<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Thomas Greco</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:thg@mindspring.com">thg@mindspring.com</a>></span><br>Date: Thu, Oct 20, 2011 at 12:47 PM<br>
Subject: Newsletter, Fall 2011<br>To: <a href="mailto:thg@mindspring.com">thg@mindspring.com</a><br><br><br>
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Newsletter,
Fall 2011<u></u><u></u></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Update
<u></u><u></u></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Hi all, <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">As you know, I've been
residing in
Thailand since the middle of June, but I�m sensing a call to get
to where the
action is, and right now that seems to be North America. So,
I�ll be returning
to the U.S. on October 28. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">First on my agenda is to
collect my mail
and gather some warm clothing from my storage unit in Tucson,
then I�ll head
for Michigan to participate in the <i>International
Conference on Sustainability, Transition and Culture Change</i>,
near Traverse
City, <span>Thursday, Nov. 10
- Monday, Nov.
14, 2011 at the Shanty Creek Resorts, Bellaire, Michigan.</span><br>
<a href="http://sustainabilityconference.org/index.htm" target="_blank">http://sustainabilityconference.org/index.htm</a>.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">That conference could be
the initiating
event for an ongoing process of design, strategy planning, and
implementation
of alternative systems, especially systems of exchange and
finance. I�m
encouraging all who are able to attend and to pass the word to
your networks. Notable
participates will be Australian economist Steve Keen and Nicole
Foss of <a href="http://theautomaticearth.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Automatic
Earth</a>.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Over the coming weeks or
months I�ll be
available and open to invitations to speak, confer, and
collaborate. You can
view/hear many of my presentations and interviews by going to my
website, Beyond
Money: <a href="http://beyondmoney.net" target="_blank">http://beyondmoney.net</a>.
Some of my
most notable recent presentations are on my Vimeo site: <a href="http://vimeo.com/tomazg/videos" target="_blank">http://vimeo.com/tomazg/videos</a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">I've been watching with
great interest
the OWS movement and am encouraged to see that so many people
are no longer
willing to tolerate the status quo. I've posted a few items
about it recently
on <a href="http://beyondmoney.net" target="_blank">http://beyondmoney.net</a>.
This may be the
surge that begins the kind of real change that people have been
looking for. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><br>
Demonstrations and other expressions of discontent can help to
inspire people
and encourage them to act, but that energy must be applied in
ways that can
effect real change. I'm generally optimistic about the prospects
for a
successful metamorphic change in civilization, but it will
require us to learn
radical ways of <b>sharing</b>, <b>cooperation</b>, and <b>organization</b>.<br>
<br>
If we are to make the necessary <b>shift of power</b> away from
Wall Street and
Washington, we will need to reduce our dependence upon <b>their</b> systems and structures (like political money
and banks) and
organize new structures that empower people. Let�s work together
to provide the
direction this movement needs.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Just
Released<u></u><u></u></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Pertinent to that is the
release a new
book from EVOLVER EDITIONS/North Atlantic Books. Edited by
Daniel Pinchbeck and
Ken Jordan, and titled, <a href="http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=11707&qid=3129769" target="_blank"><b>What Comes After Money: Essays from Reality
Sandwich on Transforming
Currency & Commerce</b></a>, this anthology includes
�thoughtful,
provocative essays from economist Bernard Leitaer, media
theorist Douglas
Rushkoff, Sacred Economics author Charles Eisenstein, musician
Paul D. Miller
(a.k.a. DJ Spooky), theoretical physicist Amit Goswami, Larry
Harvey (founder
of Burning Man), alternative historian Peter Lamborn Wilson,�
and yours truly,
Thomas Greco.</span><img src="cid:part1.02010308.04070108@mindspring.com" height="144" hspace="12" width="96" align="left"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"> My essay is titled, <i>Local
Control of Credit: The Foundation of Economic Democracy</i>
(p. 191)<i>.</i><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">In his introduction to the
book, Daniel
talks about the emergence of a conscious culture to challenge
Wall Street's
consumerist paradigm. You can read it here: <a href="http://www.realitysandwich.com/sites/realitysandwich.civicactions.net/modules/civicrm/extern/url.php?u=11702&qid=3129769" target="_blank">http://www.realitysandwich.com/impossible_alternative</a>.
More
information about the book can be found at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Comes-After-Money-Transforming/dp/1583943498/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1319073348&sr=1-1" target="_blank">Amazon.com</a>,
which is offering the book at a discounted price. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Thailand
Floods<u></u><u></u></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><b><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Many people have been
asking about the
flooding in Thailand that has been widely reported in the news.
Monsoon rains
are normal for this part of the world, but this has been one of
the rainiest
years on record. A large amount of farmland has been inundated
and some crops
destroyed, but the biggest problems are in the urban and
industrial areas that
are built along the major rivers. As is the case everywhere,
land is quite
valuable in such areas and attempts are made to fill in
marshland and restrict
waterways to narrow channels. Nature has no regard for such
activities. One of
the worst effects of flooding is the increase in illnesses from
water-borne
microbes as floodwater is contaminated with sewage, which can
also cause food
supplies to be contaminated. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Fortunately, Chiang Mai,
where I spend
most of my time, experienced only a small amount of flooding
along the Ping
River for a few days a couple weeks ago, but fresh food markets
in that area
had water standing a foot or two deep, which might have caused
some bacterial
transfer to food supplies here. There are reports of increased
numbers of people
visiting emergency clinics and I myself was sick for a while
with what seemed
like a bad head cold and respiratory congestion. I don�t know if
that was flood
related but whatever the case I�m better now. <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The main problems seem now
to be in the
south around Bangkok and Ayutthaya where severe flooding
continues and has
affected a great many people, plus manufacturing facilities, so
you may feel
some effect as well. Here�s an excerpt from some news reports
about that: <u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Disk
manufacturing sites in Thailand -- notably including the
largest Western
Digital plant -- were shut down due to floods around Bangkok
last week and are
expected to remain shut for at least several more days. The
end to flooding is
not in sight, and Western Digital now says it could take five
to eight months
to bring its plants back online. Thailand is a major
manufacturer of hard
drives, and the shutdowns have reduced the industry's output
by 25 percent. </span></i><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">And..<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><i><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Inner
Bangkok has so far escaped major flooding as the authorities
divert water to
areas outside the main capital in a bid to prevent the Chao
Phraya River
bursting its banks and flooding the political and economic
heartland.<br>
<br>
But efforts to keep the city of 12 million people dry have
been complicated by
a seasonal high tide.<u></u><u></u></span></i></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Read more here: <a href="http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/506532-thai-pm-says-floods-in-parts-of-bangkok-inevitable/" target="_blank">http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/506532-thai-pm-says-floods-in-parts-of-bangkok-inevitable/</a>
<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">The airports seem to be OK
for now�if the
dikes hold. I fly out of Bangkok next week.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;">Cheers,<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; line-height: normal;"><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><u></u>�<u></u></span></p><font color="#888888">
<pre cols="72">--
Thomas H. Greco, Jr.
<a href="mailto:thg@mindspring.com" target="_blank">thg@mindspring.com</a>
Mobile phone (Thailand): <a href="tel:%2B66%2084%20373%205645" value="+66843735645" target="_blank">+66 84 373 5645</a>
Mobile phone (USA): <a href="tel:520-820-0575" value="+15208200575" target="_blank">520-820-0575</a>
Beyond Money: <a href="http://beyondmoney.net" target="_blank">http://beyondmoney.net</a>
Tom's News and Views: <a href="http://tomazgreco.wordpress.com" target="_blank">http://tomazgreco.wordpress.com</a>
Archive Website: <a href="http://www.Reinventingmoney.com" target="_blank">http://www.Reinventingmoney.com</a>
Photo gallery: <a href="http://picasaweb.google.com/tomazhg" target="_blank">http://picasaweb.google.com/tomazhg</a>
Skype/Twitter name: tomazgreco
My latest book, "The End of Money and the Future of Civilization"
can be ordered from Chelsea Green Publishing, Amazon.com, or your local bookshop.
</pre>
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