In order to perpetuate inequalities at home, Europe had to colonise other places so that it could keep the masses subdued with the idea of progress. But this progress was paid for by the sufferings of people in other lands. When this started reaching its limits, the West had to abandon the gold standard and shift to purely symbolic money, which allowed it to start colonising the future. Once money is untethered from gold, or any other substance of value, then it becomes completely fictitious money, and can be used to extract promises from the future. But we are now reaching the limits of even this, as the crisis of social inequality converges with the crisis of planetary limits. [[Reference Notes/Books/Hope in Hopeless Times|Hope in Hopeless Times]] [[Fictitious Capital]]