<div dir="ltr"><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Christopher M. Quigley</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:cmqesquire@gmail.com">cmqesquire@gmail.com</a>></span><br>Date: Fri, Sep 1, 2017 at 4:26 PM<br>Subject: Fwd: Christopher - Excellent Concise Article -<br>To: Michel Bauwens <<a href="mailto:michel@p2pfoundation.net">michel@p2pfoundation.net</a>><br><br><br><div dir="ltr">Michel,<br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr"><div id="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-linkbar-wrapper"><div class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-linkbar m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-section" id="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-linkbar"><div class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-widget m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-LinkList" id="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-LinkList1"><div class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-widget-content"><br></div><div class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-widget-content">For your review.<br><br></div><div class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-widget-content">Christopher<br><br>------------------------------<wbr>------------------------------<wbr>------------------------------<wbr>-------------<br></div><div class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-widget-content">
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<h2>charles hugh smith "Of Two Minds".<br></h2></div></div></div></div><br><div id="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-main-wrapper">
<div class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-main m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-section" id="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-main"><div class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-widget m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-Blog" id="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-Blog1">
<div class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-blog-posts">
<h2 class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-date-header">Thursday, August 31, 2017</h2>
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<a name="m_7397665684411457192_m_5689339983696923415_m_-1257989420485787088_m_1599288905815569355_m_4486450136749766881_m_6288704998568884509_m_-5284315923139766294_m_-3244836225261769835_m_-4729496157849748912_1988780701392185298"></a>
<h3 class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-post-title">
<a href="http://charleshughsmith.blogspot.ie/2017/08/why-were-doomed-stagnant-wages.html" target="_blank">Why We're Doomed: Stagnant Wages</a>
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<div class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-post-body" id="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-post-1988780701392185298">
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<i style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">The point is the present system cannot endure.</i></div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<b style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">Despite all the happy talk about "recovery" and higher growth, wages have gone nowhere since 2000</b>--and for the bottom 20% of workers, they've gone nowhere since the 1970s.</div>
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<img class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-wide" src="http://www.oftwominds.com/photos2017/wage-disparity3-17.jpg" style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline" align="middle" border="0" width="525"></div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<b style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">Gross domestic product (GDP) has risen smartly since 2000, but the share of GDP going to wages and salaries has plummeted:</b> this is simply an extension of a 47-year downtrend.</div>
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<img class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-wide" src="http://www.oftwominds.com/photos2017/wages-GDP5-16a.png" style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline" align="middle" border="0" width="525"></div>
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<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<b style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">Last month I posted one reason <a href="http://www.oftwominds.com/blogaug17/doomed-inequality8-17.html" style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline" target="_blank">Why We're Doomed: Our Economy's Toxic Inequality</a> (August 16, 2017). The second half of why we're doomed is <i style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">stagnant wages</i></b>. Why do stagnating wages for the bottom 95% doom our status quo? As I noted yesterday in <a href="http://www.oftwominds.com/blogaug17/wages-flat8-17.html" style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline" target="_blank">Why Wages Have Lost Ground in the 21st Century</a>, <i style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">our system requires ever-higher household incomes to function</i>--not just in the top 5%, but in the top 80%.</div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<b style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">Our federal social programs--Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid--are pay-as-you-go:</b> all
the expenditures this year are paid by taxes collected this year. As I
have detailed many times, the so-called "Trust Funds" are fictions; when
Social Security runs a deficit, the difference between receipts and
expenses are filled by selling Treasury bonds in the open market--the
exact same mechanism ther government uses to fund any other deficit.</div>
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The demographics of the nation have changed in the past two generations.
The Baby Boom is retiring en masse, expanding the number of
beneficiaries of these programs, while the number of full-time workers
to retirees is down from 10-to-1 in the good old days to 2-to-1: there
are 60 million beneficiaries of Social Security and Medicare and about
120 million full-time workers in the U.S.</div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<b style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">Meanwhile, medical expenses per person are soaring.</b> Profiteering
by healthcare cartels, new and ever-more costly treatments, the rise of
chronic lifestyle illnesses--there are many drivers of this trend.
There is absolutely no evidence to support the fantasy that this trend
will magically reverse.</div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<b style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">Costs are skyrocketing and the number of retirees is ballooning, but wages are going nowhere. Do you see the problem?</b> All
pay-as-you-go programs are based on the assumption that the number of
workers and the wages they earn will both rise at a rate that is above
the underlying rate of inflation and equal to the rate of increase in
pay-as-you-go programs.</div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
If 95% of the households are earning less money when adjusted for
inflation, and their wealth has also declined or stagnated, then how can
we pay for programs which expand by 6% or more every year?</div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<b style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">The short answer is you can't.</b></div>
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The budgets of state and local governments also expand every year as
citizens demand more services, infrastructure requires costly
maintenance and upgrades, and the overall costs of providing government
services rises (soaring healthcare premiums are a major driver of higher
government expenses). How can households pay higher property and sales
taxes if their incomes are going nowhere?</div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<b style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">Stagnant wages = stagnant income tax revenues.</b></div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<b style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">Then there's the consumer economy that depends on ever-higher consumer spending.</b> If
wages are stagnant, how can households spend more money? The
conventional answer is: we'll blow asset bubbles in stocks, bonds and
housing, and households can spend this newfound wealth.</div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<b style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">Nice theory, but only the top slice of American households own enough of these assets to matter.</b> Feast
your eyes on these two charts of skyrocketing income and wealth
inequality. This chart shows that the majority of income growth is now
concentrated in the top 1/0th of 1%, and most of what's left has gone to
the top 5%. This is the only possible outcome of financialization and
central-bank inflated asset bubbles.</div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<img class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-wide" src="http://www.oftwominds.com/photos2017/inequality-NYT8-17a.png" style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline" align="middle" border="0" width="550"></div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<b style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">Here's
another look at the same dynamic, but excluding capital gains, which
flow to those who own most of the assets, i.e. the top 1%</b>: the
bottom 90% lost 10% in the decade 2002-2012, the top 5% gained 6% and
the very top of the wealth-power pyramid, the top 1/100th of the 1%,
gained 76%.</div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<img class="m_7397665684411457192m_5689339983696923415m_-1257989420485787088m_1599288905815569355m_4486450136749766881m_6288704998568884509m_-5284315923139766294m_-3244836225261769835m_-4729496157849748912gmail-wide" src="http://www.oftwominds.com/photos2017/wealth-disparity3-17.jpg" style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline" align="middle" border="0" width="525"></div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<b style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">The conclusion is sobering: wages/salaries are no longer an adequate means to distribute income or paid work.</b> Our
system is broken at the deepest levels--not just economically broken,
but socially broken as well. Clinging to this broken model and filling
the widening gap between the super-wealthy and everyone else with more
debt will doom the system.</div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
This is why I've proposed a new way to organize production, consumption, work and income in my book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0178MQI1M/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0178MQI1M&linkCode=as2&tag=charleshughsm-20&linkId=CGXPIKGVST4OBTXU" rel="nofollow" style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline" target="_blank">A Radically Beneficial World: Automation, Technology & Creating Jobs for All</a>.</div>
<div style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;color:rgb(64,64,64);font-family:Verdana,verdana,sans-serif;font-size:13px;font-stretch:inherit;font-variant-numeric:inherit;line-height:normal;padding:10px;vertical-align:baseline">
<b style="border-width:0px;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;font-family:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;line-height:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;vertical-align:baseline">The point is the present system cannot endure.</b> Borrowing
trillions of dollars to paper over this failure won't work for much
longer. We need a new system, or we're well and truly doomed.</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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</div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: <a href="http://commonstransition.org" target="_blank">http://commonstransition.org</a> </div><div><br></div>P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a> - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br><br><a href="http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" target="_blank"></a>Updates: <a href="http://twitter.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens</a><br><br>#82 on the (En)Rich list: <a href="http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/" target="_blank">http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/</a> <br></div></div></div></div>
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