The following article has some unique ties to digital cash and what some people would like to see. In summary it is a description of bartering being used in Europe the removes money and replaces it with "Lets". Money no good? May I be the first to coin "E-Lets" :) ================================================================
From "The European" 23-29 September 1994. Title: "Money no good? Try bartering" ... Additional reporting by Betrice Newbery.
The Single Market was launched with the Single European Act of 1987, and with it the vision of a single European currency. But while governments seek a future of trading in ecus, people across the continent are looking to the past - to the days when bartering was the way of the world. Local Exchange Trading Systems (lets) are a form of moneyless trading, with more in common with 19th century anarchism than late 20th-century capitalism. The inhabitants of Stroud, a village in the west of England, can now pay for legal advice from a solicitor in "strouds" as well as sterling. In Madrid, masseurs and furniture removers accept both valle kas and pesetas. In Berlin, talents or deutschmarks are used to pay for babysitting or carpentry. Lets are proving remarkably popular. In Britain, there are more than 200 systems involving as many as 20,000 people. In Spain, the success of the Trueque Lets in Madrid has served as a modle for similar systems to be created in Barcelona, Alicante and the Canary Islands. Switzerland has the Troc de Service in Onex and Demark has a "Ring of Exchange". They could even spread to eastern Europe. A pilot scheme was started this summer in the city of Magdeburg in east Germany. "Because of high unemployment and limited capital, Lets could help people in the east to use their skills and talents," said Hugo Godscalk of Paysys, a German constancy firm which specializes in forms of payment. Although the organization of each Lets is discreetly different they all share a basic tenet: that by tapping local skills and spending power, it is possible to improve the economic and psychological health of the community. They work by creating a local currency, the "bobbin" in Manchester, for example, and encouraging local people and business to accept that currency in pay-ment, or part-payment, of goods and services. Joining a Lets is a quick and painless process. On payment of an initial, one-off registration fee (mainstream money), and a negligible annual administration fee (local money), you are issued with an account in the local currency, a cheque book and a local directory, which lists the goods an services available. You are then free, for example, to start paying for your gardner or bying your groceries in local currency. A small levy is charged on each transaction to cover the administration costs of the system and to pay the salary of the administrator. However, there are no interest charges when you go into debt and no restrictions on credit. While their simplicity makes them accessible, the growing popularity of alternative currencies has less to do with alternatives then the lack of them. Recession, unemployment and the high interest rates have left many people unable to earn, borrow, or spend conventional money. The Trueque (meaning barter) in Madrid was founded in January by Dan Wagman, an American who has been living in Spain for 16 years. "The present system of conventional money is not working too well," he says. "in Spain, 20 per cent of people are unemployed. It is a terrible waste of talent and time. Lets give the unemployed the chance to use their skills and the impoverished immediate access to services that they couldn't otherwise afford." Liz Shepard, who runs the national coordinating organization, Lets Link, in Britain, agrees: "one in six United Kingdom households were experiencing severe debt problems because of high interest rates and recession. An interest-free, non- profit-making system appeals to them." Christine Schoeb and Carlo Jelmini were both students in Geneva when they set up the Troc de Service in Onex as part of their course work. Another ten groups in Bern, Basel, Winterthur and elsewhere operate their own scheme based on talents. One of the founders, Simcha Piwnik, said: "We get professional workers advertising a whole range of services, from electricians to furniture restorers to kitchen-fitters. You can buy furniture, bicycles, organic vegetables - anything. It almost makes traditional street markets redundant." Yet the proliferation of Lets has not been problem-free. According to Michael Jacobs, an economist at Lancaster University and author of "Green Economy", Lets must overcome two main difficulties if they are to survive. "the first is common to all voluntary organisations: will enough people join and remain involved to make them work? The second is peculiar to Lets: is there a tendency for people to leave the local system once they secure employment within the mainstream economy? If so, they may well fail unless there is a continual supply of new members." While survival can be difficult, growth can prove equally problematic. As they have become more wide-spread, Lets have attracted the attention of national treasuries who are con cerned that local currencies could be exploited as a way of avoiding paying tax. Moreover, growth has prompted fears among Lets users that people could accumulate sizable debts and then leave the community without repaying. In August, more than 60 people attended a conference near Montpellier in southern France to discuss ways of introducing Lets to that country. In Dessau, in Germany, a recent conference relulted in the setting up of six new systems. Henk van Arkel, from Utrecht, who runs a series of systems in the Netherlands, was one of the participants, "We are planning with the Irish, Flemish and German and probably the UK systems, for international co-operation across Europe," he said. "We do need more exchange of ideas and improvements. But we are not going to link the currencies. The most important part of the idea is the local aspect." There are, however, sign that Lets are starting to encroach on some of the traditional functions of conventional money. Trading between groups, for example, is just beginning in some areas. But it will be a long time before they rival the ecu. ... __o .. -\<, chris.claborne@sandiegoca.attgis.com ...(*)/(*). CI$: 76340.2422 PGP Pub Key fingerprint = A8 FA 55 92 23 20 72 69 52 AB 64 CC C7 D9 4F CA Avail on Pub Key server. PGP-encrypted e-mail welcome!