From: "Alan (Miburi-san) Wexelblat" <wex@media.mit.edu>
Date: Mon, 17 Jan 94 07:06:08 PST
To: frissell@panix.com
Subject: Crypto and taxes
In-Reply-To: <199401162247.AA00203@panix.com>
Message-ID: <9401171504.AA08321@media.mit.edu>
MIME-Version: 1.0
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Today (1/17) the Boston Globe had an article about the barter economy,
featuring the concept of "Labor dollars" which are popular in a number of
localities.  The concept is that each "dollar" is worth 1 hr of someone's
labor, with all dollars/hours being theoretically equal (if you want to rate
your labor as worth more that's between you and whoever wants to pay you in
labor dollars).

They point out that this form of currency is popular in lower-income areas,
and especially with lower-income workers who do not have large cashflows,
but who do have tradeable skills (e.g. you do my tax forms, I'll fix that
leak in your bathroom).

Of course, this kind of thing has gone on for years between pairs of people
who had immediate needs; what is interesting is the investiture of labor
debt into visible tokens which can be traded, stored, etc.  This is, of
course, one of the reasons why currency arose in the first place...

--Alan Wexelblat, Reality Hacker, Author, and Cyberspace Bard
Media Lab - Advanced Human Interface Group	wex@media.mit.edu
Voice: 617-258-9168 Page: 617-945-1842		an53607@anon.penet.fi
All the world's a stage and most of us are desperately unrehearsed.