A Plan For Hard Times: Print Cash --- NEWSWEEK
Arizona Coin Collector
On the story below. I notice the remarks
"From the magazine issued dated Dec 1, 2008".
Do they mean, "For the magazine issued dated
Dec 1, 2008"?
The remarks "a progressive enclave of
Milwaukee", is also unusual wording to use
in a story. It suggest that they are a
democratic territory, and not a local
community of Milwaukee.
enclave = territory
progressive = democratic
As for me, I want demand notes and coins
issued from the U.S. Treasury. They are
reconized everywear as legal tender.
In God We Trust -- All others "cash only".
----------------------------------
FROM:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/170372
A Plan For Hard Times: Print Cash
By Tony Dokoupil
NEWSWEEK
Published Nov 22, 2008
From the magazine issue dated Dec 1, 2008
People nationwide may start hoarding their cash as
recession fears grow. But in Riverwest-a progressive
enclave of Milwaukee-residents have another answer
to their money trouble: they'll print their own.
The proposed River Currency would be used like
cash at local businesses, keeping the area economy
humming whatever the health of the country at
large. "We can create our own value," explains
Sura Faraj, 48, one of the plan's organizers.
It's an attractive idea when times are tight.
Communities print what look like ordinary bills
with serial numbers, anti-counterfeiting details
and images of local landmarks (the Milwaukee
River, for instance) instead of presidential
portraits. Residents benefit through an exchange
system: 10 traditional dollars, for instance,
nets them $20 worth of local currency. And when
businesses agree to value the funny money like
real greenbacks, they also get a free stack to
kick-start spending. It's all perfectly legal
(except for coins) as long as it's not for
profit and the bizarro dinero doesn't resemble
the real thing. Dozens of such systems flourished
during the Great Depression. In the 1990s, they
re-emerged as a way to fight globalization by
keeping wealth in local hands. Now the dream of
homespun cash is back because it keeps people
liquid even if they're unemployed or short on
traditional dollars. (The U.S. Treasury declined
to comment on the burgeoning interest in local
currency systems.)
In the past month, Steve Burke, who runs Ithaca
Hours, a currency system in upstate New York
founded in 1991, has fielded calls from a
half-dozen organizers hoping to mint their
own money in Vermont, Hawaii and Michigan,
among other places. Meanwhile, Susan Witt,
who directs the nonprofit behind the BerkShares
currency in Berkshire County, Mass., has heard
from groups in New York, California and New
Jersey, where last year Newark's city hall
asked for advice on potential Newark Bucks.
Since BerkShares launched in 2006, almost $2
million has been exchanged for cash, and the
equivalent of $180,000 is in circulation.
"You can get a divorce, plan a funeral and go
to just about any restaurant in town," Witt
says. The biggest downside? Taxes. Even in
the parallel world of earning and spending
alternative currencies, Uncle Sam gets
his cut.
..
Mike Marotta
Scrip with Rod Charlton's website being the featured link.
The Newsweek article referred to "dozens" of these during the Previous
Great Depression. I think that the standard reference -- The
Standard Catalog of Depression Scrip of the United States by Ralph
Mitchell and Neil Shafer -- lists well over 100, too many to count
conveniently, that's for sure.
I worked on this project back in 2002-2003: www.baybucks.com
Wooden nickels got their start as a kind of Depression Scrip, wooden
slats, in the town of Tenino (10-Nine-0: 10,900 feet above sea level)
Washington.
As long as it works, it works. One problem is establishing a basis
for value. It is a problem not always solved well and these local
currencies have a varied history of successes. Ithaca Time Dollars
have been running for over 15 years now. Other efforts are usually
less successful as the "engines" of the project, the activists and
advertisers, move on to other interestes.
If a currency has an _objective_foundation_, it tend to be stronger.
Gold is an obvious choice. Since most chambers of commerce, city
governments, and food co-ops tend not to inventory gold, they search
for something else. In Lansing, Michigan, during the Last Depression
Before This One, the local currency came from the Board of Water and
Light. They paid their employees 25% in scrip and as payment for
water and light, (current currency, I guess) the money was accepted
around town.
Mike Marotta
part in the Archives of the Michigan State Numismatic Society website
at www.michigancoinclub.org -- was that liberals and progressives tend
not to have good relationships with money. When it comes to design
and creation, they have a lot of common ideas, but few facts. Just to
say, for Bay Bucks, these people "had heard" of Depression Scrip, but
had not seen any. I went to the coin store and asked the coin guys
and they lent me some to take to meetings. The community organizers
did not know where to find out about money. It is not what they do.
It might be painting "them" with too broad a brush, but their hatred
of capitalism and capitalists leaves them behind the production
possibilities curve.
So, if this is interesting to you and you want to design a local
currency, find your local alternative progressive tree-huggers at the
food co-op. You can always get paid in the scrip you help create. I
did.
Mike Marotta
> I worked on this project back in 2002-2003: www.baybucks.com
That was really www.baybucks.org -- dot ORG, not dot com -- sorry...
"The Traverse Area Community Currency Corporation (TACCC) is a
nonprofit organization, democratically run by a small board of
directors, all of whom are working on this project for love of the
community and from a sense of adventure.
Bay Bucks volunteers are interested in keeping the money circulating
and will work with Bay Bucks members to find, or enlist suppliers or
service providers who accept Bay Bucks. Doing this, we hope, will help
weave together small business commerce in our region, and help
establish a preference for it on the part of consumers in the region.
Bay Bucks can identify opportunities for import substitution and help
personalize our local economy. --- http://www.baybucks.org"
Arizona Coin Collector
I read all three of your postings. I support
a strong single national currency system
for the Unites States. The ideal of having
local non-governmental currency does
not serve the Nation well.
The right, in many jurisdictions, of a trader
to refuse to do business with any person means
a purchaser cannot demand to make a purchase,
and so declaring a legal tender other than for
debts would not be effective.
In my view it is a Barter Systems. Barter is
a type of trade in which goods or services
are directly exchanged for other goods
and/or services, without the use of money.
The real issue to me is "Legal Tender"
Acceptance.
It is true the at basic Framework of the
United States Constitution gives Congress
the following.
U.S. Constitution
http://www.house.gov/house/Constitution/Constitution.html
(On Coinage Of Money - Not Demand Notes/Paper Money)
Section 8, Clause 5, and Clause 6
(On States)
Section 10, Clause 1
In 1798, Vice President Thomas Jefferson wrote
that the federal government has no power "of
making paper money or anything else a legal
tender," and he advocated a constitutional
amendment to enforce this principle by denying
the federal government the power to borrow.
During the American Civil War, the federal
government was unable to pay its debts with
gold or silver coin, so began to issue paper
notes to pay its debts; when people refused
to accept them in payment, Congress adopted
the Legal Tender Act of 1862, compelling them
to do so. Thus forced to accept federal notes,
the recipients wanted to be able to use them
to pay their own debts, and this led to
litigation. The United States Supreme Court,
with the support of judges recently appointed
by President Ulysses S Grant, held that paper
money can be legal tender, in the Legal Tender
Cases, ranging from 1871 to 1884.
The United States Coinage Act of 1965
states (in part):
United States coins and currency (including
Federal reserve notes and circulating notes
of Federal reserve banks and national banks)
are legal tender for all debts, public charges,
taxes and dues. Foreign gold or silver coins
are not legal tender for debts.
31 U.S.C. § 5103.
This statute means that all United States
money as identified above are a valid and
legal offer of payment for debts when
tendered to a creditor.
...
"Mike Marotta" <mer...@torchlake.com> wrote in message
news:4cd55548-8ec5-4716...@h5g2000yqh.googlegroups.com...
Bob
> currency, find your local alternative progressive tree-huggers at the
> food co-op. �You can always get paid in the scrip you help create. �I
> did.
So Mike, did you add the scrip to your collection, or did you buy
something with it? If so, what?
Bob Leonard
Mike Marotta
> So Mike, did you add the scrip to your collection, or did you buy
> something with it? If so, what?
> Bob Leonard
When shopping around Traverse City, we made a point of getting our
change in BayBucks. I have sold some complete sets to other
numismatists. I have given out about twenty BB1 notes. Not only do I
know the numbers -- they are published -- but I have a feel for what
1000 notes will be worth when 990 of them are circulated and 10 are
not.
If anyone wants to collect this stuff, most of the currency committees
sell it for face to numismatists.
Arizona Coin Collector
From: "Arizona Coin Collector" <nos...@nospam.com>
Date: Sun, 23 Nov 2008 12:17:14 -0700
I read all three of your postings. I support a strong single national
currency system
for the Unites States. The ideal of having local non-governmental
currency does
not serve the Nation well.
We have different opinions on this, clearly. Also, we have divergent
understandings of what "legal tender" means. Ron Paul, for instance,
insists that you MUST accept government money as "legal tender" but
that is not true as a visit to the Treasury website will attest:
"There is, however, no Federal statute mandating that a private
business, a person or an organization must accept currency or coins as
for payment for goods and/or services. Private businesses are free to
develop their own policies on whether or not to accept cash unless
there is a State law which says otherwise. For example, a bus line may
prohibit payment of fares in pennies or dollar bills. In addition,
movie theaters, convenience stores and gas stations may refuse to
accept large denomination currency (usually notes above $20) as a
matter of policy."
http://www.ustreas.gov/education/faq/currency/legal-tender.shtml
I agree with you that one of the three aspects that define money is
its acceptability and therefore the more widely a medium of exchange
(of indirect barter) is recognized, the better it is. The dollar and
the euro are nearly universal currencies. Someday soon, there will be
the "terran" whatever it will be called.
That said, one size does not fit all. We tend to shop at natural food
stores and have served on the boards of food co-ops. But we eat at
McDonald's, too... Zillions served... So, too, with money.
Sometimes, you want a currency that stays closer to home. Not all
should, but some can.
Mike M.
MIchael E. Marotta
Paul Ciszek
In article <3Nidne9tsISPHLTU...@earthlink.com>,
Arizona Coin Collector <nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
>
>FROM:
>http://www.newsweek.com/id/170372
>
>kick-start spending. It's all perfectly legal
>(except for coins) as long as it's not for
>profit and the bizarro dinero doesn't resemble
>the real thing. Dozens of such systems flourished
Huh? Lots of private coins are stamped out for arcades, car washes,
Renaissance Festivals, etc.
--
Please reply to: | "One of the hardest parts of my job is to
pciszek at panix dot com | connect Iraq to the War on Terror."
Autoreply is disabled | -- G. W. Bush, 9/7/2006
Longnine009
local currency in Lewes England. The greatest
demand for the notes is coming from collectors.
So much demand, they are doing another run of
10,000 notes.
Now that governments and their pig face bankers
are here to help, we're almost assured of another
Great Depression. IMO, community script will
become a collecting "craze" as big or bigger than
the commemorative half craze during the the last
Great Depression.
***************************************************
"Paper [money] is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist,
backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce
it."--Francisco d' Anconia
Atlas Shrugged--Ayn Rand
*****************************************************
"Arizona Coin Collector" <nos...@nospam.com> wrote in message
news:3Nidne9tsISPHLTU...@earthlink.com...
Mike Marotta
> Huh? Lots of private coins are stamped out for arcades, car washes,
> Renaissance Festivals, etc.
They are TOKENS not money -- they are substitutes for money, not money
per se. It is a fine point, perhaps, but one that is verbatim from
the US Code. You can make your own paper money. You cannot coin your
own metal money. It is the way the law is written.
Moreover, here in the hobby of numismatics, there is a pretty strong
concsensus among the leaders -- by that I mean the people who put into
this hobby money orders of magnitude greater than collectors do --
that the word "COIN" is specifically limited to a narrow range of
objects. You can argue it if you wish -- and I have -- but the fact
remains that you cannot place an ad in Coin World or Numismatic News
for "Coins of Videoplace" or "Coins of Themeland" or "Festival Coins"
or "Coins of the Professional Sports League." Those entities cannot
issue coins, by definition.
(Don't argue with _me_ -- I understand your point of view; I concur --
that's the law and the hobby leaders all agree.)
Mike M.
Michael E. Marotta
Mike Marotta
wrote:
> ***************************************************
> "Paper [money] is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist,
> backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce
> it."--Francisco d' Anconia
> Atlas Shrugged--Ayn Rand
> *****************************************************
Numismatists are a bunch of gold bugs, for sure. Last year at this
time, for the 50th anniversary of ATLAS SHRUGGED, I placed a couple of
book reviews, one of them in the MSNS Mich-Matist. That said, even
in Atlas, Nat Taggart built his railroad by _selling_ stock and bonds,
not by "collecting gold coins." Gold is a store of value. Paper has
its place... which is why I collect stock certificates...
Longnine009
Greenspan. If he had kept the faith we wouldn't be in
this mess today. But then if he had, there never would
have been a place in federal reserves system for a
gold bug.
"Mike Marotta" <mer...@torchlake.com> wrote in message
news:fffbb478-efc9-4d77...@k19g2000yqg.googlegroups.com...
Mike Marotta
> Renaissance Festivals, etc.
Unpacking a box of books, my COIN WORLD ALAMANCS surfaced. This is an
invaluable reference. I happen to collect them, actually, but the
most recent edition is always the one you want.
US CODE TITLE 18 CHAPTER 17 Section 486.
"Whoever, except as authorized by law, makes or utters or passes, or
attempts to utter or pass any coins of gold or silver or other metal,
or alloys of metals, intended for use as current money, whether in
resemblence of coins of the United States or of foreign countries, or
of original design, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not
more than five years, or both."
Knowing the correct title and chapter, an online search brought this
from the US Mint:
http://www.usmint.gov/consumer/index.cfm?flash=yes&action=Law18USC486
TITLE 18--CRIMES AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE
PART I--CRIMES
CHAPTER 25--COUNTERFEITING AND FORGERY
§ 486. Uttering coins of gold, silver or other metal
Whoever, except as authorized by law, makes or utters or passes, or
attempts to utter or pass, any coins of gold or silver or other metal,
or alloys of metals, intended for use as current money, whether in the
resemblance of coins of the United States or of foreign countries, or
of original design, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not
more than five years, or both.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 709; Pub. L. 103-322, title XXXIII,
Sec. 330016(1)(I), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)