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BerkShares

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Re: BerkShares

#21

Post by TACIXAT »

EGreg wrote: post #12
TACIXAT wrote: post #11

>Nick Kacher of the Schumacher Center has discussed the possibility of pegging its value to a basket of local goods in order to insulate the local economy against volatility in the US economy. Is there a name for pegging a currency to a basket of goods? I can't find any examples online.

If it's a local currency this can be considered a local Consumer Price Index. If you peg the local currency to it, the local currency is always available to buy the food, based on the local CPI of necessary goods, regardless of shortages etc. (if the pegging is daily). I had a similar scheme for local based UBI here: https://qbix.com/blog/index.php/2017/09/the-future-of-money/

Awesome, thanks. It sounds like you're working on some of the ideas I've been mulling over this week. I like the idea of localizing the currency and having immigration restrictions. Localizing helps solve the problem of scaling pseudonym parties. Finding a world-wide, or even nation-wide time where everyone can show up in a group in order to verify their personhood would be tough.

I guess the next issue is how do you take that CPI, adjust, and issue currency in a decentralized / consensus way. Also, how susceptible to manipulation would these schemes be.

I would love to see a more economically sound cryptocurrency, rather than the deflationary mess that is Bitcoin.

Re: BerkShares

#22

Post by redblacktree »

EGreg wrote: post #13
jakebasile wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The funny money here is stilled pegged to the US dollar, so the Fed can still exercise monetary control over it. It's really just a form of gift certificate (or scrip) from my reading of it. Anyways, there's a history of using non-USD money in the US: see company towns that only dealt in company scrip, Disney Dollars, etc. No matter what you're making money in, the government expects to be paid, and it only accepts U…

The history of non USD goes back way further than that. Historically, the Federal Government was in charge of the coins but banks issued paper Banknotes which circulated. Then during the Civil War the federal government issued notes with which you could pay tariffs and land taxes. These became popular. It was only a few years later that the Legal Tender laws were passed, making the Greenback the most-accepted banknot…

I looked at your profile and I didn't see the company you're talking about. Would you please provide a link?

Re: BerkShares

#24

Post by EGreg »

redblacktree wrote: post #22
EGreg wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The history of non USD goes back way further than that. Historically, the Federal Government was in charge of the coins but banks issued paper Banknotes which circulated. Then during the Civil War the federal government issued notes with which you could pay tariffs and land taxes. These became popular. It was only a few years later that the Legal Tender laws were passed, making the Greenback the most-accepted banknot…

I looked at your profile and I didn't see the company you're talking about. Would you please provide a link?

Sure.

https://qbix.com/blog

Feel free to get in touch - the email link is in my profile.

Re: BerkShares

#25

Post by benmowa »

rurounijones wrote: post #2

While not exactly an economist / finance type I would have thought the federal and state governments would have shut this down as it removes a certain level of currency control no? Can anyone explain the legalities around this?

how is this different than a coupon? or a store branded Gift card? .. funds available for redemption at a subset of merchants.

Edit: I see now that its considered the same for tax reporting purposes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BerkShares#Taxation

Re: BerkShares

#26

Post by andybass »

kijin wrote: post #10

There seem to be a lot of these "community currencies" in circulation throughout the United States. I wonder how much economic activity actually takes place using them, though. Millions of dollars? Billions? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_community_currencies_i... Meanwhile, up north, there's Canadian Tire Money.

My company (Conpoto), runs a local currency/gift certificate platform that is purchased with regular dollars, but is only redeemable at local merchants participating in the program. We're in a bunch of states and Canada.

We'll do hundreds of thousands of dollars in currency purchases annually in some communities. It's used quite a bit by employers who want to keep money local (rather than sending it to Amazon or Target).

Re: BerkShares

#30

Post by valuearb »

Virtually all the wealth created in the world is because of unfettered trade. Trying to create an insular economy is just a path to poverty. Are they going to build their own iPhones, Teslas, LCD screens and microprocessors? Obviously not.

When a local consumer decides to pass on buying a local good for a substitute made far away, it's because they believe they benefit economically from doing so.

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