interesting!

Toronto, Canada’s largest metro area, has had its own “Green Dollars” or “Toronto Dollars” since 1998. My brother used to live there and he was big on using them, both in accepting payment for his services and in supporting others in the network.

My personal problem with underground or alternative economies is they don’t feed the tax systems. I’m one of those people who likes to pay for what I use, and here in Canada that means supporting hospitals, schools, fire departments, roads and sewers, you name it. The money has to come from somewhere.

I live close enough to Ithaca, mentioned in the video, that I could use them. I don’t go there often enough as I’d like to…but this video reminds me that I should, and support the movement against our failed economic structure. besides it is like travelers checks, in a way.

taxable isn’t always honored in regular “cash” transactions nor in many barter situations. That is really a separate issue from the complementary currency issue. I know a number of labor intensive businesses that book everything paid by check but nothing paid in actual cash.

And where I’m at it is illegal to barter something and not pay tax on that transaction – state law.

Complementary currencies have been around for some time now – the formality of this is the only thing that is “new” as in new focus and news about it…

Would I use it. Yes, absolutely. Real money comes from formalizing a transaction between two people. I believe in paying someone for the work they do for me – whether it is digging something out of the ground to sell to me or analyzing a problem or fixing my computer. Those are people that deserve to be paid. Many people- now a days won’t take zimbabwaen dollars because they aren’t “real” due to inflation and the government’s monetary policy. That makes it less useful than the local currency there that is based upon real transactions of usefulness within a community.