Wondering about RustyCoins?

Long story...

A fellow once wondered about money, how gold and silver etc. came to be used, and how this later was replaced by paper money representing gold or silver.

And wondered; now with our democracy, why wasn't the money evenly distributed among citizens as it was printed?

Historically, it's not difficult to understand really, including the reasons the monetary system evolved into what it is today.

So began a thought experiment:

Forgive the choice of words, but imagination set the scene with a chief leading a self-sufficient tribe in an isolated and remote place. An altruistic and generous chief who naturally assumed all about him was his, including the members of his tribe. His word was final, and he felt a deep responsibility to share and help his tribe, as a father might love his children.

Smart fellow this chief. He notices an economic problem of tribal members having great difficulty in trading with each other. Each had found their niche, often passed on for generations. They did well and were productive, but their crafts and skills and what they made or hunted or gathered or did for each other ...varied greatly.

Some were experts at hunting big game, bringing back far more than they could eat in a single animal, and taking days to do so. Others built their dwellings and worked for months to complete one. Some wove for days to make carpets or sew garments of hides. Others were skilled at making arrows and could make many in a day. Those who collected seafood at their Twelve Oyster Beach, brought back hundreds of oysters in a day. Some made earings and necklaces, while others wove baskets or carved wood into utensils.

Returning from the week of hunting, the hunter had difficulty trading what he wouldn't eat. The horns went to the carvers, but they had nothing he wanted. He sliced up the remainder of his meat and traded, but the rug maker wanted more than a hind quarters for their rug, and the builders of their fine huts flat refused to give him a hut for a few choice cuts and some jerky. The arrow maker wanted a hind quarters every week, but the hunter only needed three arrows on average each week. And that was just the hunter's dilemma.

Every member of the tribe was having the same issue. Uneven trades or having to give their services away out of generosity and a feeling of belonging. They needed a solution, especially in regard to the old or sick or lame who produced very little or nothing at all.

The chief realized in a flash of inspiration that it could be solved by having a unit of trade, small enough to trade for any item, even the flowers gathered by children.

Something small, they could carry. Like seashells. So he declared all emptied shells of the beach, the tribal store of units of trade. This included those harvested for food, as these shells were to be returned to the beach after eating. ...A virtually unlimited supply was at his fingertips.

To aid everyone equally, he distributed a bucket of them each morning to each tribal member, leaving them with a relative when hunters or others were in the field for days.

It worked. They were soon using them to trade for everything. ...And the number of shells in circulation grew daily with some accumulating many and others such as the infirm able to survive on what was given them each day.

Another problem arose slowly as they began to be valued less and less as there were more in circulation, to the point he might need to increase how many they got each day. ...To keep the elder's alive as proces rose.

Then he realized that if he placed a fee on the use of the clams, like taking back one clam for every two traded, he could control the amount in circulation, and still keep everyone happy. It took a while to find the sweet spot, but he found by adjusting the fee, he could keep it all in check. Enough for all to use, but not so much the clams were worthless.

And they all lived happily ever after. End of thought experiment.

Now onto RustyCoins.

The same idea is now called Basic Income. It seems like a good one. But fat chance any government is going to do it, ...too many bankers involved perhaps?

But it doesn't need to be printed money, and the government doesn't need to create it. It does need to be based on time, just as the chief gave out his buckets of clams daily, ...so many per unit of time.

So that's what RustyCoins are. Cheap to make, because they are not made of metal or printed on paper. They are based on time, ...YOUR time. Abstract, they accumulate in members BurrowBanks by the second, starting with when they join (for free.) They represent time, your time. And the value of your time is their value, while trading them is up to the traders to negotiate how many for what.

Soon, we'll set up a way to trade them. Likely between parties who know each other at first, especially those who have something to trade yet little money to use in trading with each other. But it's up to you all to decide how many RustyCoins are proper for the transaction.

Two caveats here: First, those behind Rusty Rabbit Music, and Rusty Rabbit Music itself, will not magically alot RustyCoins to ourselves, except as members too at the same rate as others.

Second, Rusty Rabbit Music will place a percentage based fee on all transactions using RustyCoins to control the amount in circulation. Possibly 50% to begin with. This will go into Rusty Rabbit Music's own BurrowBank. We may adjust this often over time as seems fit to us.

Cash value? Well none really, except as a commodity, they might be traded for anything including other monies, as so there might someday be a steady or wildly fluctuating value in that sense.

Is this a contract? No. There is no tit-for-tat, no promise made in exchange for anything, you and we are under no obligation to each other. But likewise, there is no risk either, provided your trades are secure. And that will be our challenge, ...to hold down the fort and keep things rolling.

Your RustyCoins begin accumulating as soon as you become a member, and you can check your total on this page or the Account page anytime.

Enjoy!