新經濟：替代貨幣

昨天在「思‧英語討論會」我們討論了替代貨幣的系統

-The Cheimgauer [a local currency used in Germany] is used 18 times, and a euro is used 6 times, so the Cheimgauer economy is more active than the euro economy.

-Hm? I'm not sure that's true.
-I'm so curious, that they trust that the Cheimgauer has the same value as the euro.
-What would devalue it?
-I mean, in the current system, we trust that this paper is worth 100 dollars, that's because the govt or the central bank says that it is worth 100.
-Yeah, but in real life, do you really think about that?
-We actually just take it at face value.
-It represents an investment in the locality, and a trust in the community.
-For instance, if there's a stranger, and this person printed a lot of notes and encouraged us to use those notes as currency, would people use them?
-No.
-You don't know him, there's no trust there.
-For instance, because we trust President company, so we accept those coupons as worth 100NT.
-Wow, so we're getting to the heart of the issue.
-We trust the government, becaue we use their currency.
-But we have no choice but to use it!
-No, that's not true. In Vietnam, people use Dollars as well as Dong, and sometimes buying things in dollars is cheaper. If Taiwan people really didn't trust the NT, there would be a dollar economy as well. Like in France. They're angry with the Euro, and lots of places are starting to use the old French Francs again. We don't have 'no choice'.
-And in the Czech Republic, you can't use the Euro, people don't trust it, you have to buy Crowns. And if you do use a euro, it costs more.

-The question I'm trying to answer is that, why the devaluation of currency results in different situations, when people spend their money. The devaluation of Cheimgauer encourages people to consume, but when it comes to inflation, people tend not to spend.
-Yes, that's my original question.
-So the point you are not catching is what?
-Let me think. Okay. Why doesn't inflation have the same effect as built-in rust [the 2% devaluation at the end of a quarter]?
-Wait, it's about the contract! It's about the being built in! It's about the agreement! When I accepted the Cheimgauer, I agreed it would devalue, I signed up for that at the beginning. But our normal currencies, nobody says when they will change, or how much, and they change it without even asking people, we didn't agree for it to change around like that! So it breaks our trust!
-Yes! The face value agreed to pay us 100, but the inflation breaks the contract.
-But the devalutation is part of the contract with the Chiemgauer.

-If they [encourage the circulation of currency rather than the storing of it], they won't be able to control the public. The power will be distributed among the people.
-What do you mean?
-The currency will be distributed among the public, instead of staying in the bank.
-And making money for the bank.
-So the bank won't be able to earn money, and so the currency won't concentate in the bank anymore.
-And the government can't control the amout of currency that's circulating.
-If you imagine currency as a kind of power, and it's distributed among the people instead of at the bank--
-That's democracy! That's currency democracy!!!