Use Your Neighborhood Currency

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Neighborhoods Propose Printing Their Own Currency To Encourage Local Shopping

Two neighborhoods in Milwaukee are considering printing their own currency, which could be bought with U.S. dollars, but would be only accepted at local businesses, in order to encourage people to shop at home instead of Walmart.

It's not a new concept — the Chicago Tribune says that lots of towns and neighborhoods relied on their own local currency during the Great Depression. It's also perfectly legal.

So what's the advantage for shoppers? Well, the currency could offer incentives — trading $100 US for $110 in the local currency would give shoppers a 10% bonus, for example.

What do you think? Would you use a local currency in order to support your community? Or are you going to shop at Walmart until they pry the cart from your cold dead hands?

[UPDATE: Also, here's the Chicago Tribune's version.]

There's a poll on the article (Q: Would you use a local currency? A1: Yes! A2: This is for Hippies.). Currently, the 'Yes' voters lead with 63%.