If every one of the 250,000 tax-paying households in Vermont
re-invested our federal rebate checks in our Green Mountain economies,
we'd inject $150 million back into the Green Mountains.

Take the Keep It In Vermont pledge, and e-mail it on to your Vermont friends, neighbors, and colleagues.

Read more at the A.P. Newswire. 

As the U.S. Dollar continues to free-fall, local currencies will
become more and more vital moving forward.

Read more here.

In his 2002 talk for the Community Land Trust in the Southern Berkshires
Michael Shuman stated that this century will "determine who wins the
fundamental struggle between cheap goods and place, between the protection
of private bottom lines and the protection of families, communities, and the
environment." Concerns over global distribution, rising energy costs, and
the legitimacy of subsidies to global firms coupled with a growing
environmental consciousness, a proliferating localist movement, and a
growing interest in workplace quality have pushed people to consider options
beyond the global economy. There are growing signs that local ownership

Vermont Freedom Currency (VFC): Towards A New Localized Economy

By Steve Moyer

“Give me control over a nation's currency and I care not who makes its laws.”
Baron M.A. Rothchild

Many Vermonters feel overtaxed, underpaid, overworked or some combination of all three. We have an abundance of physical and human resources but a shortage of money. The money system has failed to balance human needs with available resources. Vermonters need a little relief. We need a new economy.

Vermont Freedom Currency is a single pure silver coin worth 10 Credits. A single coin is worth $10 with the State of Vermont for any service, fee or tax. This assures Credits hold an established value for purposes of barter.

Rob's note: One of the most promising developments in local currency in the country right now, the "Berkshares" effort is gaining steam in eastern Massachusetts. Read on...

On Tuesday Yahoo.com headlined a Reuters News Service article about
BerkShares, creating a stream of media and internet discussion on local
currencies in general and BerkShares in particular. You can read and view
some of the international coverage at www.berkshares.org.

By July one million BerkShares will have been issued through local banks to
Berkshire residents wishing to show their support of regional businesses.

Surging Gold Prices and the American Endgame

By Thomas Naylor

Every time President George W. Bush opens his mouth, the price of gold goes up. When he declared victory in the war in Iraq on the deck of the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003, the price of gold was $320 per troy ounce. A few months later it was more than $400 per ounce, and by February 2006 a heady $575 per ounce. When the world is going to hell in a hand basket, people invest in gold. Wars, terrorism, recession, high budget deficits, supply shortages, energy price spikes, rampant inflation, and high interest rates all give rise to higher gold prices. The more misery there is, the higher the price of gold.

How do Vermonters feel about Vermont as the new Caymans?

April 4, 2007
Vermont Becomes ‘Offshore' Insurance Haven
By LYNNLEY BROWNING

To read the New York Times article, click here.

At conferences of the offshore insurance industry, next to the booth for Bermuda, can often be found one promoting Vermont.

While that may seem strange for a chilly, landlocked state, Vermont is an offshore haven in one very real sense: It offers American companies lucrative tax breaks through unusual insurance arrangements.

Dear VT Commons,

I believe Mr. Flomenhoft's (Spring 2007 print issue) letter to the editor was completely ridiculous. His bashing of the south is clearly hate-filled (though it is of course free-speech and doesn't offend me) and his opinions about capitalism and federal funding shows he knows nothing about the fascist/communist Federal Reserve system(which actually offends me enough to write this letter).

His section on racism had nothing to do with racism except admitting that the Civil War was a fraud, but then spends a lot of time bashing southern states for war mongering and religious fundamentalism. Bashing a culture of people with smearing stereotypes in my opinion is called bigotry. I haven't met many people who have such contempt for the south and at the same time will admit to the fraud of the War for Southern Independence. When it comes to religious fundamentalism, I don't believe religion is a huge threat to our freedom. The forces that have controlled our country for a long time in my humble opinion are Fascist/Communist, and the Neo-cons are not religious but clearly follow the philosophy of Machiavelli.

Secessionism in Vermont: Where I Stand

By Frank Bryan

Enough.

It is time to get busy with the business of secession.

We want to act. We need to act. It is time to act.

Let us heed the words of Robert Lewis Stevenson:

You cannot run away from a weakness
You must some time fight it out or perish
And if that be so, why not now?
And where you stand?

And where do we stand?

We stand in Vermont.

One of our greatest citizens, John Dewey, once said: "Democracy must begin at home and its home is the small community."

So too, I would argue, must secession begin at home. And America's homeland is Vermont.

Monetary Secession Now

By Franklin Sanders

“First, do no harm.” Hippocrates' rule for physicians applies to secession movements as well. Secession ought to better the nation and not harm it. Otherwise, why undergo the danger and fatigue of changing one government for another? How will hearts be won to secession unless it improves lives?

The money we choose will affect everything else in our world. The monetary question boils down to this, whether our lives will be ruled by realities, or by abstractions. Real things, or non-existent illusions conjured up to defraud us. Real things and real values we freely choose for ourselves, or unreal abstracts forced on us by somebody else. If money must have value, then I have to go out and earn – accumulate – real wealth. If money is merely a symbol, then productive work is unnecessary. Whoever creates the symbols controls society, and the rest of us become their gulled slaves.