Summary
July 1, 2009: This interview / article discusses the history and future of economic systems. Each successive system has focused the wealth into fewer and fewer hands, and resulted in a greater disparity between the poor and the rich. People used to be motivated to spend their money and improve their communities - now the system is set up such that the prime motivation is to hoard wealth, and our money itself is based on debt.
Concepts explored in the article:
Age of Cathedrals
Colonial Economy
Dual Currencies
Federal Reserve System
Gold Standard
Grain-based Local Currency
King's Imprimatur
Monopoly by Royal Decree
Public Relations
The interview is not really News, it's just an interesting source of insight into how economies used to function and how we got to where we are.
Source
The person interviewed in the article has written a book called Life Inc., which explores some similar concepts.
Game and Story Use
- Great source of material on how economies functioned in the Middle Ages, Dark Ages, and Colonial Era. It's put in common sense terms that are pretty easy to extrapolate their impact and implications for gaming settings.
- Heck, I just made 5 pages based on ideas this article gave me!