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        ID-15           Inescapable Conclusions.      January 8th,   1986





        Recall the analogy of the leaking bucket.

        Money comes and money goes and everyone tries to balance 
        themselves without any real control over income.

        If you can keep your act together at all, relying upon such an 
        unpredictable system of support, how can you fail to do better 
        when you can also use a money system in which every dollar you 
        spend returns to you as income ?

        This applies whether you and your bucket represent a household or 
        a business, no matter what.

        Anybody who uses money and could use some more can use a 
        LETSystem.

        This result derives entirely from the particular property of 
        local currencies that the money cannot be drained out of the 
        community.

        Since green dollars do not compete with conventional, they offer 
        entirely additional advantage and need never detract from 
        performance in the cash economy.

        Just like an extra range of gears.

        These benefits are enhanced by the personal issue structure of 
        LETSystems, but are not essentially dependent upon it.



        LETSystems are inherently stable and risk free.

        Conventional currencies are entirely insubstantial, and prone to 
        collapse unless very strongly backed.

        Once a conventional currency loses credibility, it cannot be 
        regenerated.

        Consider confederate bills, and the deutschmark of the Weimar 
        republic.

        The backing of each green dollar in circulation is a dollar of 
        committment by some member of the community itself.

        It requires both :

             - considerable defection of non-contributing players, and 

             - the perception by most of the remaining members that they 
               have actually lost something,

        to even begin uncertainty.




        Landsman Community Services Ltd.              ID-15     Page    1


        ID-15           Inescapable Conclusions.      January 8th,   1986




        The concerned members may devalue their own holdings by quickly 
        discounting their value without those who are still confident 
        being in any way affected by the panic.

        Once those with little intelligence and those with little faith 
        have retired to the sidelines, those who remain can continue to 
        use the system with full value amongst each other.

        Nervous players will be able to trade on a small scale without 
        taking large risks, and expand as their confidence grows.

        Just like learning to ride a bicycle.

        The analogy is accurate in many respects.

        As the momentum of a green economy develops so does confidence. 

        A bicycle is only as safe as the rider, and there is no absolute 
        protection for the foolish.

        In conventional money, each person who defaults, or crashes a 
        bicycle, brings us all down, sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.

        LETSystems differ from conventional currencies in that each 
        participant can maintain a secure and valuable process simply by 
        minding his/her own business.

        There is great value in becoming quickly comfortable with the use 
        of your own money.

        If you are simply willing to keep your word, it will serve you 
        very well, and others too.


























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