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Greg Poppin
Products / Services offered:
Home repairs
Any type of home repair you need.
"A nation whose currency is controlled by its legislators is like a town built in the vicinity of a volcano. Its inhabitants never know at what period they may be enveloped in ruin."
Arthur Kitson
TradeWinds newsletter #10! You can download it from the TradeWinds tab to the right.
Articles:
Of Immediate Service
Money, the fruit of the barter tree
Why a cup of coffee?
View the video of an interview between Jackie Mason and TradeMarket at www.nevadacountytv.org. Click link 'Online video guide' and then 'Most recent programs' or 'Voices of Democracy' and look for Jackie with a pink blouse.
TradeMarket traveled to Sebastapol to attend a wonderful evening gathering with people from Sonoma county's local currency initiative and lecture from the country's top expert, Thomas Greco, in the field. We received strong encouragement to bring back to you.
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| Q: What assurance is there that TradeMarket is honest and trading with Trades is safe? |
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Submitted by:
Margaret Campbell
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A: The answer to this question is two-pointed:
One: The fundamental health of a monetary system depends on its issue policy. If the currency is issued by traders in direct proportion to the products and services they offer the marketplace then you have the highest possible health and stability. TradeMarket adheres to this issue policy.
Two: A community currency is voluntary. You do not have to participate if something doesn't seem right to you. There's no force on you to use it and no investment other than the issuer's fee ($35) to cover administration costs and even that is not necessary to participate. Use Trades only if you find it advantageous to do so.
This policy makes the monetary system self-policing. If the system is healthy and useful then participation will be active and you will hear talk of it. If the system is unhealthy participation will fall off. |
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Scott Cahill, director
Central Banking, an Unholy Alliance
Nov 21th 2009
"Imagine being able to borrow and spend as much money as you want and never having to pay it back. Imagine being able to write an IOU for each purchase you make and have someone else redeem it, or being able to write checks against someone else's bank account. Imagine having the legal priviledge to create virtually all the nation's money by making a few bookkeeping entries and lending it out at interest. Shocking as it may seem, this is the nature of the monetary and financial regime that has spread around the world...."
Quote from "The end of Money and the Future of Civilization"
by Thomas H. Greco
Private Monetary Systems
Oct. 13th 2009
I suspect that the simple yet fundamental categorization of monetary systems into two divisions, 'private' and 'public', is one of the unique contributions to the monetary science that have originated right here at TradeMarket in the Grass Valley and Nevada City communities. I also suspect these communities will one day awaken to the possibility here presented. Because we've 'grown' to be such complicated beings, the simplest concepts are often least understood. That money is nothing more than a medium to account for the transfer of human productive energy is a concept that passes us by and thus we suffer being chained to the public monetary system that is absolutely outside of our control. How does this manifest? Use of the public system syphons off a palpable percentage of our daily productive energy and, what's most bizarre this energy is then wasted and distorts the economy.
The Sum of Good Government
Feb. 1st 2009
A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government Thomas Jefferson
Why has no local currency system succeeded?
Dec. 3rd 2008
To date no local currency system I’m aware of is truly an alternative to the dollar. Why? Because each system has linked the value of their unit of currency directly to the dollar. This makes them extensions of the dollar, not alternatives.
Private currencies will only succeed when disassociated from Federal Reserve Notes. This is accomplished by understanding that money is merely and accounting system, nothing more, and by then assigning some simple unit of value as the metric—the value ‘one’. This unit could be the value of a head of lettuce or a cup of coffee of a pound of rice, the initial metric is as unimportant as the length of the inch. Once the length of the inch was decided on the deed was done and never needed to be considered again—just used.
Obama = McCain
Oct. 25th 2008
Regardless of difference in personality or history, presidential candidates are practically equal in terms of value to the office. It’s their parties that control decisions and yet even the equation Democrat = Republican is essentially true in regard to substantial change in government from term to term.
Effective voting can come only through money contributed to political parties that rely solely on contributions for financing. How could this be set up? Only by removing the money power from government hands where it never in all of history has been effectively handled. Study the business sections of current newspapers and then tell me: What statement is more obvious then this?
Government, by its very nature, cannot and should never be allowed to institute and certainly not administer public monetary systems.
Private monetary systems are the only way to true democracy. Yelling out our yea’s and neigh’s once every four years is illusory control.
700 billion in newly printed pseudo-money as the charade continues
Oct. 9th 2008
Remember what no newspaper article has ever reminded us; government-Federal Reserve issued money does not and can never represent value. Value only ever comes from products & services that you and I produce. Individuals and groups of individuals formed into companies are the only source of value.
This 700 billion does not represent any value and, thus, is not truly money at all but only paper that can not be distinguished from money because our currency all looks exactly the same regardless of its source. Because, naively, we all use the same currency—dollars, this pseudo-money will be accepted and real value surrendered for it when it is first spent. But as, assuredly as there is the idea of inverse proportion, every dollar of this paper will inflate our currency raising the price of all goods and services over time. From this we can recognize that federally issued pseudo-currency is the source of inflation, certainly not the cure! Only natural, organic private currency systems can restore health to world economies.
Peeking through the cracks
July 23rd 2008
Down goes Indy Mac while Freddie Mac and Fanny May are splitting at the seams and the current administration rushes around trying to keep the mirage afloat.
The history of public monetary systems can not be anything but a tale of chaotic compensatory maneuvering, like the wizard of oz behind the curtain.
Letting government control our economy by allowing it to control the monetary system
is similar to letting the water department control what, where and how much liquid
we consume daily. Just try to think for a few minutes what organization a water department would require to attempt this and you will better understand government, political parties, the banking system and the Federal Reserve.
The answer is private monetary systems--community currencies. Mark these words!
Francis Cahill
TradeWinds is our very popular newsletter.
All issues can be downloaded from the TradeWinds tab.
Of Immediate Service
Having Trade Community Currency in you pocket is an immediate benefit. As of this writing, you can purchase 43 products and services from 23 different vendors and the list is growing. The money these vendors receive must then re-circulate right here in our community for Trades can not leave. This is a profoundly enriching and self-sustaining style of economy that is available to the entire community right now.
Before spending your Trades their value will not be easily assessed, but as you benefit from your purchases your estimation of the Trade's value will rise quite naturally—you will have confirmed their usefulness. At the same time, the amount of Trades in your possession will diminish which, following the natural law of money, will provide you increased incentive to bid for more by offering your own products and services on the marketplace. We are human; we need incentive to act. This incentive of placing your products and services on the market is bound to stimulate you to improve and refine you skills which translates into further positive community service. Community currency provides incentive for inter-community trade. We get to know and value each other and serve each other better. We become each other’s customers. This is very wise economics regardless of whether national economics are healthy or not.
Looking at this phenomena of local trade over time, we see a new stream in the flow of consumption and production enter our lives—a stream that wasn’t there before and would not be possible without employing a community currency. Trade community currency increases its participant’s wealth right now, not theoretically but in actuality.
The perception that community currency is a difficult concept to be avoided unless the dollar collapses is a mis-perception. If we start right now we increase our wealth right now. The Trade immediately supplements our dollar supply. If the dollar remains healthy, we are all the more winners. If the dollar continues to inflate, we are in an excellent position to alleviate the suffering economic shock causes by simply increasing our participation in the ‘home’ market—home economics at its best.
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Trade currency comes in four denominations: 1/2, 1, 5 and 20.
A special bond paper is used that has embedded fibers
to give it the duribility required for circulation.
What is TradeMarket
- A new local market inviting those to join who have a product or a service to sell and an interest in purchasing products & services from fellow community members.
- A community wealth generator encouraging the pursuit of occupations that produce exchangeable wealth.
- A circular trading system where each purchase encourages an increase in the quantity and variety of local products & services and that increase, in turn, provokes further local sales as the seller re-supplies.
- A pure and powerful form of private enterprise.
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"We deserve to own what we labor to create."
John Locke
What's been trading....
- I am very grateful for my Trade currency! With it, I was able to hire,Gene Mesek, who did a wonderful job creating ten foot high wooden bookshelves for my home. Gene was pleasant to work with, and is a gifted carpenter. I am thrilled that my books are so beautifully housed now and organized. Penelope Sullivan
- I visited Nolita Matuska for a myofascial release massage and left feeling like an athlete. She was able to release deeply hidden tension in a very gentle and nurturing way. I felt amazingly warm and loose after the session and since then I’ve experienced profound physical and psychological relaxation. Highly recommended! 50 Trades
- I just went over for one of Jenny d’Heurle’s incredible trigger-point deep tissue Swedish massages. Afterward, I felt completely one with nature, as if there were no limits between my body and the beautiful nature that surrounds us. She’s a master!: 25 Trades
- I had a very pleasent experience taking my dog, Juniper, to Pine Creek Veterinary Clinic to see Ron Rozner. We were both treated very well, Juniper with a check-up and a shot(very gently administered) and me with an stimulating conversation about how useful the idea of community currency is for our community - Ron says "it's a no-brainer".
- Cost for a checkup and a 4-in-one shot for a dog: 24 Trades
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