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    21st Century Ideas: alternative capitalism/ alternatives to capitalism

    What examples of micro-economies are you developing and employing in your communities?

    Started by: Pamela Cash Raves:10

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    Beyond barter, what new forms of economy are you setting up or thinking of setting up? http://www.superstructgame.org/SuperstructView/152

    An interesting artist to look at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._S._G._Boggs

    Some communities have had alternative systems in place for a long time. Maleny, Queesland, Australia, is one such place. They emply the LETS system - try this URL for some details http://www.maleny.info/malenylets

    I have a secret. Even thought its not exactly age-appropriate, I let my 13 year old play World of Starcraft on the condition that I get a small cut of the gold he earns.

    Not that I disagree with a barter system, but how do we \\\"pay\\\" for those who can\\\'t work, of any age, to survive? Currently there are systems in place where the Government credits people, via currency, who lack the ability to work. Would we see such credits in place with any alternative global system? Also, would there be a global \\\"pricing\\\" system in place for the barter system? For instance, if I can type 30wpm, but my friend can type 50wpm, do we \\\"price\\\" that differently since he would be able to get a job done faster for someone that needs our \\\"talents\\\"?

    tit for tat trading, like www.swaptree.com. sometimes can be multi-directional trades.

    One interesting possibility, if only on a localized scale, is (so-called) anarcho-capitalism. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarcho-capitalism. This school of thought generally fails to address non-local issues, however, most notably public-health and environmental issues, especially on a global scale.

    The only way to stop the scourge of capitalism is stop supporting it. Attacking it will get you labeled terrorist or loon. people will have to be choking like fish on dry land to stop support capitalism.

    Attacking capitalism and free-market economies isn\\\'t the answer to stoping them. They need to evolve into something else. If the dollar isn\\\'t backed by gold, then it is oil, if it isn\\\'t oil it is renewable-energy sources. It has to break at some point. De-evolving into barter systems of trade only setups the re-surgence of a currency and thus capitalist structures. In short, I have no f**king idea what happens next or could succeed capitalism.

    We started a local currency called Toonbux. Every bill has to be stamped each month to remain in circulation. Getting the stamp costs a fixed rate 1% of currency value (so for instance getting 100Tx ratified costs 1Tx/month, otherwise it\\\'s no longer legal tender.) This encouraged people to spend their Tx in markets, invest, pay taxes early, and hoard fixed-value commodities like gold. It also helped get us off de facto currencies (canned food, bullets, and marijuana were the local favourites). It\\\'s been pretty successful, despite being fiat notes. We\\\'ve been very open to alternative currencies here, we use everything from Canadian Loonie to Great Plains Worker Credit to WoW Gold accounts. (Not much US$ trading hands up here though.) Our economy is much better for the competition.

    We don\\\'t barter here. Doesn\\\'t work in Europe. But since the inflation spiral of the Euro many people here take Rubl or Yuan for goods. All in debit cards of course. Lot of counterfeiting going on, consider an unavoidable expense.

    What XauriEL is talking about sounds like a kind of \\\"Demurrage\\\" which is a charge on holding money. It\\\'s meant to encourage money to flow (be spent or lent) rather than be hoarded at times or in communities when people are reluctant to buy it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demurrage_(currency) There are lots of good things claimed for it by the alt.moneys that used it in the 2008-2012 depression.

    We can eliminate money. Start a Resource Based Economy. There is no more need to compete for survival. There is enough technology to: 1. Feed the world 2. Educate the world 3. Supply everyone with all of the tools and gadgets they could ever desire. 4. Self sustainable energy via Solar,Electric, Tidal, Wave etc..

    Shameless plug: I recently started a new thread about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the economy. There's me getting to an response to this important question.

    Well, the life or death nature of the superthreats do offer a wonderful opportunity to rethink our society. Never has it been clearer that we must work together in order to survive. Currently, we trade "hours" of labor in the form of capital: a person paid minimum wage by the hour is paid simply for the work he has done, a doctor is paid more because of the time he has put into learning his specific skills and is "rewarded." In this situation however, humanity must recognize that working together on a local scale is much more effective than putting large government operations in place. The system of exchanging labor for capital could be abolished on a local basis if all of the inhabitants of a community shared the goods they create and agreed to consume appropriately. On a larger scale this could perhaps be accomplished by agreements between labor unions: say farmers, clothiers, and builders agree to give each other their goods based on the understanding that they would receive goods from their partners.

    I plan to support the Lewes Pound and any LETS or Hours that I find in the areas where I live.

    I plan to support the Lewes Pound and any LETS or Hours that I find in the areas where I live.




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