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Thus a critical role for the community is to facilitate the growth of a parallel system of work being freely chosen and "invested" in meaningful tasks.

Preparing for this alternative to the "factory/lifelong career" paradigm of work requires a revolution in our understanding of not just work but education and training--topics I cover in the next section.

Here is one last example of how communities can create paid work and value without relying on a factory to generate jobs: consider a high-tech manufactured product like a solar panel. Those who assert only factories create wealth do not have an integrated understanding of the entire supply chain.

In terms of labor, the factory is the least part of the entire system, especially as scalability drives the costs ever lower. If we examine the costs and labor of the entire system, the manufacture of the panels is a relatively modest part. From the factory, we add shipping through various hands, delivery to a wholesaler who adds a slice of overhead, and then delivery to a retailer or resale firm which assembles other components (inverters, rooftop frames, etc.) into a system which is then installed onsite.

Of the total paid labor, very little is at the factory.

Thus local communities actually have considerable leeway in capturing much of the paid labor in the entire system. Every kilowatt of power generated or saved by sustainable locally controlled productive energy assets (geothermal, solar, wind, hydroelectric, etc.) means the significant income which used to stream out of the community now stays in the community.

Recall my previous description of the "plantation economy" in which a handful of monopolies/cartels extract the wealth of the "plantation" debt-serfs. Please count the number of global owners of mass media. There are perhaps six. Global oil/natural gas distributors: perhaps six. Global manufacturers of large commercial aircraft: two. Global banks which own/control the vast majority of bank branches and consumer debt in the U.s.: perhaps six. The number of major retailers in the U.S.: once again, a mere handful accrue the vast majority of sales. Phone service: a handful. The number of global pharmaceutical companies: perhaps six.

If you add up how much of your monthly income flows to global cartels of concentrated capital, you may find that the overwhelming majority of your income flows to cartels (mortgage, credit card, auto loan, Wal-Mart/Safeway/Target, mass media/cable TV, pharmaceuticals, gasoline, etc.) and taxes paid to the over-reaching State.

This is the very definition of debt-serfdom, which is sold as a "consumer paradise." Given the stupendous rivers of money which flow out of every community in the land to concentrations of capital and control, is there any wonder why communities are impoverished? Just imagine how different it would be if all those trillions of dollars went to locally owned banks, local farmers markets, local energy sources, and so on, and if citizens were no longer debt-serfs paying most of their income to service debt of one kind or another.

A tremendous sum of money which was previously diverted to global cartels would circulate in the local community.

This is the power of looking at systems not just in the limited perspective of "consumerism" (the lowest cost must always be the "best" choice) but in terms of control, production of income and wealth and what serves the best interests of the community in the longer run.

Once again I return to the idea that global supply chains are inherently fragile and total dependence on global capital and long global supply chains for FEW resources is simply imprudent when measured in risk management terms.

Everything is "cheap" until it isn't, and then it's no longer available at any price. As for the global cartels: it's not their concern, it's ours.

Once again, here are the principles for community action:

1. Engagement

2. Transparency (trust and truth)

3. Accountability

4. An Adult Understanding (Triage and Trade-offs)

5. Redundancy/Distributed