New England Town Prints Up Its Own Currency -- put down $90 federal and get $100

[radfringe]

http://www.berkshares.org /

BerkShares has recently been featured on ABC World News! Watch the news story here.
BerkShares in the News http://www.berkshares.org/press/index.htm#news
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New England Town Prints Up Its Own Currency
By Stephanie Sy
February 2007
http://www.berkshares.org/press/07feb26abc.htm

SOUTHERN BERKSHIRE, Mass., Feb. 25, 2007 — Susan Witt is an unassuming middle-aged woman who drives a Volvo around her quaint Rockwell-esque town and has somehow managed to foment a small revolution.

After years of planning, Witt started printing her own money and spending it around town.

She is not a counterfeiter. She is the founder of Berkshares, a local currency that was introduced last fall in Southern Berkshire, Mass. (where Normal Rockwell lived out his later years).

"The Berkshares are pretty simple to operate," she said. "You walk into a local bank, put down $90 federal and get 100 Berkshares, and then those Berkshares are spent at full value at regional stores."

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Curious about how BerkShares work? Read the Berkshares FAQ. http://www.berkshares.org/localcurrency.htm#faq
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the only thing that bothers me about it that the berkshares are tied to the federal dollar... wonder if they looked into tieing it to the Euro?

[Junkdrawer]

1. I thought the Fed Reserve Act of 1913 gave the Fed a monopoly on currency...

:shrug:

[northzax]

3. right, and I think

that by tying it to the Dollar makes it simpler to track things like taxes. it is not legal for a government entity to issue currency, and the only currency you are obligated to accept in the US is the Dollar (hence the monopoly) but if you want to issue some sort of scrip, and people are willing to take it as payment for goods and services, that's their (and your) problem.

it would be interesting to see how many times a BerkShare is spent before returning to the bank. I wouldn't think anyone would want to take a discounted payment unless they could spend it again.

[Pab Sungenis]

4. Legally, they're treated as Gift Certificates

and are not required to be accepted by businesses. They're only valid at participating businesses.

They've been done in hundreds of towns across the country. The granddadde of them all is the Ithaca Hour.

[northzax]

2. why tie it to a foreign currency?

it's not intended to replace the dollar. tying it to the Euro would add a whole layer of expense to the whole thing.