Tom’s work is part of a long intellectual and practical lineage that includes E.C. Riegel and other pioneers of independent exchange and mutual credit, the School of Living tradition, and generations of thinkers and practitioners seeking forms of economic organization rooted in human dignity, local self-determination, cooperation, and the common good.
Tom carried that lineage forward in a distinctive way. For decades, he argued that the centralized control of credit was among the greatest obstacles to genuine economic democracy, and that communities and productive businesses could reclaim their money power through reciprocal exchange, credit clearing, locally controlled exchange media, and what he coined the “Credit Commons.”
He remained remarkably active even in the final period of his life. In 2023, I had the honor of editing (and narrating) what was intended to be the 2024 revised edition of his 2009 book, The End of Money and the Future of Civilization, but it eventually grew into a much more substantial, final reconsideration of the work. At the same time, he was arranging for the preservation of important parts of his library, including materials destined for the Schumacher Center for a New Economics; developing Cofex, his proposed invoice-factoring and community-exchange model; assembling published articles toward another collection; and contributing a chapter to an upcoming book.
During the final phase of the revised End of Money, Tony Camero worked closely with Tom to complete and substantially expand Chapter 21. Their work brought Tom’s longstanding principles of reciprocal exchange and the Credit Commons into conversation with developments that scarcely existed when the original book appeared‚ including digital exchange systems, distributed trust architectures, artificial intelligence, and new possibilities for locally controlled systems that can nevertheless become globally useful.
Tony’s connection to this work also reaches back many years. Long before meeting Tom, he had designed and piloted community exchange systems intended to recognize contribution, mobilize underutilized productive capacity, strengthen local commerce, and give communities practical tools for pursuing their own shared goals. More recently, that work has developed toward infrastructure for trust, reciprocal exchange, community coordination, and locally governed economic systems. Tom recognized that convergence, encouraged Tony’s contribution to the final chapter, and entrusted him with an important role in helping carry the work forward.
Together with Tom’s friends, colleagues, and the wider community that has formed around his work, we are beginning the Greco Continuity Project. Its purpose is not merely to preserve an archive; we intend to complete the final revised edition of The End of Money and the Future of Civilization; preserve and organize Tom’s writings, correspondence, presentations, and unfinished work; document the intellectual lineage surrounding his ideas; invite colleagues, scholars, practitioners, critics, and new generations into the conversation; and continue exploring how the principles Tom spent his life developing might be tested and applied in the world ahead.
Throughout that work, we intend to maintain a clear distinction between Tom’s own words and ideas, later interpretation and commentary, related thinkers, and whatever new work may grow from the foundations he helped establish. Continuity does not mean putting new words into Tom’s mouth; it means preserving what he actually said, understanding it deeply, placing it within the larger lineage to which he contributed, and giving others the opportunity to carry the inquiry forward.
We will soon publish the completed Chapter 21 and provide further information about the final edition and the Greco Continuity Project.
If you knew Tom, corresponded or worked with him, were influenced by his ideas, possess materials that may belong in his archive, have relevant scholarship or practical experience to contribute, or simply wish to follow the work forward, we invite you to participate.
(Please leave a comment below to be notified of the Greco Continuity Project launch).
Tom spent much of his life explaining that healthy alternatives need not conquer the old order; they can emerge alongside it, demonstrate their usefulness, connect with one another, and gradually make another way possible.
His life has ended; his work continues.
Sincerely,
Ken Richings
(assistant to Tom)
His latest post, #325: The long run, billed as Adventures in Thermo-Economics, is a thorough exposition which shows that the economic growth of the real economy of goods and services since the end of World War II was made possible by the availability of cheap fossil fuel energy, oil and later, gas. But the cost of energy out in terms of energy in has been increasing, so the heyday is over and is bringing with it a decline in overall prosperity.I know it’s a lot to read, but if you want a deep understanding, you’ll be well rewarded.
]]>Jenny Kassan is a longtime friend and associate who has been actively working for many years on the local investing aspect of the “new economy.” She is among the best informed and effective legal experts who have been leading the way toward relocalization and community empowerment. In this recent 8 minute video presentation she gives an overview of how everyday people and entrepreneurs can shift capital away from Wall Street and into local, mission-aligned businesses.
Robert Pape, Professor of political scientist at the University of Chicago, understands international conflicts better than anyone I’ve yet encountered. In his recent post to his Substack, Why the Ceasefire Keeps Failing, he clearly describes that, in the present conflict betwee the US/Israel and Iran, it is not “fragile diplomacy,” but the perception of existential threats by both sides that makes this war a contest about relative power which keeps it on track for repeated rounds of escalation.
I encourage everyone to read the full article here.
]]>The video included below is deficient in several respects and its short duration limits both the scope and debth of its coverage in explaining the main concepts and proposals that form the substance of my most important work. Despite that, it provides a reasonably good first step for someone who wishes to learn how humanity can escape the debt trap, recurrent economic boom and bust cycles, and the treadmill of endless international conflict and war. It is possible to create systems of exchange that are democratic, honest, and interest-free that incentivize cooperation and peace.
For a more complete explanation listen to the audio that follows the video.
Money, War, and Peace, a comprehensive audio explanation:
Your comments are welcome.
]]>God bless you and Elizabeth, and may we all continue in our faith that love and peace will ultimately prevail.
Kucinich Statement on President Trump’s Address on Iran
]]>As my readers know, I’ve long since spotlighted the global debt- and usury-based fiat money regime as the corrupt and decaying pillar which supports not only our economy, but the entirety of western civilization, and I’ve propounded an honest interest-free and debt-free system for exchanging value that can operate alongside the present government fiat money system and ultimately replace it. The stakes at this point in time are very high as we are faced with the choice of, on the one hand, continuing along the path of ever-growing debt, concentration of wealth, centralization of power, loss of personal freedom, competition among nations for dominance and control, or on the other hand, shifting to a new paradigm based on humane values, mutual respect, cooperation and mutual assistance so that everyone might thrive in peace and harmony. An honest system of exchange that makes money obsolete is a necessary component of such a system.
I asked Copilot (AI) to summarize Varoufakis’ arguments and evidence regarding the brittleness of the neoliberal economic model, and the expected impact of a major shock, specifically the worsening oil shock associated with the war against Iran. I then asked it to compare that with the likely impact on the honest exchange system I’ve been proposing.
I then fed that “source,” along with several others into NotebookLM, and asked for a “video explainer” that describes in just a few minutes how the two system stack up against one another.
Here it is below:
Notebook limits the length of overview videos to 6 or 7 minutes, but overview audios can be much longer and more thorough so I’ve included that in this post as well:
Replacing the Fiat Empire With Honest Money