However he is no doomster as he quickly persuades the reader that our political money system can be transformed like a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. For Greco the very survival of our civilisation depends upon us reaching a steady state economy. On page 13 he writes that "the very survival of civilization hinge upon the fundamental restructuring of money, banking, and finance. If the money problem is not solved, we can expect that the future will bring even greater misery - continued wars for dominance of resources, accelerating despoliation of the natural environment, continued erosion of democratic institutions, the imposition of a global neofeudal society, and the beginning of a new dark age." Thankfully that is as depressing as Greco gets as the book is solution orientated. On page 64 he quotes economist Michael Hudson who wrote that "The economy has reached its debt limit and is entering its insolvency phase. We are not in a cycle but the end of an era. The world of debt pyramiding to a fraudulent degree cannot be restored." So, onward and upward then. In one powerful page (ironically page 100) Greco inserts a brief section called "What we don't know is hurting us". This is certainly pertinent at the time of writing (November 2011) as the Occupy Movement has been doing the occupy-thing for several months now. To dispel the mystery Greco retells the story of how money has evolved and shows how many great men, down through the ages, have also identified money as the principle problem with their democracies. However the problem perpetuates because so few of us understand how it works. We all can see the problems it causes but point the finger at almost anything other than how our money is created.

On page 110 Greco writes "Under the current monetary regime the control of credit by the banking cartel has made it an instrument of power causing great social harm." The author firmly points the finger at Banks and Governments for politicising money. Indeed Greco calls it "political money" and calls for the separation of money and government as once the state and church were separated. The problem is that the state has a monopoly of money and so is using the banking system to create as much as it needs hence debasing the currency and causing inflation. It all sounds very much like Thatcherism and a return to Monetarism to us. It shows how far we have come and still how little we understand. Unlike some of his leftist peers Greco goes on (on page 112) to write "The answer to the abusive issuance and circulation of credit money lies not in turning back the clock and reverting to more primitive forms, but in perfecting the superior form, credit money, within the arena of free competition. The biggest challenge then is to find ways of transcending the political money system that has gained a virtual monopoly on credit worldwide." So, time to break the state's monopoly. This is a far more libertarian view than is often heard in this debate but it is clear that he is not of the political-right. He fears for social justice in the manner of a liberal and he distrusts traditional bodies of power. So for Greco to be advocating the perfection of the free market is music to our ears as it help to break the toxic clichéd deadlock between political left and right.

So, how to solve this most difficult of problems? On page 124 Greco describe the two types of reformer as "those who seek to reform money and banking through political means, and on the other, those who seek to transcend it by private initiative". Greco believes these approaches are at odds with one another because the political "approach accepts as given the sociopolitical foundations of the present monetary regime and adhere to the erroneous belief that money should be the exclusive province of government." He goes on "It fails to recognise the insidious nature of elite power". This can sound all quite conspiratorial but if we have learnt anything from Noam Chomsky over the years is that it doesn't need any form of conspiracy for powerful classes to act in a way that preserves their power base and sources of wealth. This is natural. Indeed for them to behave any other way should be surprising however destructive the preservation of their privilege maybe to the rest of society. Indeed I would go on to observe that the very word "conspiracy" is often injected into the debate in order to discredit those who point out how the power elite works. We have an elite but to shine a light into their dark corners leaves them uncomfortable. And who can blame them? If you have the influence and power to deter such intrusion you will use it. That is just the way it is so we may as well move onto create the roadmap that will see us beyond the impasse.

So the problems as this author sees them are:

1. Legal tender status for central bank-created currency
2. The monopolisation of credit by the banking cartel
3. The lack of an operational measure of value and unit of account that is independent of political currencies

For problem number 1 Greco is suggesting community money. On page 194 "Sustainability, relocalisation, human scale and the devolution of power are the current buzz." Greco does not seem to be aware of the Transition Network but on page 21 he writes briefly about the "Conscious Community Network" which had been developing for six years in Northern Nevada with a focus on improving the local economy. On page 195 "Relocalisation efforts cannot get very far without the creation of metasystems that support buying locally, selling locally, investing locally and saving locally. Conventional political forms of money and huge banking companies that are owned and managed by remote entities, by their very nature militate against relocalisation." The solutions listed are:

1. Institute measures that promote import substitution
2. Provide an alternative payment medium, independent of any political currency and banking establishment
3. Issue a supplemental regional currency
4. Develop basic support structures that strengthen the local economy and enhance the community's quality of life
5. Develop an independent value standard and unit of account

On page 216 Greco lists his action list that will push us toward economic independence that "must be mainly a transcendent, bottom-up process driven by self-empowerment and personal responsibility." He goes on to demonstrate a model through the example of the Balinese Governance structure. Greco detail his community solution as regional economic development based upon largely web-based credit clearing. In his model the actual issue of a local currency is but a small part of a larger solution where we essentially barter based on a LETS-form of economy. Only a small amount of cash needs to be generated but this happens later in his economic development. The full working system requires most of the trade transactions to happen through credit clearing before a local currency is launched. It is food for thought and certainly makes this essential reading for Transitioners everywhere.

This is not to say that Greco rules out central Government involvement. He isn't an anarchist. He suggest that all laws granting legal tender status be repealed and that the official unit of account be declared on the basis of a specified value standard defined in concrete physical terms. This would involve a basket of commodities rather than simply silver or gold. Central Government could go further and encourage the setup of private credit clearing utilities. It must cease to interfere with the issuance and circulation of private currencies as long as they have proper foundation and transparency. Public finance will be reformed such that government-issued securities (such as bonds, warrants, notes, vouchers, etc.) have no special privilege and do not have to circulate at face value. No one can be forced to accept such IOU's as money. Long term debt must not be monetarised through open market operations - so must be gradually reduced. The central bank must be abolished. Government finance should be run by the government. Short term needs can be financed by noninterest bearing warrants at a rate decided by the free market. Governments must balance their budgets.

That leaves us with the topic of investment and the basic question many of us face: how will I buy a house? For this Greco does nothing short of recommending the Islamic Banking system of equity financing. Rather than buying a debt you bank will actual have joint ownership of your home and you will rent it off them until the mortgage is paid off. It is a long term partnership. Towards the end of his book Greco turns to the simplest of questions: how would we make these changes happen in an environment where such changes are an anathema to the powers-that-be? Good question. Greco promotes the role of what he describes as the "dissident". His description appears to foretell the rise of the Occupy Movement arose two years after he wrote this book. Will his vision prove accurate of will such a movement simply shrivel away again as so many have done so before? Time will only tell. Greco ends with his own little wish list to Santa which includes "power and control need to be decentralised", "wealth must be more fairly distributed", "local economies must be nurtured", "the credit commons must be restored", "monopolies must be eliminated" and so on. To achieve this his advice is simple: "think before you spend money - consider more than money", "promote the establishment of private complementary exchange systems - and use them", "buy from friends and neighbours whenever possible" and "contribute your time, energy and money to whatever moves things in the right direction". Sounds like a recipe for Transition to us. This books goes further than any we have read to describe a monetary future that is genuinely sustainable. It is the best roadmap we have. Let's give it a go.

Little to dislike but most of us won't understand all the concepts as they are nor always well explained.
Recommended as it has the most advanced solutions to our money unsustainability. There is more to this than simply local currency.