My name is Dominic Frisby. In 2005-6 I became disillusioned with the advice my financial advisers were giving me, sacked them and, reading insatiably, began to look after my own money. I was fascinated by the world of finance. It quickly became obvious to me that the global economy was a train crash waiting to happen – and it amazes me that leading politicians, economists and journalists all, without exception, failed to see it coming. Mad though my friends and family thought me at the time, I put everything I owned into gold. It has since appreciated by several hundred per cent. I read more and more voraciously. I started a podcast as an excuse to meet, talk to and learn from some of the incredible financial and economic minds I had come across in my research. Moneyweek Magazine asked me to write a column. I all but sacrificed my 'other career' as a comedian. This book is the culmination of these seven years of study, bordering on obsession. Just as I saw the financial crash of 2008 coming, I now see another one, even more calamitous, headed our way; only this one has serious political ramifications as well. But now, as then, not one high-profile politician, economist or journalist seems to "get it" - because not one of them have correctly identified the cause of our problems. I had never thought, before, about the nature of money. I never realised that there is a direct link between what we use as money and liberty, honesty and efficiency. It is in money – the blood of an economy – that our salvation lies. Support this book, and I’ll explain all.
T“he monopoly that governments and banks hold on money gives them too much power,” wrote Dominic Frisby. “Whether through incompetence or worse, that power will inevitably be abused. The best way to stop the abuse of power is to spread it as widely and thinly as possible. In my Brave New World, there is no monopoly on money. We restore choice. We restore transparency. We use whatever money we like. We have independent money. What do you fancy using, sir? Gold, silver, Bitcoins, paper issued by a farmer against stocks of grain in his barn, Brixton pounds, Dominic Frisby’s currency (the ‘Dominus’ I think I’ll call it, since you ask), pounds, dollars? You name it, you can use it. Payment with these alternative currencies is as easy as clicking ‘pay’ on an app on your phone or on a website.”
A pipe dream? Hardly. For one thing, the notion of “competing currencies” is not new. Nobel Prize-winning economist Friedrich Hayek explored it in depth during his long and productive life. What is new, says Mr. Frisby, is that we’re on the edge of competing currencies becoming everyday reality — no matter what the Federal Reserve, Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase might wish.
“Multiple currencies can work on a practical, day-to-day basis,” he says. “I’ve just come back from Istanbul. Traders in the Grand Bazaar will accept dollars, euros, Turkish lira, pounds, Russian rubles — anything, as long as it means trade for them.”
As you might imagine, getting from here to there is going to be a messy, and at times ugly, process — one that encompasses all of the other predictions we’ve shared above. But on the other side of that process lies a future of prosperity few people dare dream of. Not only is it “life after the dollar,” it’s Life After the State — the title of a book Mr. Frisby has in the works, which he hopes to publish through Laissez Faire Books later this year. Stay tuned!
