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This new currency is part of a marketable barter system, an idea formulated by Francis Cahill, a local software engineer and artist.
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ENLARGE
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Francis Cahill talks about his Community Trade currency at The Union last week.
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A new currency being used by some in the county may help people become less reliant on the American dollar and more connected to a home-grown exchange system.
The currency has been in circulation for several months and is the brainchild of Francis Cahill, a local software engineer and artist who has spent the last seven years brewing up the idea.
During that time, Cahill said, he had what he called a painful but liberating realization that money has no value.
"The idea that gold is what money is based on is fallacious," Cahill said.
On Wednesday night, Cahill spoke before a standing-room-only audience at a town hall meeting presented by the Alliance for a Post-Petroleum Local Economy. The currency hit a raw nerve with those in attendance, who exhausted Cahill's supply of applications and brochures at the meeting.
The currency has been in circulation for several months and is the brainchild of Francis Cahill, a local software engineer and artist who has spent the last seven years brewing up the idea.
During that time, Cahill said, he had what he called a painful but liberating realization that money has no value.
"The idea that gold is what money is based on is fallacious," Cahill said.
On Wednesday night, Cahill spoke before a standing-room-only audience at a town hall meeting presented by the Alliance for a Post-Petroleum Local Economy. The currency hit a raw nerve with those in attendance, who exhausted Cahill's supply of applications and brochures at the meeting.
"This is encouragement for home industry," Cahill said.
The idea is to turn people's innate skills and productive energy into a marketable barter system using paper currency as a way to help people keep their promises.
"It's geometric. Each new member can trade with all the others," said Cahill, who trades his skill of portrait painting. The more new members join to barter their services, the more powerful the trading becomes, Cahill said.
Two hundred communities across the country have similar local currencies, including Ithaca, N.Y., where it's a full-blown monetary system with up to $1 million worth of hours in trade among 900 people and business owners.
But woe to those who think such a system is beneath the radar of the United States government. The Internal Revenue Service has found a way to tax traded goods and services.
With Cahill's system, people pay a $35 fee and fill out an application to join. They are required to list at least one product or service to trade. The names of members, their services and their contact information is compiled in a directory.
The idea is to turn people's innate skills and productive energy into a marketable barter system using paper currency as a way to help people keep their promises.
"It's geometric. Each new member can trade with all the others," said Cahill, who trades his skill of portrait painting. The more new members join to barter their services, the more powerful the trading becomes, Cahill said.
Two hundred communities across the country have similar local currencies, including Ithaca, N.Y., where it's a full-blown monetary system with up to $1 million worth of hours in trade among 900 people and business owners.
But woe to those who think such a system is beneath the radar of the United States government. The Internal Revenue Service has found a way to tax traded goods and services.
With Cahill's system, people pay a $35 fee and fill out an application to join. They are required to list at least one product or service to trade. The names of members, their services and their contact information is compiled in a directory.
So far, 32 people have joined and provide services such as small business consulting, natural health care, carpentry, tutoring, massage and cooking.
Cahill used the cost of a 16 oz. cup of coffee in April 2006 to determine the unit of measurement for one trade. But, he said, once the trades are in use, they become disassociated from the dollar and members will negotiate the value of their products.
The dollar-sized currency in various sunset shades showcases the Del Oro Theater in downtown Grass Valley on one side and Nevada City's Fire House Museum and courthouse on the reverse. It is printed on thick, fiber-embedded bond paper with water marks to defend against counterfeiters. The trade bills come in denominations of 1/2, 1, 5 and 20 trades.
Several local businesses have shown interest and told Cahill they'll join when services they can use become available, he said.
The sign-up fee is used to cover the printing costs and also to help pay the interest on loans Cahill took out to pay for the project. Cahill said the risk he has taken is worth it, even though it could take years to pay off his debts if the project isn't successful.
"If I don't do this now, I'll regret it on my death bed," Cahill said.
Cahill used the cost of a 16 oz. cup of coffee in April 2006 to determine the unit of measurement for one trade. But, he said, once the trades are in use, they become disassociated from the dollar and members will negotiate the value of their products.
The dollar-sized currency in various sunset shades showcases the Del Oro Theater in downtown Grass Valley on one side and Nevada City's Fire House Museum and courthouse on the reverse. It is printed on thick, fiber-embedded bond paper with water marks to defend against counterfeiters. The trade bills come in denominations of 1/2, 1, 5 and 20 trades.
Several local businesses have shown interest and told Cahill they'll join when services they can use become available, he said.
The sign-up fee is used to cover the printing costs and also to help pay the interest on loans Cahill took out to pay for the project. Cahill said the risk he has taken is worth it, even though it could take years to pay off his debts if the project isn't successful.
"If I don't do this now, I'll regret it on my death bed," Cahill said.
<i>To contact Staff Writer Laura Brown, e-mail laurab@theunion.com or call 477-4231.</i>
TradeMarket trades work like dollars - sort of
Here's how Francis Cahill's local currency works: • People submit an application and pay $35 to become a member of the Trade Market. In exchange, they receive 100 trades.
• People use the trades to purchase and bargain products and services with fellow members at the discretion of each member.
• Members are listed in a TradeMarket directory sorted by category; it's a guide of products, services and contact information.
• To become a member, people must list at least one product or service to be traded with other members such as portrait painting, child care or carpentry.
• One trade equates a 16 oz. cup of coffee (sold for $1.75 in February of 2006), but the value of a trade eventually will establish itself as an independent free-market unit of account.
• To learn more about the trades, visit the TradeMarket Web site at: www.ncgvtrademarket.org
- Laura Brown
