A week ago I gave a talk about my dissertation to a wonderfully supportive group of colleagues at the University of Virginia, and I launched what I’m now calling an open dissertation—a blog, at culturemodding.com, with updates on the project (the whole dissertation is called Culture Modding: How We Play With Our Food, Money, and Beds in the Twenty-First Century) and new segments as I write them.

I’ve just posted some thoughts on the currency section this afternoon, and I’m reposting them below in case you’d like to follow along as the project develops.

Most of the dissertation thoughts I post here and on the new blog will be drafty and rough, and comments are especially welcomed—

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It’s been an interesting few weeks in the American financial sector, what with the AIG bailout and the Freddie/Fannie takeover.

Last night on PBS’ Bill Moyers Journal, Moyers talked with economic critic and author Kevin Phillips about this thoughts on recent developments and his book Bad Money (watch a 26:09 clip here); a troubled Phillips stated we were “a few innings” into what he suggested may be a disastrous game Wall Street has begun, facing off against bubbles from the past few US administrations.

Phillips mentions the rising price of gold in this week’s markets, and that made me think of local currency, which is backed by a community. In the innings to come in American economic stability, I think community is the new gold.

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