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La doppia moneta dell’Uruguay

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Un articolo molto interessante su cosa sta accadendo in Uruguay.

Uruguay’s Two Currencies
by Niklas Blanchard, CheapSeatEcon March 11, 2010

Back in June of 2009, Uruguay embarked on a nationwide experiment with complementary currencies — a plan that evolved from a number of local trials of the alternative currency system in that country. The name of the currency is officially the ‘liquidity network”, but is known locally as the “charrua“.

It is painfully difficult to find any information about the system, but from what I can tell the new system resembles the Swiss WIR system. The WIR bank is an electronic exchange of debits and credits between businesses in Switzerland. There are currently over 70,000 small businesses that participate in the WIR Bank exchange, and it has proven to be quite countercyclical. The system allows small- and mid-sized businesses to lend to each other, with debts being backed by the production value and assets of the lender. Until recently, these loans were interest free. The effect of having a dual currency system is the outward macroeconomic stability of Switzerland’s economy. Indeed, the Swiss unemployment rate is only 4.5% (2010 est), which compared to the rest of the Eurozone is somewhat of a miracle.

The key difference between the WIR and the charrua is that the charrua will be accepted for all debts, public and private. This means that taxes will be payable in both pesos and charrua (and I believe in US dollars, as well).

All over the world similar systems already exist. In this case, the different element is that the administrator will be the State. It works as a network of payments through electronic debits and credits. To join the system the companies must request approval of the State Bank. From there on, the company will be assigned an account in the system. This company will be able to order the payment from its account to be credited in favour of a state organism or a private member of the network. Accounts will be balanced periodically and participants advised of their trading position.

This amount will be redeemable into national currency or used to pay for petrol or taxes. Bonomi said that this idea was presented to the National Association of Micro and Small business and to the Uruguayan Confederation of Cooperative Entities and other cooperatives, arousing great interest among them.

As far as I know, this is the very first complementary currency system with state backing on the level of duties to the state being denominated in the alternative currency, which is very exciting (if you’re a fan of complementary currencies). Also, this new financing mechanism will not add to Uruguay’s public debt:

The development of the network doesn’t create any costs for the country, since it was originated in cooperation with the STRO Foundation from Holland, which supplies the network model, known as C3 (Consume and commerce circuit). The name for the virtual money circulating through this payment scheme is called “internal liquidity”, although the technicians working on its development adopted a more native denomination: “charrua” (name of the Indians, that inhibited Uruguay before the colonisation, and who were completely exterminated, therefore it is ironic that the Uruguayans are called like that even nowadays, and more that this name it’s used as a icon of local identity)*.
However, in Uruguay STRO chose a new approach, which might also work out well for other C3s. Small businesses cannot obtain the same payment guarantees that large businesses receive. C3 Uruguay is going to work with a guarantee fund that will assure small businesses of payment on delivery in internal C3 money. In such case these small businesses do not have to wait for months until they receive payment and are therefore able to maintain their stock level. In the capital Montevideo, where over a half of the Uruguayan population lives, the same method of payment on delivery in internal C3 units to small businesses will be followed.

Also, the currency liabilities will be 100% guaranteed by the assets of the debtor. The level of debt will, of course be monitored and as stated above, be relayed to each member of the currency system periodically. Since transactions denominated in charrua will be literally zero-sum, the currency will work much like Say’s law. When businesses goes into debt, each business will be able to either produce more, save more, or consume less to balance its position — avoiding the fallacy of composition.

Operations would be 100% guaranteed and the system will allow access to low cost credit -around 10 to 12% to small business that aren’t currently covered by the traditional banking system. This will also improve competitiveness of this economic unit and its formalization will be stimulated, reducing administrative and transactions costs at the same time. This network won’t create inflation dilemmas, since the financing will be channelled towards production, which will broaden the supply of goods and services.

It will be interesting to see how this currency system evolves.

[H/T Tao of Money, Complementary Currency Magazine]

– — – –

To tie this in with the US a bit, I’m often very disappointed that the idea of complementary currencies are almost universally not taken seriously by my fellow right-wing, free marketers. They seem to view it as some sort of ultra-leftist conspiracy. On some level this is warranted. The ultra-left (but not State socialists) take to the idea of complementary currencies very quickly; and when they talk about the idea, it’s never about the economics. It’s alway in the context of some pseudo-philosophy that ties in with a larger lifestyle choice (which is really annoying for me, personally) . The right seems to like the idea of currency “competition” (although that’s a stupid concept), but doesn’t ever think that in a free market, currencies that do not have positive interest/are not defined by scarcity could (would?) arise. There seems to be a dichotomy between the limitless imagination that the right-wingers say “the market” has, and what they can imagine…and anything they can’t personally imagine, of course…well, you get the idea.

P.S. I’m going to try and find out some more information about this from some friends, I’ll keep you all posted!

Una fattoria per il futuro

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Il video “Una fattoria per il futuro” di Rebecca Hostings. La nota naturalista inglese affronta il tema della dipendenza dagli idrocarburi fossili delle filiere agro-industriali contemporanee in un documentario di grande impatto girato per la BBC, in cui narra in forma autobiografica il percorso della stessa autrice alla ricerca di un nuovo modello produttivo della sua fattoria alla luce dell’imminenza del picco del petrolio. Fantastiche riprese di fattorie sostenibili indipendenti dall’agrochimica e dai combustibili fossili, con esempi di permacultura, agricoltura verticale, orti-giardini giardini-foresta. Interviste a Colin Campbell, Richard Heinberg, Patrick Whitefield, Chris Dixon, Martin Crawford ed ai figli di Arthur Hollins. Il video è stato tradotto in italiano da IndipendenzaEnergetica. (Il video è sottitolato in italiano)
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Open Source Ecology, an interview

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Open Source Ecology

Building Functional, Sustainable Agriculture in Wisconsin

An Interview with Brittany Gill by Rebeccah Kessel (Sustainable Eating Magazine)

“I love watching things grow. I put a seed in the ground and then there’s this plant and then there’s this tomato on this plant. It makes me think of life and beauty and purpose and growth,” states Brittany Gill, co-partner of the emerging organization Open Source Ecology.

And watching things grow she has done, as she and her partner, Marcin Jakubowski, have planted the seeds to create accessible and sustainable ways of living. With hard work, and some help, the roots of their organization are starting to take hold and their powerful vision is coming closer to sprouting into a reality.

Brittany allowed me to talk to her about Open Source Ecology, its connection into the bigger picture, and what she envisions for its future.

RK: What is purpose of Open Source Ecology?

BG: The goal of OSE is to make ecological lifestyles replicable, profitable, accessible and regenerative.
Currently people either have to feel guilted enough into ecological living to make the sacrifices, or they have to have the finances to be able to afford a healthier lifestyle. This makes sustainable living elitist. By coming up with technologies and systems that fit an affordable, ecological lifestyle and openly sharing the knowledge gained, access to ecological living will become a possibility for everyone.

RK: What is open source?

BG: The idea behind having an open source farm is similar to Linux,
an open source computer system. Linux was developed by people who
worked for Microsoft but were stifled by Microsoft’s proprietary
practices and were unable to implement any of their creative ideas.
Instead of feeling limited by the Microsoft’s system, they decided to
develop another, one in which the information and programs were free.
Having such an accessible system created a wide variety of individuals
working on the project. This makes Linux a computer system that is
constantly improving with no limitations on who can access or develop
new programs and information. Hence the concept, open source.

Open Source Ecology is taking this concept and moving it into the
field of agriculture. By starting OSE, information on how to have
functional, sustainable agriculture is being gathered. Lots of people
would like to grow their own food, or live in an ecologically
sustainable system, but have no idea on how to attain land at a fair
price, how to get their produce to people, or how to grow foods that
will sustain them year round.

OSE is open source in the sense of it documenting working
information and allowing for hands-on experience in the building of its
farm. OSE is also open source in the sense that the food grown on the
farm is being used to raise funds to create a sustainable training
center in which people can come and work on open source projects, such
as designing farm machinery.

Currently, there exist two kinds of farm
machinery: huge, for large-scale farming, and small, for personal
gardening. Large machinery is expensive; farmers often have to go into
debt in order to obtain it, and need to pay others in order to fix it.
It is not ecological or sustainable. Much of the smaller farm machinery
is great, but not large enough for medium-sized farms that want to feed
people on a large scale, like the Madison area. As students come and
work on open source projects, collaborative development of new
technologies occurs helping create new, sustainable, economic models.

RK: How did Open Source Ecology begin?

BG: Marcin believes strongly in the philosophy of open source and
decided this fall to start an organization to foster the growth of this
system. I saw that my interest in health, agriculture and ecological
lifestyles fit into this emerging vision. In need of finances and
experience to help this project grow, we decided to produce salsa. We
all have to make money to survive, so why not make it in an
ecologically and sustainable way? So, we decided to grow produce to
make salsa, and sell the salsa to sustain ourselves financially.

We went to a party, and met a man who was doing a CSA (community
shared agricultural) on a retired organic farmer’s land who was just
interested in having his land be used in exchange for some produce. We
called up Farmer Jim and now he is letting us use a section of his land
for the season. Farmer Jim has some tools that we have been using and
we talk to people to borrow more tools or acquire more land.

Our other plot (in Dunn, Wis.) we acquired just by
approaching the owner and asking if he knew of any land we could use.
He offered his. The resources are out there. It’s a matter of finding
people who have the same philosophies as you and asking for what you
need.

RK: What is Open Source Ecology currently growing?

BG: Right now, tomatoes, squash and popcorn are our
production crops, but we are also growing Jerusalem artichokes, garlic,
onions, carrots and pumpkins. We are talking about harvesting the
pumpkin seeds and possibly pressing them into oil. Currently, CSAs
focus mostly on foods that can be utilized through the summer season.
We are growing white northern beans, soybeans, amaranth, buckwheat and
millet to experiment with growing locally produced food for a
year-round diet.

RK: How is Open Source Ecology bringing the local community into the project?

BG: Right now, we need help with the tomatoes. People tell me they
have too many tomatoes with six plants — I have two thousand! It’s easy
to grow a lot of food. It’s easy to grow high quality foods even
though, as a culture, we have such poor food sources. If anyone wants
to help, they can have all of the tomatoes they can eat and can.

We have approached community groups and churches
asking them to get involved. One idea is to have a farmer’s market
right at the church. Also, we want these groups to come and work, take
what they grow and sell it as fundraisers. Remember in school when we
would sell those awful pizzas or those candy bars as fundraisers? Why
not use something healthy and local instead? It not only helps us and
the community group financially, it also helps get our food out to the
public.

RK: How can people become involved with Open Source Ecology?

We are looking for a diesel truck. We are looking
for a certified kitchen where we can process foods and for someone who
has some legal knowledge about marketing locally-made and processed
food items. And we can always use help on the farm! Working on the farm
is a great way to learn about agricultural and organic farming, get
exercise outdoors, and acquire free produce. We have open work days on
both Sundays and Thursdays and anyone is welcome to help.

——————

To contact Brittany Gill for more information about Open Source Ecology, e-mail her at brittany@sourceopen.org, or call her at 608-301-0190.

You can e-mail Marcin Jakubowski at marcin@sourceopen.org , or call him at 608-358-9062.

Open Source Ecology, About our wiki

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These days we are struggling with finding a way to communicate the message of  the work at openfarmtech.org. Brittany and Vinay Gupta (hexayurt.com) have been slashing through the thicket of expression choices to narrow down the message so it could be understood by others. The goal is to attract interest in a few, dedicated co-developers. I am convinced that such co-developers exist, yet, for some reason, they are not appearing as I would expect they should.

The website at openfarmtech.org started as a finite but comprehensive Global Village Construction Set. This concept started earlies at the Worknets.org wiki, under http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?OpenSourceEcology. It was there that some of the technology on the Compressed Earth Block Press and the Sawmill were posted. The focus is technologies that are necessary for the infrastructure of a Global Village community, akin to Franz Nahrada’s concept at globalvillages.info.


We are talking about real life communities, and what it would take to
implement them in practice. The infrastructure is the first step:
food, energy, housing, mobility, internet, and technology. There are
basics that are needed, and the internal knowhow is necessary to
provide these needs in a self-sufficient fashion, if we are talking
about making a better world.

One would think that such a program would be supported by a good
number of people, but the reality is that it is difficult to have
people actually develop the necessary infrastructure.

What is needed is affordable and practical solar energy systems.
Affordable and low maintenance year-round growing structures. Vehicles
produced by decentralized industry – in these same Global Villages.
Fuels, such as alcohol or compressed biogas that are produced onsite.

All this requires technology, but the truth is, all these items can be
produced in a land-based global village, not be large corporations or
huge factories in big cities. This is the premise, and it can be
proven that all this technology is capable of being decentralized,
such that unprecedented prosperity for all is the result.

On top of this, make these items 10 times less expensive, and you have
to work 10 times less – or have 10 times the amount of freedom. That
is a simple concept.

But how is one to organize a core team of dedicated developers for
this effort? I mean the types of people who have organizational skills
and engineering skills to pull this off. Are these people so rare?
Yes, but there are some. The rewards, however, are great – the
potential of creating replicable, mainstreamable, transformative
communities. They can be in existing cities or in the countryside,
anywhere – but small enterprise and right livelihood have to be the
economic foundation.

The development of the Global Village Construction Set is almost
synonymous with developing a right livelihood base for participants.
If people are tired of a crap job, they can check out- and here would
be a process for checking into another life. Real work, real products.

It just takes defining a few products, and making sure they are
essential. It takes optimization of the business models around these
products to generate millions of jobs for potential adopters. If the
product is a solar turbine system, such as proposed at
http://openfarmtech.org/index.php?title=Solar_Turbine_CHP_System, then
there are millions of potential jobs created worldwide.

Given the above considerations, it would seem that people would flock
to develop such products collaboratively. But, it seems that society
is presently is such a sad state that very few have the skills,
energy, vision, or leisure to take on such a task. We are slaves by
circumstance.

The work required to take place in order to develop and deploy the
products at openfarmtech.org is rigorous. It means going through a
careful research process to distill the product line and to deploy it
effectively. That’s a research project worth many PhDs, so it requires
a team. But, if I do not find that team, then I will continue as I am
now, nibbling bit by bit at the problem until it is solved. After all,
the potential is replicative and transformative.

A replicable global village model

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Imagine a village with buildings of dirt (CEB) with year-round greenhouses (sawmill, CEB, bioplastics from local trees), with all
facility energy produced by a solar turbine, where people drive hybrid cars with car bodies (bioplastics) made from local weeds, with critical motors and metal structures (aluminum) extracted from on-site clay, which are fueled by alcohol produced on-site, on a wireless
network linked to the greater world. That’s just a sampling of the technology base. Food, energy, housing sufficiency. There are no poor among us – because we are all evolving human beings and farmer scientists.