ON IHACA DOLLARS Talia, If you can come to our place at 24 Fairview SQ some afternoon after 2pm, that would be fine. Be forwarned my favorite writer of all time was Ayn Rand... If you don't know who she is, or her history, please inform yourself before you come here. In particular the three books Anthem, The Fountain Head, and Atlas Shrugged. Just get a fast synopsis. I am not a stupid Democrat nor a stupid Republican, I am all for competition in all things, including money and currency, but 'buy local' is a criminal's swan song. I am for a global economy by definition of being an internet service provider hosting hundreds of web pages offering products made locally to an entire world, and access to other web pages all over the world offering products to local users. Lightlink IS a global store and because of us money flows into Ithaca from the world, and money flows out from Ithaca to the world. I live in and survive because of a GLOBAL economy, I wouldn't be here if I tried to live in a local economy only. Many small business people in Ithaca make almost their entire living by selling globally on the internet. That brings dollars back into Ithaca. But they also buy globally because their income doesn't justify buying local milk at $6/gallon when they can get it for $3/gallon. It would be cheaper to live on caviar. If there is an imbalance of trade, and thus an imbalance of money flow between locals and the rest of the world, then we have a problem, but the solutions to that are NOT making an ethic of buying local. Only the locals who can't compete against the global market, are for that. It's called protectionism. The poor always scream that food and internet should be free, that ownership is theft, and the lowest caste of workers cry for minimum wage hikes, having no clue that fixed wages is 1/2 of a communism, and price controls is the other half. The cries of the poor give power to the Democrat candidates, who in no case give a serious damn about the people who scream or vote for them, but only about their own positions of power and wealth. The Republicans are no different, they just want to go about it by starving the poor out of existence, darwinian selection with a vengence. Real change comes from a shake down from the top down. For example, Only tax funds should be used to pay for political campaigns, the richest are not the most fit to rule. Lobbying of congress vermin with large payments must end, or else candidates make promises to the poor that they are PAID to make by the lobbyists in order to get elected, when in fact they intend to NOT keep those promises because, although they may be good for the poor, they are not for the lobbyist! Remember lobbying is the game of getting concessons from senators by paying them to run and telling them what to promise the people in order to get elected. "Say anything, particularly to the poor, but keep your promises to us." The promise made by the senator to the people in order to get elected will more often than not be diametrically opposed to the promise made by the senator to the lobbyist for the funding the run. The Lobbyist gets what he wants for the big corporations, the Senator gets wealth and power, and the people who elected him get zip, nada, rien, squat. This may sound cynical, but it comes from basic Corruption, Temptation, and Seduction 101, a course available at any university, particularly those institutions "where any person can find instruction in any study". Modern markets MUST provide an air of stability, or else no one will RISK THEIR LIFE and invest, this means money MUST move towards a one world currency, with all local currencies pegged to the world currency. That way countries can no longer declare war on their trading partners, whether physical or financial, overt or covert, and imbalances of trade between countries can be handled properly with judicious financial assistance. Discretionary monentary policy (easy/loose money, interest rates) can no longer be used by the US to mess the Chinese over, and the Chinese can no longer do the same in return. With a fully pegged one world currency if anyone tries to mess another over, they mess themselves over instantly. The US dollar is looked over by only the US Fed, and the Fed looks out only for US interests. A world currency is looked over by members of every country and the interests of Earth are kept in balance. Labor motility is another critical factor in stability, if there is more investment captial in one country but more laborers or skilled workers in another, they have to be allowed to move to where the financial action is, even if it is across borders, without loosing their own local identity, which includes the freedom to use their own language and send money back home cheaply. Trying to keep the cheaper or more skilled workers OUT of your country in order to protect the standard of living of your own workers, even if you don't have enough to do the job, or they are not as qualified, IS INSANE, not to mentioned bigoted and racist. Schools have to change completely, we presently turn out little soliders and factory workers, not business owners. Bush said the little business is the bedrock of America, well I am CEO of Lightlink, we used to have 700,000 in gross a year and 4 employees plus me and Jane. No one was paid more than 24,000 a year including myself and Jane. Now since 9/11 we have one employee and everyone is down to 18,000 a year, no benefits, no medical, no IRA's, no savings, no safety net. Mine and Jane's paychecks go directly back into the business, to keep it afloat, then we take out what we need for mere survival. And for every $1 the business pays me in salary, the business has to pay almost another $1 in taxes. And rents go up every year by 4 to 6 percent for home and office space, and roof tops and towers to hold radio equipment. The landlords are trying to keep up with inflation, but when was the last time your paycheck when up yearly to cover inflation CAUSED BY THE LANDLORDS? What's my safety net? Is it eating at Loaves and Fishes, after a life time of trying to provide mission critical communication services to people who were way beyond the business model of Time Warner and other providers because there was no money in covering that last mile? And so we end up serving people who were and are doing WAY better than us, but who happend to choose an out of the way place to live where there was no other service. Man do I hate house calls, it reminds me of what a house is, and a family, and a future... And yet we still give $100/month to Loaves and Fishes, while even THEY are sinking. So much for the small business owner, he risks EVERYTHING for the business, his life, his famiily, his children, if he even can afford to have any, and yet his fate is to live out of a car at the end of his life. Can you imagine seeing no way out of that fate for your whole career as a productive human? Being the CEO of a small business is a suicide mission, that you take your family on and even your future generations. Few return and for many its a genetic dead end, no family, no children, no nothing. Nothing to leave and no one to leave it to. The day I realized I *COULD* live out of a car brought huge waves of relief to me, I was able to shake off some of the chronic depression about my and Jane's future. But no, Jane wouldn't be in the car with me :) And all the US does is covertly foment war, and sell arms to both sides, selling every human being on Earth short. And the economy stalls, recesses, depresses, no one is willing to invest, everyone hoards their income, what little of it there is, in savings which after inflation provides a NEGATIVE interest rate, which means savings is a slow leak, fearing for their old age, buying nothing but mere essentials, which puts the discretionary spending 1/2 of the economy out of business right there. How many people out there earning less than 24,000 a year actually have a PLAN for their old age? Live in Kendall? Bridges? $3000 a month? Who has that kind of money? Those that worked in academentia all their lives, teaching what they could not do? Some professor with a few million in TIA-CREF can commit himself to Kendall and the system will take care of him until he dies, even if he can't remember if he put is shoes on or not, can't find his bedroom from the dining room, and no longer has any idea what TIA-CREF or money is. What about the rest of us? Do we end up wandering the streets looking for a good place to pee? WHAT IS THE OLD AGE SAFETY NET? And in that hurricane of total financial insanity, you want people to buy local, with more fiat money controlled by what coven of crooks, who are looking to better THEIR OWN future by selling potential ponzi schemes to the unware and disenfranchised. Fait money you can't pay your taxes with, nor your electricity, water, or food bills, nor your medical bills, nor land taxes, nor whole coteries of insurances necessary to survive, not to mention cars, gas and public transportation. What do people NEED to buy and sell JUST TO SURVIVE? What penetration does any new money have into that market? IF YOU WANT MONEY TO BE USED IT MUST BE NECESSARY TO PEOPLE, AND IT MUST BE USABLE FOR WHAT IS NECESSARY TO PEOPLE TO BUY AND SELL TO SURVIVE. What is local money good for? Non necessary discretionary purchases that have nothing to do with a bed rock living? Maybe food at the more expensive granolaries, local farms, etc. If the money can only buy what is non necessary and discretionary, then that money will be non necessary and discretionary and will be used, or not used, accordingly. If Ithaca Dollars are to grab and take hold they must be completely liquid in the necessary and non discretonary markets. And who issues the money? (Do they own a farm? How do they benefit?) When is it issued? How is it issued? How much is issued? You know, I like gold, but backing money with gold is not necessary to a good money, but being backed by SOME hard asset can be psychologically a good idea. Just the ability to take your fiat Ithaca Dollar into the bank and exchange it for something you can pay the tax man with is quite a comfort. Ithaca Hours were based in pure communism, every man's hour is worth every other man's hour, a total insult and slap in the face to every creative person on the planet. The first time I saw an Ithaca Hour long ago, it made me FURIOUS, I couldn't believe that Ithaca had finally turned red on us. Every business owner saw this too, but no one said anything out of compassion for the commie retards who pushed it. Ithaca Hours where useful only for cat litter, cat's loved them, they really missed a market there, except for the hemp Ithaca Hours which were only good for smoking. By the way we no longer have Ithaca Hours, we gave hundreds of them all away, except for the hemp hours. You probably would have to pay a huge premium for the hemp hours, because they have value for another reason beyond being the offical currency of communism in Ithaca. They have become in some small way anhistorical statement about the war against pot. If you wish to affect the economy, legalize pot. Maybe the issuers might think about backing Ithaca Dollars with Gold, that would probably make it work all by itself, make it wildly successful, just because of the way humans are. But where is the Gold going to come from? Where are ithaca dollars going to come from? And what is its exchange rate going to be with the dollar, and who will determine that and with what credentials? Hopefully not a politician running for public office for 'the public good,' or a banker who gets a percentage of the print run. There is not enough Raid in the world to get rid of them. Homer ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Homer Wilson Smith Clean Air, Clear Water, Art Matrix - Lightlink (607) 277-0959 A Green Earth, and Peace, Internet, Ithaca NY homer@lightlink.com Is that too much to ask? http://www.lightlink.com Sat Apr 18 14:42:28 EDT 2015