Truly Revolutionary: Greek City Starts “Rebel” Barter Economy and Alternative Currency
“You have much more than your bank account says. You have your mind and your hands.”
You won’t likely see it headlining The Drudge Report, making its rounds in talk radio, or featured for discussion on cable news panels, but the October 1stNew York Times story covering the emergence of a barter, trade, and alternative currency economy in Greece is one of the most important stories of our day.
The Silver Circle Movie is a story about a band of rebels who vow to take back their freedom amid the economic and political ruins of a catastrophic monetary collapse, but our fictional movie’s predictions for America’s not-so-distant future are the real world economic realities in Greece right now, and the New York Times piece tells the story of real-life rebels taking their future, their prosperity, and their economic freedom back into their own hands, bucking the Eurozone’s fiat monetary system in favor of providing real value in exchange for real value:
“The first time he bought eggs, milk and jam at an outdoor market using not euros but an informal barter currency, Theodoros Mavridis, an unemployed electrician, was thrilled.
‘I felt liberated, I felt free for the first time,” Mr. Mavridis said in a recent interview at a cafe in this port city in central Greece. “I instinctively reached into my pocket, but there was no need to.’
Mr. Mavridis is a co-founder of a growing network here in Volos that uses a so-called Local Alternative Unit, or TEM in Greek, to exchange goods and services — language classes, baby-sitting, computer support, home-cooked meals — and to receive discounts at some local businesses.”
In Greece today, the real rebels aren’t the thousands of protesters angry at the government’s austerity measures, but these few honest, rugged souls who are flourishing on the merits of their own hard work, innovation, and cooperation with others in their local community. These emerging barter and alternative currency networks are happening at the intersection of the most stalwart conservative values and the most ardent hippie ideals:
“Part alternative currency, part barter system, part open-air market, the Volos network has grown exponentially in the past year, from 50 to 400 members. It is one of several such groups cropping up around the country, as Greeks squeezed by large wage cuts, tax increases and growing fears about whether they will continue to use the euro have looked for creative ways to cope with a radically changing economic landscape.”
The new Greek barter economy combines and exemplifies the influences of decentralization, free markets, a strong work ethic, and rugged individualism, as well as the ideals of localism, sustainable living, cooperation, and community organization –all shot through with a healthy dose of the Silicon Valley start-up mentality: innovative, problem-solving, entrepreneurial, and full of bright optimism instead of the fear and resignation that characterizes so many markets and communities today.
People like Theodoros Mavridis are realizing a great new opportunity for sound money advocates and opening up a new front in the war against centralized fiat currencies. One of the fiat system’s most visible opponents is U.S. Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX), who has mobilized an impressive coalition of activists working to publicly audit and eventually abolish the central bank in America– but what if that were as unnecessary as abolishing the U.S. Postal Service?
What if the alternative currencies and barter economies created by people like Theodoros Mavridis simply grew to replace centrally-issued paper currencies as the predominant monetary products the same way email, companies like FedEx, and even text messaging have come to replace centralized, government-sponsored services for exchanging parcels and information? Not as the result of some great ideological revolution, followed by a major political reform, but simply because the alternative works better and people like it more?
As for the feasibility of such a future, sound money advocates the world over can take hope in the fact that the Greek government is not only not hostile to these locally emerging systems of money and exchange, they’re even trying to help:
“Even the government is taking notice. Last week, [the Greek] Parliament passed a law sponsored by the Labor Ministry to encourage the creation of ‘alternative forms of entrepreneurship and local development,’ including networks based on an exchange of goods and services. The law for the first time fills in a regulatory gray area, giving such groups nonprofit status.”
Here at the Silver Circle Movie project, our hats are off to these true revolutionaries, who don’t see their actions as revolutionary. Here in the cradle of Western civilization, suffering from the growing pains of Western civilization’s adolescence, these Greek citizens are just doing what human beings have done for thousands of years: using their minds and their hands to make their lives better.
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Buffett Tax
The Buffett Tax is a joke. It isn't going to solve any problems. Here is how the numbers would play out.
(Zerohedge): In order to keep the ongoing class warfare waged by the administration in perspective, today the CBO was kind enough to score the revenue impact of the proposed and much debated Buffett Tax, now appearing in non-populist literature as “Surtax on Millionaires.” According to the Budget Office, said tax which is the source of substantial consternation among the population, would generate, over the next decade, a grand total of... drum roll... $453 billion. Why the drum roll? Because as we pointed out a few days ago, the US closed the 2011 fiscal year having added $1.23 trillion in debt (a number which would have been $1.4 trillion absent some year end settlement gimmickry). In other words, last year the US government had on average a $100+ billion deficit each month. In yet more other words, the great populist gimmick that is the Buffett Tax will have the great benefit of generating, between 2011 and 2021 enough money to plug a debt hole, at the rate America currently spends money, of 4 months.
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I always love a good Wal-Mart story.
Bleach Fight Shuts Baltimore Walmart
A Saturday morning of shopping turned into an emergency hazmat situation at a Baltimore Walmart where two patrons threw bleach and disinfectant at one another, officials said.Baltimore County Police responded to a call at about 10:48 a.m. Saturday and found two women fighting inside the store.
The bleach and disinfectant created toxic fumes, forcing the immediate evacuation of the entire Arbutus store, officials told ABC News affiliate ABC 2. It closed for several hours.
Fire, EMS and hazardous materials units were dispatched to the scene, as well as 10 medics.
Three Walmart employees were being treated for respiratory problems, a Walmart spokeswoman told ABC News.
Police have arrested Theresa Monique Jefferson, 33, after she turned herself in to authorities, according to the Associated Press.
She has reportedly been charged with first-degree assault, second-degree assault, theft under $100 and malicious destruction of property. She is being held on $350,000 bail.
The brawl was a result of an ongoing dispute between Jefferson and the victim because the victim's boyfriend is the father of Jefferson's child, according to the AP.
Police spokesman Shawn Vinson told the Washington Post that Jefferson initiated the attack when she followed the victim into the store.
For Walmart's part, "this is obviously not the type of behavior we would expect from people at our stores. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused to our customers," the spokeswoman said.
Walmart closed the store for several hours to clean and ventilate it.
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Real median annual household income fell significantly more during the economic recovery from June 2009 to June 2011 than during the recession from December 2007 to June 2009.
During the recession, income fell by 3.2 percent from $55,309 to $53,518. During the recovery, income fell by an additional 6.7 percent to $49,909. Altogether that's a brutal 9.8 decline over four years.
The economy is recovering; it's just leaving behind a lot of Americans.
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