In our latest Beyond Money Podcast we
explore with Ron Whitney the evolution of the commercial trade exchange industry, which
over the past 50 years has proven the workability of credit clearing as a way
of doing business without the need for money payment.
Ron operated his own trade exchange for 15 years, and since
2007 has taken on the role of President and CEO of IRTA, the International
Reciprocal Trade Association, the premier trade association of, and advocate
for, the commercial trade exchange industry.
Ron shares his vast knowledge and insights about the current
challenges, prospects, and opportunities, including a description of the
benefits of trade exchange membership and the increasing use of Universal
Currency (UC) to enable purchases and sales over an extended trade exchange
network.
In my latest article, just published on Open Democracy, I describe how fiat money can be transmuted into a truly effective and scalable community currency, while at the same time providing a way to finance community improvement projects like affordable housing. Key features that distinguish my design from other “fiat backed” currencies that have been tried before are (1) the limitations placed on cash redemption, and (2) the requirement that the community currency be issued as loans to businesses based on the amount of needed and desired goods and services they have available for immediate sale. You can read the full article here.
Facebook’s Libra crypto-currency project has caused a major uproar. In this talk, delivered on June 19th 2019 in Edinburgh, Scotland, respected technologist, entrepreneur, and crypto-currency guru Andreas Antonopoulos provides an interesting interpretation of the nature of Libra and its implications for the future of payments, privacy, and freedom, all of which is both exciting and terrifying. Antonopoulos couches his comments in the framework of what he sees as the emerging “currency wars,” distinguishing among government currencies, corporate currencies, and people’s currencies on the basis of the principles that underlie them. You can view the video here.
_____________________ Europe and the UK
I spent most of May and half of June on the other side of the Atlantic conferring with colleagues in the UK and Italy, and living in community at the Kalikalos Holistic Center in Kissos, Greece, where I’ve stayed many times before. My work in the UK has been ongoing for almost a year during which time I’ve been advising a group that has now formed the Open Credit Network.
“The Open Credit Network is a cooperative of businesses who have come together, under a simple shared agreement, in order to trade with each other without the need for hard cash.”
This project is still in the formative stages but is making good progress. UK cooperatives and small businesses are invited to get involved.
During my trip I managed to mix in a bit of R&R, enjoyed spending time with friends old and new, and toward the end of the trip had some fun with friends Yannis and Catherine rafting on the Voidomatis river in the Vikos gorge in northern Greece. This experience is one of many being offered through Yannis’ new travel platform, https://www.gofreedly.com/.
I discovered this video by accident while randomly browsing YouTube. Whether your goal is to play the system and become rich, or to change the system to make it fairer, you need to pay attention to this presentation. Tom Wheelwright, is a high powered CPA and tax advisor who describes here how entrepreneurs and investors legally avoid paying taxes. In this video, he points out that on average, those who are classified as employees pay a tax rate of about 40%, and professionals like doctors and lawyers get hit even harder with an average rate of 60%, while entrepreneurs pay only around 20% and big investors pay virtually zero. It’s all a matter of knowing the tax laws and how they favor capital over labor.
I was greatly disturbed by the content and tone of Larry’s last message to me on Friday July 5, so I dropped by his place to see him on Saturday morning, but when his wife greeted me at the door she asked, “are you psychic?” and told me that Larry had just died a few hours earlier. I’m sorry I did not have the opportunity to bid him farewell. His health had been in decline for several months, and he had reported suffering severe pain from a massive tumor at the back of his tongue that his doctors said was inoperable.
With PhDs in both physics and psychology Larry had a long career in academia. He was a brilliant and innovative thinker whose unique perspectives on life, civilization, “uplift,” and human “emergence” fascinated many. Larry was a good and respected friend of thirty years. He will be greatly missed.
_____________________ Movie reviews
I’d like to recommend two movies I’ve seen recently.
Pavarotti is the story of opera tenor Luciano Pavarotti (1935–2007) who had perhaps the greatest operatic voice of the past 100 years. Director Ron Howard does a masterful job of telling the story of a man whose life impacted the world of music well beyond the narrow confines of opera, and whose generosity touched the lives of many. The story and the music will move you deeply, .…if you let it.
The Biggest Little Farm. Exquisite in every aspect, this film tells the inspiring story of a professional couple who take a leap of faith into small-scale, diversified farming in southern California. Tracing their trials and tribulations over several years, it shows what can be achieved when working with nature to find balance. _____________________ Wishing you a pleasant summer,
Thomas
P.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard wants the U.S. to stop its endless wars and do what it takes to REALLY make America great again. Let’s keep her in the Presidential debates by making a small contribution to her campaign.
Richard Wolff provides an insightful analysis and historical perspective on the present state of capitalism and democracy. Clearly, Franklin Roosevelt saved capitalism in the 1930s by yielding a bit to the masses’ demand for a share of the economic benefits. Will there be a repeat of that in the coming decade under the next President?
That is doubtful. Conditions today are much different than
they were in the 1930s. Big government is no longer in vogue since governments
have ceded most of their power to transnational corporations. People now are
much more aware of the need for structural change in politics, economics and
finance. The vogue today is decentralization of power and restoration of the
commons.
I don’t know if Marx has any answers because I’ve never
studied Marxist economics.
I am convinced of one thing however that no one else seems
to recognize, that is the fundamental flaw in the global interest-based,
debt-money, central banking regime. It is the “debt-growth
imperative” that derives from the way banks create money by making loans
that require the payment of interest. One need only look at the empirical
evidence of global debt growth over time to see that it conforms to the
exponential growth function of compound interest. Even the richest countries
have exploding levels of sovereign debt because there are limits to how much
debt the private sector can bear, so governments become the “borrower of
last resort” to keep the money supply from collapsing. That’s the reason
for bank bailouts and “quantitative easing.”
The fundamental need is for a deep restructuring of money,
banking, and finance to decentralize control of credit and eliminate the
“debt-growth imperative.” Such an idea may seem radical in the
extreme and will not be welcomed by the powers that be, but alternative
approaches are already in the works and will be ready to save the day when the
capitalist train crashes off the rails.
“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” That’s a well-known adage that goes back a long time, but it was popularized by famed economist Milton Friedman and expressed in his 1975 book titled, There’s No Such Thing as … Continue reading →
This discussion between Thomas H. Greco, Jr. and Intercoin founder Greg Magarshak covers a wide range of topics including the principles of sound currency issuance; mutual credit clearing; proper allocation of credit; the problems of centralized power, depression, and inflation; … Continue reading →
When the division of labor has been once thoroughly established, it is but a very small part of a man’s wants which the produce of his own labor can supply. – Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations. We have become so … Continue reading →
In 1997 I produced a monograph titled, The Cooperative Community Commonwealth: A Prospective Outline for a New Socioeconomic Framework. Over the ensuing years I’ve revisited and edited it a few times. It was when written and until now ahead of … Continue reading →
Today I received a link from a correspondent in Ireland that featured this Dilbert cartoon. I think that clearly sums up the the main thing that divides people in today’s pandemic world. There are those who still trust “the system,” … Continue reading →
This Power Point slide show presentation was delivered virtually to the Alternative History Festival in Poland in September 2020. It highlights several historical turns as modern civilization has evolved that led to our present predicament and then asks how things … Continue reading →
In this issue: “Artificial Intelligence,” Bots, and Censorship: Why Wikipedia can no longer be trusted Censored on Facebook Consolidating and Preserving my Legacy The Farm Now, for your edification and amusement Read it on my Mailchimp site.
In his presentation that was part of The Greater Reset, James Corbett (of the Corbett Report) provided an overview of alternative means of exchange. In it he mentioned community currencies, LETS, trade exchanges, and my book, Money: Understanding and Creating … Continue reading →
The election of Donald Trump was just a symptom of a major shift of civilization. In this essay, Mike Krauss (http://thekrausscommentary.com/) compares it to the Reformation of the sixteenth century. It seems an apt analogy. From Martin Luther to Donald … Continue reading →
The oligarchs, plutocrats, and technocrats have a plan for you. It’s been called the “New World Order,” and now, “The Great Reset” which is being promoted by the World Economic Forum. Despite their high sounding rhetoric, you and I will … Continue reading →