[Lokutus]

Before, someone replies with nothing more than "Hey, go read the big thread", thanks. Already have..
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My question is do community currencies really help mitigate the effects of economic depression? Do they have any actual impact back during the great depression of the 20th century?

If we forsee a PO induced depression, should we be studying up on community currencies so that we can introduce them into our communities once TSHTF?

[lutherquick]

Dear Lokutus,

Well, I thought at one time community currencies would be good.

But, imagine if say town 'A' started a community currency. And eventually, all the surrounding towns did the same thing. Town 'B', 'C', 'D', would all each have their own proprietary currency... I think that would be great... until town 'A' learns about monetary expansion...

The leaders of town 'A' could walk around and market the idea that 'A' is better than 'B', 'C', 'D'. Eventually, 'A' would be able to print extra money as the entire population of 'B', 'C', 'D' needed cache of A-currency. For awhile, town 'A' could just PRINT and PRINT and PRINT, just like America... as the currency leaves the country, good's come in subsidized... the standard of living of 'A' become very high... things like energy feel so cheap... and everyone think town 'A' is a super duper power...

I guess currency is good if corruption could be kept under control. Expanding a currency for the sake of subsidy is very corrupt, and America thinks she is so productive and competitive, because of such expansion.

In fact, the leaders of town 'A' don't even need to work with the leaders of 'B', 'C', or 'D', they only need to market to the world population. Go to any village in India or China or Mexico, and show a one dollar bill, the illiterate villager will grab it and horde it, thus subsidizing the US economy...

So, I guess, for short term planning, start a community currency, convince people in nearby towns to "switch" to yours, and BINGO, your town will prosper, and you didn't need to work one bit. As long as the inertia can keep going until you leave office and escape someplace, then who cares?

So, ain't it just great the world buys and sells OIL and GAS in dollars? We can live better and all we needed to do was PRINT, and expand and grow and protect using miltary, and a few fairy tales such as "Saddam did 9/11" or "wmd" or "Bin Laden who?"... and finaly, isn't it just nice that the Federal Reserve will stop reporting M3 in March of 2006, this way nobody realy knows how much of our community currency is in 'B', 'C', or 'D'...

[julianj]

Lutherquick,

That doesn't seem to be how any community currencies have worked in practice. Lietaer calls them "Complementary" currencies because he doesn't see them supplanting the National currency. If Town A wants to trade with Town B they use the national currency.

[Pete_Doyle]

Thats the part I dont get about community currencies. They can only be of value if they give you in the community soemthing you wouldnt get outside the community. If you have to trade in someone elses currency outside you weaken fundamentals of the currency inside the community as well.

Currencies must be uncorrruptable and restrictable. Leaving the uncorruptable part in the hands of monkeys has proven very difficult. Leaving politicians to do the restricting has proven impossible. Natural rarity and uncorruptability are the only way to go long term. That always brings us back to the same old contenders, precious metals, diamonds and somewhat tradeable comodities. Everything else requires a level of trust that biped monkeys are historically incapable of in the long run.

[CARVER]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Lokutus', 'M')y question is do community currencies really help mitigate the effects of economic depression? Do they have any actual impact back during the great depression of the 20th century?

If we forsee a PO induced depression, should we be studying up on community currencies so that we can introduce them into our communities once TSHTF?

[Lokutus]

Thanks.

[pup55]

Fiat Currency

These guys are making it work.

They have invented their own currency for use inside their borders. It is freely exchangeable for "real" currency within the borders of the community, however, not useable on the outside.

They can regulate the supply of this to stimulate demand for goods and services within their boundaries. Also, they occasionally distribute some of this currency freely on the outside in order to encourage people to physically come to the community, thus encouraging even more outside money to be brought in colaterally.

If credit is needed, a loan is typically arranged and ultimately repaid in the "outside" currency (via ATM) , and exchanged for local currency within the borders, although there is no compelling reason why the loan cannot be made and paid back in the local currency if it becomes desirable to do so.

The rulers can encourage repeat trips to the community by making it inconvenient or impossible to convert the currency back into the currency of the surrounding area.

Of course, the system all depends on the steady net inflow of the outside currency since there is minimal indigenous raw material production and/or food production, and they must use surrounding currency to import supplies and energy.

However, as long as they do not run a deficit, the system can go on for a long time. It also helps from a security standpoint since it is useless for theives to carry large quantities of this stuff outside the walls.

[Daculling]

Check out the link below. The currency is backed by (I assume) the silver content of the coin. Becareful, this will put you on shaky ground with your governing body. After all if they can't control the currency they will outlaw it.

Liberty Coins

[elroy]

Wow. It's an upside down world, where money actually backed by something becomes a crime..