Sorry I came into this discussion late, but I'd like to refer back to:
My understanding of the Transition Towns currency is that you buy (say) 10 local pounds for 9 national pounds. You can spend these in any participating local shop. You get £10 local retail value for £9 of national money, and the local shopkeepers get your business in exchange for this 10/9 (is that 11 per cent?) discount. They make that much less markup on their sale, but at least they get your business.

You would be issueing the IOU denominated in Hours of Work, which is all you have got, you value it at 10 euros.

The efforts where the local currency is exchangable for sterling at a fixed rate are of no real benefit as they are just examples of currency boards.


Forget about the greenback in this discussion. The aim of the local currency is to avoid the government.

Local currency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The example being discussed was in Austria.

"In spite of the tangible benefits of the program, it met with stiff opposition from the regional socialist party and from the Austrian central bank, which opposed the local currency as an infringement on its powers over the currency. As a result the program was suspended, unemployment rose, and the local economy soon degenerated to the level of other communities in the country"

Ok, first of all, the Central bank would be the only institution that could create money. They would have exclusive direct control over the money supply.

When it comes to local currency, it would work simmilarly. The local council would have exclusive direct control over the local money supply. Maybe, we could elect the leader of the local central bank as we do a councillar. A local currency would only ever account for maybe 20% to 30% of the money supply. It would benefit the local community, but if it worked, would show that that system could work on a national level. The ultimate aim is a national government-issued money.

Well, notes and coins are created by the Government debt-free as it is. The problem is that they only account for maybe 2% of the total money supply. The other 98% is simply digital created as debt by banks. I want the 98% digital money to be created just like the 2% currency is now created- debt-free by the Governemnt.

Would it be acceptable for local taxes and charges to be paid in local currency?

What if these things were called vouchers? Could a local council not give out vouchers for local taxes, and then allow the vouchers be traded on the open market?

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"...Money exists not by nature but by law." Aristotle (Ethics, 1133)

We had a Lets system in my area until probably 5 years ago. It was given up, because interest faded, as "people were well off" then. It wasn't taken up really by true "locals" anyway, though.

Still it had remit. It was also a nice way to get to know people at the "Lets fairs".

Why has the amount of money to be regulated?

Mutual acception I can see as necessary.

Like a language. It needs to be understood to work as a tool to exchange thoughts etc.

But we produce it all ourselves whenever we want to exchange.

Why is this not possible with money?

I assume because money is not just an exchange tool, but also a measurement tool. That's the difference to language? Is that necessarily so?

Ireland already has local currencies.
Kenmar Youro
Kenmare Youro Transitiontownkenmare’s Blog
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Mark
Community Currency Magazine

[QUOTE]Why has the amount of money to be regulated?[QUOTE]

If too much money is created, as would probably happen, it would be inflationary. Money's job is to be a medium of exchange which is universally accepted and a store of value.

As we all know, prices have inflated by about a factor of 50 over the last, maybe, 100 years. This is because inherent in our present debt-based system is the need for the money supply to constantly increase.

Runaway inflation or deflation can devastate an economy and peoples' savings and the supply of money needs to be regulated to combat it.

__________________
"...Money exists not by nature but by law." Aristotle (Ethics, 1133)

If local currencies were so fantastic, then in a world where they weren't regulated, everyone would start using local currency, and eventually it would devolve into city- (or even district-) states.

It's an idea which on a very small scale can benefit one local economy at the expense of others around it, but on a large scale it would be economically crippling, since it's basically ultra-protectionism on a very low level.

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If you remove the English army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over Dublin Castle, unless you set about the organisation of the Socialist Republic your efforts would be in vain.[...]

It would be tantamount to a public declaration that our oppressors had so far succeeded in inoculating us with their perverted conceptions of justice and morality that we had finally decided to accept those conceptions as our own, and no longer needed an alien army to force them upon us.

Thanks a million youros for posting, I watched both parts of the presentation. It was very uplifting. Am I reading correctly between the lines that once the people is familiar with them and a trust level is built up that the setting aside of euros will be dispensed with.

The whole concept of begging some crowd of crooks in Europe for a few euro that they can print at will is insane.

I assume ye get zero encouragement from politicians. Ye should get a grant for printing and advertizing.

Note how the opening poster wanted the county council to issue. Regardless of the benifits some will want the state to retain control.

That man should run in the next election on this very idea.