The Feasta <http://www.feasta.org/>-backed Liquidity Network is a project to develop an electronic currency complementary to the Euro which allows local people and businesses to continue to function economically during a time of savage recession and deflation. Banks are simply not lending and the state has curtailed it's support for local enterprises. Consequently alternative community controlled forms of money will have to step in. Initially we see LQN being used in Ireland but there is nothing to stop it being used world-wide.
People are seeing their incomes drop and become uncertain at the same time as being heavily personally indebted. They have skills and goods to sell, and potential clients would like to be able to buy these, but have little effective disposable income. The Liquidity Network (LQN) aims to step in and provide an electronic currency for local use with algorithms built in that encourage economic activity and discourage indebtedness. Put simply, the LQN local currencies reward trading and discourage hoarding by injecting electronic currency into the accounts of active traders, while controlling the overall currency supply to preserve it's value. There is a long history of complementary currencies being used in many places during economic crises and we have learned from their successes and failures. The Californian state IOU is effectively one of the latest of these. What distinguishes the system proposed by Feasta is that it is: a) A solution for the internet age being almost wholly electronic b) Specifically designed to encourage economic activity and evolve or fade away when conventional euro activity is restored c) Built around an open-source model and spirit to enable people to re-use and adapt the tools and the concepts d) Benefiting from research into the strengths and weaknesses of previous complementary and local currencies e) Strongly discouraging debt f) Aiming to be widely used outside of 'alternative' social networks - i.e. by 'normal' people, whatever they are. We have done a lot of outreach and discussion with potential community partners in Ireland and have some firm support for the idea from local authorities and chambers of commerce. We have some of the best expertise on the use of complementary currencies. The Liquidity Network is not a panacea, but one of a continuum of potentially interlocking tools that help build local resilience and community development. The good news from a technical point of view is that we chose Python for the technical implementation of the currency - because it's fun, fast, flexible and has a good tradition of community support. We are at an early stage of developing the basic framework and are using SimPy<http://simpy.sourceforge.net/>to develop simulations. We need to simulate the algorithms we propose to confirm that in a complex economic network they do what we hope they will. Next and partly simultaneously we will use a Python web framework to develop further demonstrations and a system that any local group can use / adapt and that will scale from point-of-sale devices to the network servers. We will build on the best work that has already been done in this field. We're looking for Python developers willing to contribute their time to a socially useful project with an friendly and non-hierarchical team, using good tools. Please email me if you want to learn more. Those who wish to learn more about the history of money and complementary currencies can read Richard Douthwaite's survey in The Ecology of Money<http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ecology-Money-Richard-Douthwaite/dp/1870098811> . Stephen Butler Feasta Liquidity Network --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Python Ireland" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.ie/group/pythonireland?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
