively) great mobile network and sporadic satellite internet. Perhaps you’re aiming for areas with slightly better infrastructure. If you have a link please let me know.

So, capital gets siphoned off from the real economy and “monetary units” slosh around and produce crap and then the government prints more. Then, things of value like food, health insurance, business overhead become too expensive as they were not produced in enough abundance to keep up with the monetary units floating around..(gosh how did this rant turn into the perils of a fiat currency)