Finance

Whisp: What are the key parts and relationships in finance systems?

In the first on-line, virtual eSyntegration (eSyn2030) we began to explore finance--5. Economics of Change and Change of Economics

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Problematic aspects of finance include Compounding Interest, Private Banks, Fiat Money, Financial Speculation, and government Subsidies, Tax Shelters, & Bailouts for irresponsible financial institutions. Unethical Alliances--Collusion between financial institution's, governments, and big businesses use your earnings (gov taxes and corp profit) against you. We are feeding those institutions that take more from us than they give back. It can be argued that the financial system and its tentacles are destroying our neighborhoods and the planet which would support us all.

Finance: Local or Remote?

This is a time to strengthen our Neighborhood Financial Systems. We need to create our own courses in Neighborhood Economics, like home economics which has been dropped from school curricula.

We can relatively easily use our own Local Currencies and sidestep the current and growing scarcity of national currencies.

We can create and recreate our local business as Local Co-ops of local workers and users.

We can do all our banking with Local Co-op Banks and Credit Unions.

We can move as much land into Local Land Trusts as possible. We can displace Wall Street equity with Local Crowd Sourced Equity.

Eventually we could even become a network of locally self financing co-ops capable of both autonomy and export as has occurred in Northern Italy Article .

When external systems of material wealth fail us, we have a moment to come together and change things, locally. This is One of Those Moments. There will be more but we should make hay when the sun shines, to turn a phrase upside down.

None of this is impossible. Any neighborhood or community can create committees to explore the practical approaches to these forms of local economy and associated finance. All of it is going on now around the world. It is up to us to bring it here. Just try things. Learn from doing. A few Local Finance Development Teams could facilitate these changes toward an economically resilient and sustainable local economy developed from within and supporting each other. We can create Local Self-Education on these critical local financial tools.

A caution: When things are going well and we have all we need and more, few are willing to take time to change things, especially things that provide the material wealth we have.