Thursday, November 25, 2010

Thanksgiving thoughts for tough times

Imagine a parallel local alternative to the stress of "dollar for dollar".  Imagine when a  person wants services they normally have to acquire with money is instead, available though the exchange of time; time say, in one hour blocks - "hour for hour".

 
We can help each other -  the writer, the plumber, the doctor, the fix it person, the life and business coach, the house cleaner, the jeweler, the sailboat owner, the personal trainer, the tutor and everyone else can trade their time to help one another.  The equal exchanges of time "hour for hour" can be facilitated with internet software keeping track of who has "hours credited" and who had "hours debited". Get eight people to start offering ten hours of time into the bank to start - post an invitations to others to offer ten hours as a way to join and then post the positive real life stories of exchange to the  social network and voila - community exchanges - services and good feelings grow and grow. (And all tax free)
 
These kinds of happy exchanges are already happening for real here in Portland, Maine. 
 
Since everyone pitches in, in good faith to create a sense of warmth and ownership, we can describe the community as "Hours Together".

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