I enclose a clear summary of my position on present possibilities of LET§ which I believe ties in well with issues discussed on Social Credit. I think it sums up the state of play for all of us.I will leave it in the form in which it was composed- a post to our Adelaide -e-lets mailing list (South Australia).
> This post is a discussion on Transaction Recording and while it is >reasonably long, I encourage you to please read it all even if you have to >do it in 'bits', and come back to it later. It's important. Its great to hear Kathy's thoughts on the matter of the large surplus of 'points' collected over the last decade by SALET§ (which represented 'all of us'. Think about it! Every one of these 42,000 or so points documented represent a slice of REAL transactions of energy that LET§ members undertook with each other in good faith. The points are symbolic as always but they are also a living, lasting reminder of committment to the LET§ concept by past traders, who probably all wished to see the system continue and grow. LET§ take a look at a few POINT§ which are brought up by Kathy's musings. A most interesting practice I have seen and heard with extraordinary repetition is that in transactions involving committees, the PRODUCT of their energy contribution is generally overlooked. For comparison, LET§ look at a normal market transaction. One person 'gives' a pair of shoes in exchange for 30 points. The other person gives the 30 points- BUT they have GAINED a pair of shoes. §o no one has lost. One type of energy has just been traded for another. (Unlike the Monetary system, no 'interest' or other surreptitious invisable productivity is involved.) From now on I will use the symbol * to denote 'points'. (A note for Communications afficianados: I enjoyed illustrating the win-win nature of trades when I did the tallies for EastLETS, by way of documentation where I listed the goods traded in the SAME PLACE [or 'cell' for 'Excell' fans] as I listed the number of points involved in the trade. I also set out each person's trade history HORIZONTALLY across the page like a time-line, rather than as a conventional $$$ vertical 'stack' which brings about separation of the NUMERICAL values from the ENERGIES AND GOODS traded (this conventional vertical stacking eerily reminds me of the old rhyme: "The King is in his counting house..!) The vertical type programs of course were invented for $$$ trade recording, and I am convinced the more we move away from them, the more we'll naturally comprehend the very different possibilities of LET§ sytems.) Back to theimportant matter of committee generated points- I hope you are still with me. We agree that a pair of shoes is equal to 30* and both parties trading over these shoes have now gained. But what happens when a committee member creates an atefact or service for the group's benefit, which is a requirement of being on the committee? Lets use a newsletter as an example. The committee might say, "thanks for making the newsletter. It took you to hours so we'll say your work is worth 15* an hour so we'll give you 30*". Conventionally this has been recorded as -30* to the committee (or 'Admin' account.) But where is the record of the good produced- the equivalent in ** of that pair of shoes? The fact is, a newsletter has been PRODUCED. And for a start, it is worth 30*. So SOMEONE SHOULD BE RECORDING A (+) 30* record of a newsletter (product) acquired by the group! Yet they don't! Even more interesting, think what happens to a newsletter. Not just one is made,but it is reproduced as many times as there are MEMBERS who read it! And EACH newsletter worth 30*! This means the real value to the group of the newsletter is 30x 'number of people in the group'. Even in a small group like EastLETS one newsletter might reach 20 people- so that's 600* generated for the group by a newsletter which only required 30* to make!!! Think of the value in every LET§ TALK newsletter which goes ideally goes out to ALL Adelaide members. I hope you now see that the 'Admin. account' can hardly go into the 'red' as people seem to fear, so long as it is producing activities, communications, and events that further the goals of the group. Not if that productivity is recorded as diligently as we record all our other transactions! Yet it has become standard practice that the real productivity of the committee (and of many other personal transactions)is generally failing to be recorded in most cases. This is sad because it creates a false sensation of 'drain' not to mention is inaccurate accounting practice. We are consistently leaving out the most important factor- the GAIN we make from putting our energy towards utilising LET§ (that this has happened is, I believe, a hangover from our training in money dominant sytems. But we'll get there!) The 'Admin' account represents the group as a whole, so technically there is should not be a SEPARATE account. People on the committees need to draw recognition for their contribution just like any other member (or group of members), but since they do everything on behalf of the whole group, they need to be recognised by the whole group. However, rather than 'sell' their product to the group (ie receive 600* for the newsletter!), remember they are giving their TIME, their IDEAS, their ENERGY to the group...and just need this recognised. However it is done, the group also needs to recognise and record in some ways its GAINS! Whether this means distributing the value of service in ** to all members,or 'holding' them in trust for further activities(group account), or whatever you like- in some way we MUST start acknowledging the wealth we are creating!!This is the same as what EVERY LETS member is doing whenever they trade..because LET§ is about acknowledging ENERGY- NOT about buying and selling!!! And we will soon see that the value of the energy given each time BY ANYONE far outgrows any sort of numerical value assigned to it. I think that is why each member happily puts in energy beyond the base rate in all sorts of ways whether by trading, creating or answering surveys, sending in offers and requests, keeping info up-to-date, creating resource guides, going to meetings, telling others about LETS, phoning and talking to other members socially, thinking up new ways to bring us together or do more activities with the group, write newletters, start e-groups, write to an e-group, make a request of another member, attend a market, increase your skills and assets which you than can offer to share with the community or becoming or recruiting a new member! Most of the value added to the group by contributing these energies has traditionally NOT been recorded, yet we all know DEEP DOWN that they are the LIFEBLOOD of LET§! Those who stick with LET§ have an internal ethical measure and I think we know that whatever our *tally looks like, we are actually contributing a great deal more than our brains have allowed us to perceive. Hopefully we realise this at a deep level and won't be frightened to trasde because we 'seem poor' ! Perhaps you can now see, that we could be giving out an infinity of ** to every person who furthers LET§ goals- and that means ALL members...without running dry, as long as LET§ continues. But we have all these surplus ** as well now. So we could start by using THEM to lift the energy levels without involving any new procedures. My feeling is that by starting to list all the ways the energy of LET§ is furthered, there will be no shortage of ** give out. Funnily enough, it then stops being such a problem to be in the + with your **. More people will feel ok about trading with you when more are in+. And it becomes valuable to the group to have people with strong needs join - and there are many people out there with needs. Someone who needs to receive at this time in their life give us an opportunity to trade as well, so we are both valuable to each other. A brief word about Money. I gather from participating in recent intense discussions online about Community Currencies (like LET§) that Money only 'exists' by agreement. It works only because of the willingness of a large amount of people to respect the information it carries. But it is only information. Marshall Macluhan has said that it is in fact a language. LET§ is an expansion of that language- it gives us an expanded vocabulary! There are many, many trades and communicatiupns going on in this world that are yet to be noticed in value! Evolution, Peace, and Global Environmental Consciousness have not traditionally carried much mainstream value but in our amazing world they are now coming to the fore. LET us bring the vision and sound of a different dialect through to the music of our world. Sue Berry DAWN Feb 17, 2003 > I have had requests for payment from the "SALETS Account" to cover the >cost of producing the "Combined Resource Guide" and the orgnisation of >the InterLETS Meetings, Minute Taking and Reports. They are very >reasonable requests, especially considering the amount of time and >travelling involved in these tasks - there is no request for cash only >units - travelling costs can add up if we can pay for these services >members may feel more positive in coming forward and help. > >Along the lines of utilising these funds in the future I feel it would be >appropriate to give an "Incentive" in units to members attending meetings, >eg 10 units for each attendance. - It may well create a more positive >outlook on meetings. After paying for petrol or bus tickets to get to a >meeting then being asked for a gold coin donation to the hall I thought it >a bit much and said so at the last meeting. > >Markets could well receive a "grant" for each market organised. It would >take the strain off the organising LETSystem. > ==^^=============================================================== This email was sent to: archive@mail-archive.com EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84IaC.bcVIgP.YXJjaGl2 Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] TOPICA - Start your own email discussion group. FREE! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/create/index2.html ==^^===============================================================
