“All government, indeed every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue, and every prudent act, is founded on compromise and barter.” ~Edmund Burke

What do you think of this idea of comunities printing their own money? I find the idea interesting, if you live like an ant – working and playing all within a tiny, little microcosm.

Back in my Grandparent’s day, their whole world existed within a several mile area. They did business locally, almost exclusively. There was the local hardware store, the “Five and Dime”, the local pharmacy with soda fountain right down the block. They bought their groceries only at the Corner Store and phoned in their twice weekly grocery list first thing in the morning. By mid-day, a store clerk “came round”, as my Grandmother used to say, with the groceries. The foodstuffs were toted in cardboard boxes and meat was wrapped in brown paper packaging, tied up with string. Once or twice a week,  my Grandmother’s egg lady “came round.” She’d bring fresh eggs from the farm. Before sunrise, the milkman left out on the front stoop, in all seasons, glass bottles of milk, with heavy cream on top. They paid the local vendors at an unspecified time, when the bills had accrued to a sizeable amount, and always in cash.

My Grandfather would save “S &H Greenstamps” all year long. I remember him licking the stamps and filling his “Greenstamp Book” with his eye on the prize of collecting enough by Christmas to buy my Grandmother and his daughter-in-law (my mother) a new kitchen gadget! One year, my Grandfather amassed enough value in “S & H Greenstamps” he was able to buy two easy chairs with them. He was proud as a peacock!

Most all sales transactions were between local establishments. Alternative methods of payment, such as “Greenstamps” and barter was frequently used. For instance, my Grandfather sometimes would use his carpentry skills in trade for what he bought at the hardware store or to pay off his barbershop bill.

The concept of communities printing their own money, is a way of encouraging people to shop locally. Locally printed currency would have no value at all in other communities. But the truth is, times have changed, like it or not! People are transient, forward thinking and have a much larger world at their dispose.

Do you like the idea of using local currency? Share your thoughts with us!

This blog brought to you by www.CornerstoneFulfillmentService.com.