Twelve years ago, Daniel Suelo left his life savings - thirty dollars - inside a phone booth and walked away. Since then, he has lived - to all appearances sanely and even joyfully - without money, credit, barter, or government support, fulfilling what he sees as a vision of the good life inspired by the teachings of Jesus, the Buddha and others. Suelo sees his path as one that has allowed him to live an engaged life on the personal, social and spiritual level. What does his experience tell us about modern American life?

Many thanks to all you listeners who contributed to KBOO during the Spring Membership Drive! 

Clayton Morgareidge hosts this edition of the Old Mole which deals with austerity policies in Greece and around the world, how the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) writes the right-wing agenda into law, how the underground economy is becoming the model for a "new" economy, and how City Repair and the Village Building Convergence are changing lives and neighborhoods in Portland.  

 Neighbors in Portland are transforming and using the common spaces between homes.  Mark Lakeman, one of the founders of City Repair, talks here with Bill Resnick about the work of his organization and what it means for community life.  They have a wonderful website.  

 As the opportunities for paying jobs get fewer as the working-age population grows, more folks are turning to the off-the-books economy.  Clayton Morgareidge reads from this blog post by Laura Flanders about what that might mean for the future of work.  

 Costas Panayotakis is an economist, sociologist, ecologist, writer, activist, playwright and actor.  He is the author of Remaking Scarcity: From Capitalist Inefficiency to Economic Democracy, and he talks here with the Old Mole's Bill Resnick about how austerity policies are destroying the economies of Greece and other countries, and what working people need to do to respond.  Here is Costas and friends performing as "Austerity Nuts" on the New York Subway.  

Portland held its final budget hearing before the city council last night at David Douglas High School.

The attendance was slightly down from earlier meetings as several line items have been restored.