Reinventing money ! The WIR business group cooperative.

I was just introduced with The WIR business group cooperative by reading a Dutch article.

I was very much surprised that I never heard of them before and the ATS search also came up with nothing.

They basically have ( in the 1930's ) founded a trade currency next to the Swiss Franc.
The trade is Free of interest

At the beginning, the WIR business circle was in no way limited to the commercial middle class (Mittelstand). There were farmers, civil servants and white-collar workers who became participants in WIR. They paid cash into the account, and after having been credited a bonus of 5 % could go shopping with WIR. But it was mainly the interest free WIR-credit for extra buying power that served to stimulate the slow turnover of goods. Following free money theory the clearing credits were kept interest-free, thus stifling any tendency to hoard WIR credits. Soon many communities had information offices where volunteers worked for the WIR ideal. Many local groups were founded, one of the first on January 30, 1935 in Zurich.

Figures for 1973 / 1993
Number of participants 20,402 / 76,618
Turnover 196 mill. / 2.521 bill.
Balance 83 mill. / 1.028 bill.

I really urge everybody to read This article: 60 Years WIR Business Circle Cooperative - Origins and Ideology

They say that the lack of interest makes it more profitable to invest instead of leaving it on a bank... and a lot more.

The article above came from this site : Reinventing money.com

Our Mission

The mission of this site is to demystify money by presenting the best leading-edge ideas on monetary and non-monetary exchange. It is a resource devoted to the advancement of economic democracy, self-determination, and global harmony.

The side is full with information about Money, debt, economics etc.

Skimming it, I got the idea that is Libertarian by origin but I'm not sure.
I do think it should ( for the interested ) have a Must visit tag.

Kind regards

~ SK

Edit: for adding have

[edit on 5/30/2010 by Sinter Klaas]

Hi everybody.

It would be nice to get a little feedback. It would be a petty if this would end up to only been read by two members.

I believe these guys from WIR really got something going here. Don't you ?

reply to post by Sinter Klaas


Wow Sinter,

I have to say I have NOT ONCE heard of this WIR system in all the reading I've done about switzerland... (which you know from our other convo's is quite extensive)

It is sad to see this thread get no attention, like many important threads these days.

I will do what I can to get people to look at it though what you have here is something people NEED to know about!

If the gnomes of Zurich have a non interest bearing currency in addition to their normal one .... Wow just wow we sure have been lied to about how GOOD and VITAL interest is to economic GROWTH.

reply to post by roguetechie


It was also the first time I read about anythinglike it. I've only been aware of interest free suystems from religion.
Originally interest is seen as wicked. One thing I firmly agree with.

Money is suposed to be a replacement of equal value for easy trade. The day it became a product of it's own was one of the blackest days in history IMO.