Money

Cash. Loot. Scratch. Lucre. Bread. Coin. Scrip. Moolah. Green. We all think we know intuitively what money is, and what it can do for us. Tom Greco, director of the Community Information Resource Center, understands and explains money on an eye-popping, fundamental level. Moreover, he provides a roadmap on how to make alternatives to the "legal tender" work for individuals, communities, and local economies. Money will set your mental gears spinning with fantastic ideas. This book explains the mysteries and realities of money in clear and accessible prose, and reveals the true workings, and alarming fragility, of our existing financial system. It also describes concrete and realistic actions that individuals, businesses, social service agencies, and governments can take to enhance productivity and purchasing power, to protect local economies from the ravages of globalization, and to strengthen the bonds of community. Money is a radical critique of our existing financial system, but also a practical and inspirational how-to manual for creating a vibrant and effective community currency system. You'll learn: * the truth about how money is created, and what it actually represents; * why we're all in debt; * how the financial system is structured to inevitably transfer wealth from the poor to the rich; and * how to start a financial revolution in your local community. A retired professor of business and economics, Tom Greco has spent twenty years studying community currency systems around the world, including historical models (such as during the Great Depression), and the scores of contemporary examples now operating in the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan. He helped establish the Tucson Traders currency in Arizona, and he has served as a consultant for many others. No pie-in-the-sky idealist, Greco offers a realistic vision of how healthy local economies can be supplemented with flourishing community currencies. Anyone who works routinely with money needs this book--this means bankers, stockbrokers, merchants, community organizers, loan sharks, gamblers, investors, bank robbers, hedge fund operators, sports agents, and ordinary people.

ISBN 1890132373   Pages 320 ISBN13 9781890132378 (What's this?)   Volumes 1 Publisher Chelsea Green Publishing Co   Weight (grammes) 476 Imprint Chelsea Green Publishing Co   Published in White River Junction Format Paperback   Height (mm) 234 Publication date 22 Nov 2001   Width (mm) 156 Library of Congress 2001042155   Spine width (mm) 20 DEWEY 332.4   Academic level General, Undergraduate DEWEY edition DC21

		List of Illustrations
		Foreword
		Preface
		Introduction
Pt. I		Monetary Realities and Official Illusions
1		What's the Matter with Money?		3
2		Community Currency and the New World Order		13
3		The Power and Place of Money		18
4		What Is Money?		22
5		The Disintegration of Local Economies		34
6		Money, Power, and the U.S. Constitution		41
7		Restoring Local Economies		46
Pt. II		Complementary Currencies, Past and Present
8		A Brief History of Community Currencies and Private Exchange Systems		57
9		Global Finance, Inflation, and Local Currencies		76
10		New Wave Pioneers		86
11		Recent Models and Developments		101
Pt. III		Monetary Transformation and Community Empowerment
12		Currency Fundamentals		127
13		Mutual Credit: The Foundation for Community Currencies		136
14		Basic Currency Types: A Classification Scheme		145
15		A Note on Interest		164
16		Medium of Exchange or Savings Medium?		172
Pt. IV		Currency Design, Improvement, and Innovation
17		Improving Local Currencies, or How to Make a Good Thing Better		181
18		How to Design and Implement a Community Exchange System		197
		More...

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