rCedits is an advanced complement to our US dollar system. It has undergone a 1.5 year testing phase in Greenfield and is ready to expand.
Meetings in Montpelier have already begun along with those in 5 other states.
We are offering 2 meetings on January 22. Both will take place at the meeting room at the Brattleboro Coop, and will cover the same material. The first is 2 pm – 3:30, the second is 6 pm to 7:30.
The meetings will cover:
1) What has rCredits done for Greenfield and what can it do for Brattleboro?
2) The agreement that initiates it.
3) Q&A
Email for more info: John Root <johngrootjr@gmail.com>
rCredits is an offspring of Common Good Bank activities.
rCredits Seminar Agenda
Some of the topics we intend to cover:
• Nuts & Bolts:
Your rCard and the rCredits Agreement
• Where Does the Money Come From:
History and theory of money and how it applies to rCredits
• Economic Democracy and Its Implications:
The proposed plan for decision-making within and among rCredits communities
• There will be time for questions and answers
New Finance - "Real Democracy. Real Money. Real Power."
I first heard of this from Tom, and then Emily.
On today’s American political landscape, this “new finance” does not get the attention it deserves. It is forward looking and I hope a lot of people are taking notice, especially young to middle aged folks, and all are encouraged to change their banking ways.
As their slogan says, it’s “Real Democracy. Real Money. Real Power.”
Brattlebucks 2.0
This seems to be an adaptation of the tried (elsewhere) and true town-bucks programs, with a few innovations.
The basic idea seems to be that another layer of exchange is created, which amounts to boosting everyone’s available pool of money to be spent. Instead of being paid solely in US cash, people could be paid in part by these credits, too.
This allows participants to use a combination of cash and “credits” (Brattbucks?) to pay for staff, goods, and services
The bigger the credits pool, the more value for participants. (The more stuff I can get with credits means the more I can set aside dollars for the things that require them, and the more I can use credits to circulate them.)
This would work best if, say, all downtown businesses joined in together. They could begin to pay staff partially in credits, and also accept credits at their stores. It would be a form of currency that would mostly stay in circulation in town, though the credits site seems to be aiming to make this a nationally-accepted system.
It doesn’t really matter what people are paid with, as long as that payment can then be used to get what they need. I’d be happy to be paid in pebbles, if pebbles were suddenly accepted for trade. Here we have something more refined than pebbles – rcredits – that offers everyone who participates a way to have extra cash and still get things done.
I worry that if this isn’t being presented to business leaders by a fellow, trusted business leader, business leaders might not understand the value. I worry that they will judge the program by who tells them about it, and if it isn’t a banker or powerful CEO type, it might be ignored. I’d hope that one or two of our bigger businesses and folks concerned about regional hub economy would get behind this and show some major support.
It could work, and potentially boost everyone’s bottom line.
Thanks Chris
Thanks for the explanation of what this is about.
Some details often help get people more interested
It’s what I gathered from their website… there may be other useful information to learn. And I may be missing something. : )
A selling point for businesses might be something along the lines of… would you like to have more cash available to spend, while still meeting all of your obligations? Add a layer of credits…
If businesses do it, people will see that they can use the credits, circulation will increase, and more trade will occur in town, boosting business.
Update
R credits meeting reminder!
Please note that the first 2 pm meeting is at the Bratt coop Meeting room 7 Canal Street, and the 2nd ( 6 pm) is at the Marlboro Grad Center on the first floor in the Ledges meeting room. This represents a change of location for the second meeting.
Here again is the meeting description.
R credits is an advanced compliment to our US dollar system. It has undergone a 1.5 years testing phase in Greenfield and is ready to expand.
We are offering 2 meetings on January 22 to allow for working person’s schedules. The 2 o’clock meeting will take place at the meeting room at the Brattleboro Coop, the 6 pm meeting will take place in the Ledges Room on the first floor of the Marlboro Grad Center. Both introduce the same material concepts. Each meeting is 2 hours long, with the last half an hour reserved for Q and A.
1) What has rCredits done for Greenfield and what can it do for Brattleboro?
2) The agreement that initiates it.
3) Q&A
The more communities that employ rCredits, the more robust and strong our economy for a new paradigm can make itself.