Solidarity with Occupy: Move Our Money from Banks-too-Big-to-Fail

You may want to pack your tent and join those camping out. Or, perhaps joining in decisions about which actions Occupy can take that are most strategic to the democratic work of the 99% suits you better. Another possibility is to move your bank account to a credit union or locally-owned bank if you’re still banking at Bank of America, Chase, Wells Fargo, or any of the few hundred banks that brought us to the 2008 crisis, were bailed out, and now are making profits in trading derivatives and speculating on currencies and markets rather than helping small businesses create jobs.

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Development Done in Jubilee Style in El Salvador

In my recent trip to El Salvador, I was struck by some changes that are benefiting people who are living in poverty there. As part of a group sponsored by El Salvador North America Village Network (ESNA), I was able to get to know and to work with local people in constructing part of a classroom being added to the school in the village that we visited called Suquiyat.

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"A Jubilee Economy? What's That?" I Was Asked

Updated on Tuesday, November 8, 2011 at 10:44AM by Webmaster

The questioner was interested in a different economy, but “jubilee” did not connect with anything in his experience of economies. So, I said that it was a sustainable economy, an ecologically friendly economy—one that fit our planet. The global, capital-driven economy, I explained to him, required multiple planets even though we have only one. So it’s essential that we shift to an economy that can fit inside of Earth and restore her. A jubilee economy is a one-Earth economy. That made sense to the questioner.

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Austerity?! Let's Talk about Abundance for All

By now we see that all the talk about austerity in these economic hard times does not apply to the wealthiest whose wealth has increased as their taxes remain low  It does not apply to military spending or the budgets of the intelligence community.  It does not apply to the bankers in the too-big-to-fail banks. It does apply to those with no jobs, low-paying jobs, and insecure jobs. It does apply to students in state universities, to people without health insurance, and to many who can no longer self-identify as middle class.

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Organic Valley—A Big Cooperative of Small Farmers

You may be quite familiar with the “Organic Valley” label on dairy products or eggs when you buy food. But if you aren’t following the story of this farming cooperative, you’re in for a tasty treat. Here are some reasons why:

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Looking Back From the 23rd Century

Once upon a time there was a great empire, far more powerful than that of ancient Rome. On the founding of this mighty empire, a tiny nation at the time, their professed ideals sent a charge of hope around the world. In a world ruled by kings and ruthless tyrants, here was a new nation that stood up for the rights of people. This tiny nation declared that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights such as Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. It called all people free except the black people that some of them owned. The Blacks were not considered people because they were property. Almost a hundred years passed before the Blacks were declared a free people. Their freedom came at a great loss of life on both sides of a great Civil War.

Ownership Society, 2004, Ed Lucas

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