Newsletter July 2012

Dear friends,

I know we’re all overloaded with information these days, so I’ll keep this brief.

In this issue:

Summer in Tucson

Presentations and Interviews

Public Banking in America

Fall Tour

Recent Blog Posts

Commons Anthology

Nuclear Power

Summer in Tucson

Summers in Tucson can be a challenge. June is the hottest (and driest) month with daytime high temperatures averaging around 100 degrees, but with many days 5 to 10 degrees hotter than that. July can be just as hot, but by then we can expect the start of the eagerly awaited summer monsoons. These are not the sustained rains that fall in the tropics, but (usually) brief thunderstorms that provide some relief from the blazing sun and oppressive heat, and we can always count on the temperatures dropping by thirty degrees or more overnight. Like winters in the north, summers here are a time of reduced activity and indoor pursuits, like reading. A couple of the books that I’ve read recently that I highly recommend are David Sloan Wilson’s, Evolution for Everyone, and Malcolm Gladwell’s, Outliers. Both of these books challenge established beliefs in a way that I find fascinating, and both tells stories that are very engaging.

Presentations and Interviews

In March I conducted a teach-in for Move On and Occupy Tucson, presenting my ideas about The Emerging Butterfly Society, then, later in the month traveled to San Diego under the sponsorship of Activist San Diego & Women Occupy San Diego, where I gave a presentation titled, Occupy the Commons: Reclaiming Our Birthright. That was followed up with a workshop titled, Complementary Exchange Systems: Preparing to Launch, which I conducted for a small group of social entrepreneurs who are now in the process of starting up a local exchange system for their community.

Also in March, I was a guest on Catherine Austin Fitts’ monthly Solari Report program on which we discussed various approaches to value exchange and investments that bypass conventional banking and financial institutions. Catherine, who was Assistant Secretary of Housing in the first Bush administration, is a knowledgeable investment advisor. See her website at http://www.solariadvisors.com/ .

In April, I was invited to do a brief interview for Bloomberg TV’s program, In Business with Margaret Brennan. Later, I traveled to Philadelphia to attend the Public Banking Institute conference (see details below).

May and June included another presentation at the Sustainable Tucson monthly meeting, an interview by Jay Taylor on his webcast program, Turning Hard Times into Good Times, on Voice America internet channel (download it from https://beyondmoney.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/thomasgreco20120522jaytaylor.mp3), and an interview by Marcus Matthews from London, England, on his webcast program, The Money Maverick.

Public Banking in America

During the last weekend in April, The Public Banking Institute (http://www.publicbankinginamerica.org/ ) hosted their inaugural conference, Public Banking in America, in Philadelphia. It was one of the best conferences I’ve attended in many years—very well organized, excellent speakers, and intelligent and energetic participants. I had the privilege of having been invited to speak. My presentation was titled, A New Paradigm in Exchange and Finance: the End of Financial Crises, Trade Wars, and Economic Exploitation. Other presenters include Ellen Brown, PBI President and author of Web of Debt, Gar Alperovitz, Professor of Political Economy at the University of Maryland, Paul Hellyer, former Canadian Minister of National Defence and founder of the Canadian Action Party, and Bill Still, producer of The Money Masters videos, among others. All presentations were video recorded and will eventually be posted. You can find them here: http://www.publicbankinginamerica.org/speakers.htm

PBI is all about promoting Banking in the Public Interest and is fostering the widespread establishment of state-owned banks modeled after the bank of North Dakota. This from the PBI website explains their main mission:

Public banking frees the credit potential of public revenues and then harnesses this public wealth to create sustainable, abundant and affordable credit. This credit — our credit – supports our economy and citizens if it is then used to build economic capacity (think renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, etc. — things that private banks do not fund). PBI is committed to public banking becoming a mainstay to support the new economy.

As PBI matures as an organization, I expect that the scope of its mission will expand to include other more fundamental approaches to community empowerment and economic development.

Fall Tour

I continue to enjoy good health and am considering the possibility of a Fall tour of Europe and the UK to conduct workshops and presentations for groups that have been following my work and have a serious interest in the approaches that I have been advocating. Preliminary discussions have been positive but my decision will depend on booking enough stops to cover my expenses and provide a small honorarium. If your group, or some other that you know of, would like to be included, please contact me at thgreco@mindspring.com .

Recent Blog Posts

I’d like to call your attention to some recent posts to my blog that I think are especially important. Two of these present some of E. C. Riegels most important ideas, along with my commentary on them. They are E. C. Riegel’s Money Quiz and the True Money System, and The Language of Money and Accountancy. I’m planning to post more of Riegel’s incisive writings over the coming months, so please watch for them.

I also suggest that you follow the insightful work of Tom Atlee, expert facilitator and advocate for group intelligence. I’ve excerpted one of his recent articles at, What and whom do we really depend upon?. Finally, my post about Cyclos, Cyclos, worth another look?? , has elicited a number of comments, including some from the Cyclos developers. These comments contain much valuable information for those of you who are searching for a suitable software platform for your exchange system.

Commons Anthology

The long-awaited English version of the commons anthology is now expected to be published in September from Levellers Press under the title The Wealth of the Commons: A World Beyond Market and State. At that time, I will be posting the text of my chapter on https://beyondmoney.net/. I think it is one of the best articles I’ve ever written, so please watch for it.

Nuclear power

This video featuring Ed Asner makes some powerful arguments showing the insanity of the proposed nuclear power plant in Florida. Please watch it and pass it on. It is not only Florida that is at stake, it’s the health and financial well-being of everyone on the Planet. http://tomazgreco.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/ed-asner-the-insanity-of-floridas-proposed-nuclear-plant/

Wishing you all an pleasant summer,

Thomas