February 2015 Blog Posts (101)

Bartering is a common form of exchange that is often overlooked. We barter our services all of the time in order to get done what we need to. For instance, "I will work on preparing for the lab today if you will pick up the supplies." These type of verbal transactions can be key to getting this done in the best way possible. Why not create an economic system which is more capable of using this type of idea. For instance, dropping off used clothes in order to receive extra goods from someone…

One of the best ways that we can help undeveloped nations in extreme poverty is by creating good markets for their goods. For example selling authentic clothing items made by third world countries as luxury items and advertising them as a rarity. By putting these designs in the right markets of wealthy individuals and for high prices it can very seriously help to support the laborers in third world countries who make these goods. Other examples include different types of art and any item…

James Robert Daniell III commented on Alchemy's page Social Innovation - Learn
""Do the hard work needed to find a simple solution. As Leonardo da Vinci said, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”—and it is the key to this type of design work." By putting in the time to find the simple effort it pays dividends in all future efforts towards a goal and prevents inefficient and wasted time and resources.

Feb 4

James Robert Daniell III commented on Alchemy's page Social Innovation - Act

"Istvan Aba-Horvath is who I have chosen as my role model. He has taken incredible strives towards helping to lower the drop out rate from school in Hungary. So many children have been forced to drop out of school in order to make money in order to help support their families. Horvath has helped to provide the children with part time work by still staying enrolled in school and getting an…

"In 2020, I will hopefully still be fulfilling my commitment as an army JAG officer and will hopefully will be prosecuting human rights violators internationally. I plan to be well invested in service throughout my military career and after. #IMAGINE1"

What is it called? Where is it?

Who created it? How does it work?

What community does it serve? What problem does it solve?

On February 17th, a new branch of the Ewa Saving's Bank will be opening in the Laulani Village Shopping Center located just south of Carlsbad, California. The bank originally began as the American Saving's Bank in 1925. It's…

Earlier today, I took an interest in kiva, which operates solely to obtain and exchange money for loans that may benefits others world wide. The company is somewhat of a meeting place for those who are in need of loans and those who have the ability to lend. I personally had the opportunity to lend some of my personal finances to a small business owner in Boston, MA. This opportunity funded his base of advertisement for his company which works closely with Caribbean trade and financial…

I am reporting on a brand new bank know as we the people opening in Manhattan, NY; created by Apple CEO Tim Cook. The objective of we the people is similar to that of the World Bank in that they can get high volumes of loans at extremely low rates

Using other countries money such as one that does not have as much value as the US dollar would influence congressmen and governments to try to make their money worth more in the international market so that the government can make as much money as the other superpowers in the world.

From a globalization stand point making one worldwide currency would change the everything about trade and international travel and business. Of course not everyone would agree on it but it would certainly make all countries equal from a monetary perspective.

After a careful reading of the Do-it-Yourself article on money exchanges, I found the article to be very interesting. The article attempts to explain how businesses and exchange websites like craigslist could sometime in the near future be using a system of alternative money for exchange of merchandise. Some organizations have already began using this system and it has flourished especially in places like Kenya where money is valued lower than most currencies around the world. I personally…

The experiment that I believe will have the greatest impact on the future is the concept of Micro-Loans. The largest purveyor of these loans is Kiva.org. The idea behind micro-loans is small loans, even as small as $25 to help fledgling businesses that can't get loans anywhere else either because of their location, business, the amount they want to borrow, or a host of other reasons. All businesses need loans for various reasons. Some just to buy more products to sell. This allows many…

I envision dinner in the year 2020 similar to like what astronauts eat in condensed packets and when small amounts of water are added to it. Also, meals will bed served in smaller portions to be more aware of global scarcity.

Too increase food security personally I believe awareness needs to be raised about the problems of world hunger, and not taking fore granted the small things that we have like a good home cooked meal or running water.

The biggest problem in my community is see in food security is not so much people not getting any food but the waste of food. I have seen people throw away an entire meal after a few bites which is so inhumane especially after reading the African woman's story.

In 2020 with food security issues food could be much more standardized and produced. I imagine myself eating in a restaurant with much fewer options and most of them coming from biologically engineered plants and genetically enhanced meat and eventually even manufactured meat. Hopefully before too much longer the food industry will find a way to turn back to more natural roots but the future does not look overlook optimistic for 2020.

In order to help even more with food shortages volunteers could collect food from local people who would otherwise dispose of it. For instance many people will clean out their pantries and dispose of what they themselves will not eat, in combination with collecting food from grocery stores which is near its expiration date, many fewer people would go hungry.

Charleston suffers from great income disparity and in this issues lies a food shortage for those who are unemployed in the local population. Many religious organizations have taken on the work of helping to feed these individuals through service volunteers. In my home of Greenville their is also an organization known as loaves and fishes. I worked as a volunteer and would pick up food donated from local grocery stores which was near its expiration date and would be unlikely to be consumed…

"European competition authorities fined the British financial firm ICAP about 14.9 million euros, or $17 million, on Wednesday, saying the firm had breached antitrust laws by facilitating attempts by several banks to rig a benchmark interest rate."

This affects the average everyday person because now you can see the banking industry can no longer be trusted. They cut shady back room deals with their friends but over charge people for just making a credit card transaction or a transfer…

This week I became a member of the revolution of the way money is handled in the world. I made an online purchase for valentines day using the payment method of PayPal, a new and inventive way to purchase items cutting out the banks and credit card companies between the producer and the consumer. The thing I liked the most is the level of privacy when using it, it pops up in my bank statement as a PayPal purchase, therefore my bank doesn't know im spending my money on only the producer and…