Creating Neighborhood Capital from Strip Malls Strip malls probably don't fit into the definition of progressive urbanism for most people, but maybe they should. Well, maybe after a little organizational tweaking. The small retail centers are ubiquitous in American cities, with their generic shops selling donuts or beer, offering dry cleaning or key-cutting. They're a part of many neighborhoods, but not necessarily an essential part. They bring goods and services to the area, but are ultimately of the greatest benefit to their owners – off somewhere cashing monthly rent checks from the moms and pops running the little businesses within. That model can change, according to Ava Bromberg. "It's part mall, part business incubator, part cultural hub," says Bromberg. But it's also about activating disused retail space for more than retail. This "social entrepreneurial model for commercial real estate" is the basis of Bromberg's PhD research at UCLA. One of them is Market Creek Plaza in San Diego.
Free Market Anti-Capitalism: Announcing: The Solidarity Economy Network In the past, I've written on the need for all the diverse facets of the alternative economy to coalesce into a coherent counter-weight to the corporate economy. I've argued that although the numerical weight of people and resources engaged in alternative economic and social institutions (cooperatives, complete or partial self-employment, LETS and other alternative currency and barter systems, household and informal production, community supported agriculture, homeschooling, radical unionism, alternative media, the open-source movement, Konkiniancounter-economics, etc.) were cumulatively a huge portion of the total society and economy, they were still ineffectual in bringing their cumulative weight to bear. In an early blog post, "Building the Structure of the New Society in the Shell of the Old," I wrote: The solution is to promote as much consolidation as possible within the counter-economy. Here are some of the stated goals of the new organization: 1. 3. 4.
View topic - 65 regional currencies in the EU soon? As people who are following the Transition Towns response to peak oil movement will know, one of the key innovations at Totnes is the issuance of their own currency, the Totnes pound. Rather than calling on the government for financial reform the Transition Town economic and livelihood group are just getting on with it and managing their own financial reform process....which is surely how things are likely to change more widely. (If we wait for the monetocracy to reform the banking system we will wait for ever.) Researching the background of the Totnes pound however I learned that in Germany and Austria (and Italy) local currencies are developing by leaps and bounds. An article in the Telegraph in January of this year explained that there are no less than 16 regional currencies already in existence and 49 further regional currencies in the pipeline. Here's the very informative Telegraph article - it makes clear that the mainstream bankers do not yet see regional currencies as a threat.
Michael Linton On Open Money ~ Windows Fanatics To summarize Michael Linton’s presentation at this year’s Gnomedex: A paradigm shift happens in its own time, whether we like it or not. Sometimes you can see it coming, and if that happens, it gives you a bit of room. Some time in the next few years, everyone in this room will be using open money in addition to regular money. We went from logs to wheels, which means material and mass to function. The theory of money — the general condition of money is that it is a commodity that is issued in a certain amount. Money is trickling down and pouring away. Community currencies are not replacements or alternatives for money. Markets are conversations, and if there is no money around, the conversation goes away. Money is the ultimate social network. [tags]gnoemdex7, gnomedex, gnomedex07, gnomedex2007, michael linton, open money, open source money, social money network[/tags]
BerkShares: Local Currency for the Berkshire Region Can Consumers Collectively Own "Producers"? In today's world we have for the most part - a strict separation of production and consumption, which together constitute "the market". The incentive for a market economy is a division of labor. Some are good at organizing, others are good at doing various "jobs". A driver behind this set-up is that both producers and distributors are able to charge a fee for their activity, which is generally termed a "profit". Profit is also a source of contention. This is the background to a proposal of Patrick (AGNUcius) to stimulate consumer ownership of productive activities, which would allow to bring some balance back into the commercial equation. To get an idea of what AGNUcius proposes, here some quotes from comments on a different conversation about hosting in the context of p2p systems: As those investments vest to the user who paid them, ownership of the space and tools needed for effective hosting are shared among the participants in a self-balancing manner. and and again:
Category:OpenCapital Chris Cook is a critic of a commons approach based on Trusts, preferring partnership frameworks that can be scaled globally. URL = Introductory article by Chris Cook: If Not Global Capitalism - then What? See also: What is Open about Open CapitalThe article Open vs. Dmitry Kleiner: "Capital will not fund the development of social platforms unless those platforms are able to control user data and interaction, thus we have centralized platforms like Facebook and... The following 26 pages are in this category, out of 26 total. The Oil Drum: Australia/New Zealand | Locabucks: Are local currencies a way to escape the liquidity trap ? Local currencies in the 1920's and 1930's The most frequently cited examples of local currency were issued in the Bavarian town of Schwanenkirchen and the Austrian community of Wörgl, described in this article on "Laboratory readings: Wörgl's Stamp Scrip – The Threat of a Good Example?": On July 5th 1932, in the middle of the Great Depression, the Austrian town of Wörgl made economic history by introducing a remarkable complimentary currency. Wörgl was in trouble, and was prepared to try anything. The Wörgl experiment was watched by John Maynard Keynes and Irving Fisher, who saw a fast-depreciating currency as a possible answer to the 1930s "liquidity trap" and documented the subsequent use of "scrip" in the United States (Fisher is also infamous for predicting, a few days before the Stock Market Crash of 1929, "Stock prices have reached what looks like a permanently high plateau."). Local Currencies Today Local Currencies And The Environment Conclusion
Introducing Mendo Time Bank « Ukiah Blog Live [Local community advocate Julia (Dakin) Frech is heading up a local effort to organize a Time Bank. Mendo Time Bank website is here. The link to join Mendo Time Bank is here. How Time Banks work is here. Time Banks are active in many parts of the world and are a very successful way to build community. What a great way to start off a challenging new year here in Mendocino County. Excerpted from No More Throw-Away People by Edgar Cahn “Time Dollars” in a “Time Bank” are a local currency, issued locally, and honored locally. There is no doubt that money rewards self-interest, greed, ruthlessness and material acquisition. Time Dollars simply count the hours people put in. Counting counts. A user-friendly information and accounting system serves two functions. Most of us do not know what our neighbors can do. Merely the issuing of Time Dollar bank statements operates as a kind of reward. Time Dollars in a Nutshell 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.
Local Currencies Grow During Economic Recession Photo courtesy Jason Houston Five local banks have printed more than 2 million Berkshare notes since 2006. The 10 Berkshare note features Robyn Van En, a local pioneer of community supported agriculture.The gentle mountain slopes of New England isolate the Berkshires, creating a peaceful remoteness in this southern Massachusetts region. As a result, independent thinkers have thrived here. Today, the Berkshires is giving rise to a new wave of free thinking. Since the currency's launch two years ago, five local banks have printed more than 2 million paper notes. The Berkshires is not alone. Witt is now fielding calls from around the world, she said, especially from the United States and United Kingdom. "In the last four years, there has been a renewed interest in local economy, local production," said Witt, executive director of the E. Complementary forms of currency are nothing new, and they frequently appear when mainstream financial systems are in distress.
Local Currencies Grow During Economic Recession The gentle mountain slopes of New England isolate the Berkshires, creating a peaceful remoteness in this southern Massachusetts region. As a result, independent thinkers have thrived here. Herman Melville penned Moby Dick; Norman Rockwell etched paintings of American life; W. E. B. Today, the Berkshires is giving rise to a new wave of free thinking. Since the currency's launch two years ago, five local banks have printed more than 2 million paper notes. The Berkshires is not alone. Witt is now fielding calls from around the world, she said, especially from the United States and United Kingdom. "In the last four years, there has been a renewed interest in local economy, local production," said Witt, executive director of the E. Complementary forms of currency are nothing new, and they frequently appear when mainstream financial systems are in distress. The currencies take on various forms. In Switzerland, the WIR (the German word for "we") functions as a mutual credit system. Hello Bruce