Central, Commercial and Retail Banks

Under Solon Papageorgiou’s framework, central banks and commercial banks become obsolete and are entirely replaced by radically different economic structures rooted in:

• voluntary cooperation

• gift and sharing economies

• local commons stewardship

• and non-monetary value systems

Here’s a breakdown of what happens to these institutions and what replaces them:

🏦 1. Central Banks: Abolished

❌ What Goes Away:

• Currency issuance (e.g., printing money)

• Interest rate manipulation

• Inflation targeting

• Monetary policy

• State debt financing

• Foreign exchange controls

✅ What Replaces It:

• No need for fiat money or centralized control over money supply

• Local sufficiency models make national macroeconomic tools irrelevant

• Resource-based coordination replaces abstract financial levers

Why? Because the framework doesn’t rely on debt, national currencies, or centralized control mechanisms.

🏛 2. Commercial and Retail Banks: Phased Out

❌ Eliminated Banking Functions:

✅ What Replaces Them:

• Trust circles and reciprocity networks: informal agreements, not contracts

• Commons stewardship bodies: local people manage land, tools, and housing

• Gifting, skill exchange, and needs-based sharing

• Time-based and contribution-based coordination, not capital

💱 3. No Formal Currency or Monetary System

• Money as we know it — centralized, abstract, debt-based, hoardable — is not used.

• Instead, the framework nurtures non-monetary economies, including:

  • Gift economy: Giving without expectation of return

  • Mutual aid: Direct response to community needs

  • Commons economy: Shared use and maintenance of goods/resources

  • Time-based exchange: Occasionally used, but without accumulation

  • Direct provisioning: Growing, making, or crafting what is needed locally

🌿 4. Post-Banking Economic Principles

🛠 In Practice

• No ATMs, no bank accounts, no stock markets, no mortgages

• A new person arriving doesn't "open an account" — they are welcomed and supported by the community

• A person in need doesn't "apply for a loan" — they receive care, then contribute when they are able

• People coordinate labor and goods directly, not through prices, interest rates, or bank-issued credit

🧠 Philosophical Roots

This vision draws on:

• Anarchist economics (e.g. Kropotkin’s mutual aid)

• Indigenous and pre-capitalist economies (relational, land-based)

• Gift economy theorists (e.g. Lewis Hyde)

• Post-growth and degrowth movements

• Anti-usury and ethical resource sharing principles found across spiritual traditions

✨ Final Thought

In Solon Papageorgiou’s framework, the bank doesn’t evolve — it disappears.

In its place:
🌾 Gardens, learning circles, workshops, and kitchens become the new “branches”
🤝 Trust, contribution, and relational depth become the new “credit”
🔄 Care, need, and sufficiency become the new “currency”

In Solon Papageorgiou’s framework, complex economic tasks like building a home or launching a cooperative project are accomplished without banks, without money, and without debt, through a system based on community participation, commons stewardship, voluntary coordination, and shared care.

Here’s a detailed walkthrough of how it works:

🛖 Example 1: Building a Home

🔧 Step-by-Step Process:

1. Expression of Need

• An individual or family expresses the need for a dwelling to the local circle of care or coordination group.

• There’s no application, income check, or ownership claim — just relational openness and transparency of need.

2. Community Dialogue

• The local group discusses:

  • Available land (held in common)

  • Materials in circulation (reusable or locally sourced)

  • Willing volunteers with construction skills

  • Appropriate home size and ecological design

3. Design Phase

• Community builders, architects (if any), and the future inhabitants co-create the design.

• Emphasis is on functionality, sustainability, and non-excessiveness — not on status or resale value.

4. Materials Sourcing

• Materials are obtained through:

  • Local commons (stored or reclaimed materials)

  • Natural sourcing (wood, clay, stone, straw)

  • Barter or mutual aid with other communities

  • Gifting from others who have surplus

5. Labor and Construction

• A building circle forms voluntarily — participants may include:

  • Experienced builders

  • Learners/apprentices

  • Friends and neighbors

  • The home’s future inhabitants

• Work is not paid, but supported with:

  • Shared meals

  • Community celebrations

  • Future reciprocity when others are building or in need

6. Completion and Stewardship

• When the house is ready, it is inhabited without deed or title.

• The space is not owned but stewarded by the residents.

• If the residents leave or die, the home reverts to the commons.

✅ No Need For:

• Mortgage

• Land purchase

• Legal permits or title deeds

• Insurance or property taxes

🧑🏽‍🌾 Example 2: Launching a Cooperative Project

(e.g., a community kitchen, tool workshop, herbal clinic)

🔧 Step-by-Step Process:

1. Identify Purpose

• A group proposes a project to meet a local need (e.g., better nutrition, skill sharing, collective healing).

2. Proposal & Dialogue

• Proposal is shared with the local community through dialogue circles.

• The goal is collective agreement, enthusiasm, and resource clarity, not profit.

3. Resource Mobilization

• The group maps:

  • Space (available buildings, unused corners, outdoor areas)

  • Materials (donated, salvaged, commons-held)

  • People (skills, time, energy)

  • Knowledge (elders, past projects, oral teachings)

4. Assembly and Construction

• The project is built collectively, possibly in stages.

• It may grow organically — starting small and expanding as more people contribute.

5. Ongoing Participation

• Roles are fluid and voluntary:

  • Some cook, some maintain the space, others teach or facilitate

  • No one is paid, but all are fed, supported, and thanked

• Use is shared. Access is universal. No ID or membership fee.

6. Long-term Stewardship

• A small stewardship group ensures care, accessibility, and fairness.

• Decisions are made through consensus or sociocratic methods.

✅ No Need For:

• Capital investment

• Business plan for ROI

• Incorporation or licensing

• Salaries or wage labor

• External funding

🔁 Underlying Systems That Make This Possible

🧠 Summary Principles

• No profit motive

• No debt or credit scoring

• No competition or accumulation

• No monetary incentive — only relational incentive

• Everyone contributes what they can, and receives what they need

🌱 Final Reflection

In this framework, building and creating together is an act of care and trust, not a commercial venture.
The “currency” is mutual respect, shared effort, and real presence — not digital numbers or bank approval.

Here’s a fictional narrative set in a micro-utopia based on Solon Papageorgiou’s framework, showing how a person builds a home and starts a cooperative project — entirely without banks, money, or state systems.

🏡 “Lina’s House and the People’s Kitchen”

A story from the village of Ilonia, 2037

☀️ Morning

Lina arrived in Ilonia with just a backpack and a smile. She had spent months moving between micro-utopias, contributing where she could — helping in gardens, caring for elders, and learning food preservation. Now, she hoped to stay.

She met Mara, one of the welcomers in the village, who said simply,

“You’re not a stranger here. You’re someone we just hadn’t met yet.”

They walked through orchards and shared kitchens, where neighbors prepared meals for everyone nearby. There was no money, no form to fill. Only a cup of herbal tea, a warm fire, and a question:

“What do you dream of building here?”

🛖 Building a Home

Lina said she needed a place to rest and put down roots. She didn’t ask for ownership — only for a space to shelter, contribute, and be held.

That week, the community coordination circle met and remembered that a small adobe structure near the lake — once a storage space — could be repaired and expanded. A few carpenters offered their skills. A group of teens were eager to learn. Elders contributed knowledge of lime plaster and rain-harvesting roofs.

Lina herself offered to cook lunches during the build, and document the process so others could learn.

There were no loans. No rent. No deeds.

Six weeks later, she moved into a modest, beautiful home — built from earth, wood, time, and love.

🍲 Starting a Cooperative Project

While building her home, Lina noticed something: many villagers cooked alone, and food waste was common. So she proposed an idea:

“What if we turn the old grain mill into a shared kitchen — where people can cook together, share meals, and preserve food for the seasons?”

The idea sparked energy.

She brought it to the local listening circle. No voting — just voices, feelings, reflections.

Within days, she had:

• Four volunteers with experience in fermentation and baking

• Two people offering tools and clay stoves from a previous project

• A retired midwife who suggested it also host herbal tea circles and intergenerational meals

Together they cleaned the space, painted the walls with natural pigments, and opened “The People’s Kitchen”.
Every morning, someone prepared breakfast. Every afternoon, children made flatbread. Every evening, someone lit a fire.

It was never “Lina’s” project.
It belonged to everyone who stepped into it.

💬 Conversations Along the Way

Someone once asked Lina:

“Aren’t you afraid of not having a job or a salary?”

She laughed.

“Here, everyone already has what they need — and everyone is needed. That’s better security than a paycheck.”

🌿 Reflection

In Ilonia:

• Housing is care, not asset

• Labor is contribution, not commodity

• Projects grow through participation, not capital

• People are known by their gifts, not their papers

Lina’s story isn’t about charity or utopia.
It’s about reclaiming human-scale life — one shared meal, one built wall, one listening circle at a time.