On Tuesday 25 August 2009, Rene Churchill wrote: > Currently there's Onion River Exchange in Montpelier, which is a > time bank instead of a local currency. Members donate their time > to other members in return for services in return. A bit of a > socialist slant in that an hour of garden weeding is valued the > same as an hour of computer consulting, but you've got to define > some medium of exchange to get the ball rolling. I wonder, since my wife asked same ? last night, what the resistance would be in moving to a more Egalatarian society; where everyone's time spent was worth the same, on par. rationalizing that exchanging services requires balancing a need for tools (the dentist), or highly specialized knowledge (accounting, computers, etc..), and would be measured differently than someone giving/offering say produce (food), or proof-reading, or something less skilled. I felt sad though for saying, and believing it.
>
> Money is just a medium of exchange backed by the government. It
> eases the difficulties of the barter system by removing the
> requirement that both parties have something that the other
> desires. i.e. you want my car but I don't want your motorcycle,
> but I'll take your cash which I can use to buy that boat I want.
All the more pity that money is so tightly bound to taxes more than cc's are to
sur-charges:)
though, in fact, barter is treated the same (income-wise), I'll bet it's harder
to track.
>
> Money also solves problems of sliding scales. If the going
> exchange rate is three cows for two horses, how do you buy
> only one horse without being overcharged (paying two cows)
> or getting into a bloody mess (half a cow).
Find someone else who wants a horse and is willing to pay/barter for the
price of 1.5 cows:)
>
> There is also the problem of liquidity. If I amass a pile
> of Brinkerhoff Bucks, how do I know I can actually use them
> to get something in the future? It takes a while to build
> a stable reputation so that folks will actually hold onto
> a local currency.
Considering that the $1 bill (a facimile of money) is worth all of 0.14 cents
in real terms
AND that all it would take would be for the FED (serving international finance
- not citizens) to increase the rate over-night
for us to experience an Argentinan's pain, it might be a 'good thing' to have a
barter system handy
>... The current credit/debit card system
> has a huge amount of inertia behind it.
I think the doc is called 'the ascent of money' - well worth watching
Thought some of you might be interested in this PBS special, .... Of course a
whole market will "trust" money's purchasing power, ...
mises.org/Community/forums/t/5805.aspx
> Cash flow is another
> concern, how quickly is the merchant paid after they submit a
> receipt? CC's often pay in 2 business days, barring returns
> and merchants count on getting the funds that quickly so they
> can pay their own bills.
Merch is one thing; i guess literally a 'thing', that requires some kind of
hand-to-hand transaction
but what about services? I need a carpenter to fix my leaky roof and the
carpenter needs a chiropracter
to crack his back and the 'adjuster' needs a computer guy to rid his WinBox of
the nasties.
I believe that computing can connect those dots rather easily. In fact, I'm
betting on it.
But we're back to valuation of one's time, nonetheless.
>
> Anyhow, just my $0.02 on the subject.
Thanks for starting an interesting aspect of this thread.
Rion
>
> Rene
>
>
>
>
> Stanley Brinkerhoff wrote:
> > VAGUIANS,
> >
> > There is an idea of a 'local' currency. Burlington has tried it.
> > Montpelier has tried it.
> >
> > I am sure its been done many times -- and it seems to fail (as far as I
> > have causally noticed).
> > Has anyone developed; or has any area
> > implemented; a local "debit card" system for a town/geographical area?
How about just a local netsite that takes an 'order' via SMS, confirms purchase
via phone call
and 'authorizes' via an email to the vendor?
> >
> > Something simple where individuals could put cash onto cards (online, or
> > even at a local business) and spend locally with little to no processing
> > fees? Right now a local vendor subsodizes the creditcard at 1-5% --
> > such a system could charge an equal overhead while guaranteeing local
> > businesses they are "paying" for local business, rather than sending
> > 1-5% to a creditcard processor.
I have no idea how much 1-5% amounts to, or if that method is too much trouble
to be worth it.
And i'm sure a better system could be developed anyhow.
> > Such a system could even be piggybacked
> > to process a vendors normal creditcard transactions such that they could
> > process local cards, and as a failback, it would push the transaction
> > out to their merchant.
> >
> > Enlighten me to where this has happened -- or why it wouldn't work.
have you google'd lately? Have you ever been to transition town?
> >
> > Stan
>
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