Local Currencies - Replacing Scarcity with Trust

Peak Moment 49: Francis Ayley established over a dozen local currencies in the UK before moving to the U.S. He contrasts our standard, scarcity- and debt-based money system with local currencies in which "there's always as much as you need." Local currencies like his Fourth Corner Exchange issue money when members trade goods and services. Communities with local currencies will be less affected when recession or depression hits the mainstream economy. www.fourthcornerexchange.com

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[rationalityRules]

I'm all for monetary libertarianism, but the issue I have with this is he says he's from the UK when he clearly isn't. Why lie? Kind of spoils the rest of what he says...

I'm from the UK, and I can guarantee that is not an accent familiar to our shores! Germany, maybe; Afrikaans, possibly. Who cares.

I've no problem with where somebody is from, until they feel they need to cover it up.

[peakmoment]

@rationalityRules, Francis has been in the US a long time, so his accent may have gotten ....blurred. He described to us a number of local currencies he helped set up, I believe along the western side of the UK. Does where he come from alter his message?

[God'sOwnPrototype]

still waitin for that peak! oil is abiotic and the industry and those protecting them are just fixing prices!

[peakmoment]

@steviewonder417. The International Energy Agency acknowledged the peak of conventional oil in fall 2010. Pretty much downhill from here -- that is, we've gotten the cheap and easy-to-get oil. They wouldn't be drilling thousands of feet down in the gulf or offshore Brazil or the Alberta tar sands if there were a cheaper way to go.

[Freiherr Richthofen]

you should everybody read about Silvio Gesell

[peakmoment]

Thank you for this reference: I just learned he was the author of "The Natural Economic Order", who suggests "a medium of exchange that does not gain in value from year to year, but rather loses value progressively, so that anyone who has obtained possession of the medium of exchange has no other interest than to exchange it again as soon as possible for the produce of others." "So we must make money worse as a commodity if we wish to make it better as a medium of exchange."

[MillionthUsername]

I'm all for it, but he said current banking is "free market". It is NOT! Good grief! If it was, who would use it? What he's doing is free market. He can't "close down" the international bankers, but they can close him down - because their system is based on force and fraud. Alternative systems are voluntary, hence free.

Is it "legal"? Like he said, it depends on how successful it is. Local and state governments need to protect these efforts. A successful currency is revolutionary.

[islandbee]

Another issue that I brought up was how do you pass on your LDs, if you die. And they do not have a concrete system for that as well. This guy was tap dancing around this. I would not touch this currency at all costs. Apparently someone in the system was trying to redeem all of his LDs for $5/unit. So much for keeping its value. Stay away from this Ponzi scheme!

[islandbee]

He claims that each LD maintains its value, it went from 10 USD to 12 USD. It looks like he made up that value himself. I had raised the question about how many LD units are in circulation. And he seemed to come up with a very BS figure of 1.4 million. I said in disbelief, there are over 14 million USD in valuation of this currency. And he and his ugly wife tried to retract and say..oh no it depends on how you calculate it. She was a total bitch BTW, when I brought up BitCoin. Cont.

[islandbee]

You're absolutely right. I live in B'ham (HQ) and went to a couple of meetings (including today) and this monetary system is extremely flawed.  First of all, he is the central manger of all this exchange. He claims that there is transparency, but even by looking at the website, it really is not. Another thing is that all members have to pay a yearly membership fee in 25 USD. You can't use your LDs to pay this. It is kind of ironic b/c if it had value/demand, you'd think they would. Cont.

[Anthony Passalaqua]

First of all there is nothing wrong with currency competition, and nothing wrong with "For Profit" banking either. The Federal Reserve Bank maintains it's monopoly over the money supply through force and government intervention. That is NOT the free market. He is completely misguided when it comes to that discussion. Free Markets is exactly what he is doing. Free Markets force banks, and corporations to produce products people want, demand, or they fail and disappear. Free Markets are KEY!

[becomingfr33]

lol, what century are you from? People travel, accents change. He could even have a parent from another country and still be from the UK. I think his accent is actually very British.

[danger mouse]

i stand corrected !! So it is, as i stated .."i might be wrong". In the end i guess i would prefer for money to remain a means by wich we trade, not a product. thnx 4 setting me straight on that.

[BeaveHolio]

its not free market if the government gives it monopoly power.

[danger mouse]

I also look at banks, especially the u.s. federal bank & the E.C.B as being part of free market...i might be wrong ofcourse, but when profit is made out of lending money to others, corporations, countries...then money seizes to be a means by which we trade goods ands services, and becomes a product of it's own... with the profit motive looking to keep everyone dependend, ofcourse. So maybe in this regard it might be a sound conclusion... grtz

[maersklandro]

Have you considered that, perhaps, he didn't want to go into all the irrelevant details about where he grew up as opposed to where he was born and/or where he lives now and/or what nationality either of his parents had, etc.?

Assuming malintent or dishonesty tells a lot more about you then about him.

[metroeco]

My book "Hometown Money" explains how we did it in Ithaca, New York. See video "Labor: the New Gold Standard."