We would love to share a short, however, poignant story. A small cosy East Coast village had mainly complied with the tight Covid-19 level 4 restrictions and had to a great extent observed Social distancing and small family isolation bubble consciousness. This small Community village was faced with a severe lack of National and International tourists who were the mainstay of the village's income. A further complication developed as a result of a technical problem with all the villages Eftpos connections and because of Covid-19 restrictions there was no available Human to resolve the problem. The interim robotic responses provided on the phone fell very short of delivering a quick response to resolve the situation.
A tourist from out of town driving through the village spotted the local Hotels special offer, $75 per night or a weekend 2 day special at $100. At the reception desk the tourist said he would be very interested to stay the two nights over the weekend. The owner responded "that's good, however, our Eftpos machine is down", the tourist replied "that's no problem as I have cash but only have a $100 note" which he promptly placed on the Reception Counter, the tourist continued "however, I would like to see the room first before I make up my mind". The owner said "not a problem, all 12 of our rooms are empty, all the doors are unlocked, the windows are open, the blinds are drawn, so all the rooms have been freshly cleaned and are airing for occupancy, take your time, view them all and choose the one that you would like". Confident that the tourist would stay, the owner quickly picked up the $100 note off the counter and went next door to the local Superette that had been providing him Goods on Credit due to the Efptos Service being down, the owner was now able to clear the $100 dollar Debt that he had accumulated.
The owner of the Superette quickly went down the high street to the local Builder who had carried out recent repairs on the roof of his Superette, the owner was now able to clear his account with the Builder. The local Builder then went up the high street with the same $100 note and cleared his account at the local Shoe Shop where he had recently purchased a new pair of work boots on Credit. That $100 note travelled up and down the high street a few more times and just before the tourist returned to the Reception area of the Hotel after viewing the rooms, a local prostitute popped in and placed the $100 note on the counter and cleared her unpaid Hotel Room bill from her use of the Hotel rooms as part of her professional services. The out of town Tourist declared that none of the rooms were suitable and picking up his $100 note he proceeded to drive on to the next village, unaware of the movement his $100 note had travelled in that time.
This is a simple story illustrating that everyone paid their Bills clearing their Debts with a Monetary Note that came into the village and left the village, even though it had not been cashed in for any Goods or Services or used for its original intended use, while still belonging to the out of town tourist. The story demonstrates to the reader that the Perceived Value of Money is actually in the Currency itself rather than, the Confidence for the exchange for Goods and Services, that in reality, as demonstrated in the story the $100 note was not necessary. Everyone in this story who had placed a Monetary Value on their Goods and Services could in actuality 'exchange' them without a Monetary System.
We have shared many times of the importance of holding the Highest Idea of 'Who we Are' and the Highest Idea of a Social Society that we would like to be a part of and then every moment of every day Live that Reality. To achieve this we look down a Timeline and somewhere out into the future we clearly Visualise living that Reality and then from that Reality we look back down the Timeline to the Present. During this observational Journey viewing back down the Timeline, we 'reverse engineer' an achievable process perhaps with 'interim' measures to achieve this journey. And then with purpose and direction and with 'open source' engineered ideas we achieve our Vision.
One such interim measure in a small Community could be to start with what would be a Local Social Ethical Dollar. We have discussed previously, that it makes sense for a small Community to invest in ITSELF and have its own Banking System. However, this is not the case in our current World. Many of our local Businesses are Franchised on a National and in many cases, International level where the profits leave the Community and the Goods and Services supplied originate from outside that Community. So, in this case a National Monetary System is required to operate such a System and most of the benefits from this System are not retained within the Community.
This has become the trap and reliance upon the Greed and Profiteering from large Corporations and a corrupt Banking System that supplies the Controlled Liquidity enabling the System to function albeit, the Socially accepted norm that entraps all Communities in our Western style of Commerce.
This corrupt situation is easily changed by inverting the 'pyramid' structure by Local Communities creating and using an Ethical Dollar. The Community sets up its own Bank, however, not in the current accepted way. The Community prints its own Ethical Dollar Note fashioning it in a way that it is not easily forged or reproduced and each Note has a Serial Number. These Notes are then exchanged on equal Value for the National Currency ie; 10 Ethical Dollar Note equals 10 NZ Dollar Note. These Ethical Dollar Notes are then used to purchase Goods and Services in the Local Community. Very quickly, every Local Business would sign up for this Community based Commerce where every single Ethical Dollar remains in the Community and it travels around the Community as did the $100 dollar note in the above story of that East Coast Community.
At any stage any person that wants to purchase something outside of the Community could then exchange their Ethical Dollar back into the National Currency to complete the transaction. It should be clear to the reader that the Community Bank is really a Trustee who does the exchange and holds both Currencies. This is exactly what an Exchange Currency Bureau or Banks do with International Currencies. The Local Ethical Dollar is nothing more than a 'token' and does not require the permission for its creation from anyone. In this System all Goods and Services provided and all the benefits from this Commerce stay in the Community and can be used alongside the National Currency, as they are interchangeable.
Indeed, only Notes need to be printed as any Coin valued tokens can be used from the National Monetary System. There can be two levels of Security from Fraud with this Ethical Dollar. Each Note has its own identification number and most people know each other in the Community and all these Community transactions are Locally recognised. Local Community Ethical Dollars as described above have been and are being used in many Western Cultures, one such System that we have used and observed ourselves was the Totness Dollar in Devon, UK.
Totness is a medieval town in South Devon at the navigatable head of the river Dart a beautiful historic town with a thriving Tourist industry as well as serving as a Market Town to the rural and coastal areas. In the heart of Totness approximately 80% of all businesses were active participants of the Totness Ethical Dollar, indeed, Notes are side by side in most cash registers and payment is made in both Currencies and any Coin change is taken from the National Currency. There are many Communities in the UK that are using this System of a Community Ethical Dollar.
The reader is asked to give careful thought to the simplicity of what we are sharing here and the ease with which it can be reproduced in small or even large Communities. This System is a very helpful 'interim' and Ethical way for a Community to exchange Goods and Services where it is investing in ITSELF and the benefits of this Commerce remains in the Community. If we require a Fair and Equitable System of Commerce we must change our reliance on the large Corporations who seek to control us through their version of Commerce and a National and International Monetary System that supply the Liquidity in a Monetary System that is only based on Confidence and the exchangeable form of their Fiat based Currencies, pieces of paper that are created from 'thin air' at 'no cost', to which we give Confidence to and this is how we give our power away.
Te Wana | Tawa | Te Awa | Adventure with joy, with all its multiple meanings