Sacred Economics: Money, Gift, and Society in the Age of Transition

Debt grows at compound interest and as a purely mathematical quantity encounters no limits to slow it down. Wealth grows for a while at compound interest, but, having a physical

central planning often misses important needs, invites totalitarian abuse of power, and fails to engage the creativity of individuals and grass-roots organizations.

an essential purpose of government—maybe the essential purpose of government—is to serve as the trustee of the commons. The commons includes the surface of the earth, the minerals under the earth, the water on and under the ground, the richness of the soil, the electromagnetic spectrum, the planetary genome, the biota of local and global ecosystems

We have gotten so used to the world of usury-money that we mistake many of its effects for basic laws of economics or human nature.

make wise decisions on how to direct the magical flow of human creativity.

Unique though it is, the sacred is nonetheless inseparable from all that went into making it, from its history, and from the place it occupies in the matrix of all being.

As I have argued already, this eventuality has been delayed for a long time as technology and imperialism have transferred goods and services from the commons into the money economy.

organ to listen and respond to the needs of the system, rather than to pump money through it.

activity, nonmaterial yet ubiquitous.

The commoditization of social relationships leaves us with nothing to do together but to consume.