Info, news & debate
Credit commons
A brief history of money
Here’s a quick and dirty history of money. Since I’ve been involved in the mutual credit world, I’ve been reading various ‘history of money’ texts, and so I thought I’d organise the notes I’ve taken into a blog article. It’s a half-hour read, to accompany our new ‘Low-impact money’ topic, and I think it gives …
LETS – origins, and what happened next: Michael Linton of LETSystems & Open Money
This is Part 1 of a conversation with Michael Linton – inventor of LETS, the moneyless exchange system. I want to talk about that, and he has a new idea called Open Money that we’ll talk about in Part 2.
Mutual credit in Africa: interview with Will Ruddick of Grassroots Economics
I’d like to introduce Will Ruddick, who set up the Grassroots Economics Foundation in Kenya around ten years ago, that runs a very successful mutual credit network (called the Sarafu Network) there.
Saving and investment in a mutual credit world
Nothing we do to try to move to a sustainable, healthy and democratic society will work as long as we have the current money system, because money has two conflicting functions. It can be used to buy and sell things, and it can be used to store, hoard, accumulate and become wealthy with. As long …
New money stories: the eleven dollar bill
I’m writing a book – published by Chelsea Green next January – about the possibility of building a new economy around a moneyless, mutual credit core, at a time when money is going to be scarce. I’m often told that the best way to get new ideas across is with a story.
Incredible new research: how small businesses can be saved post-Covid
It seems pretty obvious that there’s a giant economic slump on the way that’s going to sweep away millions of small and medium-sized businesses around the world, so that Amazon can step in to continue to try to take over the entire global economy.
The Future of Money (Part 2): with Brett Scott
This is part 2 of a conversation with Brett Scott, author and specialist in the money system. Here’s his excellent YouTube channel, and I’ll add links to other things we talk about as well. Part 1 is here.
The Future of Money (Part 1): with Brett Scott
Today I’m talking with Brett Scott, author and specialist in the money system. Here’s his excellent YouTube channel, and I’ll add links to other things we talk about as well.
What happened to LETS systems? Sue Bell of Mutual Credit Services
Today I’m talking with Sue Bell, who was involved for many years in Brixton LETS and the Brixton Pound. She’s now part of a group called Mutual Credit Services (MCS), formed to build mutual credit clubs and to federate them together to build a new kind of moneyless trading system. I want to talk about …
Storing value in a mutual credit world: Chris Cook
This is the third in a series of interviews that will accompany a book I’m writing, that will be published by Chelsea Green – an employee-owned company, and part of the new economy that the book is describing, built around a mutual credit core. Today I’m talking with Chris Cook. He was the designer of …
Two planks – and a bridge – to the new economy
This article accompanies and enlarges upon the interview with Dil Green that we published recently, as part of series of articles on a forthcoming book about building a new economy around a mutual credit core.
Mutual credit clubs: an introduction, with Dil Green
Dil Green had the original idea for ‘mutual credit clubs’ that can federate to create a new global trading system. He’s brought together a group of people to form Mutual Credit Services (MCS) to start to build this federation (new website coming soon).
The Money and Society MOOC — and my subsequent adventures in mutual credit
The Money & Society MOOC was launched by Matthew Slater and Jem Bendell in 2014. In four dense but perfectly assimilable 2-hour videos, it blows open your understanding of economics, in an incredibly liberating and empowering way.
How can people keep working if the economy crashes and there’s just no money around?
Imagine that there’s an enormous economic crash coming. Say, the biggest economic crash in history. Outlandish, I know, but just give it a try.
How accountants can use mutual credit to support small businesses during the post-covid slump
Are you an accountant? Do you have an accountant? Do you know an accountant? If you could bring this article to their attention, we think they might find it interesting – it’s an idea that can be very useful for accountants, to help keep their small business clients afloat during the post-covid economic slump.
Community wealth building & mutual credit: a match made in heaven?
This is the third in a series of articles about community wealth building and mutual credit, by Dave Darby and Dil Green of Lowimpact.org and the Open Credit Network.
Mutual credit – a lifeline for small businesses
This post follows on from yesterday’s, about community wealth building. Tomorrow, Dil Green explains how community wealth building and mutual credit could be a match made in heaven.
The alternative to the current money system: Tim Jenkin, Matthew Slater & Dil Green
Here I interview Tim Jenkin, Matthew Slater and Dil Green (and Keith the cat, briefly, until he got bored – see video) about the money system, the problems it causes and what could replace it. Fascinating insights from three people who have spent an enormous amount of time thinking about the money system.
Keeping small businesses alive during the coronavirus / economic crisis
The coronavirus crisis is causing an economic crash that will only get worse. Research has indicated that a shortage of money will mean that up to a million UK small businesses may close in the coming months. To prevent the devastation of small businesses, and therefore our communities, there needs to be an alternative means …
Building the new economy: how to keep local economies trading in the economic slump caused by the coronavirus
This is the last of six articles this week about how we can keep local economies afloat during the coming economic slump. There is already a scarcity of money, as the coronavirus crisis forces businesses to lay off workers, and sole traders to give up. But it will get much worse. How can we keep …