The 4th BALLE (Business Alliance for Local Living Economies) took place at Burlington, Vermont, United States from June 08 to 10, 2006 with a special event on local currencies on the first day of this event.

BALLE is a network of networks of small businesses in Unites States and Canada, promoting local-based economies in different ways. Members vary from IT consultants to community-based restaurants, chambers of commerce to cooperatives and from bookstores to researchers, but what they share is the vision that the local economies should be stimulated as an alternative to current one which is dominated by huge corporations such as Walmart and oil majors. BALLE has a strong interest in local currency systems as well because it firmly believes that the local means of exchange is an essential tool to create sound local economies, i.e. to attain economic autonomy.

The special session started with Bernard Lietaer, author of “The Future of Money”(Century, London, 2001) as well as “Of Human Wealth”(to be published soon), who alarmed the high risk of US$ crisis in coming years by referring to renowned economists. He told that we need different currency systems for different levels although today we are used to have a single national currency for all purposes, suggesting both regional social-purpose currency and Terra global currency but stressing the first one for the audience. Lietaer also raised a question on people’s assumption that the current monetary system is something unchangeable, saying that money “is an agreement to use something as a means of exchange” and therefore “not value-neutral,” i.e. that the very structure of the monetary system affects people’s behaviour and values.

Susan Witt, of E.F. Schumacher Society organizer of the international conference « Local currencies in the 21st century » in June 2004 at Bard College, New York, gave a short presentation on her Berkshare project in Southern Berkshire in the west of Massachusetts. This currency is interesting because it is issued as a loan to farming, restaurants and other sorts of locally-based projects. The local Chamber of Commerce has been supporting this project and now she is asking the local government to accept the payment of local tax in this local currency.
Paul Glover, founder of Ithaca Hours, New York, Amy Kirschner of Burlington Bread at Burlington, Vermont and Gerald Wheatly of Calgary Dollars in Calgary, Alberta, Canada also told about their own local currencies as their means to strengthen their respective local economy.

Tom Greco (web: reinventingmoney.org, blog: beyondmoney), author of the books “Money and debt” and “Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender“, said that money is “keystone of political power” because both money and the banking system are “manipulated by and for limited private interests”. He criticized that both interest and inflation are “parasitic elements,” the current system is “pro-cyclical” and proposed the use of complementary currencies and/or other sorts of mutual clearing systems, emphasizing the importance of including grass-root organizations, NGOs, business associations, public sector and pro-profit businesses for such systems.

Another milestone to be underscored in this conference is that existing commercial barter systems were also present: Krista Vardabash of IRTA (International Reciprocal Trade Association), gave an overview on barter transactions among businesses as a way to save tax and other expenditures which would be necessary on trading in official currency. Annette Riggs of Current Innovations showed the online clearing system they have developed, underlining the approach to both green commerce and local development people as well as the self-sustainability of local currency systems.

What was the most interesting for me at this conference is that synergy among different sectors was found in quite a few occasions. Time Dollar was trying to establish contacts with the business world, some local currency activists were trying to allow the local government to accept local currencies for local taxes, and hundreds of those participants of BALLE who have never used local currencies showed a huge interest in the use of local currencies. The next BALLE conference will be held next year in San Francisco and it is expected that this subject should be discussed again.

- BALLE website: http://www.livingeconomies.org/

The next major conference to be held in 2006 is the Conference on "Monetary Regionalization" in Weimar, Germany on 28-29 September 2006, with a focus on Local Currency Systems as catalysts for endogenous regional development. Book early! You will receive an early bird discount until July 31st 2006!

For more information, visit: http://www.monetary-regionalisation.com. A
detailed description can be found at: http://conference.co.funpic.de

If you are interested in participating also in the 4th Local Currency Summit in Weimar, which will take place right after the conference (30.9.-1.10.06, English Workshop Options), you can save up to 50 Euros compared to the seperate registration by booking the "Two-in-One" Package here: http://buw.konferenz-management.de/
(Limited availability!)

Miguel Yasuyuki Hirota
mig@olccjp.net