terça-feira, 20 de abril de 2010

Tom Greco Talks Alternative Currencies on GreenPlanetFM

In this interview with New Zealand’s GreenPlanetFM, Thomas H. Greco, Jr. director and founder of the Community Information Resource Center and author of The End of Money and the Future of Civilization  discusses alternative currencies and rebuilding our fractured local networks in preparation for an unexpected economic collapse.

Listen Now

"Greco continues to educate us about why and how we, the people, have the power, the knowledge, and the tools available to us to civilize monetary systems around the world, thereby restoring an essential human element to our existence."
 - Krista Vardabash, former Executive Director of the International Reciprocal Trade Association

Like the proverbial fish who doesn’t know what water is, we swim in an economy built on money that few of us comprehend, and, most definitely, what we don’t know is hurting us.

Very few people realize that the nature of money has changed profoundly over the past three centuries, or—as has been clear with the latest global financial crisis—the extent to which it has become a political instrument used to centralize power, concentrate wealth, and subvert popular government. On top of that, the economic growth imperative inherent in the present global monetary system is a main driver of global warming and other environmental crises.

The End of Money and the Future of Civilization demystifies the subjects of money, banking, and finance by tracing historical landmarks and important evolutionary shifts that have changed the essential nature of money. Greco’s masterful work lays out the problems and then looks to the future for a next stage in money’s evolution that can liberate us as individuals and communities from the current grip of centralized and politicized money power.

Greco provides specific design proposals and exchange-system architectures for local, regional, national, and global financial systems. He offers strategies for their implementation and outlines actions grassroots organizations, businesses, and governments will need to take to achieve success.

Ultimately, The End of Money and the Future of Civilization provides the necessary understanding— for entrepreneurs, activists, and civic leaders—to implement approaches toward monetary liberation. These approaches would empower communities, preserve democratic institutions, and begin to build economies that are sustainable, democratic, and insulated from the financial crises that plague the dominant monetary system.