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Just Chat! / Re: Is Hawking right about Capitalism
« on: 13/03/2016 17:50:43 »There have been several local currencies, all with the same efffect - to provide a portable token of work. One of the best known in the UK was the Stroud Pound. It seems that a babysitting circle had half-hour tokens that you could acquire and distribute among the members, and new members had to earn a few hours before they could spend any. One day a woman found she had taken the wrong purse to the butcher's shop, but the butcher was in need of a babysitter so he swapped meat for tokens. As the meat also had a cash value, this established an exchange rate and small shopkeepers, carpenters and suchlike, were happy to join in the scheme because it was apparently beyond the reach of the taxman....It came to a sticky end, but only after several years.
An old friend was a family doctor in a semi-rural practice. He never charged farmers for his services, and rarely bought food.
Canadian Tire money is almost an unofficial form of currency in Canada. It's paper money that a store found all over Canada gives out when you make a purchase. - they sell auto parts, hardware, out doors and sporting goods, some kitchen and cleaning stuff. But it holds its value, regardless of what the dollar does. It is sometimes collected and donated for charity - like if someone's house burns down.