"if all the members ,ie investors & business used play money or electronic money, in the eyes of the law it has no value, and therfore will not need to be regulated by government rules."

If it's play money who will take it seriously? Everyone (including the tax man) will know that there is REAL money behind this if things are getting done. Business that use the funding will have to pay their suppliers with REAL money (then your play money idea breaks down). Any attempt to circumvent paying taxes is not taken lightly by the government (I have a little bit of experience with this).

Thats so true,and one of the bigest reasons comon sense trading on a local level is aposed by the government .
systems have been set up in the past that were very sucsessfull ,but were closed down.
http://www.youtube.c.../watch?v=Aflp7jC1Yuw
the earth needs a new system.
the whole system of things globaly is not set up to benifit the people ,only the 5% that own the big corporations and the politicians.
Back in the early days of canada there were no taxes, the people used a barter system and paid for most of there needs in trade.
fasinating concept listening to these real old timers in there 90s.
maybey i should refine this idea .
an i owe you exchange.
you do not need to pay tax on borowed money.
therfore i need a website to keep track of the i owe yous made in my local comunity.

i work volantarly for a building contractor for a couple of weeks.
in return he works for me for a couple of weeks.
that works fine.

then theres my tenant who was short on the rent,instead of taking cash i can send him to finish up the last few days i owe the building contractor,and send him into the woods to cut firewood.

the end result is i get to do the easy stuff and my tennant does the hard donky work and have made a good profit in time & firewood .
he is happy as it give him a job too and a way of paying me without being evicted. everyone is happy, the system works,and there is no tax to pay.
people who have no money take this very seriously.
business on this small scale will not need to fund there supplyers with real money as they will be members .
only the end product will be needed to be paid in real money from the outside world.
therfore sucking in real dollars into the town, prospering and keeping as much of it as posible there.

Thank you for your feed back, it helps me think things through when i can see others opinions .
now i clearly see why they call alternative currencys time dollars.
there is no time tax
so i could call it a time exchange.

http://www.municipal.../elderinterviews.htm

The "old timers" that you were talking to lived in much different times. Most had limited means and resources, but the community pulled together because everybody was in the same boat. There were few cars on the road, and possibly limited electricity, everything else was done with horse, oxen or people power.

In your scenario, REAL dollars would still have to change hands at some point. Imagine your contractor needing gas for his truck, he would have to barter something with the local gas station. The gas station owner still has to pay his suppliers (and they WON'T barter!!)

Also, someone has to keep track of all of these "time" dollars. Who will be the "banker"? You can't have everyone keeping track of their own credits and debits, how will disputes of time owed be resolved?

I still don't think you can build a wall around a community and have it survive for any length of time. I'm sure you'll find that when you talk to the old timers in your town, you'll find that, just like all the younger people in town, they have phones, TVs, refrigerators and bank accounts.

Your community would have to have some other compelling reason in order for people to conform to your ideas. (I'm thinking that some of the "Christian" communities that were mentioned by someone else work this way -- then again there is also the notion of a cult -- please Google Jim Jones)

i can see te problems you mention,and yes you are right when you say real dollars will have to be exchanged sometime.
this is the challange.
what compelling reason would it take for avarage peson to want to conform.?
a srtange idea this, but maby a dual system that fits perfectly with the current one,
members of the local economy and that and can trade only the products and services they have with each other using small change.nickels and dimes.pennys and cents, just to keep score and keep it legal.

other products and sevices would like you say have to be bought and sold at the real price ,that include phones taxes gas ect.

Talking of gas did anyone see on the new yesterday the gas price war wre to competeing gas stations dropped the rice to 50c per litre.

look how many people showed up at that town to get it !
the rest of the town benifited from that as all those new people were in there town spending money on other things.

i think the town would be in a position to barter with the gas station.

lets say it takes $50 to fill up with gas,and the owner is selling it half price for $25.
he is $25 short on every customer that pulls in.

if 25 businesses likely to benifit from more trafic in the town all say to the gas station we will give you $1 for every customer you serve gas to today he canot lose.

the pup, conveniance store ,resurant coffee shop, wiget maker ect get there business on the map as the town fills up.
not everyone would go to each establishment.
If the coffee shop across the street or the pub next door was geting an extra 50% in sales paying $1 to the gas station for every customer driving through would be worth it.

those new people coming through the town would be spending real dollars while the town would be trying to keep that money curculating within the members of it.
a wall is not the answer, nor cult or religious movement but an awareness by everyday people that the curent system is not working and heading for colapse.
new systems need to be put in place before this happens.
new local trading systems ,local food production systems amd local management systems .

I'm not a specialist but I see some legal problems here,
Tommy

You can not beat the man. Why not set it up on 2nd life. Lots of business are there already.

Noble idea, although I can't see it working beyond small communities such as yours.

they are called BANKS in most places

Duck! It's the SEC! They heard everyone agreed to back the 'play money' privately.

"stock exchange" CH idea kiss of death.

Hi,

You appear to be proposing a municipal cooperative venture.

If you can get the agreement of the local municipality, this project can be
structured legally.

You will need (a) 5 years forward projections (b) a business plan (c) to write a prospectus (d) File with the SEC ( I am assuming that you are in the USA.)

Once approved by the SEC, if your projections and business plan stack up to scrutiny. If you are operating under the umbrella of the municipality, you can issue both long term debt and equity in order to fund your business.

I apologize that this is a very short explanation. However if you are serious and can deliver realistic projections a municipality and a business plan, I can help you.

We have done many similar projects in the past ( before I retired) through our Swiss Bank in Quebec Province.

Good Luck

The biggest reason to avoid dollars changing hands (it sounds like) is to avoid taxation. But the gov would want to collect taxes on these exchanges whether its real money, or credit of some sort.

(Either YouTube is down, or those videos you've embedded have been taken down.)

Video seemed fine for me.... maybe it was just a little technology hiccup :)

Yes works now! "Small-Mart Revolution" is interesting enough. Between local currencies and a local stock exchange... its stuff to think about but I'm wondering if there's a summary on these concepts readers could be directed to. An index of economic tools which can be used to boost local economies? It seems like a local stock exchange is just one aspect that shouldn't be approached without the rest of the tools in mind.

If Ron Paul were elected president this would be a perfect supplement for the withdrawal of the IRS. Too bad he won't, and neither will this. Unfortunately, the Federal Government (thanks to wars we permit and fund) very much like their control of the flow of monies (take a look at the case of "Ed & Elane Brown" from New Hampshire; they are one of many).

Bottom line: Do not try to apply ways to circumvent the existing tax or currency system. If you were to take your idea and apply it to existing rules
and regulations imposed by our governments, this idea is not only viable, but has potential to be the next big internet mogul. CharonV knows what he is talking about and is the way I would go about implementing this as well.

thank you all for your comments.
i have taken the best on board and revised my idea above acordingly to work with the system rather than against it.

I love your idea, I'm trying to fund something similar, but not local, but worlwide.