Milwaukee Neighborhoods Consider Printing Own Currency

This may sound totally incredulous, but residents from the Milwaukee neighborhoods of Riverwest and East Side are scheduled to meet to discuss printing their own money. The basic idea is that the local cash could be used at neighborhood stores and businesses, thus encouraging local spending. Supporters hope that the result would be a bustling local economy, even as the rest of the nation deals with a recession.

“You have all these people who have local currency, and they’re going to spend it at local stores,” said Sura Faraj, a community organizer who is helping spearhead the plan. “They can’t spend it at the Wal-Mart or the Home Depot, but they can spend it at their local hardware store or their local grocery store.”

Incentives could be used to entice consumers into using the new money. For example, perhaps they could trade $100 U.S. for $110 local, essentially netting them a 10 percent discount at participating stores To put it in some perspective, according to the Chicago Tribune, It’s not a new concept—experts estimate there are at least 2,000local currencies all over the world—but it is a practice that tends to burgeon during economic downturns. During the Great Depression, scores of communities relied on their own currencies.

So, laugh if you will, but this is completely legal. As long as communities don’t create coins, or print bills that resemble federal dollars, organizations are free to produce their own greenbacks. This may seem like a crazy idea, but it is completely legal and probably worth a second look.

Filed under: Currency, East Side, Greenback, Milwaukee, Neighborhood currency, Riverwest

Racist Comments Against Barack Obama Written on to Five Dollar Bill

Racist Anti-Obama Slogan Appears on $5 Bill

I guess the race for the White House, with a black man, Barack Obama, headlining the Democratic Party ticket has indeed brought the worst out in so many people on so many levels. The latest is the racist statement on our currency. Last week a Staten Island woman noticed that a five dollar bill in her wallet was stamped with the above message: “LETS KEEP THE WHITE HOUSE WH!TE!” The slogan was positioned next to the Lincoln memorial on the back of the bill, according to the Staten Island Advance.

Mutilating or otherwise vandalizing U.S. currency is a federal offense that can be punishable by up to six months in prison, but officials rarely investigate such behavior. In this case, the racism highlights the unspoken dread that someone might bring the Democratic candidate to an untimely end. This is really sad that people could be filled with such hatred for someone because of the color of their skin. I have to say America is being watched by so many countries on the outcome of this presidential election. So many other countries have broken the gender barrier and race barrier in installing a woman or someone of color to govern their countries. It is a sad commentary that Obama will be dogged by these racial insensitivities. In essence, America has not grown as much as it should. The old wounds from segregation and racism are still fresh in America and they have been simmering. It is a shame.

Filed under: Barack Obama, Currency, Presidential Elections