Laboratory readings

Is the cup half empty or half full?

Thu, 29 Aug 2002 03:02:26 GMT

Do schemata control the world? What are schemata anyway?

In the centre of the page, a 10 year-old boy is pictured looking down the sights of an AK-47 rifle. This marks the start of the 'World' section in a throw-away copy of the Sydney Morning Herald dated Wednesday July 24th, a newspaper considered to be one of Australia's most intelligent broadsheets.
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US veterans return to Iraq to wage peace

Thu, 15 Aug 2002 17:20:57 GMT

In early May this year, US war veterans made an important journey to Iraq to help repair four water treatment facilities in the southern province of Al-Basrah that had been devastated by bombing and sanctions.

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The challenge of rebuilding local subsistence economies

Mon, 29 Jul 2002 21:07:55 GMT

In recent times, local economies have fallen victim to globalisation, but this process is not inevitable or non-reversible. Rather than being colonies of the global economy, our villages, towns, and cities have the potential to be largely self-sufficient in essentials. In Western countries, it is only a relatively short space of time since this level of self-reliance existed nearly everywhere.
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Governments could issue interest-free money

Thu, 11 Jul 2002 19:57:38 GMT

In most industrialised countries, the vast majority of money is created by the banking sector as a debt in the form of loans. A small remainder is issued by governments in the form of notes and coins, as a debt-free injection into the economy.
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Bretton Woods and the path not taken

Tue, 2 Jul 2002 22:10:26 GMT

The Bretton Woods System takes its name from the 1944 conference that gave birth to three international institutions - the IMF, the World Bank and GATT (the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade). It was the basis for the post-war global economy.
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Wörgl's Stamp Scrip – The Threat of a Good Example?

Wed, 26 Jun 2002 01:50:43 GMT

On July 5th 1932, in the middle of the Great Depression, the Austrian town of Wrgl made economic history by introducing a remarkable complimentary currency. Wrgl was in trouble, and was prepared to try anything. Of its population of 4,500, a total of 1,500 people were without a job, and 200 families were penniless.
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The Proactive Revolution

Sat, 15 Jun 2002 00:38:03 GMT

I feel that the factors of technological change and specialisation are causing protestors to face a growing array of causes to get involved in, encouraging a parallel, oppositional, form of specialisation (which I would call the 'one issue' syndrome). While these activists can generally only hope to effect change on a moderately superficial level - the underlying attitudes of those who dream up such nasties often remain untouched - for the time being their work is vitally important. more >