Counter-Economics

Counter-economics is peaceful revolution through parallel systems. It's the act of withdrawing your consent from centralized institutions — not through protest, but through action. It’s opting out, building alternatives, and trading in the black and grey markets where voluntary exchange thrives.

The term comes from Samuel Edward Konkin III, who coined the philosophy of Agorism. He believed that every time we trade freely, without state interference, we strengthen the agora — the open marketplace — and weaken coercive systems.

Tools of the Counter-Economy

There’s no one way to participate. Counter-economics is as broad as human cooperation. But here are a few trusted tools and assets:

• U.S. Coins – Pre-1965 90% silver coins, pre-1982 copper cents, and even wartime nickels. These are real money with metal content and historical trust.
• USPS Forever Stamps – They hold first-class postage value regardless of future price hikes. They're quiet, portable, and hedge against inflation — one of the few government-issued items that still behave like hard assets.
• Cash – Physical dollars are increasingly inconvenient for the state, which is a good reason to keep using them locally.
• Crypto – Bitcoin introduced the idea; Monero perfected the privacy. Peer-to-peer digital cash still matters — especially in a world tilting toward surveillance finance.

This Isn’t Hiding — It’s Living

Operating in the grey market doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong. It often means you’re doing something right — building trust, using your own judgment, and refusing to feed systems that don’t serve you.

Counter-economics is quiet. It's local. It's humble. It's how people preserved value across centuries of war, collapse, and change. You don't need permission to trade with integrity.

Want to Go Deeper?

• Agorism.info – Overview of Konkin’s philosophy
• An Agorist Primer – S.E.K. III (free PDF)
• Monero.com – A guide to private digital money
• The Market Against the State – Mises Institute