Local Currency in Milwaukee!

Here in CT we had Shore Bucks for many years. I don't see em much any more, but a local shopkeeper showed me a 1 buck note in his cashier's drawer that he accepted a few months back. Its local cash, devised by the chambers of commerce in several shore towns (Saybrook, Westbrook, Clinton, Madison, Guilford, Branford, and maybe a few others). When they first designed it, shopkeeps were supposed to put signs in their windows saying they accept "shore bucks" but I actually don't remember seeing any of these. Also, I don't know how many businesses actually signed up to circulate them. But it was (and presumably still is) a reality.

If a local currency is a good idea, why doesn't everyone simply create their own individual currency? Because this defeats the entire point of money - to have a common medium of exchange.

The only global currency at any point was gold and silver. Today, gold mostly retains this quality. Although banks and governments would call weights of gold terms such as pound sterling or dollar, they referred to the same underlying substance, and you could redeem their paper money for the actual thing.

A local currency, on the other hand, is not redeemable for anything. It's dollar value will fluctuate, as well as its purchasing power.

Thus, today, we have a global store of value in gold, which can be converted to national fiat currencies anywhere in the world without losing much purchasing power if any. This local currency idea seems to say that the fiat US dollars should be used to then purchase local currencies. The number of local currencies would be tremendously enormous, and would create friction for trade between different communities. The reason they are there is because unlike gold, they can be inflated. So can local currencies. Why would we want to add another layer of monetary misery in our economy?

Finally, who is administering it? If you'll accept my local currency, I'd love to issue it. There is a large amount of seignorage involved, paying me for doing nothing. Why wouldn't these currencies be inflationary? Do they hold anything in reserve against their issuance? If they hold fiat dollars, then when the fiat dollar is debased, so is the currency.

If they hold gold in reserve, WHY WOULD THEY BE LOCAL ONLY? Gold has global purchasing power. There are already digital gold currencies usable through the web, that allow global usage.

And while corporate US is shady and the stock market is gamed by the FED, there are better ways to beat the corporations than to create these local-products-only schemes. To say that you'd like to use local currencies to restrict trade with the larger economy essentially means you don't want global FREE trade. Consider that if it were constitutional (it isn't), an easier way to achieve these same ends, would be for cities or communities to hike up protectionist tariffs on anything they compete to produce. Judging from how well this worked in 1931, I think we should avoid it.

I didn't see any mention of hard money for BerkShares or for this new currency proposed in Milwaukee. So I can assume we're just exchanging fiat dollars for fiat dollars. Whats to prevent the new money from being inflated? Granted, merchants will just stop accepting them if they are inflated, but who would know if they were inflated by 2% - 5% per year. Where is the accounting to keep track of this stuff?

From what I have seen, I think the Open Currency guys have a better idea of how to setup a currency than either the Milwaukee or the BerkShare groups.

JOhn

I just love how the main stream media has trained people to bust out the Constitution only when it's an issue that goes AGAINST the Federal government. It's very troubling indeed.

http://federalfallacy.blogspot.com

for our fellow Americans lack of understanding is a fundamentally flawed philosophy for promoting liberty.

It comes off as condescending which is not usually the best way to convert people over to a new cause nor have them be receptive to the message.

No one likes to think they have lived their lives the butt of a joke. When the simple truth of the scandalous nature of central banking is revealed it is enough to make one's stomach turn.

Alli

http://SmArgus.com

"None are so hopelessly enslaved as those who falsely believe they are free." - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

http://www.berkshares.org/

'Show Me The Money!'

Check out this site for some excellent resources:

http://www.transaction.net/money/community/index.html

I keep leaving comments to try and wake those people up, but the admins keep deleting my comments, and I have not said anything rude, just spoke the truth. So much for Freedom of Speech, no wonder most Americans are ignorant.

"If the American People ever allow banks to control the issuance of thier currencies, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all thier prosperity until thier children will wake up homeless on the continent thier fathers conquered." -Thomas Jefferson

"When one gets in bed with government, one must expect the diseases it spreads." -Ron Paul

I looked at it, fully 66% of the poll participants had indicated that they would use such a local currency. I seem to recall reading about a small town in the northeast (I think it may have been in Vermont) where local merchants were accepting and using locally issued coupons or currency.

Nice to see another tiny crack developing in the system.
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"An economy built on fiat money is a society on its way to ashes."