The BNote: Green Currency in Baltimore

[immune]

"Where are we now, and how did we get this far?

The energy is building. Even before we have printed a single note, everywhere we go in Baltimore people have already heard of the BNote, and businesses are signing on to accept them when we launch next year. We are finding that people are very receptive to the idea of an alternative economic system - one that will benefit people instead of corporations."

http://www.activistpost.com/2010/12/bnote-green-currency-in-baltimore.html

[mattvermont]

1. has not worked that well in

smaller populations. Burlington VT had their own, as well as parts of western Mass. They ultimately become harder to use.
I wonder if a larger, more diverse business profile would make it more viable. If I own a hardware stor, but can only spend them at the fabric store, I might end up with more Bnotes than I can use.

[antigone382]

2. As far as I know, it's been pretty successful in Ithaca, New York.

Granted, it doesn't make up a huge proportion of spending, but even 1-2% that is guaranteed to go to independent, locally-owned businesses is a good thing, I think.

Part of making them work is having a local bank that will participate, possibly exchanging them for cash.

[immune]

3. I think in Ithaca

the credit union participates at a discounted rate and yes, that's the most successful one I know about. But there are hundreds of towns around the country experimenting with variations of this idea and it could become more popular as the dollars in circulation continues to diminish. That's all a local currency is intended to do ... stretch the available dollars by separating what's local from what's corporate.

IMO, its a form of activism that has some potential.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0%2C8599%2C1865467%2C00.html?xid=feed-yahoo-biztech

[antigone382]

5. Well, the dollars are more or less backed by US dollars in most cases,

So I don't know that it necessarily stretches the available circulating cash, except that such currencies are usually exchanged at a rate of somewhere around $10 U.S. dollars for $11 local ones, or something like that. The more important objective of these currencies is that it guarantees a certain amount of circulation within the local economy, going specifically to locally owned businesses that will accept the currency. The secondary benefit is that spending at locally owned businesses has a much higher multiplier effect within the community than spending at chains has.

[immune]

6. I should have said that local currency keeps the

wealth that's created locally at home instead of filtering it out into the general banking system, as you pointed out. But I think the major plus is that it can also put local crafters and manufacturers and food growers to work to bring in some extra "bucks" to buy other local products and services with it.

The way I've heard it explained, though, is that more than being "backed" by dollars, these currencies are actually backed by the labor and creativity of local producers and others who trade with it, although it still needs to be easily convertible.

[immune]

4. Its probably one of those things

that needs to be tweaked until it becomes viable and people understand how it works. Its a huge undertaking, though, and a few people participating in any given area won't get traction.