http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/economy.htm en-us sepp@lastrega.com Sat, 17 Nov 2007 09:13:53 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2007/11/17/fbi_raids_liberty_dollar_why_neocons_hate_complementary_currencies.htm On 15 November at eight in the morning, a dozen FBI and Secret Service Agents descended on the Liberty Dollar office in Evansville, Indiana. The agents sequestered all the gold, silver and platinum in the office, including some two tons of Ron Paul Dollars that had just arrived from the mint some days ago. They also took all records, files and computers and froze the bank accounts. American Liberty Dollars - Image source: Wikipedia. Liberty Dollars are a private or complementary currency, backed by the value of precious metals and expressed through coins, paper certificates and electronic digits for easy transfer. Bernard von NotHaus, the man behind the currency, says in a note to currency holders and... Economy Sepp Hasslberger Sat, 17 Nov 2007 09:13:53 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2007/03/16/empire_a_global_web_of_corruption.htm A new book, A Game As Old As Empire: The Secret World of Economic Hit Men and the Web of Global Corruption, shines a spotlight on the subversion of countries around the globe by economic manipulations. The book by, edited by Steven Hiatt, but with contributions of a dozen other authors, continues where John Perkins' Confessions of an Economic Hit Man left off. Amazon A Game As Old As Empire uncovers the inner workings of the institutions behind these economic manipulations. The contributors detail concrete examples of how the “economic hit man game” is still being played: an officer of an offshore bank hiding hundreds of millions of dollars in stolen money, IMF advisers slashing Ghana’s education... Economy Sepp Hasslberger Fri, 16 Mar 2007 20:27:20 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2007/03/02/new_hampshire_beginnings_of_a_freedom_revolution.htm If there is a place in the US, where the original dream of a free country and freedom for citizens is alive and well, it may be New Hampshire, home of the Free State Project. "The Free State Project is an effort to recruit 20,000 liberty-loving people to move to New Hampshire. We are looking for neighborly, productive, tolerant folks from all walks of life, of all ages, creeds, and colors who agree to the political philosophy expressed in our Statement of Intent, that government exists at most to protect people's rights, and should neither provide for people nor punish them for activities that interfere with no one else." The project is seeking to concentrate within the... Economy Sepp Hasslberger Fri, 2 Mar 2007 12:34:19 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2007/02/26/local_currency_berkshares_encourage_commerce.htm BerkShares are a local currency used in Southern Berkshire, in the State of Massachusetts. Like the German UrstromTaler, which recently made BBC news, and the Ithaca Hours, arguably the granddaddy of local currencies in the U.S., the idea is to promote local commerce. UrstromTaler Image: BBC Globalization has Americans shopping at Walmart and similar huge retailers, buying Chinese or other foreign made goods, while local business languishes and many small shops are forced to close down. Reversing that trend is the goal of local currencies around the world, and there are a growing number of them in many countries. The movement towards a currency that sustains local economy is not new, but with the BBC recently reporting... Economy Sepp Hasslberger Mon, 26 Feb 2007 20:47:17 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2006/12/11/pinochet_and_the_fairy_tale_miracle_of_chile.htm Augusto Pinochet, the CIA-installed army general and dictator of Chile who ended the Salvador Allende led period of democratic government in that country, recently died at age 91. Victims of Pinochet's human rights abuses are celebrating his passing. Photo credit: Jonathan Franklin "I think that the death of Pinochet permits us to let go of the past and now we can look forward at the future with much more optimism and the desire to reconcile," said Maria Angelica Prats, the daughter of a Carlos Prats, an army general who was murdered by Pinochet security forces in a car bomb attack. But Pinochet's heritage is not only characterized by Human Rights violations. He also all but ruined the... Economy Sepp Hasslberger Mon, 11 Dec 2006 12:28:55 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2005/10/23/microcredit_you_can_help_break_the_cycle_of_poverty.htm Without donating a penny, you can help to break the cycle of poverty in a very real way. Simply by placing a $1,000 microcredit investment you can pull several families in the developing world out of poverty for every year your money is invested. This is not a donation or charity. Like other investments, you eventually get all of your money back. You even earn a small amount of interest on your investment. 2005 is the year of Microcredit. Fred Burks, former personal interpreter for presidents Bush and Clinton, says he has found this an effective way to help, promoting real economic development that allows people in poor countries to build up their own economic base. ...... Economy Sepp Hasslberger Sun, 23 Oct 2005 19:18:38 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2005/08/15/new_economics_the_scourge_of_interest_rates.htm Interest is steering us towards non-sustainability, argues Jeremy Wakeford, writing for the South African New Economics Network, a group described on their site as an independent network for the creation of a humane, just, sustainable and culturally appropriate economic system in South Africa. Not only does interest act as a constantly active mechanism for the transfer of value from the poor to the rich, it is also an incentive for wasteful consumption. The result is the thoughtless use of resources which by rights should not only be left in place but should be lovingly cared for, to ensure the survival of future generations. The debate about interest has been carefully kept from public view and the great... Economy Sepp Hasslberger Mon, 15 Aug 2005 16:32:04 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2005/07/07/agribusiness_farming_subsidies_destroy_food_security.htm The European "Common Agricultural Policy" and its related monster, US grain and meat export subsidies, have been a cancer on our food production pathways, eating into food quality by stimulating industrial scale production that depletes the earth's mineral wealth. Even more importantly, these policies are driving large numbers of our small farmers off their farms which have, for thousands of years, been the mainstay of food production and have provided relative food security. Today, farmers are paid either to NOT produce, or are given subsidies even when overall production of a commodity, like milk, exceeds demand. Foods get imported and exported for no other reason than to obtain the subsidies - often one country imports a similar... Society Sepp Hasslberger Thu, 7 Jul 2005 12:13:09 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2005/06/24/social_credit_make_your_own_bank.htm The economic prescriptions and principles that work for industrialized countries and even for the capital cities of developing nations break down when it comes to bringing prosperity to an area with no infrastructure and a hungry population. The usual prescription is the stimulation of SME - Small and Medium-sized Enterprise - activity, but the bottleneck is credit availability. Robert J. McIntyre acknowledges this in a recent paper, when he says: Outside the capital cities, most of transition economies have not yet achieved broad-based and sustainable growth. Misguided assumptions that the small enterprise sector would by itself create successful economic growth, that individual private ownership was the only viable form and that local banking services are best provided... Economy Sepp Hasslberger Fri, 24 Jun 2005 16:30:51 GMT http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2005/06/04/third_world_economy_is_foreign_aid_destructive.htm Foreign Aid comes with a feel-good factor. We can be satisfied that we are - our countries are - contributing to the economic well-being of starving people in the Third World. Even if only a small percentage of our money goes to that aid, at least we did something positive. Or did we? Zambian writer Evans Munyemesha does not think so. In an article titled International Aid, published in The Zambian, he charges that development aid, "has financed the creation of monstrous projects that, at vast expense, have devastated the environment and ruined lives". Rather than getting down to "the hard task of wealth creation", Munyemesha says, "easy handouts" have been substituted "for the rigors of self-help",... Economy Sepp Hasslberger Sat, 4 Jun 2005 01:08:45 GMT