Introduction
Part One: Scarcity
Chapter 1: The Failure of Money – The Competitive Society
Chapter 2: Money Matters
Chapter 3: A Fate Worse than Debt: Interest’s Hidden
Consequences
Chapter 4: Our Available Future: The Cooperative Society
Chapter 5: The Flying Fish: A New Perspective on Money
Chapter 6: The Future Has Arrived But Isn’t Evenly
Distributed….Yet!
Part Two: Prosperity
Chapter 7: Strategies for Banking Institutions
Chapter 8: Strategies for Business and Entrepreneurship
Chapter 9: A Strategy For Multinational Corporations
Chapter 10: Strategies for NGOs
Chapter 11: Strategies for Governments
Part Three: Rethinking Money
Chapter 12: An Expensive Tuition
Chapter 13: An Ancient Future: Governance and Us, The Citizens
Chapter 14: Rethinking Money!
Bernard Lietaer has been a leader in the field of money for more
than thirty years as a central banker, a fund manager, a university
professor, and a consultant. In 1992, BusinessWeek named him "the
world's top currency trader." A codesigner of the European Currency
Unit-the precursor to the euro-he is currently a research fellow at
the Center for Sustainable Resource Development at the University
of California, Berkeley.
Jacqui Dunne is an award-winning journalist and founder of Danu
Resources, an emerging leader in helping entrepreneurs develop
technologies and initiatives that restore the earth. The company is
an interface between donors and projects. Danu's unique value is
its ability to work from a future reference point that draws out
the greatness and builds upon the strengths of all parties,
creating a flourishing paradigm shift for a quadruple bottom line-
people, planet, profits, and power within.
“You have no idea what money is. Read this book and find out how
simply changing our money system will lead to a more sustainable
and peaceful society.”
—Jurriaan Kamp, Editor-in-Chief, The Intelligent Optimist
“Bernard Lietaer and Jacqui Dunne’s clear and potent voice tells
the story of our distorted and dysfunctional money system and how
we can finally free ourselves from it and find our way to the
future we yearn for. This stunning book should be required reading
for every person who wants a world that works and a sustainable
future for all of life.”
—Lynne Twist, author of The Soul of Money
“Rethinking Money does a brilliant job of eradicating the concepts
and stories that our economists and other professionals in the
field hold dear. The authors write that ‘money is our last taboo,’
but they don’t recommend abolishing the fiat zeitgeist. Rather,
they wisely call on the various new currencies and other monetary
innovations to complement the existing system.”
—Nigel Seale, former worldwide Chairman, Earth Day International,
and founder of Earth Day Canada
“Rethinking Money is required reading for anyone who is serious
about transforming our current unsustainable economic system to one
where people and planet can prosper. This is a brilliant analysis
of our current monetary system and its pitfalls. More importantly,
the authors strategize the way forward with solutions that not only
rethink money but revalue human beings, long-term planning, and our
planet.”
—Georgia Kelly, Executive Director, Praxis Peace Institute
“In the midst of the confusion created by today’s crises, there are
few people who can provide viable solutions that not only serve our
local communities but also address the global economy. Bernard
Lietaer and Jacqui Dunne are such a brilliant force for good.”
—Mariana Bozesan, PhD, integral investor and author of The Making
of a Consciousness Leader in Business
“The mission of business—the mission of civilization—is to further
the path of development that began in nature. We must develop a
human ecosystem where we use less and have more. The monetary
ecosystem proposed in Rethinking Money makes it possible and
provides long-awaited solutions to the crises we face such as
climate change, worldwide violence, and the chasm between rich and
poor. This book is a must-read.”
—Tachi Kiuchi, Chairman, E-Square Inc. and Future 500
“The portrait of an emerging world where issues of lack,
intolerance, degradation, and war are replaced by sustainable
abundance and economic justice for all is balm for the soul. This
shift is brought about, in large part, by simply rethinking
money.”
—Sherry Ruth Anderson, coauthor of The Feminine Face of God
“The authors have expertly revealed new distinctions in the
monetary domain but without the usual economic explanations of dry
theory and abstraction. This book is for anyone who wonders why the
system is failing us and, perhaps more importantly, what to do
about it.”
—Julio Olalla, founder of Newfield Network and author of From
Knowledge to Wisdom
“An instant classic! Lietaer and Dunne explain how and why our
monetary system fails to put supply and demand together, subsidizes
and promotes intolerable and unnecessary disparities of well-being,
entrenches unearned privilege, undermines democracy, creates
boom-and-bust cycles, and rewards unsustainable, destructive
growth...Without undermining or vilifying all that money presently
contributes, they provide a guided tour to an array of actual
alternatives like time banking and complementary currencies to
create a sustainable, more equitable monetary ecosystem.”
—Edgar Cahn, creator of Time Dollars, founder of TimeBanks USA, and
cofounder of the National Legal Services Program
“Hallelujah! Finally there’s an interesting book for the layperson
about what money really is...Rather than just blaming somebody—dumb
politicians, greedy corporations, and banksters—Lietaer and Dunne
show us the real issue: a system and a technology that are just
built on agreements. And they show how we can change them to fit
our real needs, live well, and save the planet in the process.”
—Paul H. Ray, PhD, coauthor of The Cultural Creatives
“In a time in which money has become a form of madness, this
remarkable book offers profound understanding and guidance to the
creation of a monetary ecosystem that can build both a better self
and a better world. As we’re living now in a time of whole system
transition, the rethinking of money is possibly one of the most
important things we have to do, and at this, the authors succeed
brilliantly.”
—Jean Houston, PhD, author of Jump Time and A Passion for the
Possible
“New currency systems will not solve all the problems generated by
physical growth on a finite planet. But we will have zero chance of
creating a more satisfactory global future if we do not create new
mechanisms for facilitating commerce. Rethinking Money is an
incredibly practical and inspiring guide for how we could do
that.”
—Dennis L. Meadows, coauthor of The Limits to Growth
“Rethinking Money addresses the last of the sacred cows—money. The
new understanding this book offers is critical because economics
has become the dominant—and increasingly only—discipline with which
important decisions are being made. This is a must-read for anyone
who wants to be part of the timely conversation on how to move
forward to create the just, sustainable, and equitable world we all
desire.”
—Thom Hartmann, internationally syndicated talk show host and
author of twenty-four books
“The most comprehensive and readable revelation of the taboo role
of money...Lietaer and Dunne describe the many thousands of
innovative currencies in use by communities worldwide and how these
currencies are facilitating the needed transition of human
societies to more peaceful, sharing, prosperous and sustainable
futures.”
—Hazel Henderson, President, Ethical Markets Media (USA and
Brazil), and author of Ethical Markets, Planetary Citizenship, and
Building a Win-Win-World
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