A solution for Greece, invented by a russian farmer and a school-student

[DetlefK]

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/anarchist-russian-farmer-to-defend-his-village-currency-in-court/522928.html

The rouble is in trouble. To ease commerce in his cash-strapped village, a russian farmer started printing his own currency, the "kolion": It can only be earned in that village and it can only be spent in that village, thus allowing the villagers to save their roubles for trades with outsiders.
(The russian courts are trying to sue him, but it's very complicated because they can't pin him down why exactly and who exactly got damaged.)

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A few years ago, I read that the son of a banker?/politician? proposed a dual-currency-system in Greece: One currency inside Greece, the Euro for foreign business.

With the negotiations at an end, with Tsipras' gambit of buying time with a fake referendum having failed, this partial exit from the Euro might be what Greece needs. A local currency for day-to-day business and the Euro for important business. Greece relies heavily on agriculture, which would allow this to work.

The big question would be the exchange-rate from Euro to "drachma". Who controls the printing of the new drachma? Who sets the exchange-rate?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

1. There have been similar solutions attempted in various places over time.

I think it's a good idea, but governments tend to disagree, getting snippy about other currencies circulating in their boundaries.

But it would boost local economic activity, keeping more money circulating internally, rather than being drawn off by leeching multinationals and 'foreign investors'. (And let's face it, such 'investment' only exists specifically for the purpose of exploiting people and taking 'profit' from them for the shareholders.)

[PoliticAverse]

8. What would happen in the US if, say, each state had their own currency?

Would that be a good thing?

A main point of money is to be as universal as possible - the less it is that
the less it works as money.

[Chan790]

9. Scrip and alternate currencies like this are legal in the US and while uncommon do circulate.

One of the towns near me in NW CT tried it about a decade ago as a means of encouraging local goods and services, pinning the value of one note (I don't remember what they called it) to $1. In addition, several local retailers (restaurants and farm-stands mostly) offered a discount for the use of the alt-currency.

There's nothing that stops the state of Kansas for example doing this though they cannot compel their creditors to accept payment in the alt-currency nor can they refuse to exchange their alt-currency for dollars nor can they refuse to accept payment in dollars for debts assessed in Kansas-notes.

[djean111]

2. I do think that Denmark and the UK still use their own currency, but do accept Euros.

When this sort of thing was voted on, I was teaching in Denmark (Arhuis) and the computer operators I was teaching said they liked the trade ideas of the EU, but they would never vote to have Germany in charge of the currency. And so they kept their own currency, and joined the EU.

[pscot]

3. The market would ultimately set the exchange rate

whatever the official peg might be.

[Nye Bevan]

4. Isn't that like when California was printing IOUs? (nt)

[enlightenment]

5. Interesting idea - and it operates

in nine countries in the Eurozone, so there is potential there. As for who controls the printing and exchange-rate; I should think that would be the Greek government. They usually handle that kind of thing.

I'm curious about the source for your comment about a fake, failed referendum. Looked for some news that Tspiras had withdrawn the idea, but all I'm seeing is that the Parliament has given the okay for it and it is still scheduled for next Sunday. Could you link to that information, please?

[KingCharlemagne]

6. The entire Western world owes Greece a major debt of gratitude that it can

never repay. Without Greek partisans bogging down his divisions in Greece for six weeks to support the hapless Il Duce, Hitler would have been able to launch Operation Barbarossa earlier and possibly defeat the USSR before turning his sights on the UK and even the US.

I hope Greece fully exits the Euro and forces Germany and France to eat the bitter medicine of the loss of Greek consumer demand for their output. Greece will survive and certainly can do no worse than is already doing under EU austerity.

[Betty Karlson]

7. Thinking outside the box

It would probably work. The English city of Bristol has had the same system, and it actually uplifted the local economy!