B-corporations – yes or no?
What do you consider the correct approach towards multinational corporations – tame them, or start to get rid of them? And what do we mean by ‘tame’ exactly? And what are the problems with multinational corporations in the first place? Read more
Ecological Land Co-op share offer extended after exceeding target: help us change the way land is owned in the UK
WOW! We’ve surpassed our initial maximum target of £340,000, and there are still FOUR days to go. Our new investors are helping us continue our work supporting small-scale, agro-ecological farming. Thank you! Read more
Can you imagine a world without money? Summary of the ‘credit commons’ idea and how it could be achieved
Last week I blogged about a potentially world-changing idea that could be labelled ‘credit commons’, or the catchy ‘global mutual credit system’. It’s a system of exchange that involves no money. It’s difficult to grasp at first, but the more you think about it, the more you realise that a) it’s implementable, and b) if… Continue reading Can you imagine a world without money? Summary of the ‘credit commons’ idea and how it could be achieved Read more
This is the best attempt I’ve seen at building a sustainable, democratic, (and inevitably moneyless) economy. It’s worth understanding what they’re saying
If you’ve got a sneaking suspicion that whatever we do, we’re not going to transition to a sustainable, democratic future with the current money and banking system, then I agree with you. Read more
How money causes poverty (plus war and ecological destruction), and what could replace it
Exchange has always been part of the human story, whether between individuals, tribes or nations. Some people have what others don’t, due to geography or skill, and exchange is a means of getting what you don’t have, and giving what you have a surplus of. Read more
Help the Ecological Land Co-operative to set up more smallholdings
You can join the Ecological Land Co-operative as an investor, by moving some money from your bank savings account (and receiving a better rate of interest). If you agree with the ELC’s principles, this would be extremely helpful. Read more
New Ecological Land Co-op share offer launched: here’s a chance to help bring about change in land ownership in the UK, and receive 3% interest for your trouble!
Please share this as widely as you can. I’m on the board of the Ecological Land Co-op, and so I know how much hard work has gone into this – it’s an opportunity for people to shift their money to help change the nature of land ownership in the UK, and receive 3% interest for… Continue reading New Ecological Land Co-op share offer launched: here’s a chance to help bring about change in land ownership in the UK, and receive 3% interest for your trouble! Read more
How to misrepresent Adam Smith: review of P. J. O’Rourke’s ‘On the Wealth of Nations’
I don’t know if you’re familiar with P. J., but he’s an excellent writer, and he’s extremely, acerbically funny. With this book, as with his Give War a Chance, several times he made me spit my tea out and have to stop to wipe tea off the page. Read more
Revisiting my old university economics textbook – how did I ever fall for this nonsense?
I haven’t opened my old university economics textbook (Economics, by David Begg, Stanley Fischer and Rudiger Dornbusch) since the 1980s, so I was curious to see how I would respond to what I was taught 30 years ago. Read more
Where does money really come from? (erratum: there is no fractional reserve system in the UK)
There is a simple conception of the banking system – that banks look after money for savers, and pay them interest. They then loan out that money to other people and charge them a slightly higher rate of interest, and that’s where they make their profit. Read more
Should the TV licence fee be scrapped?
It’s a tricky one. The argument for the licence fee (and one that I used to subscribe to until I watched the Panorama corporate propaganda piece – see below) is that the Beeb produces drama of a quality not found anywhere else. Read more
What’s the relative value of the world’s gold, Bitcoins, banknotes, derivatives, stocks & shares, property etc. See this incredible visualisation
Do you have any idea of the value of all the Bitcoins in the world, compared to, say, the value of all the silver in the world, or compared to the wealth of Warren Buffet, or compared to the amount of global debt etc.? Read more
Where does money come from? A bit of history
Here’s a story. Only a minority understand this story (although I think that minority is growing), which is surprising because it has enormous importance for the way the world works. Read more
The discipline of economics presupposes corporate capitalism and perpetual growth, which renders it invalid
Economics is not an unbiased academic discipline, it’s an ideology. Furthermore, economics is based on the false premise that perpetual growth is achievable. It is not, and the reason most people can’t see this is Read more
How has the 2008 financial crash affected the wealth of the rich and the poor, and what can we do about it?
Have we all suffered equally since the crash of 2008? Have we all shared in the austerity? Well, no – the gap between the rich and the poor is widening in the UK, the US and in fact, in the OECD. In the US, Robert Reich reports that 95% of economic gains since 2009 have… Continue reading How has the 2008 financial crash affected the wealth of the rich and the poor, and what can we do about it? Read more
Beware the ‘sharing’ economy – back door for a more rapacious form of capitalism
Something that’s been troubling me for a while. The ‘sharing’ economy must be a good thing, right? I’ve been trying to see the good in it for a while. Sharing anything must mean that fewer resources are used, less waste produced, people get to know each other in their communities. All sounds great, doesn’t it? Read more
Why do giant corporations pretend to be small, local, craft businesses?
Jack Daniel’s is a classic example of this. You must have seen their ads – on posters, in magazines, on TV? The ones where they try to disguise a massive corporate behemoth as a folksy, friendly, small, local business? Old men in dungarees play cards on upturned barrels Read more
‘Why?’ does consumer organisation ‘Which?’ support TTIP? (and what you can do about it)
Although the UK consumer organisation ‘Which?’ expresses some concerns about TTIP (the US/EU free trade agreement) the organisation’s main message is that TTIP is likely to be good for consumers as it may possibly mean some lower prices. Read more
Why international investors (i.e. ‘the 1%’) couldn’t care less about politics
Bloomberg recently covered a Credit Suisse report on the concerns of international investors in the US, in Europe and in Asia. What they found was very interesting – that their concerns were entirely economic. They just couldn’t care less about politics – and especially who gets elected in which country. Read more
How much should a loaf of bread cost?
You can now get white sliced bread in supermarkets for around 50p a loaf; or you can get hand-baked, organic loaves from independent bakers for around £3.50. We can also bake our own bread. What’s the best option, do you think? Read more