Off the Grid: American Communities in the Wake of the Financial Crisis (Enhanced DVD)

Public and private utilities backed by Big Energy were the top investment picks during the global financial crisis of 2008. Energy investment, it was believed, was the surest market equalizer in a time of turmoil. More than mere proposition, investor backing of standard energy and alternative energy supply was nothing short of instant earnings. 

At the community level, cities and towns across the United States effectively managed the crisis with the type of ingenuity not seen since the Great Depression. In major metropolitan major metropolitan areas like Detroit, already bankrupt from commercial flight, alternative economic programs already underway informed other communities with their participatory response to decaying public infrastructure.

The emergence of alternative finance movements, and their impact on neighborhoods with the issuance of discount fiat currency, promoted exchange at the local level. Participatory budgeting scheme of community finance from government and private investment sources, have paved the way for a new model of sustainable community once not imaginable in an era of high confidence when top-down, rather than democratic management of projects was taken for granted.    

Touching on theories from the fields of Civics, Economics, Political Science, and Sociology, the program examines the rise of the public-private partnership as a vital response to municipal consolidation. Conceived by 20th century Libertarian philosophers, public choice theories offer the most viable solution to communities gone awry. The film underscores the potential of a community governed sphere of “public utility”.

Off the Grid: American Communities in the Wake of the Financial Crisis

DVD

ISBN 978-1-62290-645-1

Run Time 75 Minutes

Copyright 2011

Closed Captioned (CC)