Common good bank

[x[method]]

The ends on this are the same as zeitgeist, but this is an actual translatable model that can be applied tomorrow! Video is only 15 minutes. I'm likely going to apply to be a community organizer and get this thing firing on all cylinders ASAP. Check it out!

[x[jenny]]

seemes flawed. i dont like it.

[x[method]]

seemes flawed. i dont like it.

care to elaborate?

[x[cazter]]

Fairly basic overview.. I liked it though.

The concept has a number of flaws such as what if I want to move from my community to one across the nation, or world? It would be horribly difficult to transfer my money at it's actual value to another CGB. Emphasis on value... because if I move with $100 at my CGB and I get there and am given $8 from the local CGB then I am in trouble. Even worse if I am given nothing.

They tried doing something like this on a national level in 2006-2007. Several wealthy individuals individuals came together and purchased several million in gold. They cut and stamped this gold in the shape of coins and went about the process of establishing a monetary system based on a value they would associate with each coin. Just as they were about to open this up to everyone they were raided by the FBI and the gold was seized. I am not certain what laws they violated but the general gist I got was that it is currently illegal to create a monetary currency within the U.S. that competes with the dollar.

What's more is that in the early years of this country until around the first world war there used to be a variety of currencies governed by various organizations similar to the CGBs. Most of which functioned like the gold standard in that they were backed by an item of value. For example, a community that specialized in agriculture would come pay it's workers either in the food they helped produced or in a currency backed by that product... such as a dollar worth a certain allotment of corn, etc. All of these systems worked extremely well on a local level but made trade to other communities an agonizingly slow process. I have no doubt that many, if not all of these problems could be smoothed out given current technology based communication methods.

[x[method]]

regarding point 1 - the point is to keep the money local, so yes, there would definitely be penalties on changing it. when demurrage was applied to currencies (think grain silos) devaluing of currency was the norm as grain deteriorated over time. What happened as a result of this was an explosion of long term construction (churches) as value was stored long term in structure, not banks.

from point 2 - i'd certainly hope that they would learn from a fairly recent example and ensure that this was in fact legal. do you have info links referring to this specifically?
btw there are a number of successful currencies all over the world in practice today that go unopposed to governments, even in the US: http://www.ithacahours.com/
http://www.letslinkuk.net/

on point 3 - it can as you can exchange this currency for universal currency pretty seamlessly it seems

[x[cazter]]

Don't laugh... but yea, you can find the story here: http://www.libertydollar.org/ld/ronpauldollar

[x[jenny]]

my typing skills are poor at best and you seem to relish these text discussions so im not going to get you started, suffice to say i really cant see it working unless everybody does it AND would i still be able to get my HD sports? if so would i pay in community dollars?

[x[method]]

As I understand it, you would be able to get your HD package sports, but you would have to show that it was for the benefit of the community. ie have a projector show the games at the community center etc. instead of hiding in your cave.

I have an email into them trying to get more info on the legality and technical details around how this actually works. I'll keep you guys updated as I found out more.

[x[method]]

Ok turns out I'm wrong - you would be able to buy anything you want anywhere. It should work just like normal cash. Here's my email exchange:

Hi,

I've been studying the idea of alternative currencies as a catalyst for community resiliency and combatting climate change. Therefore, I was ecstatic when I found your site last night and I'm very interested in being a community organizer where I currently live (Denmark - although I was born and raised in California). Before I apply, I have a question which is not addressed in your FAQ's: Is this legal? As this is an alternative currency, I'm assuming that all commerce and service it enables will function outside of the taxable sphere. In Denmark, they take this very seriously and consequently it's against the law. Is it also against the law in the USA? If so, how do you plan to deal with this restriction?

best,

Matt

|
William Spademan ✆
to me

show details 4:13 PM (40 minutes ago)

Dear Matt,

Excellent question. It took us several years of planning and back-and-forth with lawyers, to figure out how to do this legally. Yes it is legal. Here's how it works:

Local "currency" (credit actually) is stored as database entries by the Depositors Association, a virtual organization created by a covenant among the depositors in each common good bank community, consisting mostly of web-based computer programs maintained by our nonprofit organization.

All transactions are in dollars (or other official national currency), through standard bank checks, credit card charges, inter-account bank transfers. The covenant makes this possible through automatic information sharing from the bank's computer to the depositors association computer and automatic preemptive transaction requests from the depositors association to the bank. Since all transactions are in official national currency, the restrictions on local currency transactions do not apply. There is a legal paper trail for everything.

Conceptually, whenever a common good bank depositor's bank balance is insufficient to cover a check or credit card purchase, the bank computer notifies the depositor's association computer and waits a little while before continuing. The depositors association computer sells some of the depositor's local credit to another common good bank depositor (exchanging local credit for official national currency) by sending an immediate transaction request to the bank's computer and making the appropriate adjustment to the depositors association records.

William Spademan

--
William Spademan
President
Common Good Finance Corporation
democratic economics for a sustainable world

48 Buckland Road, PO Box 21
Ashfield, MA 01330 USA
+1 413-628-3336

Be one of our 4,000 founding depositors
Sign up now at www.commongoodbank.com with no cost or obligation

[x[thorazine]]

Seems like a Disney dollar scam.

[x[method]]

Don't laugh... but yea, you can find the story here: http://www.libertydollar.org/ld/ronpauldollar

yeah that's not really the same thing dude. seems like he was using that to fund his campaign, not create sustainability or better democracy.

[x[cazter]]

yeah that's not really the same thing dude. seems like he was using that to fund his campaign, not create sustainability or better democracy.

Ron Paul had jack shit to do with that effort and to my knowledge received no campaign funding from it...

Read the news artciles on the site.

[x[method]]

Ron Paul had jack shit to do with that effort and to my knowledge received no campaign funding from it...

Read the news artciles on the site.

yeah i read it. even if it wasn't something he did, that was the intent. it was to circumvent paying the republican party instead of giving the money directly to him. makes sense, but not at all what i was talking about.

here's the most interesting version of alternative currency i've seen yet: http://www.metacurrency.org/

If you ask me, it's only a matter of time until we end up using this system or one like it.