Author Archives: Thomas H. Greco, Jr.

A few words of gratitude +

Posted on June 5, 2013 | Leave a comment

ScreenIndiegogo June3We’re on our way! Thanks to you our crowdfunding campaign has exceeded our goal. We are now assured that we will have sufficient funds to carry out our planned work in Europe this summer. Altogether, the tour will span 9 weeks from mid-June to mid-August. The first half is pretty solidly booked with multiple events in the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and Greece; the second half is a bit more flexible with some room for spontaneous developments.

As you know, the debt crisis continues to worsen. Austerity for Greece is still in the news, and depositors with funds in Cyprus banks have been forced to take a “haircut.” Don’t be surprised if bank deposits in other countries get raided in like manner by their respective governments.

While the spotlight is presently on Europe, this crisis is global and bound to worsen. Virtually every country of the world has a central bank, and those in the developed world at least, work together. Every one of them is set up to allow their respective governments to deficit spend, and banks to lend our own credit back to us at interest. They will monetize the debt to whatever extent is necessary to keep the game going. The exponential growth of debt is inherent in the way money is created. It must stop somehow, sometime. All efforts to keep it going are futile in the long-run.

Currency inflation and cuts to social programs are the paths that bankers and policy makers have chosen, but that will do no more than delay the inevitable, and in the process create more pain for the masses. Either we create new methods for exchange and finance, or we descend into chaotic collapse and widespread civil unrest.

Let us hope that this year will see the widespread emergence of decentralized, community-based, credit-clearing networks. That’s what my mission is all about, and that’s our the best approach to making a peaceful transition to a steady-state economy and sustainable way of life.

Again, my sincere thanks for your help in supporting this important work!

Thomas

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Posted in Global Economy, My activities, The Debt Imperative

Non-violent revolution, is it possible?

Posted on June 2, 2013 | 3 comments

What will it take to bring about a civilization that is peaceful, equitable and happy? This is a key question that I have been contemplating for the almost four decades during which I’ve come to realize the fundamental changes that are required in order for a convivial civilization to emerge.

In my most recent book, The End of Money and the Future of Civilization, I drew upon Prof. Philip Zimbardo’s work on human behavior and the lessons learned from his famous Stanford Prison Experiment. Just recently I happened to hear on the TED Radio Hour on NPR, a fascinating program that explored, The Violence Within Us. Besides Philip Zimbardo, talking about “Why Do Good People Do Bad Things?”, the program featured three other related segments as follows:

Jim Fallon: What Does The Mind Of A Killer Look Like?

Leslie Morgan Steiner: Why Don’t Domestic Violence Victims Leave?

Steven Pinker: Is The World A Less Violent Place?

These segments, each dealing with a different question relating to violence comprise one of the most thought-provoking programs I’ve heard in a very long time. I think we can learn a great deal by contemplating the facts and ideas presented. Please visit the program page and have a listen.

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Posted in Emerging paradigm, Freedom, Geo-politics

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Update: Crowdfunding and 2013 Summer tour

Posted on May 28, 2013 | Leave a comment

Great news! Summer is almost upon us and I’m excitedly making preparations to begin my European tour. With  two full days to go in our Crowdfunding campaign, we’ve successfully raised our target amount of $4,000! Thank you to everyone who’s helped make that happen!  It really is so wonderful to have your support. Thank you!

Of course, we don’t want anyone to feel left out! You can still help out by donating here at our Indiegogo site: http://igg.me/at/tomstour/. Funds raised above the original target will be used to redesign and update our websites and upgrade our email service, greatly improving our service to you. You all have my deepest gratitude for your generosity!

Here’s an update on my agenda

I’ve been invited to give a number of presentations and workshops. Starting in the Netherlands, I will be making a presentation hosted by STRO on the evening of June 18 (19:00 – 21:30) in the Hague. That presentation, intended for practitioners and social entrepreneurs, will describe the various issues that must be considered in creating and managing alternative exchange mechanisms. Both Time/bank The Hague and STRO will also give short presentations. The location is “Quartair” in the Hague, close to the CCS conference centre. In this building Time/bank also will host an exposition during the CCS conference.

The 2nd International Conference on Complementary Currency Systems (CCS), which is also in the Hague, begins the following day and runs until the 24th of June. My conference presentation (on June 20) is titled, Reinventing Money: How Complementary Currencies and Mutual Credit Clearing Can Create a Sustainable, Regenerative Economy. I’m also slated to be a panelist for two other sessions on June 21. One of these will address the topic of The Future of Community Currencies, and the other, Control of new types of e-money by financial regulators. Conference details and registration information can be found here.

Following the Hague conference, I will travel to Sweden for a stay of almost two weeks during which time I will give presentations and meet with community currency people in Gottenborg, Lindsberg, Gotland, and Stockholm.

From Sweden, I will travel to England to present at an all day workshop in Lancaster, Unlocking Local Wealth, an event organized by the Institute for Leadership and Sustainability (IFLAS) of the University of Cumbria Business School, in association with the New Economics Foundation and the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service, with the support of Impact International. You can find the program for that event here.

I expect to remain in the UK for a week or more then travel on to Greece for an extended stay in Volos, Crete, and Athens. Visits to other places are also possible and I’m expecting important opportunities to develop spontaneously, as they invariably do. I’m scheduled to return to the U.S. on August 21.

Thanks again for your interest and support! Once again, here’s the link where you can invest in my ability to serve you all better moving forward: http://igg.me/at/tomstour/

Thomas

TG_meme_3.2

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Posted in Emerging paradigm, My activities

Milestones in Moneyless Exchange

Posted on May 17, 2013 | 1 comment

TG_meme_2_sm

I often compare the evolution of exchange alternatives to the development of aviation. Just as many early attempts to fly were clumsy and poorly informed by good science, so too have been many early attempts to create private and community currencies. But much has been learned over the past three decades, and conditions are ripe for major advances in our ability to rise above antiquated and dysfunctional means of  payment. My role is to guide the design and implementation of community based currencies and trade exchanges that enable general prosperity and a stable and sustainable economy.

During my upcoming tour of Europe I will be speaking about the power of community currencies and mutual credit, and consulting with communities on doing good things where they are.

With still two weeks to go, our Crowdfunding campaign is now more than halfway toward our goal. Thanks for your support, and please help spread the word. Our campaign site is http://igg.me/at/tomstour/x/31801.

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Posted in Basic Concepts, Emerging paradigm, My activities

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Spring Update

Posted on May 11, 2013 | Leave a comment

Dear friends,

It’s high time for us to reclaim the credit commons and I need your help.

I will be traveling to Europe this suTG_meme_2mmer to push forward the movement toward complementary currencies and moneyless exchange, and to preach the “gospel” of decentralized credit-clearing networks.

So far, I’m slated for speaking engagements, workshops, and consultations in the Netherlands, Sweden, the UK and Greece. There may be room to add other stops to the tour so if you want to organize an event, contact me and we’ll see what fits!

Right now however, I need YOUR help to cover the lodging and travel costs. Please help spread the word about my Crowdfunding campaign to your networks! Share this image meme and the campaign link: http://igg.me/at/tomstour/.

We have thus far received $1207 from 21 very generous donors. My sincerest thanks to everyone who’s pitched in already and to those who help me achieve this goal by pledging and sharing!

Thomas

P.S. In case you missed my Spring, 2013 Newsletter, you can find it here.

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Posted in My activities, Prescriptions

Complementary currency conference shaping up to be a landmark event

Posted on May 3, 2013 | 2 comments

The Conference on Complementary Currency Systems that will be held 19-23 June in The Hague, Netherlands, is shaping up to be a significant landmark in the development of currencies and exchange processes. It will bring together practitioners and theoreticians from all over the world. The following message that came in recently from Edgar Kampers, one of the organizers, highlights the program for just one of the five days. Anyone involved in, or having a serious interest in this field, will probably want to be there.

Are you eager to learn about the future of currencies? Or are you keener to know how complementary currencies can support the local economy and build communities? Are you intrigued by digital currencies like Bitcoin, Freicoin and Ripple?

Then join the 2nd International Conference on Complementary Currency Systems on Friday 21st of June. It will bring a fresh perspective on local currencies like the Brixton Pound, Bristol Pound, Chiemgauer, Berkshares and the Calgary Dollars! It will explore several amazing time banks and time credits systems like Spice, Fureai Kippu and De Makkie!

The conference will be held in The Hague, The Netherlands and will bring together world-leading experts including Bernard Lietaer, Thomas Greco, Jem Bendell, Bart Jan Krouwel, Shann Turnbull and Tony Greenham.
Step into the world of complementary currencies, join the conference!

Join today at http://www.iss.nl/forms/ccs_conference_governement/
Or learn more at qoin.org/conference_english/
Twitter @CcsConference13, #CCSconf13
Prezi http://bit.ly/12qzePu

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Posted in Developing Alternatives, Emerging paradigm, My activities

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Spring Newsletter–Crowdfunding our work

Posted on May 1, 2013 | 1 comment

2013 – Spring  Newsletter

In this issue:

Crowdfunding my 2013 Summer tour

Articles and Projects

  • New chapter with Prof. Jem Bendell is now published and online.
  • My new article in IJCCR.

Recent events & Presentations

  • Money & Life.
  • DEBTx prsentation

Crowdfunding my 2013 Summer tour

I’m pleased to announce that I’ve been invited to the EU and UK for a multi-stop tour on the power of currency for people and communities. My itinerary is still evolving but so far I am slated for presentations, workshops and consultations in the Netherlands, Sweden, England, and Greece. I will be hosted for a few days by STRO (Social Trade Organization, then attend the 2nd International Conference on Complementary Currency Systems in the Hague, where I will make a presentation titled Reinventing Money: How Complementary Currencies and Mutual Credit Clearing Can Create a Sustainable, Regenerative Economy, and sit on two panels: The Future of Currencies, and another which will consider the legal and regulatory aspects of complementary currencies.

As you’ve probably noticed, travel is becoming increasingly expensive. The CCS organizers will be providing a travel allowance, but it will not be enough to cover even my trans-Atlantic flight, much less living expenses and travel to other stops on my tour. That is why I have launched a Crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo to help cover the costs of this tour. I need $4,000 to make it to all the places on the tour and cover the costs of food and lodging. I hope you’ll help me make that goal by going here: http://igg.me/at/tomstour/x/31801 and chipping in whatever you can. Please also help me get the word out and share the link with your networks! Thank you!

This is an investment in a sustainable future and, as Swami Beyondananda says:  “It’s time to shift our karma out of reverse and get our assets in gear.”

As a quick reminder, on my previous tour last October I gave a total of 15 presentations and workshops to various groups in three different countries. If you’d like a review, you can read my brief report of that tour on this site, here.  Your help with this Indiegogo campaign will make all the difference in building on that success and extending this good work to other communities in need! Here’s that link again: http://igg.me/at/tomstour/x/31801. Thanks in advance for your support in getting me to all these exciting engagements and spreading the word about the campaign!

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Articles and Projects

Following our participation last October in the International Sustainability Summit at the European Sustainability Academy in Crete, Prof. Jem Bendell and I decided to collaborate on certain projects. One of these was to co-author a chapter for a new book, The Necessary Transition: The Journey towards the Sustainable Enterprise Economy, edited by Malcolm McIntosh. Our chapter titled, Currencies of transition: Transforming money to unleash sustainability, is now online and can be downloaded here. This chapter elaborates on topics I covered in the anthology, The Wealth of the Commons, which I announced previously. You can find that chapter on this site, here.

My newest article, Taking Moneyless Exchange to Scale: Measuring and Maintaining the Health of a Credit Clearing System, has just been published in the International Journal of Community Currency Research (IJCCR). Go here to download it. This article provides some very important guidance for operators and organizers of credit clearing systems like LETS and commercial trade exchanges. Please take the time to give it your attention.

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Recent events & Presentations

In March, Katie Teague’s documentary film, Money & Life, in which I make an appearance, premiered in Tucson at the historic Fox Theater. That event also included short presentations by myself and Bernard Lietaer (with Jacqui Dunne). The mayor of Tucson, Jonathan Rothschild, was on hand to introduce us.

In April, I gave a presentation at the DEBTx conference that was held at the University of Michigan Law School. My presentation titled, Debt, Interest, and the Growth Imperative, was delivered remotely from Tucson via Skype, which worked very well. I’m told that the presentations were recorded and will soon be posted to the web, but I don’t yet have the link. It may appear at http://www.law.umich.edu/multimedia/Pages/default.aspx.

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Finally, I’d like to remind you that if you sign up to follow me on Twitter or Facebook, you’ll be notified every time I add a post to this site (which isn’t that often, so you won’t be overwhelmed). And please check out our campaign on Indiegogo. Your support will be greatly appreciated and all donations are tax-deductible through NEST, Inc.

Wishing you a pleasant Springtime,

Thomas

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Posted in My activities, Prescriptions

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Do Banks Create Money out of Nothing?

Posted on April 22, 2013 | 19 comments

One of my correspondents recently referred me to an article and asked for my opinion about it. The article is Creating Money out of Nothing: The History of an Idea, by Mike King, dated April 2012 .

I read the abstract, the conclusions, and part of the body text, but could not bring myself to make a detailed read. “The history of an idea” is not relevant to my interests nor to the debt crisis that plagues civilization. Verbose and tedious, it seems to be an academic exercise that I doubt  will be of interest even to historians.

On the positive side, it did prompt me to write a few words of clarification on the question, words that I think are both pertinent and helpful to those who truly wish to understand the nature of money and the role of banks in today’s world.

The accusation that banks create money out of nothing has, according to King, been made by many famous economists, including Schumpeter, von Mises, and Keynes. I too must admit to having once or twice used that statement as a sort of shorthand criticism of the global money and banking system.

It is surely true that saying that banks make “money out of nothing” is an exaggeration that can be misleading to the uninitiated.

Bank actually create money out of something. The question is, what is that something, and what is wrong with it?

The short answer is that banks create money on the basis of the promises of their borrowers to repay.

Mr. King would have us believe that banks simply take in money from savers and lend it out to borrowers. That is clearly wrong. Even the Federal Reserve, in its own publications, says that,

The actual process of money creation takes place primarily in banks.(1) As noted earlier, checkable liabilities of banks are money. These liabilities are customers’ accounts. They increase when customers deposit currency and checks and when the proceeds of loans made by the banks are credited to borrowers’ accounts.

In the absence of legal reserve requirements, banks can build up deposits by increasing loans and investments so long as they keep enough currency on hand to redeem whatever amounts the holders of deposits want to convert into currency. This unique attribute of the banking business was discovered many centuries ago.–Modern Money Mechanics

As I’ve pointed out in all of my books, banks serve two primary functions. They act as both depositories, reallocating funds from savers to borrowers, and banks of issue that monetize the promises of their borrowers. I’ve explained that in detail in Chapter 1 of my book, Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender, and in Chapter 9 of my latest book, The End of Money and the Future of Civilization.

But not all promises provide a proper basis for creating money. As Edward Popp, describes it, banks create both bona-fide and non-bona-fide money. (See Money, Bona Fide or Non-Bona Fide at http://www.reinventingmoney.com/documents/bonafidePopp.pdf).

The vast majority of the non-bona-fide money that banks create, is created on the basis of loans made to national governments (when banks buy government bonds). Further large amounts of non-bona-fide money are created when banks make loans to finance purchases of consumer goods and real estate (see my books for details). This is a violation of the principle that money should be created on the basis of goods and services on the market or soon to arrive there, which includes promises of established producers who are ready, willing and able to sell for money the things they ordinarily offer.

The bottom line remains: the present global, interest-based, debt-money system, is dysfunctional and destructive.

The creation of money on the basis of interest-bearing loans is the cause of the growth imperative, and the creation of non-bona-fide money is the cause of inflation.

If we are to achieve a sustainable society and assure the survival of civilization, we must transcend the present money and banking paradigm and reinvent the exchange process.  – t.h.g.

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Posted in Banking, Basic Concepts, Finance and Economics, Inflation, The Debt Imperative, The Political Money System

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Developing a framework for an equitable, harmonious and sustainable global society

Posted on April 15, 2013 | 5 comments

The current global mega-crisis is forcing us to confront the flaws and inconsistencies inherent in the present dominant structures of economics, money, and finance. As a result, we have before us a great opportunity to open up a conversation that admits to consideration ideas and proposals that may have heretofore be rejected out of hand as radical, impractical, or utopian, ideas like those put forth by Mahatma Gandhi three quarters of a century ago.

My good friend and scholar, Rajni Bakshi, has recently articulated that possibility and those ideas in her article, Civilizational Gandhi. You can download the full article here. I also recommend her article, Replacing Keynes With Gandhi.

Ms. Bakshi is the Gandhi Peace Fellow at Gateway House: Indian Council on Global Relations based in Mumbai, India.

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Posted in Basic Concepts, Developing Alternatives, Economics, Finance and Economics, Global Economy

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How to protect your “nest egg” while making your communty more resilient

Posted on April 10, 2013 | Leave a comment

This podcast featuring Michael Shuman, Jenny Kassan, and Elizabeth Ü, is a “must watch.” It clearly explains the options available to savers, investors, and entrepreneurs.

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Posted in Developing Alternatives, Emerging paradigm, Finance and Economics

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