Your Money's No Good Here

Generally, printing your own money is either (a) laughable or (b) illegal, depending on how closely your homespun bucks resemble U.S. tender and what exactly you were trying to do with them. But trend stories have been popping up lately about towns harkening back to Depression traditions and minting alternative currencies for local use. (Note: the upward trend is in trend stories, and not necessarily in the actual practice, which has been going on for several years in many small cities.) Still, it's pretty neat stuff. Some examples from a USA Today article today:

Under the BerkShares system, a buyer goes to one of 12 banks and pays $95 for $100 worth of BerkShares, which can be spent in 370 local businesses. Since its start in 2006, the system, the largest of its kind in the country, has circulated $2.3 million worth of BerkShares. In Detroit, three business owners are printing $4,500 worth of Detroit Cheers, which they are handing out to customers to spend in one of 12 shops.

During the Depression, local governments, businesses and individuals issued currency, known as scrip, to keep commerce flowing when bank closings led to a cash shortage.

Of course, alternative currencies can make the Feds nervous. Remember the Liberty Dollar raids? And God forbid American shopkeepers should accept pesos as an alternative to greenbacks.

One way to stay on the right side of a jealous U.S. Mint? Call your currency something silly and non-threatening, like Detroit Cheers, or something confusing, like Ithaca HOURs.