LETSystem and what it eat
In the context of the crisis of the market financial system, I would like to make a small review of one of its alternatives. No, no, in no case will we talk about a planned economy, feudalism or something else.
It will be a question of one of the systems of division of labor at the local level.
The first system of division of labor at the local level - the system of local exchanges (MSS) or the system of local currencies (MWSS) appeared in the 70s in the Canadian region of Vancouver during the crisis associated with the closure of mines. People simply did not have enough money. In 1976, in West Vancouver, David Weston launched the Community Exchange system, where the measure of exchanges was based on the time required to perform a particular service required by community members. Then a similar system was launched by him on Vancouver Island. Inspired by this idea, Michael Linton in 1983. Launches on the island of Vancouver a system of exchanging green dollars, which has a value equivalent to the Canadian dollar. He calls it LETS (Local Exchange Trading System, a local exchange trading system), creates exchange management software and Landsman Ltd.
The core of this system is a centralized database accessible to any member of the LETS network and containing all the information about the account of one or another member. The loan is earned through the provision of any services or goods to others, and, subsequently, can be spent to purchase other goods / services from other LETS members.
Three possible states of a specific account:
Linton examined the social aspects of poverty and observed that in every local community or district the level of trade was directly dependent on the official currency flows. The fall in the amount of available money inevitably led to a decline in business, unemployment and social problems, which we are slowly beginning to observe now. Linton also noted that the amount of goods and services that people want to exchange was not at all dependent on the amount of money they have. Often, people had enough items and skills to exchange, but there was no means of exchange. Hence the idea of ​​adding money to help local economies. Finding that the lack of fiat money does not allow people to trade. If materials and human resources are available, then why do we agree that there is not enough money to put them into action? Money in this case is just information, they do not need to simultaneously be a way of saving value. If money is just information, and not a certain symbol, equated with real wealth, and even sometimes being its only a priori expression in the modern world, then it will never be scarce.
')
“System” works extremely simply. Jenny needs to cut the grass in front of the house. She looks at the local newsletter and discovers that Bill offers this service. She calls Bill and negotiates the price - 30 "beans". After the lawn is trimmed, Jenny calls the coordinator (usually a volunteer), who removes 30 "beans" from her account and credits them to Bill. "Beans" exist only on paper, and no taxes or interest are charged for any operations. In a well-functioning system, the sum of all the "beans" should be zero (someone in the red, someone in the black). The LETS system is completely autonomous from the state. Each group has its own money: in addition to the "beans" there are, for example, "talents", "links", "ecu", "eddy". In more poetic France, there is a currency called “grains of salt” (grains de sel - here you can play the French abbreviation SEL). In the city of Ithaca, New York, there is a well-developed and large community, where people pay for it with workdays - more precisely, with “work hours”.
After the first successes and failures, the system was refined and slowly began to spread throughout the world. Local currency systems, including those other than LETS, have appeared in a multitude in the USA, Australia and New Zealand, in the United Kingdom, France and Japan. In the third world countries from about the mid-1990s, the MWSS was launched in Mexico, El Salvador, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Senegal, Thailand, and Indonesia. Launched in 1995, in Argentina, the Global Barter (GBS) network has become the largest national MWSS in the world with 500 divisions, half a million members and a multi-million dollar turnover. GBS is distributed in South and Central America, its units operate in Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Colombia.
LETS systems are based on five basic principles:
Sources
kf-news.ru/2008/10/16/lets-against-global-currencies.html
mmm555.narod.ru/ekonomika.htm
www.contr-tv.ru/common/514
www.contr-tv.ru/common/517
PS And the Lets are not Habr.
PPS Please do not kick much, this is my first post. =)
It will be a question of one of the systems of division of labor at the local level.
The first system of division of labor at the local level - the system of local exchanges (MSS) or the system of local currencies (MWSS) appeared in the 70s in the Canadian region of Vancouver during the crisis associated with the closure of mines. People simply did not have enough money. In 1976, in West Vancouver, David Weston launched the Community Exchange system, where the measure of exchanges was based on the time required to perform a particular service required by community members. Then a similar system was launched by him on Vancouver Island. Inspired by this idea, Michael Linton in 1983. Launches on the island of Vancouver a system of exchanging green dollars, which has a value equivalent to the Canadian dollar. He calls it LETS (Local Exchange Trading System, a local exchange trading system), creates exchange management software and Landsman Ltd.
The core of this system is a centralized database accessible to any member of the LETS network and containing all the information about the account of one or another member. The loan is earned through the provision of any services or goods to others, and, subsequently, can be spent to purchase other goods / services from other LETS members.
Three possible states of a specific account:
- negative balance - For an individual, this is a duty in work (goods, services) that he owes to the community. For LETS as a whole, the sum of such negative balances shows the amount of labor energy available in the system to fulfill the obligations of its members;
- positive balance - For an individual, it is an opportunity to expect the acquisition in the community of necessary goods and services in exchange for goods or services previously supplied by him to members of the community. The sum of all positive residues would show the total expectation of labor energy hidden in the system;
- zero balance - The individual has no expectations to be fulfilled, no obligations. In the system as a whole, a zero balance on a separate account does not mean anything (unless everyone in the system has zero accounts - this would be just a dead MW).
Linton examined the social aspects of poverty and observed that in every local community or district the level of trade was directly dependent on the official currency flows. The fall in the amount of available money inevitably led to a decline in business, unemployment and social problems, which we are slowly beginning to observe now. Linton also noted that the amount of goods and services that people want to exchange was not at all dependent on the amount of money they have. Often, people had enough items and skills to exchange, but there was no means of exchange. Hence the idea of ​​adding money to help local economies. Finding that the lack of fiat money does not allow people to trade. If materials and human resources are available, then why do we agree that there is not enough money to put them into action? Money in this case is just information, they do not need to simultaneously be a way of saving value. If money is just information, and not a certain symbol, equated with real wealth, and even sometimes being its only a priori expression in the modern world, then it will never be scarce.
')
“System” works extremely simply. Jenny needs to cut the grass in front of the house. She looks at the local newsletter and discovers that Bill offers this service. She calls Bill and negotiates the price - 30 "beans". After the lawn is trimmed, Jenny calls the coordinator (usually a volunteer), who removes 30 "beans" from her account and credits them to Bill. "Beans" exist only on paper, and no taxes or interest are charged for any operations. In a well-functioning system, the sum of all the "beans" should be zero (someone in the red, someone in the black). The LETS system is completely autonomous from the state. Each group has its own money: in addition to the "beans" there are, for example, "talents", "links", "ecu", "eddy". In more poetic France, there is a currency called “grains of salt” (grains de sel - here you can play the French abbreviation SEL). In the city of Ithaca, New York, there is a well-developed and large community, where people pay for it with workdays - more precisely, with “work hours”.
After the first successes and failures, the system was refined and slowly began to spread throughout the world. Local currency systems, including those other than LETS, have appeared in a multitude in the USA, Australia and New Zealand, in the United Kingdom, France and Japan. In the third world countries from about the mid-1990s, the MWSS was launched in Mexico, El Salvador, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Senegal, Thailand, and Indonesia. Launched in 1995, in Argentina, the Global Barter (GBS) network has become the largest national MWSS in the world with 500 divisions, half a million members and a multi-million dollar turnover. GBS is distributed in South and Central America, its units operate in Uruguay, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Colombia.
LETS systems are based on five basic principles:
- payment at cost - LETS is a non-profit non-profit scheme with a strong ethical focus. When paying at cost, no member of the system charges commissions or earns a profit. Exchanges are conducted to meet the needs of some members of the system for services or goods produced by other members of the system. To pay for the professional administration of a system, its managers are rewarded on a reasonable fixed basis in local currency;
- consent - Each participant, upon entry into the system, undertakes to conduct trade in it and pay for the arising negative balance of the account with its goods and services. Agreement is also needed for each transaction: no one has an obligation to trade with this or that participant. Finally, the consent of the account holder is needed to debit or credit it;
- Disclosure - The confidence of participants in the system and to each other is vital to the work of LETS. Each participant can request data on the total turnover and the balance of the account of other participants. This partly removes the issue of abuse;
- Equivalence - Money LETS is equivalent to national currencies. This facilitates the entry of unprepared participants into the system, and also facilitates the accounting and calculation of taxes to corporate members of the system;
- interest - free - Money LETS exist only to facilitate exchange. They are not profitable to store or use as a commodity.
Sources
kf-news.ru/2008/10/16/lets-against-global-currencies.html
mmm555.narod.ru/ekonomika.htm
www.contr-tv.ru/common/514
www.contr-tv.ru/common/517
PS And the Lets are not Habr.
PPS Please do not kick much, this is my first post. =)
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/46753/
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