[Mrsdev] distrustable currency

[Jo Walsh]

dear all,

I've been reading with interest, and probably years too late, the 
Thomas Greco book 'Money' on community currency history and theory.

The bits I enjoyed most were descriptions of 'scrip' systems that
historically arose in the midst of systemic economic collapse between
the big wars, in Germany and Austria. Particularly the story of the
"Wara" currency used in a village called Schwanenkirchen, where a mine
owner reopened his mine by using scrip to pay his workers.

[[
"The shopkeepers, too, were happy. Although at first they had felt a
little hesitant about Wara, they had no choice, as no one had any
other kind of money. The shopkeepers then forced it on the
wholesalers, the wholesalers forced it on the manufacturers, who in
turn tried to pass it on to those who carried their notes, or they
exchanged it at Herr Hebecker's mine for coal.

No-one who received Wara wished to hold it; the workers, storekeepers, 
wholesalers and manufacturers all strove to get rid of it as quickly
as possible..."
]]

So alive currency is constantly circulating. This was one problem with
our test implementation of the Lime currency for the week of
Wsfii.London in Limehouse - local shops were really keen to accept the
Lime, but they never had a means to recirculate it to each other.
http://www.okfn.org/wsfii/wiki/TheLime

In the mean time, the truism is that LETS systems tend to fade out
over time in some way because *too much trust* develops among the
participants, and the exchange medium loses its being-exchangedness. 

I like to stay at or near zero, and having a currency i didn't really
trust would facilitate that - facilitate energy flow, too.

...

I'm not asking anyone on this list to spend their valuable CC-hacking
time typing words in response to this, but i'd be really interested to 
read a solid critique of this Greco book, by a CC domain expert, or by
a conventional economist, or both, if anyone knows of a good one online.

cheers, optimistic for 2007,


jo