I was at the Bioneers Chicago on Saturday, November 3 doing a workshop on “Welcome to the Gift Economy” – it was a critique of our current financial system and the institutions that teach it and about giftedness and P2P reciprocity. We CREATED our very own Gift Economy on the spot! Here is the deck:
The August issue of “Chicago Magazine” has a feature on how to make Chicago even better. They selected six Big Ideas. Mine was #5. It’s about establishing a public bank for Illinois.
“THE RATIONALE: A state bank could help Illinois reduce its budget deficit and make more credit available, thereby boosting the economy.
THE PROPONENT: Tom Tresser, cofounder of Illinois Citizens for Public Banking and a former teacher who coorganized the opposition to the 2016 Olympics
HE SAYS: “Illinois has more red ink than any state but California. It owes $34 billion in principal on its bonds; pension debt stands at $76 billion, the highest in the nation; and it pays a ton in bond interest and fees, not just because it has a poor credit rating but also because it also uses big out-of-state banks and investment firms to do the deals.
“Contrast that with North Dakota. Since the economic downturn began in 2008, North Dakota has had a budget surplus every year. It has no state debt, excellent credit, and the country’s lowest unemployment rate [3 percent]. While student loans in Illinois carry interest of 8 to 12 percent, in North Dakota it’s 4 percent.” Read the full story.
I presented at TEDxIIT on Saturday, April 14, on the south side campus of IIT. I talked about The Gift Economy and created one among the attendees. 82 of the 100 attendees actually offered something to their fellow attendees!
Here is the presentation:
Click on the player below to listen and click on the Slideshare viewer to watch the presentation.
CounterSpin Radio, a project of FAIR, interviewed me about my experience with the No Games Chicago campaign (10 minutes). This was sparked by a recent front page article in The New York Times about forced evictions in Rio as part of the prep for the 2016 Olympics.
I’ve been added to the faculty of The Institute for Arts Entrepreneurship’s 2012 Boost Camp. The Boost Camp is a series of 12 online experiences will help you work through a variety of relevant and specific topics to help you build your creative career. You will be guided and given the tools and information needed to execute your strategy you develop during the course. You will be introduced to creative, entrepreneurial and innovative experts from around the world, along with a community of artists with whom you will be able to share knowledge and opportunities. I’ll be doing a session on “Introduction to the Creative Economy – Why Creativity Fuels Progress” on June 9. Learn more here…
We know there is no one simple path that’s right for everyone. Boost Camp provides lectures by industry experts, group interaction and one-on-one sessions.
Murem Sharpe, the CEO and founder of the online audio service Evoca, interviewed Tom online. Tom has been using Evoca for online recording and archiving speeches for a number of years. This is the audio file, 21 minutes.
Good Magazine made this two minute video illustrating the 2010 IBM Global CEO Report where over 1,500 CEOs from 63 countries said that creativity was the Number One trait they are looking for from their managers. That’s why I’m teaching a class on creativity and business at the IIT Stuart School of Business.
GOOD Magazine Illustrates IBM’s 2010 CEO Study from Kaldor on Vimeo.
Tom’s second post for the Americans for the Arts Blog Salon on the future of the arts and business collaboration is up. This post describes the first session of the class on creativity he devised for the Stuart School of Business in Chicago.
Evanston Neighbors for Peace presented…
“The Privatizers are coming! They’re HERE!”
Connecting the Dots – Privatization Is The Symptom, Not The Cure
The presenters were Tom Tresser of Illinois Public Bank Working Group and Flo Estes of the Evanston Community-Labor Alliance. Here is Tom’s presentation with audio (20 minutes):
Tom was one of the presenters at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Great Cities Institute forum marking the 10th anniversary of their Professional Education Program’s Certificate in Nonprofit Management. He claimed that the nonprofit sector has failed America and urged nonprofit leaders, workers and constituents to get political and join a new political initiative called CForward. Hear his remarks (about ten minutes):
The presenters were:
