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Small town launches its own stimulus: a local currency
Los Angeles Times / latimes.com ^ | January 15, 2011 | By Alana Semuels, Los Angeles Times

Posted on 01/18/2011 1:00:23 AM PST by thecodont

Reporting from North Fork, Calif. — Located almost in the dead center of California, North Fork is like a lot of other rural outposts: It's losing businesses and hopes for a turnaround.

But there's nothing typical about the town's biggest booster, Josh Freeman. His efforts to resuscitate this tiny town include launching a local currency emblazoned with butterflies and hummingbirds in a bid to keep wealth in the community.

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Government; US: California
KEYWORDS: bartering; community; economy; localcurrency

1 posted on 01/18/2011 1:00:27 AM PST by thecodont
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To: thecodont

I could be wrong, but I don’t think that’s legal. They’ll probably be getting a visit from the IRS or Treasury department sometime soon.


2 posted on 01/18/2011 1:13:53 AM PST by smokingfrog (Do all the talking you want, but do what I tell you.)
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To: thecodont

Smacks a bit too “hippy” for me...but I may warm to it.
http://www.nfshares.com

See also:
http://www.berkshares.org/


3 posted on 01/18/2011 1:15:21 AM PST by Drago
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To: thecodont

nice idea.it’s too bad it’s unconstitutional


4 posted on 01/18/2011 2:05:01 AM PST by screaming eagle2 (no matter what you call it,a pre-owned vehicle,IS STILL A USED CAR!)
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To: smokingfrog
I could be wrong, but I don’t think that’s legal.

It's perfectly legal.

5 posted on 01/18/2011 2:43:45 AM PST by BfloGuy (It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we can expect . . .)
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To: screaming eagle2
nice idea.it’s too bad it’s unconstitutional

It's a dumb idea and there's nothing the least bit unconstitutional about it. In the first several decades after the American Revolution, there were scores of different types of private money in circulation. There was nothing in the Constitution to prevent that.

It is considered illegal, though, to attempt to pass private money off as American legal tender. They're not doing that here.

It's dumb for two reasons. The first is that people are shopping in larger towns because they believe they find better value there: lower prices, more variety.

Local merchants must compete on those grounds or go out of business. The mere existence of a local currency doesn't change that. At best, it might serve as a sort of publicity gimmick which is fine to the extent that it works.

It's also foolish because it assumes that spending drives the economy. That's false -- saving and investing are what create economic growth. The creator of this currency doesn't want people to save it, in that, he's a typical Keynesian.

Cute idea that's tried over and over again and never works. Ithaca's a perfect example, they're just too dumb to realize it.

6 posted on 01/18/2011 2:58:41 AM PST by BfloGuy (It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we can expect . . .)
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To: thecodont

IMO, this is part of a movement to destroy the US Dollar value, similar to the one to destroy the electoral college, mostly originating from the left with some populist from the right and exposed through small movements like this one in podunk lefty land. There has been a lot of discussion between the new ‘green backers’ aka ‘public banking’ group and the laissez-faire economist. A good place to start reviewing: ‘Ellen Brown on the Efficiencies of the State and the Progress of Her Public Banking Vision’.
http://www.thedailybell.com/1684/Anthony-Wile-with-Ellen-Brown-on-the-Efficiencies-of-the-State-and-the-Progress-of-Her-Public-Banking-Vision-—.html


7 posted on 01/18/2011 3:07:47 AM PST by iopscusa (El Vaquero. (SC Lowcountry Cowboy))
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To: thecodont

It’s unconstitutional. Only Congress has the power to coin money per Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution.


8 posted on 01/18/2011 3:35:12 AM PST by Defend Liberty
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To: BfloGuy
It's a dumb idea and there's nothing the least bit unconstitutional about it.

It's wholly unconstitutional. Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution: "Congress shall have the power to coin money and regulate the value thereof, and of foreign coin and fix the standard weights and measures".
9 posted on 01/18/2011 3:39:29 AM PST by Defend Liberty
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To: Defend Liberty
Sounds like it's time for Lucas McCain to return to North Fork and straighten some people out.


10 posted on 01/18/2011 3:47:06 AM PST by fredhead (Liberals think globally, reason rectally, act idiotically.)
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To: thecodont

Ithaca, New York has been issuing their own currency for years...known as ‘Ithaca Hours’...several towns issue their own currency, as well.


11 posted on 01/18/2011 3:52:13 AM PST by who knows what evil? (G-d saved more animals than people on the ark...www.siameserescue.org.)
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To: Defend Liberty

Please re-read the Constitutional language. It says Congress has the right to do so, not the EXCLUSIVE right to do so. States and private banks printed their own well into the 19th century. This local script is a substitute for direct bartering, nothing more. If you and I agreed to exchange small pebbles as markers for credit, to be redeemed later, those pebbles would act as a form of private contract.


12 posted on 01/18/2011 4:27:34 AM PST by Pecos (Liberty and Honor will not die on my watch.)
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To: Defend Liberty
It’s unconstitutional. Only Congress has the power to coin money per Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution.

Then why does the Federal Reserve coin our money? That too would be unconstitutional!

13 posted on 01/18/2011 6:28:43 AM PST by Clovis_Skeptic (The answer to 1984 is 1776!)
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To: thecodont

The guy sounds like a nut case and if he lived in Garberville I’d say his income derives from growing dope...


14 posted on 01/18/2011 7:16:40 AM PST by tubebender (The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in Eureka...)
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To: Clovis_Skeptic
Then why does the Federal Reserve coin our money? That too would be unconstitutional!

The Federal Reserve derives its authority from Congress.
15 posted on 01/18/2011 12:26:35 PM PST by Defend Liberty
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To: Pecos

I always understood it to mean the FED can print currency and the several States can only mint silver and gold coins.


16 posted on 01/18/2011 2:32:10 PM PST by txhurl
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To: Defend Liberty

So is bartering illegal?


17 posted on 01/18/2011 4:07:20 PM PST by CommieCutter (I'll get an internet ID when Obama shows his birth certificate.)
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