"Money is round, and it rolls away."
Confucius
It isn't just a matter of how much money there is in your country or neighbourhood; it's a question of where it flows to, who gets it, and whether it stays put. What if it pops in but seeps out again to be invested in offshore trusts or arms manufacturing?
That's the insight into money you get when you put aside the idea that it is just about precious metal. If you look at a neighbourhood and count up the money in its collective bank accounts you might get a very distorted idea about who is rich and who is poor. But if you look at whether the money stays put, circulating around - and putting the community to work - you get a much clearer picture.
Money that stays circulating locally is like lifeblood: it keeps communities alive. It brings together the people who need things doing with the people who have time and the raw materials needed. Otherwise things just grind to a halt and die.
