THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

For the rest of the community
Even the people who do not participate at all in any pan of the
system derive a significant benefit from this approach. If the
Commonweal programme did not exist, a number of functions in
their community would either not happen at all or would have to be
subsidised by their taxes.
What the Commonweal system offers is to mobilise otherwise
unused resources in the community to solve problems that need
solving. It does this using- the market system every step of the way
without taxes.
As of 1998, the Commonweal system is in its pilot phase in the
Lyndale neighbourhood of Minneapolis. Besides the non-profit
sector, the Mall of the Americas and other mainstream businesses are
involved, including National City Bank which provides the
accounting system and statements in C$Ds.
Internet Money for Virtual Communities
One of the most intriguing and encouraging aspects of Internet
developments has been the mushrooming of virtual communities
compellingly documented in Howard Rheingold’s Virtual
Communities: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier.
Community has become such a scarce resource in our societies that
the appearance of a new way to create it is indeed remarkable.
Virtual communities versus a monopoly of national currencies on the
Net
The process by which this miracle has occurred is often not fully
understood. Even some of the people who created virtual