previous - ideas - further
ID-14-1 LETSPLAY April 17th, 1986
PROBLEMS WITH MONEY
We all have to deal with the same
situation.
Money comes and money goes.
We have to keep some in reserve,
but income can be variable,
and expenses can be all too steady.
And when you spend some of those
precious dollars, they are gone,
with no reason to ever return to
you as income.
It's the same for every person and
business in the community. The
barrels may look different but the
game is the same.
And it's the same for every
community in our world.
The community has money coming in,
from exports, tourists, and from
government expenditures.
And it has money going out,
for imported goods, for travel and
tourism, and for taxes.
As local industries lose export
markets, money flows out of the
community without being replaced.
As the amount of money circulating
decreases, so does trading.
Businesses fail and people are
unemployed.
Not because they have nothing to
offer. Simply because there is no
money to go around.
By supplementing the conventional
cash flow with a local currency, a
community can maintain full trading
and employment, and strengthen
itself against disturbances of the
external money supply.
Landsman Community Services Ltd. ID-14-1 Page 1
ID-14-1 LETSPLAY April 17th, 1986
The LETSystem, the Local Exchange Trading System,
is designed to meet this need. A LETSystem can be
initiated in any community at very little expense and
administration is extremely simple.
In addition to stimulating the local economy, a LETSystem can
also be used to generate substantial investment funds for
relevant local developments, generally at zero interest.
An information package providing details of the theory,
establishment and administration of LETSystems is available for
$20. This includes computer diskettes containing the software
necessary to run a LETSystem, and the support program for
LETSplay. These diskettes are only available in IBM PC format
at present.
LANDSMAN COMMUNITY SERVICES Ltd, (604) 338-0213/0214
375 JOHNSTON AVE, COURTENAY, B.C., V9N 2Y2, CANADA
Landsman Community Services Ltd. ID-14-1 Page 2
ID-14-1 LETSPLAY April 17th, 1986
LETSPLAY
LETSPLAY is designed to reflect the world, both as it is and as
it can be.
LETSPLAY offers the player a simple and accurate appreciation of
community economics, and a clear understanding of a means whereby
we can better manage our affairs.
LETSPLAY can be played by any number of players from 4 or 5 up to
1,000 or more. The rules, identical to those of conventional
trading in the real world, are simple and the game can be played
by any intelligent child or adult.
Players use imaginary money to trade with each other, both
earning and spending. Each player starts with a certain number
of imaginary game dollars in a LETSPLAY conventional bank account
and with an imaginary LETSPLAY "green" dollar account, as used in
a LETSystem.
The game can be played in many variations, with as sophisticated
a relationship to local conditions as desired, yet even the
simplest game will demonstrate the limitations of conventional
money as a medium for effective trading, and show how the local
economy can be expanded using a LETSystem.
One reason for playing LETSplay is to develop an understanding of
the process prior to participation in an active LETSystem.
Players have the opportunity to make informed judgements of the
likely effects on their personal or business income.
Players may also discover the essential reasons for the inherent
stability of well-run LETSystems, the warning signs of one being
mismanaged, and the appropriate corrective action. They will
also learn the simple guidelines that ensure that anyone can use
a LETSystem with absolutely no risk.
Landsman Community Services Ltd. ID-14-1 Page 3
ID-14-1 LETSPLAY April 17th, 1986
VARIATIONS IN LETSPLAY
Workshop or seminar.
LETSplay can obviously be used as a specific focus for meetings on
LETSystems. A program of about 2 to 3 hours will allow a well organised
team to introduce complete novices to the concept, with one short game
for familiarization, and a second to make the point.
In conferences, academic conventions and such like, LETSplay can be
effectively used as an ongoing backdrop to the main agenda.
Interactions between players can take as little as a minute each, and so
can fit easily into coffee breaks, or be used as occasional shifts of
emphasis during meetings or as counterpoint to boring speeches.
In both above circumstances it is useful to maintain a visual display of
the game state. This can be done most easily with coloured pins on a
large wallchart. The most important display is that of the
distribution of green dollar balances for all players.
In all cases it is advisable to have available some follow-up so that
players who are intrigued but not yet convinced can continue to review
the idea. For this we recommend a telephone LETSplay.
Telephone LETSplay.
This is by far the easiest method of arranging LETSplay. A list of
telephone numbers of participating players is circulated and they call
each other at whim. After completing a transaction, one player calls
the credit transfer to the game recorder. Most LETSystems operate with
a 24-hour message recorder which could be used for this as well.
The advantage of this game is that it creates very little disruption of
affairs, far less than an evening meeting, and can be an ongoing
introduction to an established LETSystem. Experienced members can help
novices develop their understanding of both the game and the LETSystem
itself.
Full frontal exposure.
Most community newspapers are on the lookout for interesting copy,
particularly if it might affect community affairs. A very powerful
communication of this idea could be developed with an alert and
imaginative local press. An initial exposure of the concept with an
invitation to play to the general public (and perhaps some local
personalities and representatives of interest groups) would yield
interesting follow-up material at very little editorial expense.
Similar processes can of course be developed with any local media,
although radio, having no visual component, will be less effective.
Adjusting the cash level.
The simple game allows the amount of cash circulating to remain steady.
However, to better simulate the real world, it is useful to have one or
more players in the game use their accounts simply to progressively
absorb cash from the other players, emphasising the effects of cash
depletion in the community.
Landsman Community Services Ltd. ID-14-1 Page 4
ID-14-1 LETSPLAY April 17th, 1986
Purposes of LETSplay
1. Familiarisation
Playing through any simulation of a LETSystem offers a risk
free opportunity to find out how it works. Finding out in
the real world may not be quite so free of risk, and most
people are understandably slow to do so.
The community's management of its credit / commitment is
greatly dependent upon a general appreciation of the chart of
account balances. The game develops that appreciation.
The colour indications on the game chart are intended to
guide players' decisions on so called "credit management" -
actually acceptance of commitment - without imposing rules.
2. Exploration of risks and protective strategies.
The simple fact that ONLY those in credit are at any risk
seems to be difficult for most people to understand at first.
The game helps make it clear that those in commitment are
totally secure from loss in any system collapse.
3. Demonstration of the combination of currencies.
People often think in "either/or" terms, and suppose that
green and federal money are in some way mutually exclusive,
or competitive, or that a local currency implies that the
community withdraws from trading with the "outer" world.
It is important to establish that ALL goods and services
bought and sold in the community are potentially available
partly in green, and to indicate the probable green/fed % in
various sectors of the market.
This leads hopefully to an understanding of the concept of
"costs in cash / value added in green" which is the basis of
ongoing convivial trading.
4. Establishing the language.
When discussing concepts of this nature, whether with
esoteric economists or the more rational average member of
the human race, it is critical that we are in fact talking
about the same things.
The game provides a consistent and realistic frame of
reference within which all the pertinent points can at least
be discussed, a context within which our conversations can be
intelligent.
Landsman Community Services Ltd. ID-14-1 Page 5
ID-14-1 LETSPLAY April 17th, 1986
Notes for LETSplayers
All the essential instructions for playing the game are included
on the game card itself - Rules and Methods.
Generally the game is played with others, perhaps in a workshop,
perhaps over a few days or a week by telephone, through mail or
inter-office memos, or simply chance meetings between players.
It can also be played solo, and indeed we recommend that you try
this method at least once to see how it works.
Normally, in a game with other players, your income is determined
by who buys from you and what they buy. In playing solo, you
need to use some method of determining your income, that is, of
selecting at random what items are purchased from you.
There are two factors to consider - whether you get $100, $200,
$300 or $400 in any sale, and what % of that sale is green.
Use any random method you like.
For instance, to determine the value, $100-$400, toss a coin
twice. Heads means the larger two, tails the smaller, then toss
again for the larger or smaller of those.
So - heads & heads - $400, heads & tails - $300,
tails & heads - $200, tails & tails - $100.
Then select the % green by the pin and telephone book method - if
you stick a 1 - 10%, if a 2 - 20%, etc up to a 0 - 100% green.
Start the game by spending - limiting yourself for the first play
to $200 green / $200 federal maximum - and then alternate earning
and spending until your game is complete with one item purchased
in each % green category - if you can !
If you mark your chart neatly, then you may be able to play
several games on one card - or photocopy the card and play with
gay abandon.
The solo game does not reveal all of the points about the
limitations of "federal" $, but it does give a good introduction
to "green" money.
After playing LETSplay with others you might think about these
questions -
How well would you manage the game if you only had "federal"
dollars to play with, and the prices were all the same ?
How about if there were less "federal" per player - say only
$100 ?
What difference does another player's balance have on your
situation ? in "federal" ? and in "green" ?
What are the risks ? How can you be secure from them ?
Landsman Community Services Ltd. ID-14-1 Page 6
ID-14-1 LETSPLAY April 17th, 1986
LETSplay - Critical distinctions for critical thinkers.
There are economic theorists who appreciate the need for local
currencies without fully understanding precisely why they are
necessary, or what specific criteria need be applied in their
design.
a) Limited versus appropriate money supply
LETSplay, in its most basic form, treats both green and
"federal" money as local, in that neither leaks from the
game.
Hence the game clearly demonstrates the inherent limitations
of any currency issued in limited supply, local or general -
the distributive context, tending to create competition
for the money itself, and the separation into the rich
and the poor, and
the power relation, whereby the behaviour of those who
have the money determines that of those who do not.
In contrast, the freely available money provides -
a contributive context, with no essential competition
for money itself, allowing different levels of wealth,
of income and expenditure, within which
no individual significantly affects the options open to
others.
b) Limited versus general creation.
Conventional money is issued into circulation primarily
through lenders of last resort and the chartered banks. If
Joe Citizen tries this it is called counterfeiting.
If a local currency IS issued in limited supply, there MUST
be a similar limitation on who issues the money and how.
In which case there is a local replication of the
conventional power structure with all its inherent inadequacy
and imbalance.
In contrast, the practice of allowing ALL participants in the
network to issue their own money is both equitable and
essentially stable.
It must be stressed that this characteristic has diminishing
significance in bigger systems, which will thus only become
fully practical as general understanding develops.
Landsman Community Services Ltd. ID-14-1 Page 7
ID-14-1 LETSPLAY April 17th, 1986
c) General versus limited circulation.
An inevitable consequence of conventional money, which can,
and does, leave the community without any control, is that the
community is often left without any effective means to manage
its own affairs.
Varying the amount of "federal" dollars in the game will
clearly demonstrate this.
Notice that the above three characteristic distinctions are
inextricably related.
If a currency is NOT localised, then -
the money must PRETEND to be "real", so -
its supply MUST be limited, and thus -
general creation by all participants is impractical
If, however, the currency IS local, then -
it can be recognised as purely symbolic, so -
its supply CAN vary as required, and thus -
all participants CAN have the right to issue their
own money.
d) Inflation
Inflation is, of course, a social disease.
In a conventional money, this disease is both highly damaging
and highly contagious.
In a personal currency, however, it is merely a personal
affair of no necessary significance to any other.
The reasons for this are subtle, but the game will generally
make it easier for the diligent thinker to discern them.
Landsman Community Services Ltd. ID-14-1 Page 8
previous - ideas - further