Communities print own currencies to keep cash flowing

Communities print own currencies to keep cash flowing

www.usatoday.com

By Marisol Bello, USA TODAY
A small but growing number of cash-strapped communities are printing their own money.

Borrowing from a Depression-era idea, they are aiming to help consumers make ends meet and support struggling local businesses.

The systems generally work like this: Businesses and individuals form a network to print currency. Shoppers buy it at a discount — say, 95 cents for $1 value — and spend the full value at stores that accept the currency.

(visit the link for the full news article)

As long as this is legal It may help lift spending a little bit, and help to keep workers at small businesses paid, but it is only another small and temporary band-aid for a very large infected wound.

Small towns could really hold together a little longer using this
idea.

What do you think about Home Made money?

www.usatoday.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 6-4-2009 by azureskys]

Firstly that doesn't really work as printing more money tends to devalue a currency and actually make the problem worse.

Secondly, isn't that highly illegal?

Not a bad idea... but i belive its highly illegal..at least according to the FED and federal reserve. If it sint THIER paper money, its fake money then. Its no different, then operating and printing yuor own money in yuor basement. Its called counterfiting!
And yes, thats the main reason wy its illegal, becuase it devalues the dollar.

reply to post by OZtracized


it is not illegal as long as the Script your printing in no way resembles a federal reserve note.

The alernate currency doesn't cause inflation in the federal reserve note. actually it is shrinking the amount of federal reserve note in circulation and actually increasing the value of the fed note.

Think about it. if it was illegal to use any other form of payment than a federal reserve note then everyone that has ever written a check, used a debt card, or credit card would be looking at jail time. a check, debt/ credit cards is a form of script!

edit to add. not every Business has to except the new local script and it can only be used locally!

[edit on 4/6/2009 by Mercenary2007]

It is legal .

Please read the full article so you can be informed as to the legality of this.

reply to post by Mercenary2007


O.K., I'll buy that arguement.
(that wasn't a deliberate pun but I'll run with it........)

I think it runs along the same lines as coupons... essentially you're trading a product or service for an otherwise worthless piece of paper.

reply to post by LiquidLight


Wrong
$95.00 in exchange for $100.00 gives you $5.00 more purchase power.



[edit on 6-4-2009 by azureskys]

reply to post by azureskys


Check out LETS (local exchange trading system) on Wiki-p. This allows individuals within a community to trade goods, services and skills with other community members without the use of any form of currency. Far from being a perfect system, it does nontheless allow for those who have little or no disposable income to participate in a localised economy that does not rely upon finance or debt.

Google LETS to find out if there is a scheme in your area!

Oh it's perfectly legal.

It's only illegal if you try to forge federal currency. But making your own localized currency is very much legal and is actually pretty common amongst retail companies.


For instance, in Canada, the Canadian Tire Corporation has it's own currency.
When you receive your change, they also give you a percentage of the receipt value in the form of Canadian Tire Money.
Which in turn can only be spent in locations that accept it... namely, at Canadian Tire Stores, and a few gas stations.

Many raffles and fundraisers around the country raise donated Canadian Tire money instead of real cash to achieve their goals.
And some entrepreneuring companies often accept Canadian Tire money because that's where they purchase the tools for their trade anyways.

It's not a stretch of the imagination to think that other companies might recognize Canadian Tire money as valuable should the Federal Currency become worthless... and as such, a network of companies with an independent currency is born.



In short, creating your own currency is totally legal, just don't make it look like the federal currency.

The only issue is getting people to recognize it as having value.
Hence, why it's the retail companies that would have to start it.

reply to post by teapot


Isn't LETS just a fancy term for old fashioned Bartering?

It would help people a LOT if they paid tax as usual on the main incomes but could BARTER for anything to an unlimited amount and totally tax free for any extra services they do or goods they exchange.
Without any interference from any government body like the IRS/Tax Office who often put a monetary value on it for tax purposes.

They really should bugger off out of people lives.
So long as we pay Caesar his pound of flesh, we should be able to profit from our own endeavours unhindered outside of our slave hours.

I would like to have bank notes backed by gold.

I know places like e-gold.com, and others, use digital gold bartering in exchange for goods/services, but it would be even better if there were a local bank note that did the same, traded like fed notes.

At least then, it wouldn't be worthless paper. It would be a receipt for gold! What's even nicer, is gold has done nothing but gone up -- so your money will naturally appreciate over time.

what such a trend highlights is that more and more people become aware that the monetary system itself is the cause of the current recession, thereby renewing a discussion that's older than a century.

expect the feds to crack down on such movements, people who tried to base such currencies on silver or other metals found themselves arrested and their stockpile confiscated

www.abovetopsecret.com...

trying to make your local currency won't work on the long run because you'd be waco'ed long before you gain a larger foothold. either maintain low profile or barter.

Originally posted by OZtracized
Firstly that doesn't really work as printing more money tends to devalue a currency and actually make the problem worse.

Secondly, isn't that highly illegal?

It will only devaluate if they are printing 'dollars' and mixing them with the real currency, what I think they are doing is using 'monopoly money'. What I mean by this is, if enough people agree on its worth, it can be used just as efficiently as normal money, even if it is just a piece of paper with a number written on it.

If it isn't, they will make it highly illegal.

IMO, this is a great idea, afterall, money itself is only worth something because we agree on it, beyond the agreed social concept of 'paper money', this works the same way on a smaller scale.

This could actually go even further if a local bank chose to back the money, it would give the small business' more confidence, although I doubt this would ever happen.

EMM

edit to add:

I would like to have bank notes backed by gold.

I know places like e-gold.com, and others, use digital gold bartering in exchange for goods/services, but it would be even better if there were a local bank note that did the same, traded like fed notes.

At least then, it wouldn't be worthless paper. It would be a receipt for gold! What's even nicer, is gold has done nothing but gone up -- so your money will naturally appreciate over time.

I totally agree with you, but it will never happen, they went through murder to secure all (or most) of the gold, they will never let it get like that again without a fight.

NEVER use that e-gold, you are practically throwing your money away. There is barely any 'gold' left to buy (ignoring jewellery etc), if you try to buy any gold now, you will get a certificate telling you that you own gold (how funny is that?!?) which will be worth just as much as paper money and it wouldn't surprise me if a thousand other people owned the same bit of gold, lol.

[edit on 6-4-2009 by ElectroMagnetic Multivers]

Originally posted by ElectroMagnetic MultiversThere is barely any 'gold' left to buy (ignoring jewellery etc), if you try to buy any gold now, you will get a certificate telling you that you own gold (how funny is that?!?) which will be worth just as much as paper money and it wouldn't surprise me if a thousand other people owned the same bit of gold, lol.

[edit on 6-4-2009 by ElectroMagnetic Multivers]

There's plenty of gold left, mate. Randgold (LON:RRS)(ADR:GOLD) just discovered 3,000,000 ounces in a new mine they own, in west Africa. And that's just the gold that's "profitable" to recover. As gold supplies thin out, the price will naturally increase, which means mining companies will be able to afford recovering even harder to reach deposits.

So there's plenty of gold to go around -- in fact, the IMF is selling some of it's gold supplies, which is the third largest holder of gold in the world. So there's going to be even more to go around, for the common man, like us

Gold is always a good investment, for the long run, btw. It doesn't matter if you get a receipt backed by gold, like on the futures market, invest in a gold backed ETF, collect gold coins (least profitable of the ways to obtain gold), or just buy bars of it from a gold shop.

Originally posted by Kaytagg
There's plenty of gold left, mate. Randgold (LON:RRS)(ADR:GOLD) just discovered 3,000,000 ounces in a new mine they own, in west Africa. And that's just the gold that's "profitable" to recover. As gold supplies thin out, the price will naturally increase, which means mining companies will be able to afford recovering even harder to reach deposits.

Very cool, nice to know its still floating around, my point was I don't think you could buy gold now, don't get me wrong, you can 'buy' it as far as getting a certificate to say you 'own' it, but I doubt you would recieve any actual gold, maybe wrong though, I've never bothered.

So there's plenty of gold to go around -- in fact, the IMF is selling some of it's gold supplies, which is the third largest holder of gold in the world. So there's going to be even more to go around, for the common man, like us

I highly doubt it, but again, I've never tried so I may be wrong. The last time I heard, gold wasn;t being given, only certificates as I mentioned before, but that may have changed.

Gold is always a good investment, for the long run, btw. It doesn't matter if you get a receipt backed by gold, like on the futures market, invest in a gold backed ETF, collect gold coins (least profitable of the ways to obtain gold), or just buy bars of it from a gold shop.

Lol, it may not matter to you, but I would not feel safe holding a receipt which states 'you have gold', Russia found that out the hard way a few months back I think. I'd agree with you on the good investment though, if I could exchange my money for gold (assuming of course I had any to begin with ) I would.

I can't find a link, but I remember reading that the US treasury had an amnesty for gold just after WW2, I think it was just before Bretton Woods. I'll keep having a mosey, see what I can find.

EMM

Edit to add: I do not trust the IMF one bit and IMO, their definition of 'selling' will be alot different.

"Here's your receipt...Oh, the gold bullion? Oh, we'll keep that here for safe keeping, make sure to pay your premiums on time!"

[edit on 6-4-2009 by ElectroMagnetic Multivers]

What's even nicer, is gold has done nothing but gone up -- so your money will naturally appreciate over time.

As gold supplies thin out, the price will naturally increase

Gold is always a good investment, for the long run, btw

Just like gold was 'always a good investment' in 1976-1980, and then it came tumbling down from close to $700 to slightly more than $300 in 1982. Or how about 'houses are only going up' from 2001 to 2008.

Gold is in a bubble, and most of you are buying as the bubble is about to burst, which means that the financial speculators have already made the money they wanted and are now selling slow to meet an increased demand from small investors like yourself, and then you are left with the gold as it plummets in value.

That's a great investment strategy you guys are pushing!

[edit on 10-4-2009 by aaa2500]