Ernest,

    I was listening a broadcast of  yours done a few weeks ago where you were discussing establishing a local "currency".  Please consider the following prior to committing to that decision.
    Consider that most "currencies" find their way into the Currencies Market and are traded, and as such usually fall under the scrutiny and ultimate control of those entities that control such things. Take for instance "BitCoin", while many think it wonderful that someone can fix a daily "price" enumerated in Federal Reserve Notes on the market price of BitCoin, this introduces its own problems to overcome in that the powers that be feel that it is necessary for them to control anything and everything in "their" market place.
    Factually, Federal Reserve Notes are not "money of account", they do not even state on their face that they are "money" at all.  It would be very simple, as it only requires minimal ink for the printers to print on the face of the FRN, "This money is legal tender.....", instead the FRN states "This note is.......". It is only through mind gymnastics that masses of people continue to refer to a piece of paper that states it is a Note as "money".

    There is an alternative suggestion for establishing a local economy without using some "currency" that can be loosely tied to FRN's which may possibly avoid the potential trap associated with mindless giver-ment bureaucracy. You can achieve the intended goal of a local "coin of the realm" using metal tokens denominated in hours and increments of hours of labor.  One of the prime reasons for denominating such tokens in "hours" of labor is because virtually everyone on earth has the ability to recognize the "hour" as a unit of measure.  The importance of this is directly related to the word "value".  The principle is simple, if one would not give an hour of their own labor for any object, to them that object or thing has no value.  Simply put, our labor is what determines the value of any object or thing, and that "value" is fixed for all eternity.  While an object that one owns and labored to obtain is capable of being traded or sold for anything the owner freely contracts with another for, which merely determines the objects "worth" the thing's value is fixed by the person that gave their labor for it.  Every human has only a finite time on this earth, increments of one's time is generally measured in hours. If one provides an hour of their labor to another they ought to be compensated for that time which they could have devoted to themselves in some other manner.  Hours are units of measure generally understood by mankind everywhere, while currencies are not.  For example, how many dinars can be traded for rubles or pesos.  You have to go to some market to check the current "trading" numbers, which just happen to be controlled by people who play in that market of thieves.

    The path of all "currencies" of the world leads to the same place, control and regulation by someone else thousands of miles away without our input.

I have been distributing locally a two page handout, well really four pages but if printed on both sides becomes two pages to solicit the input of local people.  The general theme is to show that the use of Federal Reserve Notes is dishonest and destructive and that the only people who having knowledge that FRN's are destructive and dishonest to use, are those types of people that are themselves dishonest.  The handout is directed towards local merchants as it is necessary to get into the mind of merchants as well as people as a whole, that should any merchant, in the future, continue to demand and use FRN's in their commerce the people will make them famous locally and labeled as dishonest merchants, and the only people that continue to trade with them are also dishonest.  Local newspapers and the use of the old Bulletin Board will help to accomplish widespread knowledge of who is still using FRN's in the community, in opposition to the best interests of the local economy. As you might imagine, this has the potential to drive out dishonest merchants (those intent on continued use of FRN's, which shows what they actually feel about their customers and their community in general).  Merchants no longer able to continue use of their dishonest system and choose to leave merely open up a business opportunity for some honest enterprising type.

    And if you can envision all the merchants in any locale refusing FRN's for their goods or services, for instance a local grocer, where does anyone (think bureaucrat) purchase the food to put on their table without purchasing that food with the "coin of their realm"?  Even bureaucrats starve without food. One of the other positive aspects of using local tokens, denominated in "hours" is simply that the token is labeled as such, a "TOKEN", not coin, not "money" having no equivalent in FRN's.  Their is no "labor tax"presently, although their is an "income tax" which is measured in FRN's. For the no longer relevant bureaucracy to attempt to impose a "labor tax" exposes their whole scam.

The main point, as I see it, is that 99% of all that can be pointed to as wrong, could possibly be cured when people stop using Federal Reserve Notes.  As John Adams stated: "All the perplexities, confusion and distress in America arise, not from defects in their Constitution or Confederation, not from want of honor or virtue, so much as from the downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit and circulation."  The masses use the term "Dollar" everyday, yet only one in a million have even the slightest knowledge of what it means and what it is.  It is a "unit of measure" along the same lines as inches, pounds, gallons, etc. and no one has ever seen or touched a unit of measure.  Hours are also a unit of measure and globally comprehended.

I mentioned that I have a short document that I have circulated locally.  I posted the document on a forum that I frequent and essentially had virtual rocks thrown at me for the manner that I drafted document. As I am old, sticks and stones don't much bother me.  I just went ahead and distributed the document to the merchants and people in my locale.  I have loosely kept track of input and I guess it is about 70% positive.  People seem to have picked up on it in a positive manner.  I am glad I did not stop based simply upon the unfounded opinions of younger people...If anyone is interested and lets me know, I will forward the document file to them for their own perusal and refinement.

Respectfully,

Mike Maxfield