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[Acrylicist]

I have to assume that any time you have some kind of website that
discusses money that you're going to get the Make Money Fast
shysters. We've had two of them in a month or so, so the ban-hammer
has come down hard.

~A.

[Anna Scott]

thanks for that.  and also thanks for the link a while back on the investment issue. these issues are linked.

i am surprised at how many offers i am getting from friends to invest in these sort of things instead of invitations to create time banks and/or bartering systems.

folks are still confused about this transition.
-anna

[Acrylicist]

On Apr 12, 3:27 pm, Anna Scott <dr.annabsc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> thanks for that.  and also thanks for the link a while back on the
> investment issue. these issues are linked.
>
> i am surprised at how many offers i am getting from friends to invest in
> these sort of things instead of invitations to create time banks and/or
> bartering systems.

People have a hazy understanding of time banks-- when the "time bank"
says that everyone pays an hour for a hour's labor, without regard to
availability or skill, most people are turned off by that idea,
because there is no way to price the transaction. Bartering falls
into the other problem of how to compare the value between two
services. "Joe" paints houses and "Bob" repairs cars. Maybe Joe can
fix his own car but it would take him 8 hours to pull the Chilton's
Guides, buy the parts and perform the labor.

Maybe Bob would like to paint his house but doesn't have 8 hours of
actual time to do the job himself. If it were just straight bartering,
Joe and Bob are lucky in they both have a need to exchange about 8
hours of value--a double coincidence of need. But without any ability
to price factional work or exchange for partial work, they wouldn't be
able to do anything else. Add in value-time and the transactions can
get more flexible: Joe could pay Bob &=2h for advice on how to fix his
car without Bob having to do the labor and Bob won't have the
mysterious problem of having a red house that's only 25% painted blue.
Bob might want only his dining room painted and can pay &=2h to Joe to
do it--instead of just partially fixing his car. Value time can get
them that flexibility--which is what makes it so exciting--it enables
any community to bootstrap its economy without bankers or governments
providing "loans" the in turn demand interest or taxes to be
returned. Joe and Bob get what they want within the limits of the
economic game, their default credit limits and anything they've earned
between the players. Instead of the banks always winning, the market
always wins.