Should I stay or should I go?” asks the singer of a popular song from the
1980’s.
That tells the story of my life, as it seems to be my recurrent dilemma.

(”Should I Stay or Should I Go” is a song by The Clash, from their album
Combat Rock. It was written in 1981 and featured Mick Jones on lead vocals.
It became the band’s only number-one single, a decade after it was
originally released.)
Am I a pop-music guru with an incredible memory, or what?

Well…, it’s “or what.”
Actually, I had no idea which group recorded that song, nor could I come up
with their name if my life depended on it, much less the name of their lead
singer or their album. That’s the marvel of Google and Wikipedia. Fill the
search box with a phrase or a fragment and voila! There you have in an
instant the details of a story, and it might even be fairly accurate.

Point is, since completing the manuscript for my fourth book, I’ve been
waiting for developments that would tip the balance and push me out the door
and onto an airplane. That’s always a tense time for me as comfort and
complacency battle it out with restlessness and the lure of “far away places
with strange sounding names.” (That’s another song verse from a lot farther
back. If you can remember who Jo Stafford was, you might have heard it sung
sometime).

On Thursday, restlessness won out and I booked a Saturday flight for Kuala
Lumpur. I know, air travel uses a lot of fossil fuel and makes a big carbon
footprint, but, it seems, we must be caterpillars for just a bit longer
before we metamorphose into the butterfly. As I write this my departure time
is just a few hours away. Yes, that meant just two days to pack up, move
out, and arrange all the details that must be taken care of prior to leaving
the country for an extended period of time.
How extended?
Don’t know.
This is a time of rapid change and general uncertainty . We’ll have to see
what develops and where the universe wants me to be.

I’ll spend the first few days with American friends who live in Kuala
Lumpur, then decide where to go next. My initial priority will be Rest and
Relaxation. I need to clear my head prior to the next stage of work on the
book. I’m already thinking of edits and additions, and I’m sure the
publisher will suggest some changes.

Why Malaysia? I enjoyed spending time there last year and have made some
good Malaysian friends whom I’ll arrange to see. Also, as I’ve said before,
Malaysia offers first world quality of life at third world prices. That was
confirmed yesterday when I saw an article from The Economist reporting their
Big Mac Index. The attached chart shows how various currencies shape up
against the US dollar, based on the cost of a Big Mac. That may not be very
scientific, but its probably a good indicator of the cost of living for the
average person.
Guess which currency is the MOST UNDERVALUED.
Right, the Malaysian Ringgit.

It’s the Stupid Economy!

“Death to the Middle Class” seems to be the battle cry of the global
financial and political elite as they herd the masses into their
neo-feudalist society. The US government bailouts of the financial looters
are becoming ever bigger and more frequent. These can be paid for only
through more inflation. As the value of the dollar is increasingly debased,
the savings of the middle-class are being wiped out. As with
hyper-inflations of the past, the government will use legal coercion to keep
people corralled in the dollar economy so that they can be sheared. Legal
tender laws will be augmented by increasingly draconian measures to prevent
escape. Take a look at the attached chart showing the growth of US
government debt since 1940, as well as the one of the Consumer Price Index.
Even the politically manipulated CPI reveals that the dollar has already
lost almost 90% of its value since 1950.

What does that mean for free market exchange alternatives?

World civilization is entering the acute stage of its illness. The next few
years will see great economic and political turbulence as the dominant
systems malfunction more dramatically. That may be painful, but it is also
bringing opportunities for creative change. Good models are needed to guide
the inevitable restructuring.

One promising model for a new economy has been developing over the past 50
years in the area of Mondragon in northern Spain. Some of you may be
familiar with the cooperative companies that have emerged there and been
organized into the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation
(http://www.mcc.es/ing/index.asp#). It is an economy that has been built
upon the basis of humane ideals and cooperative principles; an economy that
puts people above profits. I first became aware of it in the late 1970’s but
did not have occasion to visit until 2005. During my visit I enjoyed the
privilege of a full day briefing by Mikel Lezamiz, one of the executives of
the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation. The Mondragon experience is one that
merits careful study. Can it be replicated? I think it can, but it also
needs to be augmented. One missing element in the Mondragon model is an
independent, non-political exchange mechanism,the kind that I have been
proposing.

Georgia Kelly, under the umbrella of the non-profit Praxis Peace Institute
(www.praxispeace.org), is organizing a Mondragon tour this September. That
will provide an excellent learning opportunity for entrepreneurs, educators,
journalists and others who wish to improve the human condition.

That’s enough for now. Off to the airport.
And, as Swami Beyondananda (http://www.wakeuplaughing.com/) says, “May the
farce be with you.”
Tom

*********************************
Thomas H. Greco, Jr.
520-820-0575
thg@mindspring.com
www.Reinventingmoney.com

Website: GRECO

Blogs: Beyond Money: http://beyondmoney.wordpress.com;
Tom’s News and Views: http://tomazgreco.wordpress.com
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“Generosity is the virtue that produces peace.” - from a Buddhist Sutra

We have 22 other missives from monetary expert Tom Greco on our blog, see:
TOM

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