Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

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 whf 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.

f 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.

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.

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.f 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Illustrations (p. xiii)
• Foreword (p. xv)
• Preface (p. xviii)
• Introduction (p. xx)
• Part I. Monetary Realities and Official Illusions
• 1. What's the Matter with Money? (p. 3)
• Symptoms of Disease (p. 4)
• Three Ways in Which Conventional Money Malfunctions (p. 4)
• How Money Is Created (p. 4)
• Sidebar: An Example of Money Creation (p. 8)
• Why There Is Never Enough Money (p. 8)
• How Money Is Misallocated (p. 9)
• How Money Pumps Wealth from the Poor to the Rich (p. 11)
• Sidebar: For Whom the Debt Tolls (p. 12)
• 2. Community Currency and the New World Order (p. 13)
• Why Community Currencies? (p. 13)
• The New World Order (p. 14)
• Gaia Consciousness and Human Unity (p. 15)
• Correcting Past Errors (p. 16)
• 3. The Power and Place of Money (p. 18)
• The Power Inherent in Money (p. 18)
• The Place of Money in Human Interaction (p. 19)
• The Body Economic (p. 20)
• 4. What Is Money? (p. 22)
• Definitions (p. 23)
• The Essential Nature of Money (p. 23)
• The Exchange Process and the Purpose of Money (p. 24)
• Historical Forms of Money (p. 25)
• The Money Circuit (p. 26)
• Bank Credit Money and the Interest Burden (p. 29)
• 5. The Disintegration of Local Economies (p. 34)
• Levers of Power, Then and Now (p. 34)
• The Evolution of Money (p. 35)
• Social Control through Control of Money and Finance (p. 37)
• Social Disintegration (p. 37)
• The End of Empires (p. 39)
• 6. Money, Power, and the U.S. Constitution (p. 41)
• Measuring Value and Defining the Dollar (p. 43)
• The Consolidation of Money Power (p. 43)
• 7. Restoring Local Economies (p. 46)
• Healthy Communities, Healthy World (p. 47)
• Two Fundamental Strategies (p. 48)
• Small (and Local) Is Beautiful (p. 49)
• How to Bring Money under Local Control (p. 50)
• Community Banking and the Liberation of Money (p. 50)
• The Role of Community Currencies (p. 51)
• Part II. Complementary Currencies, Past and Present
• 8. A Brief History of Community Currencies and Private Exchange Systems (p. 57)
• Scrip of the Great Depression (p. 58)
• WIR: The Swiss Wirtschaftsring (p. 67)
• Legal Considerations (p. 68)
• Lessons Learned (p. 68)
• The Deflation Dilemma (p. 70)
• Railway Notes (p. 70)
• Sidebar: The "Constant" Currency of Ralph Borsodi (p. 73)
• An Early Proposal for a Credit Clearing System (p. 74)
• 9. Global Finance, Inflation, and Local Currencies (p. 76)
• Why Central Governments and Central Banks Don't Like Local Currencies (p. 76)
• The Argentine Experience (p. 82)
• 10. New Wave Pioneers (p. 86)
• Barter, Reciprocal Trade, and Mutual Credit (p. 86)
• Commercial "Barter" or Trade Exchanges (p. 87)
• LETS: Local Employment and Trading System (p. 89)
• The Berkshire Experiments (p. 94)
• Ithaca HOURS (p. 95)
• Service Credits and Time Dollars (p. 98)
• Update on the Pioneers (p. 99)
• 11. Recent Models and Developments (p. 101)
• Tucson Traders (p. 101)
• The doMAK "Barter" Circle (p. 106)
• Toronto Dollars, "Money That Builds Community" (p. 107)
• Friendly Favors (p. 112)
• Equal Dollars (=$s) (p. 114)
• The Developing World Takes the Lead (p. 115)
• Part III. Monetary Transformation and Community Empowerment
• 12. Currency Fundamentals (p. 127)
• Basis of Issue (p. 128)
• Regulation of the Amount of Exchange Media Supplied (p. 128)
• Power to Issue (p. 129)
• What Gives a Currency Credibility? (p. 130)
• Forms and Devices (p. 134)
• 13. Mutual Credit: The Foundation for Community Currencies (p. 136)
• What Is Mutual Credit? (p. 136)
• How a Mutual Credit System Works (p. 138)
• Basic Steps in Organizing a Mutual Credit System (p. 140)
• Continuing Issues in Mutual Credit Systems (p. 142)
• Strategies for Enhancing Mutual Credit Systems and Gaining Acceptance (p. 144)
• 14. Basic Currency Types: A Classification Scheme (p. 145)
• Different Breeds of Cat: Community Currencies Are Not All Created Equal (p. 145)
• Good Paper vs. Bad Paper (p. 146)
• Types of Currencies (p. 146)
• Sidebar: Harvey Bucks (p. 158)
• 15. A Note on Interest (p. 164)
• Interest or Usury? (p. 165)
• Toward Better Forms of Exchange (p. 167)
• What about Charges on Credit Balances? (p. 167)
• Sidebar: A Story of Robinson Crusoe (p. 168)
• 16. Medium of Exchange or Savings Medium? (p. 172)
• Conflicting Roles of Money (p. 172)
• Saving and Investment (p. 173)
• How Do We Save? (p. 173)
• Preventing Stagnation in Mutual Credit Systems (p. 174)
• Current Account vs. Capital Account (p. 175)
• Sidebar: Mutual Credit Loans: An Example (p. 176)
• Interest Revisited (p. 176)
• Basis of Issue Revisited (p. 177)
• Part IV. Currency Design, Improvement, and Innovation
• 17. Improving Local Currencies, or How to Make a Good Thing Better (p. 181)
• Gift Exchange vs. Reciprocal Exchange (p. 182)
• Money Is an IOU (p. 182)
• Basis of Issue (p. 183)
• Mutual Credit and Paper Notes (p. 183)
• Essential Differences between LETS and HOURS (p. 183)
• How HOURS Work (p. 184)
• Fish or Fowl? (p. 185)
• How Are Ithaca HOURS Issued? (p. 189)
• Adding a Capital Cushion (p. 191)
• Using Excess Business Capacity to Support Local Currency (p. 191)
• Combined Bases of Issue (p. 195)
• 18. How to Design and Implement a Community Exchange System (p. 197)
• Summary Prescription (p. 198)
• Detailed Guidelines (p. 199)
• Conclusion (p. 212)
• 19. A Business-Based Community Currency (p. 213)
• Community Trading Coupons (p. 214)
• 20. Currency Alternatives for Impersonal Markets (p. 220)
• Grain Banks and a Commodity-Based Currency (p. 221)
• Comparison to Conventional Money (p. 224)
• 21. Good Money for Good Work (p. 227)
• Community Service Coupons (p. 227)
• Earth Rescue Receipts (ERRs) (p. 232)
• Sidebar: ERR Questions and Answers (p. 234)
• Funded Temporary Receipts (FTRs) (p. 236)
• Sidebar: FTR Questions and Answers (p. 239)
• 22. Youth Employment Scrip (YES) (p. 241)
• The Youth Problem (p. 242)
• The Money Problem (p. 244)
• How Does the YES Program Work? (p. 245)
• Benefits of the YES Project (p. 247)
• Involving Local Businesses (p. 248)
• Program Participants and Agreements (p. 249)
• Sidebar: YES Questions and Answers (p. 252)
• Epilogue (p. 255)
• Appendix A Note on Banking as a Profession, and Its Reform (p. 257)
• Appendix B Note on the Proper Basis of Issue for Currency, and the Means of Financing Capital Investments and Consumer Durables (p. 260)
• Acknowledgments (p. 263)
• Notes (p. 264)
• References (p. 274)
• Sources and Resources (p. 277)
• Index (p. 289)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Tom Greco, director of the Community Information Resource Center, is a former engineer, entrepreneur, and professor of business. He has spent more than twenty years studying money, banking, and community currency systems around the world and throughout history. He helped establish the Tucson Traders currency in his home town in southern Arizona, and has consulted on many others