Bottom Up Implementation

Michael Linton founded the LETSystem in 1972, just as Kooistra had the vision for a Basic Income for All People, using a supplementary economy. Kooistra knew about the LETSYSTEMS, including through Lisinka Ulatowska’s  book which he had translated and published in Eng and Dutch.

In fact the creation of money in both systems is similar: It allows people who do not have the money to spend on goods and services to trade with those who have extra to trade. This is worled out variously at the local level, usually people use a point system to trade and the automated system itself keeps track of plus and minus balances.

The LETSystem is now used nationally and internationally using the Community Exchange System:

  • which was founded in South Africa and
  • spread to 99 countries by 2011.
  • There are LetSystems on every continent except Antartica. In Europe in 17 countries in 2011—a decade ago.
  • It is shown itself to be desirable by some national governments (Argentina, Australia)
  • it jumpstarts local economies where currency is scarece;
  • creates social cohesion;
  • creates global relationships between people that can offset the disunity governments are now experiencing.

The shortcoming of the present system is:

  • a digital currency is used and it can only be used by communities with access to the Internet, so the poor are excluded from the global markets and goods and services that can greatly advance their development: The chasm between rich and poor increases. The poorest and most marginalized are excluded.

The SIFA Plan:

  • Empowers ALL to participte by enabling all to be linked to the Internet, either directly or via development workers: This is important because:
    • extending existing LETS and National Systems and CES to those who might have a local LETS but would not have a way of connecting via the Interneat to the rest of the world;
    • Providing all with a basic income;
    • Ensuring that the economy is sustainable;
    • Extending it to ensure that the rich are also involved in considerations of sustainability.
    • Building global cohesion person to person.

Steps to take:

  1. Outreach to experts and organizations that are possible hosts of the system; while
  2. Building a grassroots base by contacting: Countries which back the LETS (Australia, etc.)
  3. Asking them to extend into:
    • a globally linked system to rich and poorest, that promotes:
    • sustainability and education on sustainable goods and services;
    • ultimately expands to include the most marginalized people and communities.
  4. Link to Basic Income Groups.
  5. Introduce this to the UN Member States using mailings to each countrey’s Embassy (Mission) to the UN; coupled with making statements describing the Plan during UN Conferences and visiting countries’ Ambassadors in person.

The advantages are: there is already the desire to:

  • jumpstart existing economies using a basic income or something similar;
    • reach the SDGs by 2030.