Talk:Complementary currency

Do you think we could/should combine this into the article on "alternative currency", and have a redirect? Perhaps there is a subtle distinction, but this distinction might be too Pedantic to be practical. I think having two separate pages may end up making it (a) harder for readers to find information, and (b) harder to link related pages to relevant material on these two pages. Cazort 19:28, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

Just one comment...if we pick one page to keep as the main one, I think it should be "alternative currency"; a quick google search shows that that term appears to be dominant in the literature--it is used about 3 times more frequently and will probably lead to more visibility. Cazort 19:30, 14 July 2006 (UTC)

WHY I LIKE TO SPEAK OF COMPLEMENTARY COMMUNITY CURRENCY (ccc)

Thanks for your comments. But keep in mind: In case there are people who fear that monetary activists are out to undermine the national money system we want to assure them that it is not a matter of either/or, this/that, but both/and.

Complementary means that CCC is in addition to the national currency, not as a replacement of it. Growing up in Newfoundland--I was born in 1930--I actually remember the time when banks printed their own paper money.

I am not sure when the practice was stopped, but my father--who died in 1944--and older brothers all worked for an iron ore mining company (Dominion Iron and Steel) on Bell Island, Newfoundland. http://www.bellisland.net They were paid in paper cash. Some weeks they got Bank Of Nova Scotia paper money; some weeks they got Bank of Montreal paper money. By the way, a forty dollars in bills, plus a few coins with the name Newfoundland stamped on them, was a big weeks' pay in the 1940's. To help pay my way to university http://www.mta.ca I worked for a year, picking rock out of iron ore--cold and dirty work. For a sixty-hour week, I earned thirty-eight dollars and change.

Interestingly, Newfoundland had a 20 cent coin.

By the way, I always agree to disagree, agreeably. 02:47, 6 January 2008 (UTC) —Preceding unsigned comment added by Lindsay G. King (talk • contribs)

If you can't agree to this, come on back, and we'll argue some more ~ homer simpson, Marvelous marvin (talk) 15:58, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

annuit coeptus - you have to be called by God, and you have to have something other men want. Avarice has laid many to waste, on some fair Sunday morning, a lot of blood has been shed around money. The only thing the rich are laughing at the poor, is how poor a rag they are printing on. And, there is no gold printed on the ribbon. Only a promise to do better in the future.

lol

Marvelous marvin (talk) 15:56, 2 March 2008 (UTC)

The page is currently written as if Complementary community currency is the accepted name. This term gets only 5 google scholar hits: and gets NO google news archive hits: . Complementary currency, however, gets 134 google scholar hits: and 43 google news archive hits: . It's clear to me which term is more mainstream.

Also, I want to emphasize that people often use the term "complementary currency" and "community currency" interchangeably. Community currency is by far the most widely used term: 425 google scholar hits WITHOUT the word "complementary": and 431 google news hits: . I'm going to replace "complementary community currency" with "complemenatry currency" and make a few other pages, but we should seriously start thinking also about the relationship between this and community currency, which currently redirects to local currency. We have too many pages about essentially one topic. Yes, there are some technical nuances but to most people studying the subject from a scholarly or news-reporting subject, it's a unified topic. Cazort (talk) 22:47, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

I favour merging the page (I am matslats). I work in the field. There is a need to explain types of 'alternative' currency mechanisms, both working and theoritical, e.g., LETS, SCRIP, barter systems, open money etc, and some of their variations and wilder forms. And then there are example currencies which are good to list. Another synonym for the page should be 'community currencies', it's all part of the same disparate movement. Then also consider 'local money', which I guess is a large subset of the alternative currencies. matslats —Preceding unsigned comment added by 41.214.237.206 (talk) 18:11, 1 April 2009 (UTC)

"Complementary" is POV, pure and simple. It is a nerf word designed to make these papers and the intentions of those behind them seem benign. The goal of this article is to distinguish these items in order to allow them to be cast them in as favorable light as possible. If I started an article on the same topic called "bogus currency scams" it would be POV too and no less or more accurate. A neutral and accepted term must be used. Merger with "private currency" is warranted. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.69.156.48 (talk) 01:55, 8 April 2009 (UTC)

The term complementary currency is intended to emphasize that the currency is to be used as a complement to national currency, not necessarily a complete substitute. alternative currency by contrast, emphasizes the use as an alternative option, which can, in some cases, be intended as a replacement or substitute. To some degree, calling something a "complementary currency" draws attention to the ways in which it is different from national currency in a way that calling it "alternative" does not. For example, the Liberty Dollar seems to be marketed more as an alternative currency than a complementary currency...whereas Ithaca Hours are presented more as a complementary currency. So they are distinct...but very similar, and to some degree, the distinction is in the eye of the person using them, and may vary for the same currency from person to person, or even for the same person from one time to the next. And it is a very subtle difference. Cazort (talk) 23:42, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

Additionally, I find the merger with "private currency" unwarranted because private implies that the issuing entity is a private corporation--which is not the case. According to the CCdatabase: , private enterprises are a minority; most are either unregistered organizations, or registered NGO's, a few are cooperatives. Also, historically, as Thomas H. Greco's book discusses, governments have also sponsored and run alternative currencies (sometimes not intentionally, as in the example he cites from provinces in argentina...this material is not currently in wikipedia to my knowledge but I would like to eventually add it! I haven't because it would require a lot of research.) Cazort (talk) 19:46, 5 August 2009 (UTC)

The notion that private currency and complementary should be merged is very misled. In fact, if anything, private currency should be merged into complementary currency. But they should remain separate. Even the Liberty Dollar, for example, as well as many bank bills, are used in complement. I would say that proponents of the Liberty Dollar find that it should be one of many currencies that complement or compete, especially gold and silver and currencies based on them. Ron Paul created the Free Competition of Currencies Act in response to the shutdown of the Liberty Dollar. Frequent Flyer Miles are certainly a private currency, and are intended to be used in complement with national currencies people mostly purchase most tickets in. Like Frequent Flyer Miles, Fureai kippu, is used for a very specific purpose, and it would be absurd to call them alternative. And it is borderline public, and such a currency can also be used by governments, which would make them public. Private currency conveys that it is not public. The Ithaca HOUR is meant to be a community or public currency. The Depression Era currencies were printed by municipal governments. Those were certainly not private. The separation is clear here. Furthermore, yes, alternative connotes a complete replacement. Very few people intend for a local currency to be the only currency they use, or to completely replace national currencies. These articles need to remain separate. So, to summarize:

• Private = a private entity
• Public = a government or community

- this does not yet warrant an article, as it is encapsulated in "fiat", "national", etc.

• Complementary = to be used in tandem
• Alternative = to be used in replacement

Examples:

• Complementary, Public: Municipal Depression-era currencies
• Complementary, Private: Frequent Flyer Miles
• Private, Alternative: Liberty Dollar (to national fiat currencies)

Furthermore, if the word complementary seems self-promoting, if it is used often enough, which it is, it still warrants an article. In any case, it is meaningful in itself.

No proponents of merging have discussed this for nearly a year. If no one discusses this within a week, I am going to remove the merging templates.

NittyG (talk) 03:29, 11 March 2010 (UTC)

As it has been 2 weeks, I am removing the templates. NittyG (talk) 06:05, 29 March 2010 (UTC)