12,119 voices for monetary reform

Waiting outside Downing Street on Monday afternoon was a big crowd of people hoping to catch a glimpse of the Prime Minister. A few of them asked about the Positive Money group’s striking purple t-shirts and placards.

Their reaction will be familiar to anyone who’s tried to engage a family member or friend on the topic of how money and credit is created. Some confusion at first, but after a bit of explanation, it makes a lot of sense. Giving control over the money supply to a handful of privately-run banks is a dysfunctional way of managing and shaping the economy.

The success of our petition to the Prime Minister is a sign that the Positive Money message resonates with a lot of people. Many of the 12,119 signatories gave the same rationale for their decision to sign: politicians don’t seem to have learned the lessons from the last crisis, the economy is too heavily skewed towards property deals and financial speculation, and the domination of a tiny number of powerful financial institutions is preventing us from confronting the social and environmental challenges of the future.

Having delivered the petition to Number 10, we’re not holding our breath for the PM to adopt Positive Money’s proposals straight away. But there’s no question that the growing number of commentators, thought-leaders and ordinary people calling for reform of the monetary system will become increasingly difficult to ignore.

Positive Money supporter Ian said,

“I was a bit disappointed that Dave himself didn’t come to answer the door, this time round! It is a sign of things to come as next time it won’t be so easy to ignore us: momentum is building, and more and more people are realising what a game changer money creation is.”

As Positive Money’s Director Fran pointed out, the Prime Minister could respond to these growing calls tomorrow, by supporting the establishment of a Money Commission to look at alternatives to our current system; something that MPs in his own party have called for.