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 ...
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.
Smacks a bit too “hippy” for me...but I may warm to it.
http://www.nfshares.com
See also:
http://www.berkshares.org/
nice idea.it’s too bad it’s unconstitutional
It's perfectly legal.
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.
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
It’s unconstitutional. Only Congress has the power to coin money per Article 1 Section 8 of the Constitution.
Ithaca, New York has been issuing their own currency for years...known as ‘Ithaca Hours’...several towns issue their own currency, as well.
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.
Then why does the Federal Reserve coin our money? That too would be unconstitutional!
The guy sounds like a nut case and if he lived in Garberville I’d say his income derives from growing dope...
I always understood it to mean the FED can print currency and the several States can only mint silver and gold coins.
So is bartering illegal?
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