What anyone wants, rather than what they need, will always be priced on the basis of what the ‘giver’ and get and what the ‘taker’ can afford.
The purpose of creating a non-monetary Local Exchange is to bring order to the transactions between people that involve the production and provision of the basic foods and goods that are essential for us all to live.
It is the first rule of a good community, that everyone adheres to the rules that are there to benefit and be fair to everyone, and especially so when they are there to ensure that everything that governs processes that apportion that which is available by sharing between everyone, is balanced and therefore proportional in every respect.
It is essential that everyone is fully committed to taking part, and that no level or partial form of opting out is allowed, so that people can do favours for friends or secure a higher return by taking part in a ‘black market’ or doing business on the side.
Yes, an individual should be able to opt out. But if they opt out in part, their non-participation should be taken as being in full and they should be excluded from taking any further part.
It is essential that all foods, goods and services offered are transparent and openly available to everyone within the community and participating within the system of exchange. The Local Exchange System will not be fair to everyone, if participants are able to ‘pick and choose’, as it will literally skew the value of everything on offer and diminish the value of ‘the community’ – taking us all immediately back to where we have just come from.
Adam Tugwell 