Watch this very well explained video featuring Michael Hudson, a must watch: (amazing find: all high growth periods were marked by high taxes) This second video goes deeper into the theory of economic rent:
Date archives "July 2011"
Bernard Lietaer and Christian Arnsperger on reinventing the financial system
Via: What is the structural cause of the financial crisis and what is its structural solution? 1. Watch the video from monetary transformer Bernard Lietaer, from TedX Berlin: 2. Listen to the audio podcast interview here. ” Dawna Jones talks to Bernard Lietaer, author of “The Future of Money” and the forthcoming “New Currencies for… Continue reading
A critique of home schooling by Stephen Downes
Stephen Downes writes: “In this 15 minute video I outline my criticisms of home schooling and describe success factors for an alternative, community schooling.” Watch the video here:
The economic benefits of shorter working hours in a new ‘non-economic’ conception of time
Protecting bankers’ and creditors’ interests above all else is foolish economic policy. It enriches one group of people at the expense of nearly everyone else. Excerpted from Juliet Schor, commons-oriented economist, author of the book Plenitude: (Juliet’s proposals are rooted in her different conception of time, which we feature just below) “Protecting bankers’ and creditors’… Continue reading
The Bitcoin Epoch: It is Akin to the Printing Press Revolution
News has been filtering in about the problems that are besetting a virtual currently called Bitcoin. The day to day rumblings of its story are fascinating enough but it is the evolution of the underlying idea that I think is important. This is one of those events that we often miss at the time and… Continue reading
Energy efficiency beyond the market: the Nordic way of citizen and municipal co-ownership
Excerpted from Prashant Vaze: ” Europe’s large integrated energy companies fall short of the hyped-up benefits of turbo-capitalism. No assessment of their performance would give them high scores. What is the point of choosing your supplier if every company’s off-shore call-centre offers the same amnesiac service, and their pushy sales teams harangue you with overly… Continue reading
From an Economics of Power and Greed to an Economics of Compassion and the Common Good
* Book: Economics Unmasked: From power and greed to compassion and the common good. By Philip B. Smith & Manfred Max Neef, Green Books, 2011 Excerpted, via Ethical Markets TV, from a review, by Nic Marks, founder of the Centre for Well-being: “This is a radical book – in fact it is a book to… Continue reading
The four phases of a Post-Peak Oil future, and how to prepare for the ecotechnic future
Those who have a place in the country or can get one won’t have any need to depend on a faltering corporate food system for their daily meals; those who focus instead on the small-city approach will be able to supplement sacks of bulk grains and legumes from the farm belt with produce from a… Continue reading
The Ever-Growing Role of Social Media in Social Change (& the Response)
You may have seen reported the ‘Sukey‘ app – an app that, with user support, collects information about potests and then channels it back ot the users. The idea is that they can then use this information to avoid being kettled by the police: The idea for a specialist piece of software was sparked by… Continue reading
On the necessity of ‘mediation’ for economic and social transitions
To act radically too early is often self-defeating. But to act non-radically in the short-term without a very clear view of the medium- and long-term radicalisms in whose name one might justify immediate compromises is just as bad. Like it or not — and there are days when I, too, don’t like it all that… Continue reading
Neural interview: from peer 2 peer to face to face
Neural magazine is an excellent ‘print’ magazine on digital art and culture, whose issue #38 was dedicated to the inter-relation between ‘digital peer to peer’ and ‘physical face to face’ dynamics, and carried, amongst many other interesting articles, interviews with Superflex, Platoniq and Dmytri Kleiner. It’s well worth purchasing a copy here. Here is the… Continue reading
The emerging ecology of Anonymarts
Anonymous markets came in the news related to the Silkroad market using Bitcoin. Kevin Kelly has some interesting comments: “The blogs Threat Level/Gawker recently reported the appearance of an entirely new genre of technology: an anonymous marketplace, or anonymarket. Out there on the internet is a place where you can buy and sell anything anonymously… Continue reading
The reign of the bondholders
Excerpted from Paul Krugman, explaining how the state and its policies have been captured by one particular group of people: “While the ostensible reasons for inflicting pain keep changing, however, the policy prescriptions of the Pain Caucus all have one thing in common: They protect the interests of creditors, no matter the cost. Deficit spending… Continue reading
Findings on the positive role of complementary currencies (thesis of the week, part 2)
Ivan Tsikota has produced an interesting Master’s Thesis confirming that complementary currency systems (broadly conceived) have positive economic effects, and under which conditions these effects can be stimulated. Also of interest is that Ivan proposes a new taxonomy of economic systems. * Master’s Thesis: Complements to Economic Systems: Increasing Local Economic Sustainability. Ivan Tsikota. 2011-05-14…. Continue reading
Bitcoin, a post-meltdown currency for the rich?
Though being one of the first socially sovereign currencies with a peer to peer protocol (but also with a design that replicates and reinforces the artificial scarcity mechanics of the existing currencies), it’s no secret that part of the enthusiasm from Bitcoin stems from the right wing of the libertarians, i.e. the social force that… Continue reading
Did the p2p movements originate in the South?
Interesting thesis, excerpted from Aaron Peters in OpenDemocracy: “I would add that the movement is not just born solely from an ethical concern with the current system but rather, after several decades of recognising neo-liberalism’s ability to commodify every day life and desecrate the environment, those in the developed world are now beginning to understand… Continue reading