LOCAL CASH FOR LOCAL USE

A recent article in the Washington Post National Weekly wrote about the London (England) suburb of Braxton, printing its own currency as an economic booster. During the GREAT DEPRESSION, hundreds of local governments in our country did the same thing.

In the city where I lived, my dad, a fireman, was paid in "scrip," a paper that we kids called "funny money." It wasn't funny to my mother because some of the merchants would not accept it for payment. What was the solution?

I was the solution! On payday, my mother would send me to the city hall tax office with some "scrip." If people came in to pay their tax bill with federal greenbacks, I would ask them to exchange them for my "scrip," as the city was obligated to accept the "scrip" in payment of bills.
If I was successful, mother and the merchants were very happy.

A certain "funny money" brought happiness to our home in recent years when Dear Wife brought out the board game, Monopoly, to entertain visiting grandchildren. Oh, such fun, to be able to barter for property exchanges and build up "funny money" reserves. Precious memories.

Precious memories of our good life in America have gone "down the tube," caused by the country's disastrous financial collapse. Hopefully, we are on the move again to better days.

More, Later.