This article, posted at Benjamin’s blog, is about Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS), new currencies, and more. The article does not name the writer, but seems to be related to “Intention One Earth Foundation” (http://www.intentiononeearth.com/).
The first historic trades within the new financial system have taken place!
The many global, independent trading networks all over the planet are rapidly connecting with each other, forming an infinitely expanding web of local and international commerce, exchange and trade.
People have woken up to the fact: for most of what we spend WE DO NOT NEED GOVERNMENT ISSUED MONEY. In fact, so many different groups have been abusing the money system, it can no longer fulfill its original purposes, which were:
a) as a medium of exchange
b) as a unit of account, and
c) as a store of value
It is the last of these that has led to systemic abuse and criminality, along with usury – the charging of interest. Money stopped merely facilitating things (a job it can do supremely well) and started to be seen as value in itself – which is one reason why so much is out of circulation! The ‘value’ is being hoarded, availability manipulated, markets distorted. No wonder the older religions all forbade usury – for they knew that the usurer and his schemes means that he always ends up owning everything, and tends to manipulate ruthlessly to that end.
There have been some interesting clues as to how this controlling and enslaving global finance system might be broken up. In the 1980’s, in Canada, a man called Michael Linton named the first Local Exchange Trading systems (LETS), from which a number were established. They then spread around the planet, but were largely ignored by anyone even remotely mainstream. The system, in brief, means that you have a local, non-interest bearing currency, and members of the system trade together for all sorts of goods and services: up to 70% of everything you need can be acquired this way in a properly run system with enough members. See definition at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Local_exchange_trading_system
Then there were time banks, e-currencies…and many other innovations. Over thirty years the expertise has spread to everywhere. For Time Bank description, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_banking
One of the most sophisticated, just coming into full operation, is Liverpool, England-based TGL: see: http://www.tgl.tv/
The first big clue to how these generic system types might be deployed was when Argentina got into trouble with the banksters, and threw out the IMF. Read More
