Fans of “complementary currency” are betting that this Depression-era idea for keeping towns alive by printing local money can prove its worth as pandemic relief.
In a back room of the Tenino Depot Museum, a modest sandstone building in a city of less than 2,000 in Washington State, there is a rickety old machine that officials believe could help save the community from looming economic collapse: With it, money is literally being made from trees.
Printed on postcard-sized sheets of planed maple veneer by Tenino’s only resident expert using an antique 1890 Chandler & Price letterpress, these “wooden dollars” are being handed out to locals suffering financial hardship. Pegged at the rate of real U.S. dollars, the currency can be spent everywhere from grocery stores to gas stations and child care centers, whose owners can later exchange them.
“We want this to be a symbol of hope,” says Tenino’s mayor, Wayne Fournier, of the City Hall-funded program. “We preach localism and investing in our local community, and the idea with this scheme is that we’ll stand together as a community and provide relief to individuals that need it while fueling consumption. It’s in our city’s DNA.”
Mayor Wayne Fournier of Tenino, Washington, displays $25 in wooden money. The city recently revived a Depression-era economic recovery tactic: printing its own local currency on planks of wood.
That's where it gets interesting. I can understand the idea of trying to keep the local economy churning as much as possible, so it's not a terrible idea.
But eventually somebody is out real money. Who will exchange them for cash at the end of the cycle? Are they giving them actual cash back in change? "That'll be$3.50". "Oh, I only have this wooden $25".
That's where it gets interesting. I can understand the idea of trying to keep the local economy churning as much as possible, so it's not a terrible idea.
But eventually somebody is out real money. Who will exchange them for cash at the end of the cycle? Are they giving them actual cash back in change? "That'll be$3.50". "Oh, I only have this wooden $25".
This.
All money is, is a unified way of barter that gives everything a “value” and is universally accepted. So now you don’t have to know that a new tire for your car is worth half a cow and six chickens and 25 gallons of water but only 6 gallons of whiskey or whatever else.
This small town is just using this fake money to keep barter going within its borders - and that idea is fine.
But eventually, someone is gonna need real money out of the deal - especially as it’s gonna relate to dealing with payment issues outside of town limits.
That's where it gets interesting. I can understand the idea of trying to keep the local economy churning as much as possible, so it's not a terrible idea.
But eventually somebody is out real money. Who will exchange them for cash at the end of the cycle? Are they giving them actual cash back in change? "That'll be$3.50". "Oh, I only have this wooden $25".
I have one “Utah Goldback” that I got for free for signing up for info from them last year. It’s supposedly printed on a thin sheet of gold, so it might have actual value.
These will also have value, but not until they are sold as collectors items on ebay.
Isn’t this how old mining companies would keep their employees captive, by paying them in company currency that they could only spend at company stores and such?
That's where it gets interesting. I can understand the idea of trying to keep the local economy churning as much as possible, so it's not a terrible idea.
But eventually somebody is out real money. Who will exchange them for cash at the end of the cycle? Are they giving them actual cash back in change? "That'll be$3.50". "Oh, I only have this wooden $25".