>While Wall Street was in meltdown, Sigrid Rausing found an alternative model of lending thriving in Queens, New York.by Sigrid RausingNew Statesman (October 16 2008)On the morning of Friday 10 October, as even the mainstream US media were speculating about the possibility of the end of capitalism as we know it, I went to visit … Continue reading >Grass-roots banking →

>Clusterfuck Nation by Jim KunstlerComment on current events by the author ofThe Long Emergency (2005)www.kunstler.com (December 28 2008)IntroductionThere are two realities "out there" now competing for verification among those who think about national affairs and make things happen. The dominant one (let's call it the Status Quo) is that our problems of finance and economy … Continue reading >Forecast for 2009 →

>by Paul Krugman, Op-Ed ColumnistThe New York Times (December 03 2007)The financial crisis that began late last summer, then took a brief vacation in September and October, is back with a vengeance.How bad is it? Well, I've never seen financial insiders this spooked - not even during the Asian crisis of 1997-98, when economic dominoes … Continue reading >Innovating Our Way to Financial Crisis →

>by John Michael GreerThe Archdruid Report (December 24 2008)Druid perspectives on nature, culture, and the future of industrial societyOne of the advantages of being a Druid is that you get to open your holiday presents four days early. Last Sunday's winter solstice was pleasant, with a scattering of snow on the ground outside and candles … Continue reading >History’s Arrow →

>by William Hixson (1997)Creating money is immensely profitably to a government or a banking system.As of year-end 1994 the legal tender created by the US government (GCM or government created money) totalled $418.5 billion. It is made up of three components: $354.5 billion of currency held by the public, and $64 billion of bank vault … Continue reading >Notes on "It’s Your Money" →

>Judea Pearl recounts his family's emigration from Poland to Palestine in 1924 to rebuild an ancient city. George E Bisharat tells of his Palestinian grandfather's hospitality before his West Jerusalem home was expropriated by Israel in 1948.Los Angeles Times (May 16 2008)What Israel means to meby Judea PearlI was born in Tel Aviv in 1936 … Continue reading >Roots in the Holy Land →

>Modern Banking and the Fractional Reserve SystemDo you know where the bank gets the $160,000 for your mortgage? It's very simple. Someone walks over to a computer and types 160,000 beside your name. With only $27.93 of cash reserves for every $10,000 of assets (as of June 1999) the bank has just created the remaining … Continue reading >A Privatised Money Supply →

>Examination of William F Hixson's book A Matter of Interest: Reexamining Money, Debt, and Real Economic Growth. Foreword by John H Hotson (Praeger, 1991). by Robert PollinMonthly Review (October 1993)"The Casino Society" is the apt term that came to characterize the US economy in the 1980s - the speculation driven free for all symbolized by … Continue reading >A Progressive Program for Monetary Reform? →

>by James HowardEnergy Bulletin (December 01 2008)Peak Oil and Climate Change are two historic events for humans and life on earth. The first threatens modern industrial ways of living and the latter threatens the climatic systems that are an integral part of our world and the way we live and survive.A quick recap on both. … Continue reading >The Fusion of Peak Oil & Climate Change →

>by John H HotsonPCDForum Article #15 (June 01 1996)An understanding of the true nature of money is essential for those seeking economic reforms toward the creation of sustainable societies. People today have more erroneous ideas about money than Victorians had about sex, so please read the following with care.Let's begin with the distinction between "legal … Continue reading >Understanding Money →