Greco Pushing Forth With Establishment, Education Of Mutual Credit
Clearing Systems
Today we see
the financial markets in turbulence with sub-prime loans creating
angst and unrest in U.S. real estate, Wall Street needing the Fed's
assistance through multi-billions injected into the nation's banking
system, and growing wonder about the trillion-dollar derivative
markets.
All which
brings back memories of Bernard Lietaer's address at the
International Reciprocal Trade Association's 26th Convention in the
fall of 2005 held at Disney World. Lietaer foresaw and provided a
5-year outlook for the worldwide currencies and his perspective of
currency upheavals ahead.
At last year's
IRTA convention Tom Greco stressed the importance of, and the
opportunity for, the commercial barter industry to grab the ball and
run with it—by creating a universal worldwide trading currency.
While the
industry has yet to heed the advice by taking action, Greco is
passionately moving forward to educate as many people in various
areas of the world as possible. Here is a recent letter from him:
Greetings,
I'd like to share with you the
progress we've made on our project here in Tamil Nadu.
Our excellent team has prepared
a grant proposal in the expectation of
getting funds with which to
begin stage one of the project. Please note that our proposal, which
is contained in the attached document,
describes a comprehensive plan
for development of the entire southeast India region, based on the
organization of a non-cash payment alternative (mutual credit
clearing).
We are requesting that the
funder provide about USD13,000 for this stage. The overall project
will take about two years to become self-sustaining.
This is an ambitious undertaking
but it is essential that at least one such well-designed working
model be established somewhere in the world so that it can be
quickly emulated. (We expect the need for payment alternatives to
intensify as the conventional money system continues to
malfunction.)
Implementation of such a plan
will require broad participation by
established businesses, NGOs,
local government agencies, and eventually, the general public.
I'm posting the proposal to my
BeyondMoney blog
http://www.beyondmoney.wordpress.com, in the hope that:
1.
others might embark
upon a similar course in their own area,
2.
you might suggest
other possible sources of funding for this and later stages, and
3.
you might suggest
appropriate candidates to help staff our project.
It would be especially helpful
to have a project coordinator who has experience in the commercial
“barter” industry, since skills in marketing, sales, and outreach to
mainstream businesses will be key in building this trade exchange to
reach significant scale.
