On the subject of an 'Alternative Investment Code' Richard Douthwaite
argued that 'Net capital flows between countries, or even between one
part of a country and another, need to be completely prohibited if we
are ever to construct a sustainable world.'
I think the time has come to serioiusly consider local currencies as a means
of bringing about the sustainable world that Richard refers to. They've been
used successfully during the Depression in Austria until the central bank
closed them down, (see Tom Greko's 1994 book: "New Money for Healthy
Communities") and now they're re-emerging in commuities world wide in the
form of LETS , HOURS, Time dollars, etc. Just recently, they've opened up
in South America and Mexico (see Chris Hohner's latest submission in
econ-lets which I've copied below)
This is a one-way message from Buenos Aires - please do not respond to
[EMAIL PROTECTED] (email anarchy on my return! - I can't easily clear my
mail for lack of telnet access on my home server).
LETS sneaked into the Team Canada mission to Latin America, under the
auspices of Community Software of Peterborough, Ontario, and the federal
government of Canada, which sponsored 4 "youth" delegates (out of 480
businesses), of which CSI is the only representative from Ontario. Chris
Hohner (myself) is the author and sole participant for LETS on this
mission.
Mexico (Mexico City)
The peso crash in recent years gave great mileage for LETS. My Mexican
counterparts were deeply impressed at the analogy that when money is
devalued, skills remain, and new mechanisms for credit are needed to
infuse the correction at local levels to address the chaos in labour and
earnings. We were a very late entrant to the trade mission, and I was
unable to contact Luis in time to arrange a meeting (my laptop died,
with all email correspondence, in mid-December). But I was heartened by
the focus of the Presedential address to delegates, which firmly
stressed the importance of socio-economic factors as the premise for
business, and the goal of inclusive prosperity to create the possibility
for participation of poor Mexicans in the life of the economy. I
mentioned liberally the project in April for LETS in Latin America (hope
that's O.k. Stephen!), and gave some demonstrations of LETS software
translated into Spanish.
Brazil (Brasilia and Sao Paulo)
This was a little harder, and confess little headway was made. The CEO's
and their high-powered local deals dominated, and the language barrier
was more extreme. I focussed on the domestic (Canadian) representatives.
A province-wide program for LETS is now being considered for one of the
Canadian provinces. Several others expressed interest, but there is much
work remaining to concretize any impression into action. But they're a
captive audience on the trip (as I am!), and one influential CEO (a
crony of finance ministers past and present) is now obsessed with LETS.
Argentina
Buenos Aires was the breakthrough. By chance, my LETS-obsessed CEO
nailed me for a lunch with some powerful Argentinians, and the talk of
financial markets, the Asian collapse, George Soros (third-largest
investor in Argentina), and then LETS, left them flabbergasted. I really
nailed that room - almost the entirety of the lunch focussed on LETS.
One of the Argentine power-brokers is arranging a special audience with
the likely future president of Chile on the next leg of the trip. By all
accounts, he is brilliant, young, and very open to innovative ideas.
I've been told he will be floored by the concept.
Time is very short on this dizzying array of meetings, schmoozings, and
dinners, so I have to go. As I mentioned, don't respond to me personally
until February - my mailbox is likely jammed already.
Sincerely,
Chris Hohner
Peterborough LETS
General Manager,
Community Software
David Burman [EMAIL PROTECTED]
University of Toronto, phone: 416-978-0536
19 Russell Street, fax: 416-978-8511
Toronto ON, M5S 2S2
