Christina Baldwin

How long before this bank is up and running?

L. Dan Frantin

A concept with fundamental understanding of the nature of economics in social structures. While environmental issues AND CRITIQUES are integral to societal well-being, too often the ECONOMIC ASPECTS ARE IGNORED.In a future society we need to build, the economic relationships involved in a better, more equitable model are crucial. Cooperative, democratic ownership and managment of all social production is the only way to ensure real democracy…civic (where we live) as well as economic (where we work). This bank idea might be one of the forerunners of such new approaches and new paradigms. We commend you and will add your site to our LinksList. See our model for a new society while you visit. Ask questions, make comments. Your outreach is so encouraging….your thorough analysis of Capitalism essential to replacing it! Only post-Capitalism can we have a truly liberated socity based on democracy, green energy, industry, building & transportarion, We must mature our focus on building a NEW SOCIETY. CommonGood Bank is a possible first step! Thanks, PFANS

Tom Butler

The Small Mart Revolution by Michael Shuman is the best constucted arguement ever printed for these types of programs and why they work better than any other form of economics on the planet. Compassionate capitalism is the best thing that can happen to humanity because greed kills even capital markets. Finally most Americans had to learn this the hard way again these past couple of years, they understand the problem now, but not necessarily the solution. Thankfully Common Good Bank appears to be on the right track here so far, we only need to see how they execute as they grow.

Ready to invest as soon as it is possible to do so and I gave a small donation of all I could.

Keep up the great work folks.

Tom Butler
Elkhart, IN

Susan B. Shann

I awoke this morning with the clear realization that I need to support this mission and do all I can in the Nashville area to spread consciousness about what the Common Good Bank represents, the potential for major change at the most fundamental economic level in the lives of those who need it most. As I continue to learn more about the Transition Movement (entirely focused on the combined realities of peak oil and climate change, and on developing community resilience through relationship building, skill networks, asset management systems and resource availability at the local level) and become increasingly aware of the inability of either state legislators or our Federal monetary system to act / operate in support of the common good of the American people, I am convinced that this mission is not only appealing in its vision, but essential if we are to preserve our collective ability to act decisively on our own behalf.

We can no longer afford to remain in denial, or wait in the vain hope that our political and financial systems will somehow change on their own. There is too much vested interest in ensuring that this does not happen. I believe we truly live in a world of abundance, but that such abundance can only be experienced when we redefine our understanding of what that means, to give of ourselves without hesitation, and refuse to believe in separation. The Common Good vision reminds us of this deep, abiding connection we all share with each other and with all of life. Let’s move fearlessly forward on making it a reality!

Ryan Mlynarczyk - Director

We love this idea! we are making a documentary film about our visits to over 87 sustainable communities, on a 6000 miles bicycle journey around the USA this past year. we are currently in post-production on the film, with a scheduled release day for April, 22, 2011 (earth day). We often give presentations on the subject and include redefining progress, and our perspective of money in our conversations/presentations. We are slready starting to promote this idea and website! thanks so much!

Ryan

Bill Ellis

I love your URL and its discussion of money. But …
Why “money”? Most cultures have lived on the concept of “reciprocity.” Even the ancestors of the EuroAmericans used reciprocity to produce and distribute good and services. That is concentration was on the needed goods and services needed for the common good. Every individual produced and distributed goods and services needed by others. There was no buying or selling. The individual, or cooperative, gave what they produced to whoever needed. By doing so they earned the respect and cooperation of all other members of their network. The more thy gave the more they were given. (like it says in the Bible).

Today many cultures still practice reciprocity. In fact most families have some practices of non money production and distribution. A full economic system based on reciprocity may be a long way to go. But giving more or ourselves to our community, and exchanging gifts with other communities may be a way to revive the concept of working for the common good.

Below is a book review I produced for a newsletter many months ago.

Bill Ellis

THE FABLE OF L’HOMO ECONOMICUS is destroyed by Dominique Temple and Mireille Chabal in La Réciprocité et La Naissance des Valeurs Humaines (Éditions L’Harmattan, 5-7 rue de L’école Polytechnique, F-75005 Paris FRANCE, 1995, in French). Modern Economics and the EuroAmerican culture are based on the assumed reality of homo economicus. That is, that the only motivation of humans is material self-interest. This book examines all cultures throughout history, including our own modern culture, and demonstrates that human motivations and human values have been distorted only in the last couple of hundred years, and more vehemently in the last few decades, to become based on values which are destroying the humanity and life on Earth. Reciprocity is more fundamental and more friendly to both humans and nature.

Reciprocity is the antithesis of exchange or selling. Reciprocity, or “gifting,” has taken on many forms in different cultures. In some it is imbedded in religion. People produce and distribute goods and services in celebration of their spiritual beliefs. Their work is a gift to the gods, to the Earth, and to humanity, without thought of material return. In other cultures production is for the common good. That is, people see themselves imbedded in their families and communities. They exist only because of their relationships to other people and their bioregion. And these relationships depend on the productive role they play — how much they can support and give to society. In still others, material welfare is paramount; but one gains insurance of her or his material well-being by giving to others. “To him who gives shall be given.” Each person gains prestige in society by how much s/he gives. That prestige demands reciprocity to the giver and to the family of the giver. The more one impoverishes himself in betterment of the community the more the community is beholden to the giver.

This reciprocity on which almost all cultures are based is uniquely vilified by neoliberal economic theory which refuses to recognize that production and distribution can be based on anything but greed and exchange — giving up something only to gain something else. This distorted economic theory of exchange goes well beyond just “the market.” Economic reasoning has invaded sociology, education, politics, ethics and the law. Homo Economicus is believed to base all values and judgments on economic exchange values, what one can gain materially. It is only in this distorted Western society that reciprocity has been subjugated to the concept of exchange.

Bronislaw Malinowski, Claude Levi-Straus, Marcel Mauss, Marshall Sahlins and other anthropologists have shown the deep roots of reciprocity; Aristotle, Homer, Hobbes, and other political philosophers trace reciprocity from the Greeks as the base of our Western society; and Hegel, Adam Smith, Durkheim and Polanyi and other economists, describe reciprocity’s relevance to the age we are in. But it’s the future which really concerns Temple and Chabal. Money, exchange, and globalism have replaced the human values inherent in reciprocity with motivations which are leading to social, ecological, economic and political destruction. Reciprocity exists deep in ourselves, our families, and our communities; but it is suppressed by our belief system and its resulting social institutions. We see reciprocity in President Bush’s “thousand points of light”, in the burgeoning NGOs around the world, in volunteerism, in our familles, in our communities, and in many grassroots social innovations. Our future can be assured only if we release this constructive force of reciprocity. Or as the authors end this book, “Si l’esclave veut etre libre, il ne lui faut pas seulement différer la mort, mais dominer sa propre vie par le souce de celle d’autrui, maitriser la vie avant qu’elle ne le condamne a mort.”