more local currencies making comebacks

More news from local communities who have decided to take on the problem of people in America hoarding up currency, fearing a recession. This time in Newsweek. In Reverside Milwaukee, they are printing their own. The proposed River Currency would be used like cash at local businesses, keeping the area economy humming whatever the health of the country at large. "We can create our own value," explains Sura Faraj, 48, one of the plan’s organizers. Communities print what looks like ordinary bills with serial numbers, anti-counterfeiting details and images of local landmarks (the Milwaukee River, for instance) instead of presidential portraits. Dozens of such systems flourished during the Great Depression. In the 1990s, they re-emerged as a way to fight globalization by keeping wealth in local hands. Now the dream of homespun cash is back because it keeps people liquid even if they’re unemployed or short on traditional dollars. Read more in Newsweek. A more elaborate story in MetaFilter. Earlier in this newsletter