John C. 'The Engineer' Turmel Comments on Salt Spring Island Hours
Date: Fri, 28
Dec 2001 00:40:00 -0500
From: tom@cyberclass.net
("Tommy-Usury: Free")
Subject: Salt Spring Island Dollars
TK: Greetings John: I have just learned of a 'usury-free' local currency
for Salt Spring Island by email from Jack Peach from British Columbia. Details
at:
http://saltspring.gulfislands.com/money/welcome.htm
What is your assessment of these Salt Spring Island Dollars? Are they considered
to be 'usury-free' dollars?
JCT: I checked the site:
SSID: The Birth of a Currency
The concept of Salt Spring Island Dollars was the result of roundtable
discussions of the Sustainable Salt Spring Island Coalition. In the fall of
2000, the group was looking at different island nations around the world (Isle
of Man, Jersey, Cayman Islands, etc.) examining how their governments and
economies functioned. One of the common factors of these islands was that they
each had their own local currency. Two questions arose - would it be possible to
establish a local currency for Salt Spring, and if so, how could it benefit the
community?
JCT: Isn't it funny that the most famous of the Channel Island
currencies, the one instituted by the Island of Guernsey, didn't make the list
but Jersey did?
SSID: The Problems
Further research examined a wide range of "alternative" currencies (e.g. Toronto
Dollars, LETS and Hours systems). It appeared that none of the alternative
currencies had achieved `near universal acceptance.'
JCT: Ithaca Hours pretty well has. The Argentine Provinces of Salta and
five others and now the biggest Argentine Province of Buenos Aires just recently
issued its Patacons. Calgary 'usuryfree' community currency can now be used to
buy bus tickets. The first in the world. And paying taxes is only a breath away.
'Usuryfree' community currency should be just as convertible as
bus tokens in every city - everywhere.
SSID: The primary limiting factor identified was that none of the local
currencies were 100% redeemable into their national currency, and, as a result,
the majority of merchants were hesitant or unwilling to accept a currency unless
it could "pay the bills."
JCT: The benefit of using their usuryfree currency account to pay a bill
rather than using their usury-bearing federal cash account was never properly
explained to them because it's not that barter needs to be universal for it to
be beneficial, it's only that the more barter deals you do, the more usury you
save. There is no other real financial benefit though this seems enough for
everyone else around the world who have joined LETS whether as a public commerce
or a private trader. The more you use a 'usuryfree' timecurrency, the more usury
you do NOT pay.
SSID: Next was the question of how a currency goes into circulation and
receives and/or maintains any value to the holder.
JCT: If a token is a usuryfree receipt for some value, then its value
can't change and worrying about changes becomes unnecessary.
SSID: It also appeared that, in most cases, operation of local currencies
were segregated from local financial institutions.
JCT: Only because the operators aren't running their systems right. Once
financial institutions accept the value of 'usuryfree, local currencies,
there's no reason a 1 Hour bill shouldn't go into
the cash till, as it
does in the bank in Ithaca New York,
just like any other $10 bill. In Ithaca, a 1 Hour note is worth $10.00 (US
Funds) everywhere. Everybody takes them.
SSID: The Solutions
Having identified these problems, it was decided any solutions must address all
of these concerns. Several brainstorming sessions later, an idea surfaced that
provided an answer directly and indirectly, to all of the major problems. It was
suggested that if our currency had a two year expiry date, any bills that had
not been redeemed by the expiry date (e.g. collected,
left the island, lost, etc.) would represent a "profit."
JCT: It's an ugly way to make a profit. Someone ends up feeling stung by
losing at the end. Why can't you just benefit by the usury in the bank and give
them their principle back whenever they want it? Like in Toronto Dollars? Why
make more by making them lose on a certain date? An ugly way of profiting that's
sure to lose some patrons when social currencies are so profitable in so many
other ways.
SSID: By creating a profit, to cover costs, it would be possible to have
the currency go into circulation through a one-to-one exchange with the Canadian
dollar. This meant it could be backed 100% by the Canadian dollar. To our
knowledge this had never been done by any local currency, anywhere in the world.
JCT: The Toronto Dollar system does the same thing, exchanging local
currency for federal currency, but they content themselves with keeping only the
usury and not stinging someone at the end of the cycle caught with the expiring
coupon.
SSID: Limited
Editions
Next came the idea to have limited editions of Salt Spring Island art featured
on the back. This would help to make the bills collectible, after the expiry
date.
JCT: This is a great way to make money. Not just the usury but
numismatists love local currencies as much as stamp collectors love new stamps.
In my report on the U.S. Local Currency Congress in Chicago in 1999, I mentioned
how the Ithaca representatives were wondering how to handle so much of their
currency leaving the area with tourists who wanted souvenirs. What if they call
come back later?
The point is that the Ithaca township has benefited from the usury on the cash
those tourists left behind and if some of your poker chips find their way back
to your casino at a later date, it should be no problem redeeming them at the
time. But in the meantime, there's no reason notes shouldn't be made beautiful
to celebrate the area. What I like best would be notes to celebrate the
achievement. For instance, if the city's going to build a new bridge, put a
picture of the bridge on the money financing its construction. IOUS for a bridge
money.
Accepting this money pays for your bridge. Build arenas and the arena tokens can
be used at the arenas. That's how Harold Ballard built Maple Leaf Gardens in
Toronto during the Great Depression 1930s. He paid workers with hockey tickets!
Everyone took them.
SSID: It was soon pointed out that with a year round population of
10,000, an annual tourist flow of over 200,000 and tens of thousands
of
currency collectors around the world, the potential income from an
edition of 20,000 of each bill was
significant.
JCT: Absolutely. So get rid of the "money-dead-in-two-years" clause and
give your tokens numismatic life forever.
SSID: It was then decided to form a not-for-profit society, the Salt
Spring Island Monetary Foundation, to facilitate the process of returning the
proceeds of the venture back to the community.
JCT: Great. But while waiting for the deposit of Canadian cash and not
using local labour as worth collateral, you are sadly not making use of the
local currency you could be spending to build arenas, pay for special services,
fill the financial gap. Exchanging your local currency for only cash as
collateral is losing a valuable source of credit within your own members who
should all be trusted with a basic social currency time-credit line.
SSID: Mission
Statement
Thus, on July 17th, 2001, the SS IMF was registered with the Province of British
Columbia. It's mission statement is as follows: "The purposes of the Society are
to design, issue and maintain a local currency for Salt Spring Island with the
goal of raising funds for worthwhile community projects while promoting local
commerce and goodwill."
JCT: Nicely said. But you could be using labour-based notes to promote
local commerce and goodwill while you continue using the "money-based" notes to
raise financing with usury and collectible values.
SSIB: Following the formation of the IMF, major institutions (Island
Savings Credit Union, CIBC, Bank of Montreal, Canada Post, SSI Chamber of
Commerce, etc.) on the Island were approached with the concept. With these
institutions lending their support to this community initiative, it came to pass
that Salt Spring Dollars are now available and accepted on Salt Spring on the
same basis as the national currency.
JCT: Now that is a score that I don't think even Ithaca can beat. But the
Argentine Province of Salta did the same with their bond currency. Only they
were government getting government to join. You are private enterprise getting
government to join. Well done!
Other Canadian jurisdictions will ask the same of our Banks of Montreal, our
Canada Posts, etc. You breached the dam, now watch the flood. You have even
greater reason to lend a couple of million to your municipal council and reduce
their use of interest-bearing debt to the minimum. I hope you realize that you
have the financial engineering set-up to eliminate debt poverty in your
community at almost a stroke. But you have to be social and give your citizens
credit. Social credits.
SSID: The Salt Spring Island Dollars were introduced to the Island on
September 15th, 2001, at Salt Spring's largest annual gathering, the Farmer's
Institute's Fall Fair.
JCT: Sure you'll raise money using social currencies the way you are
doing but if you let citizens borrow some credits on their promised labour as
collateral (which they have lots of) rather than on federal currency (which they
don't have lots of), then the utility of covering as many local exchanges with
usuryfree currency as possible and only using usury-bearing currency for
non-local transactions, will provide the greatest benefit.
With all your supporters, you have it set up so that you can switch to 100%
saturation of local currency for local transactions almost in an instant.
Transport, banking, retailers, taxes, you've got it all. Now turn on the tap to
your members. Give them all a credit line worth 6 month's of time! Say 1000
Hours. Say $13,000 Canadian Federal Dollars.
Within days, only off-shore transactions will need
usury-bearing
cash. Everyone profits of the usury
from the federal currency they are all leaving in the bank.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John C. "The Banking Systems Engineer" Turmel, Author of the UNILETS
usury-free
time-based currency United Nations C6 recommendation to Governments in the
http://www.un.org/millennium/declaration.htm
http://www.cyberclass.net/turmel /
http://www.medpot.net Tel: 1.613.632.2334