Gypsi
Almost Self-Reliant
Perfect for a self sufficient forum:
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/money-print-your-own/beyond-greed-and-scarcity
http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/money-print-your-own/beyond-greed-and-scarcity
local currency and social change...
- Thread starter Gypsi
- Start date
so lucky
Almost Self-Reliant
My new AARP magazine has an article about workers' co-ops. You earn "hours" by doing work for others. All work has the same value, whether it is an accountant, a babysitter, a gardener, a barber, etc. A central "bank" keeps track of the hours. Reportedly it doesn't need to be taxed because the work is considered charity or volunteer work. I am thinking about trying to start up a co-op in my community. I think below-par workers would be weeded out soon, just as they are in the regular economy. Maybe even faster!
Wannabefree
Little Miss Sunshine
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That's a very interesting article. I agree with a lot of it, as I have seen that particular system work myself, but some of the undertones are idiotic at best. Most of the content is good though. Thanks for posting it 
dfr1973
Power Conserver
As soon as I saw "French franc" I had to look at its pub date - June 1997. Makes it even more interesting ... I wonder if there is an update to it.
Joel_BC
Super Self-Sufficient
The Wikipedia article on modern local currencies is worth having a look at if you're also reading other material about local curencies:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_currency#Modern_local_currencies
There have been two attempts at making a local currency work in my rural area (population here being about 3000 people, depending on what stretches you include when you do the mapping). Each attempt died out after a couple years. Not a wide enough range of goods and services offered within the small population participating.
I might mention that currency tended to accumulate amongst auto mechanics!
And the auto mechanics didn't find enough goods/services that they wanted to spend it on.
But I like the idea of local currencies.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_currency#Modern_local_currencies
There have been two attempts at making a local currency work in my rural area (population here being about 3000 people, depending on what stretches you include when you do the mapping). Each attempt died out after a couple years. Not a wide enough range of goods and services offered within the small population participating.
I might mention that currency tended to accumulate amongst auto mechanics!
And the auto mechanics didn't find enough goods/services that they wanted to spend it on.But I like the idea of local currencies.
Boogity
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Pie-in-the-sky ideology seldom works. Human beings possess natural characteristics that make that type of socialism a failure every time.
Yes! magazine is a tool for the progressive agenda.
Yes! magazine is a tool for the progressive agenda.
Icu4dzs
Super Self-Sufficient
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What he said!Boogity said:
Helping your neighbors is what we do and it should come naturally. No one should have to tell you to do it, or grade you for it or keep track of your "performance". Keeping track of what is done is the act of socialist (read
rogressive) agenda so they don't have to work, just keep the records and publish their opinion of you. That is a bunch of HOOOOeeey! Who needs that? Maybe it sounds 'cool' or helpful at first, but if it loses the feeling of it being a gift to your fellow man, it becomes a socialist prinicple that means hard work for something is no more valueable than doing nothing and getting paid for it. NOPE, HOMEY DON"T PLAY DAT! Why not just give everyone a "B" and call it a day. The folks who study to make "A" won't like it but the knuckleheads who won't work to even get a "D" will love it. Sorry, it is a proven fact that as Boogity says, human beings possess natural characteristics..." So do you want a lawyer or a doctor who didn't work hard in school and just got a "B" cause everyone else got the same grades? Go ahead and tell that to your dying child...They'll really respect you for that. We all remember the ones who cheated in school. Do you want them to work for you because when you know they are willing to cheat, what will they do when they are supposed to do something seriously responsible for you or your family? See what I mean? It sounds cool at first but once you dissect it, you find that it probably isn't a good idea after all...at least not to me!
I believe in helping my neigbors when they ask or need and do often without regard for what I do as a doc. I have worked cattle, built fence, tended livestock for several months, etc. all with out the least expectation that it should be done for me in return. I have needed help bulding and installing a 10 x 14 foot door on a shed and it took 5 men and my tractor to do it. I fed them all and their wives after we did it that night. They were happy to help and it was a good day.
I have provided shelter for the equipment of my neighbors tractor and rake for the whole winter several years in a row. He helped me lift that door. I have worked his cattle. We just do it. "We don't need to keep no steenkeeng records" and we don't keep score, either! His wife gave me a dozen 3 lb jars of honey because they don't eat honey. I've loaned out my tractor and tiller in exchange (barter) for 12 hens and 2 piglets. It's just the way we do things in America.
Yes, when I work as a Doc in the "economy" my rate of pay is one way, but helping your neighbor do something is different. You do it because he is your neighbor, not because you expect to get something out of it in return. There is too much opportunity for discord in any system where some people do the work and others "keep the records". You can veil it with "volunteer" labels or whatever but once you start trying to mix it into a big pot, someone will find a "problem" with it where they don't feel they were treated fairly.
When was the last time you helped your neighbor and he graded your performance (and you liked it) ? Hmmm, didn't think so.
Trim sends
//BT//
Joel_BC
Super Self-Sufficient
Trim, a large part of me agrees with what you've posted here. (And a portion of that "part" is the 'myself' that volunteers and helps neighbors, and has done so most of my life... the other portion of the "part" is the aspect that respects "do-ers" more than lay-abouts.)
On the other hand, the aspect of the local currency idea that is appealing to me has to do with this scenario: Let's say that many good and skilled people live in a locality. Let's say that the underpinnings of the local economy - for example, mining and forest products - have withered. Let's say that a sizable portion of the people like one another, and are friendly with one another... and that they also like the local topography, flora and fauna, lakes and rivers... and they want to stay in the community. In fact, they are extremely reluctant to leave, and there is not much guarantee of finding a decent-paying job matched to their skills anyplace else. These people want to be able to exchange goods and services in some sort of reciprocity. (Some, of course, will be willing to be "good neighbors" of a Biblical sort, with no thought of compensation, while some will not.) But everyone understands a "medium of exchange".
To me, the appeal of the concept is clear - and I'd say it's not very socialistic, but more market oriented.
I'd endorse it heartily... except I haven't seen it work out in reality. Not here, anyway. Not in my locality.
But in my observations, the reason for it not working out doesn't seem so much human nature as the limited immediate diversity of skill sets and the limited availability of certain sorts of raw materials and manufacturing.
On the other hand, the aspect of the local currency idea that is appealing to me has to do with this scenario: Let's say that many good and skilled people live in a locality. Let's say that the underpinnings of the local economy - for example, mining and forest products - have withered. Let's say that a sizable portion of the people like one another, and are friendly with one another... and that they also like the local topography, flora and fauna, lakes and rivers... and they want to stay in the community. In fact, they are extremely reluctant to leave, and there is not much guarantee of finding a decent-paying job matched to their skills anyplace else. These people want to be able to exchange goods and services in some sort of reciprocity. (Some, of course, will be willing to be "good neighbors" of a Biblical sort, with no thought of compensation, while some will not.) But everyone understands a "medium of exchange".
To me, the appeal of the concept is clear - and I'd say it's not very socialistic, but more market oriented.
I'd endorse it heartily... except I haven't seen it work out in reality. Not here, anyway. Not in my locality.
But in my observations, the reason for it not working out doesn't seem so much human nature as the limited immediate diversity of skill sets and the limited availability of certain sorts of raw materials and manufacturing.
