Chapter 6. The telematic cheque-invoice.

1. This chapter's goals.

In accordance with the conditions we have explained in the previous chapter, we should now define a possible new monetary instrument, which we will call cheque-invoice. On the cheque-invoice is based the construction of a rational and informative money system, without which it is impossible to develop a clear and flourishing market.

2. What is a cheque-invoice.

A cheque-invoice is the updated monetary instrument-documentof chapter 2. It is simply an inner accounting document which every well identified and responsible market agent can produce according to law, and with the only limitation of his money availability in his current account, in order to settle an elemental operation of merchantile exchange.

We call it a cheque-invoice because it actually sums up the peculiarities of an invoice and a cheque.

As an invoice, it shows the place and day of the operation, it indicates the quantity and quality of the real goods which are being sold, unit price and total amount to be paid. It also indicates the name of the seller.

As a cheque, this same document indicates the name of the customer, the name of his accounting office¹ and the number of his current account, besides the accounting office and current account number of the supplier. As an inter-accounting document it becomes an order of payment from customer to supplier, this payment being made by a simple scriptural transfer between the two current accounts, through the mentioned offices.

This cheque-invoice works very simply. Every mercantile exchange involves two agents, which are called customer and supplier respectively. Every customer produces a cheque-invoice in favour of the supplier. When the cheque invoice is filled with the above data, the customer-debtor-emitter will sign it. The transfer of funds which represents payment is done automatically by the accounting office against simple presentation by the supplier of the cheque-invoice duly filled and signed by the customer.

This cheque-invoice can never be endorsed to a third party: the supplier is the only legal beneficiary. After the transfer of funds has taken place, it is invalidated, microfilmed and filed for statistical and judicial purposes, and its cycle is therefore ended.

The cheque-invoice can also envisage a payment term according to law; in all cases, interest will be paid by the customer-debtor-emitter who needs to delay payment: according to custom this is a most equitable and effective system.

It can also be very simple to create an Interbank Agency to guarantee payment to the beneficiary of all the cheque-invoices made out without funds: this Interbank Agency would be the only actor in face of Justice against an insolvent emitter. By these means the system will finally be trusted.

Another advantage offered by the cheque-invoice, is an automatic fiscal collection (see chapter 11).

3. Telematic updating of cheque-invoices.

The monetary instrument which we have described can only be functional, practical, agile and convenient if it takes advantage of the possibilities of technology of transmission and distance processing of information, that is telematics.

The application of telematics to the money system is no news: everybody knows the introduction of electronic money, the electronic transfer of funds or the sales points terminals.

Since 1970 the sales points terminals started to be introduced in Europe, USA, Canada and Japan. As the name suggests, they are computer terminals which are located in the sales place. To pay, customers hand down a small magnetic card; the terminal, which is in connection with the bank computers, automatically finds out if the customer's account has enough buying power to pay. If it is so, the customer's account is immediately debited with the purchase value to the benefit of the seller.

Lately memory cards have appeared: they are cards which have a micro-processor included, in whose memory the bank can introduce a given quantity of purchasing power. When paying, the seller who has a device for reading cards, controls if it has enough buying power left, and if so credits the relevant amount to the seller with an indication of the customer's account. The money is recorded in a cassette or other auxiliary memory; when the cassette is full, the seller takes it to the bank where it is credited to his account. When there is no buying power left, its owner takes it to the bank to re-charge it.

This and other steps for electronic transfer of buying power are being introduced in the more advanced countries, and they will soon be accepted everywhere.

But it is very important to realize that these new realities do not fall within a complete theoretical consideration on the money system and its social function. It is in fact to fill this gap in theory that we submit this essay for consideration and offer as an alternative the telematic cheque-invoice.

Telematic cheque-invoice means simply that every cheque-invoice will be produced through a centralized telematic system in a geopolitical society. This would give way to a completeliy telematic money system, which from a technological point of view is today perfectly reasonable.

Such a money system should include the following minimal elements, interrelated among themselves:

4. Metric-documentary properties of cheque invoices.

We can summarize what has been said up to now by detailing the metric and documentary properties of the cheque-invoice.

Thanks to these peculiarities the telematic cheque-invoice can be the monetary instrument-document in a position to transform the money system into a real system for measuring and quantitatively informing on mercantile operations.

To this end it is necessary for it to become the only real and legal monetary instrument, namely, that anonymous paper money must disappear altogether. The telematic cheque-invoice we have described is not very different from the several systems of electronic payment to-day in force. It is only necessary then for electronic payment, perfectly documented, to become the only acceptable form of monetary transaction, and that the possibility to transform the documentary monetary circulation into an anonymous and impersonal circulation disappears.

5. The telematic market.

The reality arising from the radical suppression of present day monetary instruments and their substitution by a telematic monetary network such as the one described above, could be called telematic market.

In a telematic market every elemental transaction is fully documented: therefore there is a total clearness of the market, a complete transparency and information. As long as this informative potential is available to all the population and is not exclusively set apart for a privileged sector as at present, an enormous possibility of greater and better riches, liberty and intelligent and efficient action is opened.

It could be objected that the economic cost of such a telematic market would be too high; but this objection can be confuted if we consider the enormous social benefits which could be derived therefrom:

The benefits reach the whole of the social body, not only a privileged minority. It is easy to compare with other expenses of geo-political range, so important and carrying so little benefit, such as armament.

On the other hand, with the telematic cheque-invoice and the telematic market, a dematerialization is obtained, which clearly shows the essential nature of any money system: the abstraction and instrumentality, void of any need of intrinsic value of the instrument filling this function.

In the suggested money system, the buying power of every person will be represented simply by an amount in his/her current account. This buying power will be exclusively activated by producing a cheque-invoice: the subsequent transfer of funds is automatically effected by a computer.

As a matter of fact, the possibilities of telematic technology allow even to renounce the actual material cheque-invoice, as a simple magnetic storage will be enough to record in a personalized way all the monetary operations carried out by each of the market agents.

Consumers cheque-invoice.

General accounting area.

Justicial Protection area

Model of a consumers' cheque-invoice: it is clearly separated in a general accounting area -whose details are necessary to prepare exact statistics and analyses available to the whole of society- and a justicial protection area -whose details are completely protected under professional secret by independent Justice-.

Note:

¹Bank or Savings Bank.