Why economic networks?
Why do I think they are important enough to write a series of blog posts about?
I think they are an opening, an aperture, an entry point, to a better economic system.
People can experiment with different economic relationships without needing to take on the whole global capitalist system all at once.
People can figure out which economic relationships work and which don't. Which might be better than either a sudden revolution or collapse of civilization and then figuring out what to do. Or taking some blueprint that somebody wrote up without anybody ever trying it. Or looking at partly failed attempts from the past that nobody really wants to repeat.
But there's a catch...
...of course. Your economic network with better rules will meet the surrounding capitalist system on every edge. You will not be able to get all of your needs met within the network and so will need to buy them in capitalist markets. So you will still need money, the coin o' the realm.
And you may need to pay taxes, and be hemmed in by laws that assume capitalist relationships.
And all of the people will have been trained in capitalist ideology, that is, me first.
I'll write about still needing money in another post. But next, economic networks in chocolate...