4 Comments

To me, this is far superior to any virtual system, but it is too bad the printing costs so much.

I’ve been in this space for over 30 years. In the 90s, we got a large article about Ithaca hours. I think Jeremy underrated what they were (are?). When I meet someone who says they have lived in Ithaca, I ask if they have seen Ithaca hours. We were so intrigued with them that we wanted to go to Ithaca just to see some. It was/is not a time-barter system like a group I knew of when I lived in southern Michigan in the 90s. Ithaca hours were called “hours” because they were valued at an hour of regular labor (a high $10 back then), but they were actual bills, not just a time bank. They gave an example of lawyers being paid more for their time.

I could also add that I earn money by gardening and yard work (and housecleaning), so it was interesting to hear that my hard work is less valued than other people’s work. That has been the story of my life, and I know it from what I pay others when I hire people, but to hear it spoken was … well… interesting. People don’t value the basic necessities of life - farming, real food growing, manual labor - while they are willing to pay far more for food of lesser quality served at a restaurant or for people sitting in an office somewhere poking buttons. Ah, well, some day it will change.

As far as the topic of financial options, I agree that goldbacks are superior. I’ve never participated in the bitcoin scheme. Seems like making “money” out of thin air to me. I’ve said for years that if I switch from dollars, it will have to be to something MORE real, not LESS real.

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So, the Feds prints trillions, and lend such fake money to our government with interest. The printing costs them nothing, so why our stupid government agreed to pay interest much less repay such loans?

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Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzznzzzh

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Makes the most sense of money alternatives I have seen yet, like cash, is it not dependent on the electric grid, like bitcoin and cbdc's (yuk) are. I still wonder how the gold would be potentially 'freed' from the goldback, if that would be ever necessary under normal circumstances.

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