14 August 2009
Alternative money system: WIR as complementary currency
Posted by Cecilia under: Economy .
WIR is an independent complementary currency system in Switzerland founded in 1934 by Swiss businessmen as a result of currency shortages after the stock market crash of 1929. It works as a Swiss local currency for business to business transactions based on mutual credit. WIR money only exists as a bookkeeping system, there are no interest charges on it.
The name WIR is an abbreviation of Wirtschaftsring (Economic Circle) and at the same time the word for “we” in German. Both meanings remind us that the WIR circle is a community because the WIR money serves only small and medium sized businesses.
About 600,000 Swiss businesses still accept WIR as money. It was retained to keep the buying power of the members inside the community. This also points out the problem with this alternative money system: Getting payed in WIR money means that people can only spend this money in the strict circle of the member businesses.
A society of esteem wouldn’t create its own system inside the social system. For a society of esteem it’s important that all working power and all kinds of talents are focused for the good of all.
3 Comments so far...
Today in Sikantis – August 15, 2009 « Sikantis Says:
15 August 2009 at 1:32 am.
[...] Society of Esteem – Alternative money system: WIR as complementary currency [...]
KingofthePaupers Says:
15 August 2009 at 5:50 am.
Jct: When the local currency is pegged to the Time Standard of Money (how many dollars per unskilled hour child labor) Hours earned locally can be intertraded with other timebanks globally! In 1999, I paid for 39/40 nights in Europe with an IOU for a night back in Canada worth 5 Hours.
U.N. Millennium Declaration UNILETS Resolution C6 to governments is for a time-based currency to restructure the global financial architecture.
See http://youtube.com/kingofthepaupers on growth of the international time-trading network.
Captain Investing Says:
12 March 2010 at 6:49 am.
How come the pictures aren’t loading on your site?
