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| Joined: | Mon Nov 21st, 2005 |
| Location: | California USA |
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In the early 1930s the small town of Worgl in the Austrian Tyrol, suffering like every other town in Europe and America from the Great Depression, took the unlikely step of issuing its own currency.
If Wall Street crumbles and they want company in their misery.
Don't.
Learn to get along without their self-imposed misery.
They can learn to earn a living just like everyone else.
Learn from the past.
Repeat the fortunate lessons of history and imrove upon them.
Like this:
http://www.perfecteconomy.com/index.html
A short while before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin was sent to England to demand the monarchy relax taxes. The colonists had become prominent traders, skillful ship builders, and equally skillful evaders of the many excessive duties levied upon their shipping trade. In the spirit which inspired representative government, they rose to demand justice from the king.
Franklin was a renown author, publisher, amateur scientist, philosopher and statesman, and there was tremendous anticipation of his arrival. In England, the little news returned from the colonies was conveyed largely by disreputable sailors in equally disreputable places. Little was believed of these tales. Despite Franklin's reputation, it was broadly assumed he would prove a crude, uncultured woodsmen, hardly fit to represent his peers against the established power of the English monarchy. History however would prove his peers light years ahead of their time, and even the many generations who followed them.
Upon his arrival he was whisked to a prominent engagement, where, before the ruling class of England, Franklin, the guest of honor and object of great skepticism, was soon compelled to make a speech. Amid considerable ado, Franklin walked to the podium. He turned to survey his audience, and after adjusting the spectacles he had invented, he asks them, "What's your pleasure?" They beseeched he tell about the colonies.
Franklin was a student of the state of English affairs, and thinking how much despair the English "economy" suffered under the Bank of England, he composed his answer. He knew that even prominent lawyers spent a good part of the year behind on their rent. They often went hungry. Few non-aristocrats owned land. Many suffered from poor diet. Common citizens spent their lives hoping to pay imposing debt — ever hopeful of meaningful employment, and in constant, dire need.
Thinking to comfort them with the hope of the colonies, finally Franklin replied slowly and deliberately, that they might digest each phrase: "Well. You can leave your ship with just your baggage, walk beyond the furthest homestead, and become an immediate landowner."
Franklin was immediately interrupted by an outcry of disbelief. Once it began, practically the entire audience shouted the improbability of such a thing.
Knowing he spoke the perfect truth, Franklin calmly waited to resume his answer: "The forests are vast. You can cut down all the trees you can imagine, and build whatever kind of home you please. The soil is rich and fertile. You can clear all the land you want. You can plant practically any crop you desire, and it will grow with great vitality. There are unspoiled streams everywhere. The water is pure and good, and may be diverted to irrigate your fields. The wilderness is full of game, and there is no possible shortage of meat. The people are happy and busy, and prosperous."
End of speech.
Outright disclaim erupted. Angrily, a man shouted, "How can you possibly account for prosperity in the colonies?" A whole audience of doubters loudly saluted the question.
When they finally quieted, Franklin again answered steadily, "It's quite simple. We have created our own currency."