Funny Money

Who says progressivity (is that a word, by the way?) and business don't mix?  Ithaca, N.Y. certainly doesn't.  In fact, quite the opposite; they've gone and created their own money!  Well, more accurately, they've had their own money for almost twenty years.

Ithaca HOURS, as they're called, are worth $10 per HOUR, which is roughly the living wage in Tompkins County.  The system is premised on the assumption that anybody's time is just as valuable as anybody else's, but there's nothing to prevent professionals from charging several HOURS per hour of work.  (In fact, several Ithacan lawyers accept HOURS for their services!)

Paul Glover, the system's founder, explained that the idea for the currency came about because "we watched Federal dollars come to town, shake a few hands, then leave to buy rainforest lumber and fight wars."  (Quoted from here.)

Today, over 1200 individuals and businesses in the city accept HOURS.  I've personally paid for movie tickets and groceries with them when I was an undergraduate at Ithaca College, and there are a multitude of other things they're good for as well.  The HOURS system has significantly benefited local businesses and has really promoted a sense of community in the city.

This is a great example of what can happen when people decide to really work together for the benefit of their community, and there's absolutely no reason why a similar system couldn't work in Buffalo!  Maybe we could call our local currency "Bills".

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An update to the G20 post

After the sanctioned march that took place earlier in the day, the police force became increasingly violent towards onlookers who were primarily Pitt college students (as opposed to individuals who were present to protest). The G20 had already ended and there was not any apparent violence taking place on the Pitt campus. http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09270/1001203-482.stm This news story gives a very good description of the situation took place. I encourage you to check it out, as Legal Observers aren't really supposed to act as or communicate with members of the media. I will simply say that this article is accurate from what I experienced that night.

G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh

The G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, PA took place between September 24 and 25, 2009. President Barack Obama chaired the event, hosting leaders from 18 various countries throughout the world as well as the European Union. They discussed topics concerning the current global economic crisis, along with the newly discovered fact that Iran has secretly been building a nuclear facility. The nations concluded that Iran’s facility needs to be inspected immediately in order to maintain the nuclear peace plan that has been in effect between the nations.

While this conference was taking place, there were masses of protesters who spoke out against injustices currently going on throughout the world and the changes that they believe need to take place. The protesters discussed a variety of issues including environmental injustice, killings taking place in China, the unfair medical situation for the poor, and the abuse of Corporate America on the rest of the American citizens. There was a large military and police presence throughout the city of Pittsburgh to control the protesters and make sure that they were not doing anything illegal. In controlling the crowds, however, some of the actions taken by the police and military personnel can be considered unsanctioned. That is why the Legal Observers are present at these protests. The Legal Observer’s job is to uphold the protesters’ First Amendment Right to freedom of speech, and to make sure that the police and military do not infringe upon this right to free speech. By seeing the Legal Observers taking detailed notes at all of the events involving the police, as well as taking multiple pictures of them, the police are deterred from using force and violence to silence the protesters.

A group of Legal Observers from the Buffalo Lawyer’s Guild Chapter went to Pittsburgh, PA on September 25, 2009 and marched with the protesters in one of the largest protests since the Vietnam War. There were about three thousand protesters in the march, with an additional one thousand police and military personnel present throughout the city. Many of the police officers had been called in from various states, including Chicago and Arizona. About half of the police and military personnel purposefully hid their badge and identification numbers under their uniforms. This was likely so that they couldn’t be as easily identified if they were to infringe upon some of the protester’s rights by arresting them for stating their views. The police tried to appear intimidating by getting in the prepared position to fire their guns and lifting their tear gas canisters in preparation to fire on the crowd. Several of the policemen, who had police dogs for the purpose of crowd control, had their dogs un-muzzled. This is normally not done until the police are ready to release the dogs upon the crowd for being violent. On several of the streets there was already crime scene tape up as if the police were expecting a violent showdown to occur between them and the protesters in these locations. Besides minor incidents of the police shoving some of the protesters off of the sidewalk to keep them in the street, however, there were no arrests or police reactions to the crowd by firing tear gas or rubber bullets while we were marching with the group. They did have large busses ready to make mass arrests at some of the intersections, but none of them were used while we were present at the protest. It was definitely an interesting and rewarding experience, and many of the protesters came up to the Legal Observers and thanked us for protecting their rights.