OT: A system that would replace money

[Tone Deft]

This is already happening in some parts of the US and will become more widespread as it sinks further into depression.

I paid for my groceries with a bullet.

me thinks grappa drank the bong water.

[SubFunk]

That must be some really good weed you're smoking!

Can you hook me up?

[Angstrom]

here's long story short:

<snip>
electro-testicles.

Angstrom...
Are you for real? Can you elaborate a bit more? How did it work?

yep, I'm for real.
It was a complex system there were many parts to it - I'm not going to explain all of it because it would take forever, also it was nearly 20 years ago now and at the time my attention was otherwise occupied.
The crux of it was to allow barters to take place not-just 1-to-1 , but to put them on a barter market where the price of labour and the value of work was determined by the participants and favours held were held collectively rather than individually. So we wouldn't need to trade directly (my wheat for your stone) we could all trade in a circle, or a network, with the system managing the values.

of course, this might sound like a 'market economy', but the missing thing here is firstly : debt with interest, and secondly: government tax. Of course, there was a cost for using the system, but nothing compared to the various VAT / income taxes that would have otherwise been charged.

Now those issues of course caused problems with the government. But there were other contentious things he did which really just set sirens going off in westminster, but I can't really go into it more than that.

[3dot...]

a chicken..

[stringtapper]

*I was gonna change the world economy, but I got high*
*I was gonna make it so there is no money, but I got high*
*Now capitalism's run amok, and I know why*
*Because I got high*
*Because I got high*
*Because I got hiii-iiiigh*

[3dot...]

*I was gonna change the world economy, but I got high*
*I was gonna make it so there is no money, but I got high*
*Now capitalism's run amok, and I know why*
*Because I got high*
*Because I got high*
*Because I got hiii-iiiigh*

it's funny cuz it's true...

[SubFunk]

*I was gonna change the world economy, but I got high*
*I was gonna make it so there is no money, but I got high*
*Now capitalism's run amok, and I know why*
*Because I got high*
*Because I got high*
*Because I got hiii-iiiigh*

it's funny cuz it's true...

very, very true, indeed!

[OvertoneZero]

I heard that angstrom's dad is V.. just what I heard..

[bodhi71]

I heard that angstrom's dad is V.. just what I heard..

Vulcan?

[stringtapper]

I heard that angstrom's dad is V.. just what I heard..

Vulcan?

[beats me]

The OP sounds like a political platform conceived by Tom from myspace "You can apply the functionality of our website to every aspect of daily living!"

I saw a news story a few months ago about a local company that was created to connect people to work off the barter system coupled with the weak economy so that small businesses or skilled individuals could exchange services instead of money, like a mechanic exchanges his services with a plumber. That sounds like a great idea in even a good economy.

[Moody]

Simply basing currency on something tangible (again) would probably be in the right direction.

[crumhorn]

The best thing about barter or payment in kind (and also the worst thing about it from the point of view of the government) is that it is invisible and therefore untaxable.

I'm all for it.

But you will never be able to replace money - not without fundamentally changing society and human nature.

[Grappadura]

Wow Angstrom, that was exactly what I was afraid of - that they would come after me.

But I thought about the government as well. They could be part of this system, they could get vm (virtual money) for what they do in the community.

As you see by Angstroms post, this thing does work. And you got several benefits:

The money stays in your social system. Your social system benefits from your work, as well as you benefit from theirs.

There is no recession, because once you got a closed business-circle, you just keep on trading no matter whats going on in the outside world. You (and yours) become autonomous.

There are no banks - all the virtual money represents real services and goods. Unlike in the real world, where the states and the bank produce money out of air, until the managers can buy their luxury goods. When you take a credit, you take it from the money that has been generated and represents real value.

What I like best is that only your friends and family benefit from your work, no multinational superrich guys involved.

[Grappadura]

Hey Angstrom how long was your father imprisoned?