Free Republic

Kyle MacDonald harnessed the power of the Internet to trade a red paper clip for something better, over and over again. Since last July, he’s managed to turn a red paper clip into a year’s free rent on a house in the desert, the Associated Press reports. "It's totally overwhelming; I'm not going to lie," he said by phone from Montreal, where he and his girlfriend, Dominique Dupuis, live with two roommates. "But I'm still trading for that house. It's this obsessive thing." MacDonald’s obsession started with an ad he placed in the Craigslist.org barter section, saying he wanted something...

FLOYD, Va. (AP) - They came to Floyd to get back to the land, to be alone, to find community, or to make music. They fit in here because they didn't quite fit in anywhere else. Here the counterculture met the mountain culture and something unique was born. The two lifestyles had something in common, lack of money. The locals wanted it but didn't have it. The newcomers with the tie-dyed shirts didn't care much about the dollar - some despised it - but, like everyone else, they had to pay the bills. So together they took something ancient and...

Money, Community & Social Change -------------------------------- An Interview with Bernard Lietaer By Ravi Dykema "Bernard Lietaer has been involved in the world of money systems for more than 25 years, and his experience in monetary matters ranges from multinational corporations to developing countries. He co-designed and implemented the convergence mechanism to the single European currency system (the Euro), and served as president of the Electronic Payment System in his native Belgium. He also co-founded one of the largest and most successful currency funds. Lietaer is the author of nine books on money and finances, including "The Future of Money" (Random...