Loomio
Sun 5 Apr 2020 12:13PM

Individuals and mutual credit

D DaveDarby Public Seen by 25

When I'm trying to explain mutual credit to people (and it seems like I don't do much else these days), a very common question is: 'can I join the OCN as an individual?' and I find myself saying, 'not really - it's b2b - we'll see what happens further down the line'. I get it - the average individual who isn't a small business owner / sole trader works in one of David Graeber's 'Bullshit Jobs' for a corporate that has no interest in mutual credit, or in communities, apart from how to get wealth out of them as efficiently as possible. For the typical individual, there's no way in, and they're only going to be very marginal anyway.

But - the 'typical' individual may soon be: unemployed, plenty of time, no money. What can I tell them? Can they join on the same basis as a sole trader, and just stay in credit for now? So many trading arcs in communities end with sales to the public - and there's going to be so many people looking for things to do to earn some exchange medium.

Just looking for something a bit more creative / hopeful to tell people who inevitably ask where individuals sit in mutual credit world. Any help gratefully received.

LF

Lynn Foster Sun 5 Apr 2020 7:53PM

I'm not the mutual credit expert around here, but what about timebanks? And other mutual aid type organizations who do mutual credit for individuals? I suspect @Matthew Slater could make you a list you could refer people to, people who aren't ready or don't want to think of their services or other offerings as a 'business'?

I'm curious now, how do you all define 'business'? Does it include people like uber drivers?

ML

Michael Linton Sun 5 Apr 2020 8:21PM

Dave,

You could try this and see how it meets your needs.

starting cc ( https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xUHH7LcFndwuGKdbojBcKk-7rKPllsEVRDzeYTIru6s/edit# ) is using https://om-9.lrc.org.uk and likely stable for an indeterminate time

It's more about mutual commitment than mutual credit though - timebanks, LETSystems, b2b and anything else that is accouintable in REA terms (what isn't?)

cheers, m