Money and Economy
The Flaw of Western Economies
Alternatives to Political Systems, Consumerism, Economics,
People Systems, Village Development — by Marcin Gerwin
Original posting November 2008, posted here July 27, 2009
Let’s imagine a green and responsible consumer. Let’s call him
George. George lives in a sleepy town, near the center and the park
where he often goes for a walk with his dog. George built his house
with his friends two years ago. It is a very small house, only 320
square feet and it was made with cob – clay mixed with straw and
aggregate. The clay for construction was extracted from George’s
land behind the house – now you can see a nice pond there with
water lilies. George was fortunate enough to find some recycled
timber for the roof from the old garage that his neighbors were
demolishing. He considered making a turf roof with wild flowers and
herbs, but eventually he decided that a slate roof will be more
practical because he will be able to collect rainwater from it and
use it for watering his garden during warm summer days...
http://permaculture.org.au/2008/11/04/the-flaw-of-western-economies/∞
The above article demonstrates that we not only need to change
our consumer values, but also become involved in the production of
essentials for our community, and participate in rebuilding
community resilience and self-reliance. - DavidM
Green Economics and How it Might Work
by Tushara Kodikara, Scoop
In times of the global economic recession and ecological crisis, it
is obvious a radical response is needed. World-renowned economist
Herman Daly maintains the future of human civilisation is dependent
on a new economic model, based on a dynamic model—known as the
steady state economy—preserving the environment we are all
dependent upon.
There needs to be a shift away from the current paradigm of the
growth economy towards a system that emphasises conserving natural
capital and views the economy as a subset of the environment.
Neoclassical economics has ignored the environment. The current
system views environment and economy as intertwined. Any
environmental problem can be solved by the market or by
governmental interference...
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0907/S00214.htm∞
The Overoptimized Society
by Kurt Cobb, Resource Insights, November 29, 2008
For former Wall Street hedge fund manager and self-styled student
of uncertainty Nassim Nicholas Taleb an important cause of the
current financial meltdown is best described by ecological science.
The system has become overoptimized. The consolidation of finance
into the hands of fewer and fewer large players--banks, insurance
companies, investment banks, and giant hedge funds--has made it
less vulnerable to frequent crises, but more likely to produce a
severe crisis when there is a breakdown in the system. What used to
be country-specific or regional crises, now become worldwide
crises. In the past we've had the Mexican crisis, the Asian crisis,
the Argentinian meltdown and most recently the utterly devastating
hyperinflation in Zimbabwe. But none of these became global
crises.
http://resourceinsights.blogspot.com/2008/11/overoptimized-society.html∞
Think the Nation's Debt Doesn't Affect You? Think
Again!
Is it a natural state of affairs for the world's richest nation to
be borrowing from the world's poorest nations, to the tune of over
6 percent of its GDP? Harvard Economic Professor and former Chief
Economist at the International Monetary Fund, Kenneth Rogoff
doesn't think so. Rogoff goes on camera in the recently released
documentary film,
TIME-BOMB: America's Debt Crises, Causes,
Consequences and Solutions and says, "This is not a normal
state of affairs. And it's certainly not something we expect to see
from the world's richest country. Back when Britain was on top they
were lending money to the world, but we're borrowing from the rest
of the world. Our current account trade deficit is now more than
our defense spending and incredibly we've been borrowing from the
rest of the world like this for several years now..." In short
America has been living beyond its means for too long and the
reckoning is looming.
http://www.alternet.org/story/49418/∞
McKibben - Happiness and the Deep
Economy
Energy Bulletin, posted 3/24/07
Bill McKibben has been championing the themes of global warming,
peak oil and sustainability for years. In his recently released
book, Deep Economy, he focuses on relocalization and a rethinking
of our conception of happiness.
http://www.energybulletin.net/27481.html∞
Independence from the Corporate Global Economy
by Ethan Miller, Winter 2007, Yes! Magazine
Call it "globalization," or the "free market," or "capitalism."
Whatever its name, people across the United States and throughout
the world are experiencing the devastating effects of an economy
that places profit above all else. ...what's the alternative? We're
taught that there are only two possible economic choices:
capitalism—a system in which rich people and corporations have
the power, make the decisions, and control our lives; or
communism—a system where state bureaucrats have the power, make
the decisions, and control our lives. What a choice!
http://yesmagazine.org/article.asp?ID=1545∞
'Small-Marts' take on Wal-Mart
Small, local groups nationwide are fighting back against big
business and helter-skelter globalization.
Fortune Magazine, August 30, 2006
NEW YORK (Fortune) -- Local businesses in Whatcom County, Wash.,
next month will exhort their customers to "Buy Fresh Eat
Local."
Some people in the scenic, mountainous region will take a pledge to
nourish themselves for a week entirely from the local food shed -
drinking milk from local cows, eating fresh-baked organic bread and
patronizing restaurants like Flats Tapas Bar, which will serve such
dishes as flatbread with all-local smoked salmon, caramelized
apple, gouda cheese and hazelnuts..."We want to help raise
awareness of the value of local food systems," explains Max Morange
of Sustainable Connections, a network of more than 500
Bellingham-area businesses that sponsors the annual event. "We're
losing farmland very quickly."
http://money.cnn.com/2006/08/30/news/companies/smallmarts.fortune/∞
The Small Mart Revolution
Author, attorney and economist Michael Shuman describes how small,
local businesses are emerging as the most effective means of
building community prosperity, creating opportunity and building a
good quality of life. He and Bill McKibben are co-authors of the
new book "The Small-Mart Revolution: How Local Businesses are
Beating the Global Competition " that describes how small
businesses provide a better quality of life to many more people
than we knew. Small businesses offer people the chance to
contribute to their communities in so many fundamental and
unexpected positive ways: by buying from locally-owned businesses -
or by owning a local business - both are "Voting with Your
Money"!
29 minute video interview:
http://www.pierreterre.com/story.asp?ID=59∞
The Idea of a Local Economy
by Wendell Berry
People must think about protecting themselves. How are they to
protect themselves? There seems, really, to be only one way, and
that is to develop and put into practice the idea of a local
economy - something that growing numbers of people are now doing.
For several good reasons, they are beginning with the idea of a
local food economy. People are trying to find ways to shorten the
distance between producers and consumers, to make the connections
between the two more direct, and to make this local economic
activity a benefit to the local community...They want to give
everybody in the local community a direct, long-term interest in
the prosperity, health, and beauty of their homeland.
http://www.oriononline.org/pages/om/archive_om/Berry/Local_Economy.html∞
Economics: The Sound of Aunt Edna's Knitting
The Archdruid Report: John Michael Greer
Since the twilight of the money economy will be a gradual process,
it won't necessarily be possible for individuals to make the
transition to a deindustrial career in a single leap. What can and
must be tackled right now is the learning curve demanded by any of
these skilled trades. It's not enough to line your shelves with
books about organic farming, for example; you need to start buying
tools, digging garden beds, and growing your own crops, and you
need to do this as soon as possible, because mastering the craft of
organic farming takes time. The same is true if you decide to take
up blacksmithying, brewing, small appliance repair, or any other
useful trade: you need to get the tools and start learning the
craft, so you'll have your Plan B firmly in place when the money
economy folds out from under you.
http://www.energybulletin.net/21327.html∞
How the Fourth Corner Exchange Local Currency
Works
The Fourth Corner Exchange is a mutual-credit, time-dollar system.
It supports a gift economy which is fundamentally different from a
cash economy. The system is based on human capital - your skills
and energies - and on trust. Unlike the cash economy your capital
is not restricted to the numbers on your bank statement. So long as
you have something to offer another person (and everyone does), you
have capital. Since participants don't need to compete for scarce
resources, it is a fundamentally cooperative trading endeavor.
The goods and services you can obtain are not limited to a single
trading partner, as with barter, but rather encompass the offerings
of the entire trading network. The possibilities are limited only
by your imagination and energy.
http://www.fourthcornerexchange.com/info/how_does_it_work.php∞
Coming Clean
By Katherine Austin Fitts: Coming clean means shifting our
time, our attention, our spending and investing away from the
"tapeworm economy" and into a financially intimate economy and a
wonderful world. Who's your banker? Who's your farmer? Where's your
money? Where's the money in your neighborhood going?
http://solari.com/campaign/index.htm∞
Out of the retail rat race
Consumer group doesn't buy notion that new is better
While many people will spend countless hours this year lining up at
Wal-Mart and maxing out their credit cards at Nordstrom, a small
Bay Area group has declared it will do just the opposite. About 50
teachers, engineers, executives and other professionals in the Bay
Area have made a vow to not buy anything new in 2006 -- except
food, health and safety items and underwear. "We're people for whom
recycling is no longer enough," said one of the members of the
fledgling movement, John Perry, who works in marketing at a
high-tech company. "We're trying to get off the first-market
consumerism grid, because consumer culture is destroying the
world."
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/02/13/BAGH3H7DH71.DTL∞
Steady State Economies: An Alternative to Unrestrained
Growth
By Dave Ewoldt: "Do you enjoy eating ice cream? If so, ask
yourself if a little bit of ice cream is good, wouldn't more be
even better? Why not just consume gallons of it? And forget about
broccoli and asparagus, and especially those nasty little Brussels
sprouts and slimy okra. Well, this way of thinking is the
foundation for the economic theory orthodox growth economists in
the industrialized world use today."
SteadyStateEconomies
Steady State Economics
by Herman Daly: "The first question asked of any critic of
the status quo is: What would you put in place? In place of the
growth economy we would put a steady-state economy. But such a
theoretical alternative is not of great interest unless there is
dissatisfaction with the business-as-usual growth economy. If you
have eaten poison, it is not enough to simply resume eating
healthful foods. You must get rid of the specific substances that
are making you ill. Let us, then, apply the stomach pump to the
doctrines of economic growth that we have been force-fed for the
past four decades. Perhaps the best way to do that is to jump right
into the growth debate and consider critically some fifteen to
twenty general pro growth arguments that recur in various guises
and either expose their errors or accommodate their valid
criticisms."
http://dieoff.org/page88.htm∞
Buddhist Economics - E.F. Schumacher
"'Right Livelihood' is one of the requirements of the Buddha’s
Noble Eightfold Path. It is clear, therefore, that there must be
such a thing as Buddhist economics..."
http://www.schumachersociety.org/buddhist_economics/english.html∞
Rev. Billy says: Stop shopping
Why the Church of Stop Shopping's evangelical leader wants us
to buy nothing this holiday season.
"Americans are instructed that our way of life is shopping. That
our democracy is shopping. Citizenship is shopping. We don't need
towns and cities anymore because we have a shopping experience,"
Reverend Billy told CNNMoney.com.
"Our communities are collapsing. We can be so much more than
consumers."
http://money.cnn.com/2005/11/23/pf/holiday_buynothing/∞
Local/Community Currencies - An Introduction
"Our current economic system, with its paradoxical idea of
permanent growth based on limited resources, is approaching
difficult times. Yet we can take some steps to prepare ourselves,
and one of them is to become familiar with different kinds of
money. The first thing we need to do is to shake off the idea that
only governments can create money. Not true. Anybody can create
money. Money is just a promise to redeem something, to give the
person holding the banknote something of value..."
http://www.postcarbon.org/node/1488∞
Local/Community Currencies
"To understand community currencies we need to better understand
what money does. We will see that a community currency should
fulfill at least some of the key roles of any currency, and that a
well-designed community currency can even fill some of the roles
that the "normal" national currency does not. Since the breakdown
in 1972 of the Bretton Woods system, the world has been living with
pure fiat currency--that is, there is nothing material backing the
currencies of the world. Nonetheless, money has continued to
fulfill a number of different functions, only two of which are
essential..."
http://www.transaction.net/money/cc/cc01.html∞
Whole Ithaca Stock Exchange: Investing in
Community
"Many now realize that unless the global economy is based on a
world of stable communities amid healthy environments, trading
stable currencies, then bank accounts are just worthless big
numbers. Getting reliably rich means investing in community."
http://www.ithacanews.org/wise.html∞
Participatory Economics
"Participatory Economics (Parecon for short) is a type of economy
proposed as an alternative to contemporary capitalism. The
underlying values are equity, solidarity, diversity, and
participatory self management. The main institutions are workers
and consumers councils utilizing self managed decision making,
balanced job complexes, remuneration according to effort and
sacrifice, and participatory planning."
http://www.zmag.org/parecon/indexnew.htm∞
Are the Markets Rigged?
A Financial Sense Newshour roundtable with Bill Murphy, Chairman of
GATA and publisher of
LeMetropoleCafe.com, Chris Powell,
Secretary & Treasury of GATA and James Turk, founder of
GoldMoney.com
Whether we are citizen, activist or investor, we need to understand
how the control of the financial markets really works. If you want
to stop an army, you shut off their supply lines. If you want to
stop the Tapeworm, we need to understand how and where it gets its
financial supplies. Here is a terrific introduction from some of
the finest "real money men" on the planet today.
http://www.financialsense.com/Experts/roundtable/110505.html∞
Buying Local and the Circulating Dollar
By John Amundsen of Portland, Oregon who describes himself as
"a native Oregonian who wants to improve it's livability, economy,
and communities."
Buy local. We all want to do it, but do we really know why? It's
good for our local economy. Well, that's right. If we can buy at a
national chain at what we think is a lower price, isn't that better
for our personal or our company's economy? Well, that's wrong. What
happens to a dollar spent locally versus at a national chain or
formula restaurant? Lists ten reasons buying local is better for us
all!!
http://www.blueoregon.com/2005/11/buying_local_an.html∞