Christina Sarich, Contributor
Waking Times

The bitcoin bittersweet disappointment that allowed hackers to devalue the latest Internet currency to nearly half its value in a day, after supporting the fallen Cyprus economy for months, raises the question… Is it a lottery?

As the economic activity of ordinary people continues to get sucked into the black hole of the falling reserve controlled dollar, people have become quite creative in their efforts to present practical alternatives to central banking hegemony.

Alternate Currencies Abound!

You could only use Macon Money in Georgia at a participating business for a short time, and only 65,000 ‘bonds’ were awarded, but could this be a working example of replacing the funny money of the federal reserve with a barter-like system that promotes small business, big change and an evolution in the mindset of people from different countries and continents?

You were required to purchase Macon Money at one of 49 different community events where the special bonds were made available, and the currency was made into a game, like real live monopoly mixed with a scavenger hunt, which aimed at building person-to-person connections through the community businesses which supported the game. You could only buy Macon Money for a certain time and it had to be spent within that time allotment, but the game proved that an alternative currency, if presented properly, can be a way to invigorate the economy at the community level. Was this the attempt of its founders, John L. and James S. Knight to start a US currency revolution?

Global Fun Money

This is not the only substitute for cold, hard cash, but a promising one like many others in a world that can no longer support the fractional banking system any longer. There are dozens of alternatives to cash popping up all over the planet. Here are just a few:

Chiemgauer:
Created as part of an economics-class project for high-school sophomores in Rosenheim-Traunstein, Germany in 2003 in 2010, €5.1 million changed hands. The conversion rate is: 1 Chiemgauer = €1

BerkShares:
This currency was creatd in Western Massachusetts and its Bills feature five local celebrities, including W.E.B. Du Bois and Robyn Van En, the creator of the CSA. The conversion rate is 1 BerkShare = $.95 at current trading rates.

Horas (Hours):
Started in 1998, The Banco del Tiempo of Barcelona is the oldest of the nation’s time-bank systems, which have exploded to nearly 300 since the different financial crisis around the world. Users log in hours for services they have rendered and draw out hours to pay others for services performed. The exchange rate is even: one hour of service is equal to one hour of ‘currency.’

Ithaca Hours:
Developed in 1991, the Ithaca founded in New York, was the first community currency in the United States to use an hour system, derived from the average wage for an hour of work in the Ithaca region, in the depths of a bad recession. The current conversion rate equals 1 hour to $10 US.

Never before has the need for alternative currencies been more prescient than now, and as the world watches the banking scandal further consume the work and savings of normal people, perhaps it is time for you to jump ship and try out something different.

About the Author

Christina Sarich is a musician, yogi, humanitarian and freelance writer who channels many hours of studying Lao Tzu, Paramahansa Yogananda, Rob Brezny,  Miles Davis, and Tom Robbins into interesting tidbits to help you Wake up Your Sleepy Little Head, and See the Big Picture. Her blog is Yoga for the New World.

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