Guy Standing focuses here on the research and experiments which show basic income guarantees are working where they have been tried. The first 3.50 minutes are a dutch-language introduction to the speaker. Watch the video here:
Date archives "January 2016"
Economic Calculation (4): How Current Supply Chains Can Serve Broader Mutual Coordination
A thought module proposed by Bob Haugen, via email: “Most such discussions (about Economic Calculation) miss what I talked about here: The short version is that the people who are still talking about the calculation problem do not seem to understand how planning and replanning is done now in capitalist supply chains (as well as… Continue reading
Conditions for a new long wave of economic development: revisiting the low road / high road scenarios
Grassroots and commons-based productive movements must of course continue their efforts, and the negative orientation towards more and more inequality (and surveillance/repression), and biospheric destruction are largely unchecked. However, it is also important not to be blind to real adaptations that are effectively occurring within the dominant system. In 2010, I wrote an editorial in… Continue reading
Video: Felix Stadler on Public vs Commons Resources in the context of changing knowledge orders
Felix Stadler explains that: “In this lecture, I try to untangle the differences between resources that managed as “public” and are thus connected to notions of the state and citizens and those that are managed as “free” and are thus based on notions of the commons and community. The differences are subtle, but in their… Continue reading
RSA Primer calls for ‘shared regulation’ as a new governance model for sharing economy platforms
* Report: Fair Share. Reclaiming power in the sharing economy. By Brhmie Balaram. RSA, 2016 Excerpted from the recommended RSA report, by Brhmie Balaram: “While self-regulation is remedying some issues in the sharing economy, we theorise we would see better results from widening participation. The concept of self- regulation should be pushed further than government… Continue reading
Democratic Money and Capital for the Commons
One of the more complicated, mostly unresolved issues facing most commons is how to assure the independence of commons when the dominant systems of finance, banking and money are so hostile to commoning. How can commoners meet their needs without replicating (perhaps in only modestly less harmful ways) the structural problems of the dominant money… Continue reading
From little brother/sister to Big Father to Big Brother to Little Brother and Sister at Scale
The following book review describes the shift from traditional tribal societies, which was based on the trust of knowing each other personally in small communities, to the shift towards big centralized empires, which required a common fear of God to create trust amongst strangers. Contining with such a evolutonary perspectve we could posit the phase… Continue reading
Economic Calculation (3): Can Distributed Energy Metering Be Considered as a Commons?
A thought module proposed by Roberto Verzola, via email: “Please look more closely at net metering and the energy exchanges that happen under it. It seems to be similar to the kind of (economic calculation) mechanism you are looking for, as follows: – It measures the individual contribution of a solar owner’s surplus (the reversal… Continue reading
The Greek state energy utility under the leadership of a distributed energy proponent
“Not hat long ago, I had a conversation with Ioannis Margaris, the CEO of the Greek state energy producer, a technician and economic theorist who is investing a lot of his own energy in transforming Greek electricity production into peer-to-peer production. Before he joined the energy firm’s senior executive team Margaris was a researcher at… Continue reading
Some reading notes on the book, “Commun”, published in France
Commun is a book that is perhaps the first political-theoretical treatise on the commons in France, and has been much discussed by commoners in France. * Book: Commun: essai sur la revolution au XXIème siècle. Pierre Dardot and Christian Laval. (In English: Common: An Essay on Revolution in the 21st Century) Here are some quick… Continue reading
How a p2p-driven mutual coordination economy may solve the economic calculation problem (2)
Two days ago, we presented the article by Seth Ackerman in which he presented the ‘economic calculation problem’ and various solutions to it, ending his argument with a call for a form of socialized finance which would respect the autonomy of the firm. For a more in-depth understanding, see how I have processed his arguments… Continue reading
True Accelerationism (5): John D. Liu on Large-Scale Ecosystem Restoration Projects
A series on true accelerationist technologies that will be instrumental against biospheric destruction: “”It’s possible to rehabilitate large-scale damaged ecosystems.” Environmental film maker John D. Liu documents large-scale ecosystem restoration projects in China, Africa, South America and the Middle East, highlighting the enormous benefits for people and planet of undertaking these efforts globally.” Watch the… Continue reading
Can We Free Ourselves from the Current Debt Supercycle?
Gail Tverberg in her post “2016: Oil Limits and the End of the Debt Supercycle” concludes that we’re now on the end of a debt supercycle. Because debt is different this time, it’s very unlikely that we can enter a new supercycle. This has to do with the fact that we live in a finite… Continue reading
The crisis of the left as a crisis of the imagination
This is excerpted from an article from Jerome Roos. However, though we find this section appealing, on the whole, this article does not renew profoundly with the left tradition, though it adds the commons as one of the three planks of its renewal. What lacks most however, is any clear indication of the need for… Continue reading
Why has Bitcoin failed?
Why has Bitcoin failed? It has failed because the community has failed. What was meant to be a new, decentralised form of money that lacked “systemically important institutions” and “too big to fail” has become something even worse: a system completely controlled by just a handful of people. Worse still, the network is on the… Continue reading
True Accelerationism (4): The LM3D, the first system of sustainable distributed manufacturing may be ready by 2017
A series on true accelerationist technologies that will be instrumental against biospheric destruction. “With sustainability at the core of the design, parts can be manufactured directly from digital files at ‘Microfactories’, reducing the costs and carbon footprint associated with molding, casting and machine use. Users could recycle parts indefinitely, replacing damaged bodywork or upgrading as… Continue reading