Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender
by Thomas H. Greco
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Description
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 show more 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. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
This was interesting but definitely not the most well-written book I've read. I was looking for more of a book exploring the ideas that the author just barely touches upon, such as how the current monetary system is inherently flawed, why, and how it can be fixed. This book is more concerned with currently existing local currency programs, how to start them, how they work, and how they are inherently better than Federal Reserve Notes.
I also think the author intends for some people to skip chapters and read here and there, so he repeats himself a lot, which is annoying if you read the book straight through as I did.
As I said, definitely interesting, but by the end I was skimming a lot. But there's a lot of ground covered in this book and show more it would be a great resource for anybody looking to start a local alternative currency program. show less
I also think the author intends for some people to skip chapters and read here and there, so he repeats himself a lot, which is annoying if you read the book straight through as I did.
As I said, definitely interesting, but by the end I was skimming a lot. But there's a lot of ground covered in this book and show more it would be a great resource for anybody looking to start a local alternative currency program. show less
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