ElkShares

Out in western Massachusetts lies a small cadre of businesses that long ago realized the benefits of a local economy. They banded together and developed their own currency, BerkShares, as good as dollars, and are traded among local businesses as a sign of their willingness to keep things local. There are $2 million in circulation amongst 350 businesses.

I hadn't visited their website until this evening and noticed their organizers quote Wendell Berry, whom I've long admired as a champion of how things ought to be laid out, how communities ought to organize. Very, very few places follow his advise, and as a consequence, we end up with dead cities like Elk Grove, CA.

Just imagine, imagine! if Elk Grove tried to start an ElkShares program.

The venture would be doomed from the start.

The idea is to keep dollars local. I can probably only find thirty local businesses in all our oceans of strip malls and big box retail. All our strip mall tenants -- our Walgreens, Borders, Circuit Cities, Jamba Juices, Kinkos, Safeways, Subways, Petcos, Hometown Buffets, Omaha Steaks, Fandangos, Round Tables, Blockbusters, Rite Aids, Panda Expresses, Smog N' Goes, Targets, Bank of Americas, Home Depots, Hollywood Videos, Starbucks, McDonalds, KFCs, Chevrons, Jiffy Lubes -- all are decidedly not local, yet comprise (my guess) 84% of all the businesses and 98% of all the revenues. Try buying a tube of toothpaste at the FoodsCo with an ElkShare.

Not one is local. Not one would accept anything other than the dollar, but some would accept their own signature credit card. Not one would give a damn whether or not their outlet fits into the community, so long as merchandise moves off the shelves. Shit manufactured elsewhere, processed elsewhere, packaged elsewhere, warehoused elsewhere and delivered by tractor trailer to Elk Grove. All of the businesses above, comprising the lion's share of all Elk Grovian commerce, hire only low wage retail sales associates and fast food assembly linemen who don't give a shit about their employers and whose employers don't give a shit about them. "Real" Elk Grove "citizens" work elsewhere and commute by private solo automobiling.

The other large revenue source is the Elk Grove Auto Mall. Wa-hey! Try using an ElkShare to get a smog check at the Infinity dealership.

So ElkShares could be used at perhaps only a dozen places. It's too bad, because local businesses could counter the credit charges incurred when we buy with plastic. This is one reason I've been trying to go all cash when I shop at Corti Brothers, get my haircut, or eat at Chada Thai. They get 3.5% more instantly, another 3.5% to circulate (ideally) locally, not to sponsor half-time shows for the NFL broadcasters.

A novel idea that could never work where I live. One more reason to assume that if resource shortages or a major perturbation struck my region, Elk Grove would have absolutely no ability to ride it through. A reason to assume Elk Grovians would turn on each other, dog-eat-dog, because no one has anyone else to lean on.