Intro to Time-Banking
Thursday, July 15
7:00 Pm
LOCATION CHANGE
Hooked on Colfax
3215 E. Colfax Ave, Denver
$5 suggested donation or 1 Time Dollar

At this year’s US Social Forum in Detroit I attended one particular workshop about something that is truly revolutionary and vital in restoring our communities to independence. It was on time-banking, which is way to create reciprocal exchanges within a community without requiring money.

Let’s face it, we’re all pretty broke these days and we have many unmet needs that we just can’t financially afford to fulfill. But here’s the thing, there are plenty of unused resources in our community. Many people are unemployed or underemployed and yet they have lots of skills to offer. The only thing missing is the money but what if we stopped allowing money prevent us from providing for one another?

Enter time-banking. For every hour you spend doing something for someone in your community, you earn one Time Dollar. Then you have a Time Dollar to spend on having someone do something for you. It’s a simple concept but with profound implications for our communities and our relations with one another.

I filmed the time-bank workshop and even interviewed the founder of time-banks and have edited together a video introducing people to the idea and the changes that have occurred in communities that have implemented them. I’ll be showing this video and then opening up for a community discussion to lay the ground work for starting one in our community.

Please join me for this promising ArgusFest event this Thursday!

In another great talk gathered by the Women’s International News Gathering Service (W.I.N.G.S.), Catherine Austin Fitts discusses her local, alternative model called Solari.

I’m turned off by her praise of productivity. I believe that most of what is praised as productive is actually destructive. I also question her endorsement of capitalism, which, by design, blindly serves capital over all else. If your goal is sustainability, human rights, and social justice, I believe that capitalism in any form is doomed to failure.

Nevertheless, I still think her perspective is crucial.

Capitalism Hits the Fan
Monday, December 7
7:00 PM
Hooked on Colfax
3215 E. Colfax Ave, Denver
$5 suggested donation or 1 hour volunteer

With breathtaking clarity, renowned University of Massachusetts Economics Professor Richard Wolff breaks down the root causes of today’s economic crisis, showing how it was decades in the making and in fact reflects seismic failures within the structures of American-style capitalism itself. Wolff traces the source of the economic crisis to the 1970s, when wages began to stagnate and American workers were forced into a dysfunctional spiral of borrowing and debt that ultimately exploded in the mortgage meltdown. By placing the crisis within this larger historical and systemic frame, Wolff argues convincingly that the proposed government “bailouts,” stimulus packages, and calls for increased market regulation will not be enough to address the real causes of the crisis - in the end suggesting that far more fundamental change will be necessary to avoid future catastrophes. Richly illustrated with motion graphics and charts, this is a superb introduction designed to help ordinary citizens understand, and react to, the unraveling economic crisis.

Money as Debt
Wednesday, March 4
7:00 PM
Hooked on Colfax
3215 E. Colfax Ave, Denver
$5 suggested donation or 1 hour volunteer

Paul Grignon’s 47-minute animated presentation of “Money as Debt” tells in very simple and effective graphic terms what money is and how it is being created. It is an entertaining way to get the message out. The Cowichan Citizens Coalition and its “Duncan Initiative” received high praise from those who previewed it. I recommend it as a painless but hard-hitting educational tool and encourage the widest distribution and use by all groups concerned with the present unsustainable monetary system in Canada and the United States.