Page Title: Complementary (Voluntary) Currencies
Complementary (Voluntary) Currencies in modern times were first developed in Switzerland
during the Great Depression of the 1930's, within a group of small- to mid-sized Swiss businesses
which normally traded with each other anyway.
Like most businesses throughout the earth at that time, they were faced with imminent
bankruptcy as banks refused to lend to them, not even for the 90-day commercial paper that most
businesses on earth have to rely upon to cover some of their variable monthly costs and to pay
their bills in a timely manner.
Not only did those businesses survive that Depression, today their voluntary currency has thrived
to the point of accounting for 1/4 of Swiss businesses, they have their own bank, and their
Business-To-Business (B2B) Voluntary Currency is credited with having kept the Swiss currency
(the Swiss franc) so stable and highly-valued over many decades !
Complementary Currencies today have evolved to include a wide-variety of local-, regional-,
State-, Provincial-, national-, and even global-voluntary currencies.
Among the USA States which have adopted a complementary currency is Washington State's
InTerra Card, a kind of credit/debit card designed to promote producing and buying locally.
Some 900 local communities in the USA have adopted TimeDollars, whereby residents of their
town and neighborhoods can exchange skills and labor time among themselves. Even the
unemployed and the homeless can enter such a labor-pool, providing all kinds of local goods and
services, as humble as de-littering roads, weeding and planting roadside flower-beds, and as
advanced as tutoring the many skills that some of us would be surprised to find are widely-spread
among the unemployed and/or homeless, and with local persons "buying" food, clothing and
shelter from participating persons, agencies and businesses. (See: www.timebanks.org )
Complementary currencies are permitted by the USA Constitution, as they are NOT legal tender,
which all citizens and residents of a given country are required by law to accept as "payment for
all debts, public and private". They are voluntary, and depend on local and regional or sector
networks of trust, which is, after all, what all currencies are based upon. Even gold relies for its
effectiveness on mutual trust as to the content, purity, weight, liquibility, portability and securibility
of its units.
Moreover, gold is not necessarily a hedge against inflation or taxes, as its value changes, too,
relative to its supply compared to the quantity of goods available for purchase. Even under a strict
gold-system, there can be inflation -- even hyper-inflation -- as the experience of Spain in the
1500's to 1700's shows.
Complementary currencies are a main way to prosper local and regional economies, even when
the national and/or global economy is in the doldrums. And they do this from the bottom-up, rather
than from the government-down. Indeed, complementary currencies help re-prosper the State,
Provincial, national and global economies, by prospering local economies and without any
tax-increases or government deficits or government borrowing !
Moreover, they rely on the main strength of our GOP - small-town and small-city America, where
all classes and races have personal "cheek-by-jowl" relationships, instead of living in ghettos and
gated-"communities".
Even urban areas can have a Metro TIME-DOLLAR and B2B network, since most cities are really a
network of small towns we normally call "neighborhoods". An example would be a Metro-St.
Louis-TimeDollar, linked to the existing and other St. Louis neighborhood TIME-DOLLAR areas,
(See: TimeBanks USA, 202/686-5200, www.timebanks.org ) and a Metro-St. Louis B2B "currency"
(See: www.lietaer.com )
All it takes is for a few businesses, trades-and-labor assemblies, and public-sector agencies, and
at least one area bank, to agree to accept all or part of any given payment in the Metro-St. Louis
InTerra Card ! Or, in Chicago, a Chicago-Land InTerra Card !
I don't know about other States, but Illinois has Regional Superintendencies of Public Schools,
which mainly register, certify and train the teachers and staff, and test the students, in a group of
Public School Districts in one or more coun-ties.
What I propose for Illinois is that the Regional Superintendents of Public Schools inform and
encourage the administra-tions, School Boards, Staff Unions, local Chambers of Commerce and
Trades and Labor Councils and the National Federation of Independent Businesses, to accept part
of our pay in Regional TIME-DOLLARS, linked to Regional or Metro B2B currencies and InTerra
Cards accepted by at least a few regional supermarkets, and maybe the local utilities com-panies
and some municipal, county and State and Federal services !!
Further, I propose that when any and all State Public Sector Union contracts expire, the State take
a strong negotiating stance that 30% of State and other Public Sector Employee Pay for the next
contracting term be in ROE B2B's tied to the local economies of their ROE (and perhaps the
immediately adjacent ROEs. Likewise, that private unions benefitting from one or more State
Contracts via private contractors, and the private contractors, receive 30% of their pay in
area-wide ROE B2B currency, kept track of by computerized InTerra Cards handled by one or
more area bank(s).
And as a US Senator, I would propose the same for Federal Domestic Contracts - and maybe even
foreign there-area-local contracts.
That's real Community Self-Help !! And a profoundly REPUBLICAN, non-statist, way to solve Illinois'
(and the USA's) Education-funding and Health-Care-funding crises! !
And it's permitted by the US Constitution, as these currencies are voluntary, like bank checks or
credit/debit cards. They are not legal tender and there is no intent to make them legal tender.
during the Great Depression of the 1930's, within a group of small- to mid-sized Swiss businesses
which normally traded with each other anyway.
Like most businesses throughout the earth at that time, they were faced with imminent
bankruptcy as banks refused to lend to them, not even for the 90-day commercial paper that most
businesses on earth have to rely upon to cover some of their variable monthly costs and to pay
their bills in a timely manner.
Not only did those businesses survive that Depression, today their voluntary currency has thrived
to the point of accounting for 1/4 of Swiss businesses, they have their own bank, and their
Business-To-Business (B2B) Voluntary Currency is credited with having kept the Swiss currency
(the Swiss franc) so stable and highly-valued over many decades !
Complementary Currencies today have evolved to include a wide-variety of local-, regional-,
State-, Provincial-, national-, and even global-voluntary currencies.
Among the USA States which have adopted a complementary currency is Washington State's
InTerra Card, a kind of credit/debit card designed to promote producing and buying locally.
Some 900 local communities in the USA have adopted TimeDollars, whereby residents of their
town and neighborhoods can exchange skills and labor time among themselves. Even the
unemployed and the homeless can enter such a labor-pool, providing all kinds of local goods and
services, as humble as de-littering roads, weeding and planting roadside flower-beds, and as
advanced as tutoring the many skills that some of us would be surprised to find are widely-spread
among the unemployed and/or homeless, and with local persons "buying" food, clothing and
shelter from participating persons, agencies and businesses. (See: www.timebanks.org )
Complementary currencies are permitted by the USA Constitution, as they are NOT legal tender,
which all citizens and residents of a given country are required by law to accept as "payment for
all debts, public and private". They are voluntary, and depend on local and regional or sector
networks of trust, which is, after all, what all currencies are based upon. Even gold relies for its
effectiveness on mutual trust as to the content, purity, weight, liquibility, portability and securibility
of its units.
Moreover, gold is not necessarily a hedge against inflation or taxes, as its value changes, too,
relative to its supply compared to the quantity of goods available for purchase. Even under a strict
gold-system, there can be inflation -- even hyper-inflation -- as the experience of Spain in the
1500's to 1700's shows.
Complementary currencies are a main way to prosper local and regional economies, even when
the national and/or global economy is in the doldrums. And they do this from the bottom-up, rather
than from the government-down. Indeed, complementary currencies help re-prosper the State,
Provincial, national and global economies, by prospering local economies and without any
tax-increases or government deficits or government borrowing !
Moreover, they rely on the main strength of our GOP - small-town and small-city America, where
all classes and races have personal "cheek-by-jowl" relationships, instead of living in ghettos and
gated-"communities".
Even urban areas can have a Metro TIME-DOLLAR and B2B network, since most cities are really a
network of small towns we normally call "neighborhoods". An example would be a Metro-St.
Louis-TimeDollar, linked to the existing and other St. Louis neighborhood TIME-DOLLAR areas,
(See: TimeBanks USA, 202/686-5200, www.timebanks.org ) and a Metro-St. Louis B2B "currency"
(See: www.lietaer.com )
All it takes is for a few businesses, trades-and-labor assemblies, and public-sector agencies, and
at least one area bank, to agree to accept all or part of any given payment in the Metro-St. Louis
InTerra Card ! Or, in Chicago, a Chicago-Land InTerra Card !
I don't know about other States, but Illinois has Regional Superintendencies of Public Schools,
which mainly register, certify and train the teachers and staff, and test the students, in a group of
Public School Districts in one or more coun-ties.
What I propose for Illinois is that the Regional Superintendents of Public Schools inform and
encourage the administra-tions, School Boards, Staff Unions, local Chambers of Commerce and
Trades and Labor Councils and the National Federation of Independent Businesses, to accept part
of our pay in Regional TIME-DOLLARS, linked to Regional or Metro B2B currencies and InTerra
Cards accepted by at least a few regional supermarkets, and maybe the local utilities com-panies
and some municipal, county and State and Federal services !!
Further, I propose that when any and all State Public Sector Union contracts expire, the State take
a strong negotiating stance that 30% of State and other Public Sector Employee Pay for the next
contracting term be in ROE B2B's tied to the local economies of their ROE (and perhaps the
immediately adjacent ROEs. Likewise, that private unions benefitting from one or more State
Contracts via private contractors, and the private contractors, receive 30% of their pay in
area-wide ROE B2B currency, kept track of by computerized InTerra Cards handled by one or
more area bank(s).
And as a US Senator, I would propose the same for Federal Domestic Contracts - and maybe even
foreign there-area-local contracts.
That's real Community Self-Help !! And a profoundly REPUBLICAN, non-statist, way to solve Illinois'
(and the USA's) Education-funding and Health-Care-funding crises! !
And it's permitted by the US Constitution, as these currencies are voluntary, like bank checks or
credit/debit cards. They are not legal tender and there is no intent to make them legal tender.
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