Readers, the important distinction to be aware of is the difference of debt from money as a basis for and as units of exchange. Graeber is focusing upon debt and indebtedness, as does Innes. Graeber also explores the patterns of economies which were not oriented toward debt as gift economies. The modern use of the concept of money is a bit different. Admin

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/a_memory_of_howard_20100127/

I just learned that my friend Howard Zinn died today. Earlier this morning, I was being interviewed by the Boston Phoenix, in connection with the February release of a documentary in which he is featured prominently. The interviewer asked me who my own heroes were, and I had no hesitation in answering, first, “Howard Zinn.”

Reader, In the passing of Howard Zinn I had been thinking about whether coverage of Howard Zinn's passing should be included here, and then decided that his variety of history was actually an economic history, in the sense of the root meaning of economics as the management of home and community. The word adjective "radical" is acceptable to the extent that its core meaning is from radix as in "radical" meaning "to the root." It is a blunt crime that the corporate control of NPR inspired it to dig up a reactionary crank to attack Zinn's legacy.

There is a seeming riddle in the recent evolution of economic thought. It has become more otherworldly and abstract, more detached from the reality of how economies are running deeper into debt to a financial oligarchy. The global economy itself is polarizing between creditor and debtor nations, financial core and periphery (even as the United States manages to play both sides of this street).

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/viggo-mortensen/great-man-theory-history_b...

Readers: See also at this site The Reproduction of the Culture of Co-operation
http://economics.arawakcity.org/node/20 Admin

Readers: Apparently this document represents a research project in need of some scholarship.  This document was checked for authenticity by faculty of the University of Missouri, Kansas City Department of Economics. Their commentary comes next. I will follow that with a comment based upoin the general historical context, that begins with identifying Abraham Lincoln as having been a Henry Clay sort of Whig before there was a Republican Party.