- "The function of money is not to make
money, but to move goods. Money is only one part of our transportation system. It moves
goods from man to man. A dollar bill is like a postage stamp; it is no good unless it will
move commodities between persons. If a postage stamp will not carry a letter, or money
will not move goods, it is just the same as an engine that will not run. Someone will have
to get out and fix it."
- Henry Ford, Founder
Ford Motor Company
- "If the American people ever allow private
banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the
banks and corporations that grow up around them will deprive the people of their property
until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."
Thomas Jefferson
3rd U.S. President, 1801-09
- "A great industrial nation is controlled by
its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation and
all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst
ruled, one of the most completely controlled governments in the world - no longer a
government by conviction and vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and
duress of small groups of dominant men."
- "I have been deceived." "I have
betrayed my country."
- Woodrow Wilson, 28th U.S. President
Referance to Federal Reserve Act, 1913
- WHO DECIDES WHEN A
NATION IS READY TO BE REBORN.. THE
GOVERNMENT, OR THE PEOPLE?
Let's examine the daring and resourceful endeavors of some modern pioneers who have begun
to understand the true nature and function of economics and are putting their "money
where their mouth is", so to speak...
- We are very grateful to Mr. Paul
Glover of Ithaca
- (Hour Town) NY for the following
contribution:
"HOUR
TOWN"
We
Print Our Own Money in Ithaca!
Here in Ithaca, New York, we've begun to gain control of
the social and environmental effects of commerce by issuing over $69,000 of our own local
paper money, since 1991. Thousands of purchases and many new friendships have been
made with this cash, and several million dollars value of local trading has been added to
the Grassroots National Product.
We print our own
money because we've seen Federal dollars come to town, shake a few hands, then leave to
buy rainforest lumber and fight wars. Ithaca's HOURS, by contrast, stay in our
region to help us hire each other. While dollars make us increasingly dependent on
multinational corporations and bankers, HOURS reinforce community trading and expand
commerce which is more accountable to our concerns for ecology and social justice.
 Here's how it
works: the Ithaca HOUR is Ithaca's $10.00 bill, because ten dollars per hour is the
average of wages & salaries in Tompkins County. -
- These HOUR notes, in five
denominations, buy plumbing, carpentry, electrical work, roofing, nursing, chiropractic,
child care, car and bike repair, food, firewood, gifts, and thousands of other goods
and services. Our credit union accepts them for mortgage and loan fees. People pay
rent with HOURS. Some of the best restaurants in town take them, as do movie
theaters, bowling alleys, two large locally-owned grocery stores, many garage sales, 55
Farmer's Market vendors, our local hospital, the public library, the Chamber of Commerce,
and 350 more businesses.
-
- Ithaca's new HOURly
minimum wage lifts the lowest paid up without knocking down higher wages. For
example, some of Ithaca's organic farmers are paying the highest commmon farm labor wages
in the world: $10.00 of spending power per HOUR. These farmers benefit by the
HOUR's loyalty to local agriculture. On the
other hand, dentists, massage therapists and lawyers charging more than the $10.00 average
per hour are permitted to collect several HOURS hourly. But we hear increasingly of
professional services provided for our equitable wage.
-
- Everyone who agrees to
accept HOURS is paid one HOUR ($10.00) or two HOURS ($20.00) for being listed in our
newsletter HOUR Town. Every eight months they may apply to be paid an additional
HOUR, as reward for continuing participation. This is how we gradually and carefully
increase the per capita supply of our money. Once issued, anyone may earn and spend
HOURS, whether signed up or not, and hundreds have done so.
-
- HOUR Town's 1,500
listings, rivalling the Yellow Pages, are a portrait of our community's capability,
bringing into the marketplace time and skills not employed by the conventional
market. Residents are proud of income gained by doing work they enjoy. We
encounter each other as fellow Ithacans, rather than as winners and losers scrambling for
dollars.
-
- The Success Stories of
over 300 participants published so far testify to the acts of generosity and community
that our system prompts. We're making a community while making a living. As we do
so, we relieve the social desperation which has led to compulsive shopping and wasted
resources.
-
- At the same time Ithaca's
locally-owned stores, which keep more
wealth local, make sales and get spending power they otherwise would not have. And
over $8,000 of local currency has been donated to 47 community organizations so far, by
the Barter Potluck, our wide-open governing body.
-
- As we discover new ways to
provide for each other, we replace
dependence on imports. Yet our greater self-reliance, rather than isolating Ithaca,
gives us more potential to reach outward with ecological export industry. We can
capitalize new businesses with loans of our own cash. HOUR loans are made without
interest charges. Local currency gradually expands our control over the local
economy. This control is more essential to democracy than voting, since most
politicians are already sold to the corporations which sponsor them.
-
- We regard Ithaca's HOURS
as real money, backed by real people, real time, real skills and tools. Dollars, by
contrast, are funny money, backed no longer by gold or silver but by less than nothing-
$5.6 trillion of national debt.
-
- Ithaca's money honors
local features we respect, like native
flowers, powerful waterfalls, crafts, farms and our children.Our Beverly J. Martin
commemorative HOUR is the first paper money in the U.S. to honor an African-American.
-
- Multi-colored HOURS, some
printed on locally-made watermarked
cattail (marsh reed) paper, or handmade hemp paper, some with non-xeroxable thermal ink,
all with serial numbers, are harder to counterfeit than dollars.
-
- Local currency is a lot of
fun, and it's legal. HOURS are taxable
income when traded for professional goods or services.
-
- Local currency is also
lots of work and responsibility. To give
other communities a boost, we've been providing a Hometown Money Starter Kit.
-
- The Kit explains
step-by-step start-up and maintenance of an HOURS system, and includes forms, laws,
articles, procedures, insights, samples of Ithaca's HOURS, and issues of Ithaca
Money. We've sent the Kit to over 1,000 communities so far, and our example has
become international. There are at least 66 HOUR systems in North America, with at
least 42 more forming.
-
- To get the Kit, send
$25.00 (or 2.5 HOURS) or $35 U.S. from abroad (international postal money order), to HOUR
Town, Box 6578, Ithaca, NY.14851.
-
- Our English language video (25
minutes) is available for $15.00 or PAL format video $20.00 ($40.00 for Kit and
video). Spanish language video (10 minutes) is available with Kit for $12.00.
-
- Paul Glover
- Ithaca Health Fund
-
- * Making a Community While
Making a Living *
-
- Nationmakers is offering free exposure to any individuals or groups that are dedicated
to getting our country back on track... Tell Paul you found Ithaca Hours on:
-
- The
Nationmakers
Readers
comments are welcome and encouraged. They can submitted by Email to cfpress@nationmakers.com or discussed in the NATIONMAKERS
INTERNATIONAL DISCUSSION GROUP.
     
All Written Materials Copyright, 1997, Robert H. Brevig
All Rights Are Reserved, Without Prejudice.
U.C.C. 1-207.4 U.C.C. 1-103.6,.7 |
