What does an alternative economy in Oakland look like to you?

3 replies [Last post]
Ryan Van Lenning's picture

Ryan Van Lenning Mon, 19 Oct at 10:23pm

There is no shortage of ideas about what constitutes an alternative economy.  Many of them are being implemented or planned in Oakland right now, including local worker cooperatives, credit unions and community banks, Sunday streets, co-housing projects, time banks, sharing and freecycle projects, and local food campaigns. 

What are you involved in?  What are the essential elements of an alternative economy?  How can we best break from the dominant economic paradigm?  What does an alternative, just, sustainable, and local economy look like to you?

#1
Chris Stroffolino's picture

Chris Stroffolino Mon, 19 Oct at 11:55

  For me the economic issue is the same as the cultural and creative issue. We need a local commercially-sustainable

  AM radio station (can be on the web too) with entirely locally-generated content--music, but also talk and other

  performance/verbal arts. This would increase visibility and revenues for local-based artists, as well as for a wide

  range of other small locally-owned businesses, and would require much coordination of efforts. But there's a lot

  of enthusiasm for it, and need for it for both culture-producers and culture-consumers; we could help expand

  Oakland culture as an exportable commodity!

#2
Susan Mernit's picture

Susan Mernit Wed, 21 Oct at 10:56

I think the differences between underground economy and alternative economy are very political. In the underground economy, people disappear off the roles of the unemployed, but find ways to get by, at least to some extent.  In the alternative economy, there are value systems not based on US cash, but on barter, local dollars, whatever. The alt economy seems to promise new ways to recognize labor and perhaps distribute wealth, but right now the underground economy is more prevalent.

#3
Ryan Van Lenning's picture

Ryan Van Lenning Wed, 28 Oct at 05:55

Susan, Good point about distinguishing between alt_econ models and informal/underground economy.  I wonder if there are any ways to track either of them, some sort of metrics.  Both seem much more difficult to quantify than status-quo economics, but especially the informal.