Time: Tue Jun 17 15:01:52 1997 by primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id OAA23043; Tue, 17 Jun 1997 14:58:42 -0700 (MST) by usr02.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id OAA02024; Tue, 17 Jun 1997 14:58:36 -0700 (MST) Date: Tue, 17 Jun 1997 14:57:05 -0700 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: ITHACA HOURS (fwd) <snip> > > Ithaca HOURS - better than dollars > > Paul Glover > > Adapted from an e-mail to the Institute. > > In Ithaca, New York, we've begun to gain control of the social and > environmental effects of commerce by issuing over $51,000 of our own > local paper money, to over 950 participants, since 1991. > > Thousands of purchases and many new friendships have been made with > this cash, and about $500,000 of local trading has been added to the > Grassroots National Product. > > > > We printed our own money because we watched Federal dollars come to > town, shake a few hands, then leave to buy rainforest lumber and fight > wars. Ithaca HOURS, by contrast, stay in our region to help us hire > each other. While dollars make us increasingly dependent on > multinational corporations and bankers, HOURS reinforce community > trading and expand commerce which is more accountable to our concern > for ecology and social justice. > > Here's how it works: the Ithaca HOUR is Ithaca's $10 bill, because ten > dollars per hour is the average of wages/salaries in Tompkins County. > These HOUR notes, in four denominations, buy plumbing, carpentry, > electrical work, roofing, nursing, chiropractic, child care, car and > bike repair, food, spectacles, firewood, gifts and thousands of other > goods and services. > > Our credit union accepts them for mortgage and loan fees. People pay > rent with HOURS. The best restaurants in town take them, as do movie > theatres, bowling alleys, two large locally-owned grocery stores, and > thirty farmer's market vendors. > > Ithaca's new hourly minimum wage lifts the lowest paid up without > knocking down higher wages. For example, several of Ithaca's organic > farmers are paying the highest farm labour wages in the Western > Hemisphere: $10 of spending power per HOUR. These farmers benefit by > the HOUR's loyalty to local agriculture. On the other hand, dentists, > massage therapists and lawyers charging more than the $10 average per > hour are permitted to collect several HOURS hourly. But we hear > increasingly of professional > > Everyone who agrees to accept HOURS is paid two HOURS ($20) for being > listed in our newsletter Ithaca Money. Every eight months they may > apply to be paid an additional two HOURS, as reward for continuing > participation. This is how we gradually and carefully increase the per > capita supply of our money. > > Ithaca Money's 1,200 listings, rivalling the Yellow Pages, are a > portrait of our community's capability, bringing into the marketplace > time and skills not employed by the conventional market. > > Residents are proud of income gained by doing work they enjoy. We > encounter each other as fellow Ithacans, rather than as winners and > losers scrambling for dollars. The success stories of 250 participants > published so far testify to the acts of generosity and community that > our system prompts. We're making a community while making a living. As > we do so, we relieve the social desperation which has led to > compulsive shopping and wasted resources. > > At the same time Ithaca's locally-owned stores, which keep more wealth > local, make sales and get spending power they otherwise would not > have. And over $4,000 of local currency has been donated to 20 > community organisations so far, by the Barter Potluck, our wide-open > governing body. As we discover new ways to provide for each other, we > replace dependence on imports. > > Yet our greater self-reliance, rather than isolating Ithaca, gives us > more potential to reach outward with ecological export industry. We > can capitalise new businesses with loans of our own cash. HOUR loans > are made without interest charges. We regard Ithaca HOURS as real > money, backed by real people, real time, real skills and tools. > Dollars, by contrast, are funny money, backed no longer by gold or > silver but by less than nothing - $4.5 trillion of national debt. > > The designs on Ithaca's notes honours local features we respect, like > native flowers, powerful waterfalls, crafts, farms and our children. > Dollars honour slave holders (Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton, > Jackson) and the monuments of corporate government. Multi-coloured > HOURS, some printed on locally-made watermarked cattail (marsh reed) > paper, all with serial numbers, are harder to counterfeit than > dollars. > > Local currency is a lot of fun, and it's legal - HOURS are taxable > income when traded for professional goods or services. Local currency > is also lots of work and responsibility. > > To give other communities a boost, we've been providing a Hometown > Money Starter Kit. The kit explains step-by-step start-up, and > maintenance of an HOURS system, and includes forms, laws, articles, > procedures, insights, samples of Ithaca's HOURS, and issues of Ithaca > Money. We've sent the kit to over 300 communities in 45 states so far, > and our example is becoming national. > > To get a kit, send $25.00 (2.5 HOURS option in NY) or $35 from abroad, > to Ithaca Money, Box 6578, Ithaca, NY 14851, USA (tel 607 273 8025; > e-mail: <IthacaHour@aol.com). > > ------------------------------ > > You can rate how well you like this idea. Click 0-10 below and press > the Submit button. > Bad Idea <- 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 - Great Idea > As of 06/11/96, 32 people have rated this page with the overall rating > (0-100%) of: 84% >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > >This just in: BRAND NEW: COVER UP in OKLAHOMA CITY on VHS tape > > To obtain this 1 hour VHS Video with original media > coverage showing multiple undetonated bombs being > recovered INSIDE the building and detailed analysis > of coverup send email to: okc@TeamInfinity.com > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------ > >El Jeffe, El Capiton, Generalissimo Klintonista speaks out > about the US Constitution: > > >"When we got organized as a country and we wrote a fairly radical >Constitution with a radical Bill of Rights, giving a radical amount of >individual freedom to Americans ..." > >"And so a lot of people say there's too much personal freedom. When >personal freedom's being abused, you have to move to limit it. That's what >we did in the announcement I made last weekend on the public housing >projects, about how we're going to have weapon sweeps and more things like >that to try to make people safer in their communities." > >President Bill Clinton, 3-22-94, MTV's "Enough is Enough" > >"We can't be so fixated on our desire > to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans ..." > > Bill Clinton (USA TODAY, 11 March 1993, page 2A) > > > Why cant any of these be considered a violation of the oath of > office to uphold the Constitution and qualify as TREASON !! > > > >"Gun registration is not enough." Attorney General Janet Reno, December 10, >1993 (Associated Press) > >"Waiting periods are only a step. Registration is only a step. The >prohibition of private firearms is the goal." - Janet Reno > >"What good does it do to ban some guns. All guns should be banned." Sen. >Howard Metzanbaum > >"Our task of creating a socialist America can only succeed when those who >would resist us have been totally disarmed." Sara Brady, Chairman, Handgun >Control, to Sen. Howard Metzanbaum, The National Educator, January 1994, >Page 3. > > > >---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ralph@TeamInfinity.com (I can get you SAPF films/tapes/materials, > "Harry's War" the suppressed film, Tragedy & Hope the book, > US/UN/DontTreadonMe FLAGS, bumperstickers YardSigns & T-Shirts, > inquire) > > http://TeamInfinity.com/~ralph/code/t26.html > > http://TeamInfinity.com/urls.html > > > This correspondence in NO WAY represents Save A Patriot Fellowship > (SAPF), but feel free to contact them thru RALPH@TEAMINFINITY.COM > > > CALL 703-904-7770 ask for document 777 >######################################################################### > > >TO RECEIVE email from ralph: send email to ralph@TeamInfinity.com and in >the Subject make sure your email address and the word GO-RALPH (no spaces) >is in the subject. > >TO STOP RECEIVING email from ralph: send email to ralph@TeamInfinity.com >and in the Subject make sure your email address and the word WHOA-RALPH >(no spaces) is in the subject. > > > >=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= >Unsub info - send e-mail to majordomo@majordomo.pobox.com, with >"unsubscribe liberty-and-justice" in the body (not the subject) >Liberty-and-Justice list-owner is Mike Goldman <whig@pobox.com> > > ======================================================================== Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine tel: (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night email: [address in tool bar] : using Eudora Pro 3.0.2 on 586 CPU website: http://www.supremelaw.com : visit the Supreme Law Library now ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice. We shall not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. ======================================================================== [This text formatted on-screen in Courier 11, non-proportional spacing.]
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