Feeds

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1. Hi Dear Peace-Activists,

   please have a quick Look at this new alternative Trade and Money System in 24 Greek cities as a solution for the Euro crisis:

   Jörg Hempel

   Bartering systems grows in Greece

   Facing a dire economic situation in their country, more than two dozen cities and towns in Greece have created their own local currency and bartering systems. ”Ever since the crisis there’s been a boom in such networks all over Greece,” said George Stathakis, a professor of political economy at the University of Crete.
   The residents of Volos, a port city with an unemployment rate over 20 per cent, have created one such local currency and bartering system. Their currency is called a Local Alternative Unit or TEM in Greek. It is used to exchange a wide range of goods and services – such as home-cooked meals, bookkeeping services, computer support, baby-sitting, language classes – and to receive discounts at some local businesses.
   People sign up for a TEMs account online, and get access to a members-only database where goods and services are listed. One unit of TEM is equal in value to one euro. Members start their accounts with zero, and accrue credit by offering goods and services. They can borrow TEMs, but are expected to repay the loan within a specific period of time.
   Members receive books of vouchers of the local currency, which can be used like checks. Some business people in Volos, including a veterinarian, an optician and a seamstress, accept TEMs in exchange for a discount on the price in euros. The group also holds regular open-air markets where TEMs can be used to buy goods including food from local farmers who are also involved in the project.
   One participant in the network, acupuncturist Bernhardt Koppold, said, “It’s an easier, more direct way of exchanging goods and services. It’s also a way of showing practical solidarity – of building relationships.”
   Volos Mayor Panos Skotiniotis encourages municipal governments around the world to consider similar programs to fill in where government and the traditional market are failing to adequately serve the people: “This is a substitution for the welfare state, and that is why this municipality is encouraging it and wants it to grow.”
   For its part, the Greek government supports these efforts. In September 2011, the Parliament passed a law encouraging the creation of ”alternative forms of entrepreneurship and local development,” including networks based on an exchange of goods and services. (Sources: shareable.net, New York Times, National Public Radio, US)

    
   

   Jörg Hempel

   30. Mai 2012 at 12:08Antworten